So I'll refrain from naming merchandise/shops involved so it doesn't sound like I'm advertising for anyone but just thought I'd share some pretty ridiculous experiences I've had with Officework pricematches recently.
It seems they have tightened up their policy especially with regards to matching online stores as the first thing they said when i asked for a pricematch was "our policy has changed". Now I've had to call them 3 times (I tried to get it matched on the phone as I wanted to save myself a trip to the stores)
and each time I've been given an excuse which got progressively more ridiculous. I actually had an operator make up terms and conditions and gave me a fake phone number when I prompted her how she found out about it!
The first excuse was that they now have to call them up - which is ok, i heard that one before, but still unreasonable as most online stores don't have a phone number. after all, it's buyable online then there's no reason to refuse matching on grounds of questionable stock.
The second operator I rang blatantly lied to me that the return policy was different and they couldn't match because "they had a 20% restocking fee." Nowhere did it say so in the returns policy section and when I asked her where she found it she told me she rang them up. I then asked for the phone number, which after hanging up (i've decided to buy from the online shop at that point and just wanted to ask about tax invoice), i called the number and it was some random company she probably just pulled off google.
At this stage I was pretty peeved off and I called again just to even the score and the excuse offered this time was the deal isn't "exactly" the same because their shipping takes 1 day and the shipping time quoted on the online site was 5-7 days to metro areas. When I asked her what would happen if I chose to pickup in store instead and how that can be the case if they advertised matching online stores in actual stores she started stuttering and as her english wasn't great I asked for the manager then - three times - before she tried to talk me around the issue. I was then put on hold for half an hour and then told they were all busy and she will get back to me later today after emailing someone higher up.
it seems to be hit and miss depending on the stores and workers at each store but i haven't heard about the head office being this difficult. have anyone else had dodgy experiences with OW trying to get out of pricematches?
it's not worth the stress. if one doesn't match, find another that does. keep going in a cycle until you find an employee that just doesn't give a toss and will price match no questions asked.
always threaten to report to <insert relevant government body here> for deliberately ambiguous policy to make them sweat a little before moving on to the next store.