Dodgy Officework price-match dodges

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Officeworks

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    Wiz.au on 19/11/2012 - 22:36

    It's just a good negotiation tatic to have the product in your hand, and your wallet in the other, then start telling the saleperson, "I need it for this price or I'll have to leave it here mate"

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  Associatedmikeyb555 @ Officeworks on 15/11/2012 - 12:00

  +4

  Its pretty rare that there is a problem with people not price matching when they should.

  Two things to keep in mind;

  *ow has an rlo warranty for most things <500, ie if something is "broken" you get a new one straight away without having to go through manufacturer. Basically no small computer stores offer this, so it is a genuine reason to refuse a price beat (not often used though)
  *grey importers such as kogan offer a dramatically different warranty, its pretty rare you get people actually angry because we wont match them because they generally already know

  In my experience the push from management has been to make price beats easier not harder over the last 12 months.

  I've found myself refusing more, but that is due to the rise and rise of grey importers. You still get the normal interesting characters as well. I've had;

  *people who have used chrome dev tools to change price and/or stock levels and then printed out
  *someone who wanted to pricematch a price reached after using a special login and a hidden url, on a page which clearly said staff pricing only up the top
  *heaps of people wanting to match amazon/other us stores, in US dollars for starters.

  I've worked for Officeworks but I don't represent them, anything above is my opinion no more than that.

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  Craigowhit on 15/11/2012 - 16:44

  I dont even know why people bother with Officeworks price matching, most good online stores price match, all good retailers price match, plus you should give credit to the store offeringn the good price anyway, and on top of this officeworks online delivery is poor as well.

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    insular on 15/11/2012 - 18:18

    +1

    because that 5% price beat could mean saving an extra $0.20

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      Shout It Out on 15/11/2012 - 21:41

      +1

      I don't think people will be silly enough to go out of their way to save 20 cents????

      I would only price match if the saving was at least $7,- or more and it also depends how much more I would end up spending on fuel just to drive to OW :o)

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        insular on 15/11/2012 - 23:41

        -1

        then you're not a true OZbargainer.

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        jv on 16/11/2012 - 00:42

        +2

        I would only price match if the saving was at least $7

        I won't get out of bed for at least $7.85

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        Shout It Out on 16/11/2012 - 13:38

        Seeing as OW is located at least 10km for all other local relevant shops, it costs me about $1,- extra on petrol and 15 minutes of my time to get there ;o)

        See, if it was a saving of 20 cents online and get stuff posted to me, than yes, I will go for that :oD

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  ezza on 15/11/2012 - 18:16

  +1

  Never had an issue with OW price match. I just know that of its an online site I'm matching to iy must be the same model, in stock and also matches with postage included. No issues here (western subs, Melbourne). I'd say you either aren't matching the Same for Same product or your local store is run by a bunch of goons

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  demere on 15/11/2012 - 22:02

  So far I haven't got any problem with price match at OW. I price match mostly the computer stuffs, like monitors, HDD, keyboard, mouse, moderm router and etc. The reasons why I like to price match with OW because it's 5% cheaper and they don't charge you extra if you using credit card unlike other online computer stores.

  I always walk into the store with the info ready and tell one of the staffs what I want to price match. Show him/her the info then all good and head to the counter, pay and head home happily.

  Just bought the Seagate 3TB Expansion HDD last night. Showed the guy the receipt from http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/84509 and he didn't even ask me any question at all.

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  jv on 15/11/2012 - 22:30

  +1

  Out of the many many times i've asked for a price match, they only refused once because when they called the store, they store did not tell them whether they had stock or not.

  I emailed head office and got a call next day from the manager of the OW store that did not price match and they apologised and gave me the item for free… (It was worth around $30)

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  lplau on 15/11/2012 - 22:44

  +1

  I'd have pretty good experience with price match, i wouldn't go to all the trouble of reporting them to ACCC or anybody at all, because it will be the disadvantage of everybody on ozbargain.

  If you report them, they get investigated or on ACA, they could simply just pay up the fine then strip all the pricematch policy hence never being able to do it again. Then where will ozbargain people go when Dell decides to sell a Logitech G9X mouse for $10, we will have nowhere to go to make sure they honour the price match!

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    tyler.durden on 16/11/2012 - 06:33

    +1

    It's attitude like that
    that lets them get away with misleading advertising…

    IF ACCC looks into it, OW may have to create a clear policy that everyone can read and place in their store.
    They won't be able to give dodgy excuses and there will be consistency in their pricematching.

    I doubt they would take away the pricematch policy, cos that is their main marketing.
    If they took it away, they would be just another stationary store etc..

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  skytree on 16/11/2012 - 10:35

  It's just some of OW's price marketed as rediculous, they should hire some good price investigator to make sure their selling labels are align with the market expectations.

  I used to go OW to price match a Dlink modem router, MSY's selling it at $69 but the OW labeled it as $129, what a riduculous gap, OW matched MSY price eventually. After a week when I went back I found OW changed it to $79, that's the right tag to go, fitting into the market at least.

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  Shout It Out on 16/11/2012 - 17:11

  Well, I just went in to get some Brother labeler tapes price matched. I was served by the manager who I have had a small run in about price matching before.
  Oh my gosh, he could not possibly any more nervous! So unprofessional! He was stuttering and rambling, but he had no choice but to price match thanks to my Samsung tablet :oD

  I just don't know how they can get away with such rip off prices! They charge you $32-$34 for the cartridges and at officetoner.com.au they only charge $16,10 - $16,50 for the same cartridges. That's 50% less! Sure you pay $7,90 for postage for the 3 cartridges that I bought, but I still saved a few bucks and I also needed them today and not next week.

  Full price at OW for the 3 cartridges: $98.56 They had to sell them to me for $53,76

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  Blugok on 16/11/2012 - 22:43

  +6

  My worst experience with OW price beat was at OW Glebe NSW around a year ago.

  Was going to price beat Netgear modem router. The sales person initially was all smiling and willing to assist. After checking that the price was almost half of their RRP, he started to talk some rubbish.

  He said that was online store, OW doesn't do price beat for online store. He argued that store is interstate.
  I replied that was mortar brick store and the store address is just 2km away from Glebe.
  Then he said he will call the store for stock and check with his manager.

  There he went away…. After waiting 20 minutes, he didn't come back and I had to ask other team member on his whereabout.
  The first guy showed up saying that they can't price match as the price was below cost and that's on their price beat policy.
  Obivously, an ozbargainer knows OW doesn't have such policy, and I requested for the evidence. He said that the manager will come over and discuss. He then went away again.
  Fast forward another 20 minutes of waiting, the same guy came back and said ok to pricematch this time ONLY as a favour and giving me lots of saving.

  I told him that there was no such thing as favour or lots of saving, it's their price beat policy and I'm only saving 5%.
  Then I asked him where's the manager? unable to provide evidence about "below cost pricematch policy" so he's hiding?

  He got pissed and told me off that next time I shouldn't bother come to this store.

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    insular on 17/11/2012 - 22:52

    i've had the same case of the disappearing manager. i took a name but never bothered to follow it up.

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  [Deactivated] on 17/11/2012 - 22:13

  +2

  The best one I've heard from OW was when someone tried to pricematch a hard drive from amazon, Officeworks Collingwood threatened to call the police. Makes me feel like boycotting their stores!

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  tyler.durden on 18/11/2012 - 06:04

  +7

  Office works has Lowest Price Guarantee as the marketing slogan…

  But they make you feel like a Criminal when you try to get pricematch…
  It's like they think you are stealing from them..

  When in reality all you're doing is showing them how ridiculously high their prices are

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  pewpewducks on 18/11/2012 - 10:31

  It also depends on who you get, fulltimers are less likely to want to price match compared to casuals.

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    tyler.durden on 18/11/2012 - 12:20

    not true, most of the time it will depend on management, if the price is too low.

    they would go into the room and ask the manager and they come out with some dodgy excuse why they can't price match.

    It's a total con job

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      pewpewducks on 18/11/2012 - 21:56

      i work there.. a lot of the time it really depends who is on and what the item is, ive had some staff members make that excuse and other times someone else just do it because they realise if they dont buy it its going to stay and rot there forever

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  i007791 on 18/11/2012 - 22:12

  +4

  i price matched netgear router last week at OW in my area with an online shop which offered special discount. met with the OW salesman, he wanted to check the online shop website using their OW laptop, couldn't get connected to internet, he walked to the back and reset their internet router … i thought this was a good start. in the online shop checkout, it had free shipping and with special discount code, the final number matched with what i had in my printout. then he asked the online ship number to call and check. he got the number but 'pretended' he could not get through that line. after waiting for 5 min, i lost my patience, i dialed that number using mobile phone and it got connected. spoke to the online shop operator and passed my phone to OW sales man. he was shaken a bit and had a bit of problem with his english over the phone. after 3 min, it was validated, all ok, he went to check out counter and I paid with price match and additional 5% discount…. walked out as a happy customer, it saved me $25

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  GreatWhiteHunter on 19/11/2012 - 12:18

  +2

  I had several failed attempts at getting Hornsby NSW Officeworks to match retailers like MSY and Mwave.

  I ended up sending an email complaint via the Officeworks web site.

  Two days later I got a call from the area manager who said that he understood my complaint and had spoken to the manager at Hornsby store.

  The next two time's I tried similar price matches they went OK.

  If you aren't happy with your Officeworks store then complain…

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  wtfnodeal on 19/11/2012 - 12:38

  +2

  I think it is worth for Consumer Protection to force OW to take off the "Price Beat 5%" ads in front of the stores just what it did to Apple over the New iPad 4G false advertising since OW is backed by Coles. It is misleading that cosumers have the impression they will get 5% off their competitors' prices on identical products in OW.

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  tyler.durden on 19/11/2012 - 15:53

  +1

  Everyone who wants OW to create an official policy

  Contact ACA, so they can look into this

  This is issue has been swept under the rug for a long time.

  Lets shine the spotlight on OW to make them accountable

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    tyler.durden on 19/11/2012 - 19:28

    or contact ACCC, today tonight etc.

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  Gaz1 on 19/11/2012 - 16:30

  +1

  They appear to have changed their "over the phone" policy in recent times.
  I have previously done quite a few price matches over the phone & always been successful, but in recent times they always seem to decline it by saying you can return for any reason at Officeworks, no questions asked, which is almost never possible at most retailers such as MSY.
  Mind you, I have generally still been successful in store, so it appears to be just a change of policy for the over the phone call centre.

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    May4th on 19/11/2012 - 16:45

    that is the other problem. they claim for a pricematch to be honoured the item has to be EXACTLY the same with the EXACT same terms and conditions. however their returns policy is very vague, at least, the ones that are made public which means they can refuse virtually any pricematch, large brick and mortar stores inclusive, if they want to, because no store has the exact same returns policy.

    in effect they pick and choose who they want to price match (and that's usually the big chain stores, their main competitors)

    i asked them about their 'change of mind' returns policy over the phone and their response was you can return it for a full refund whenever, 2 years or 5 years after purchase, as long as you have the receipt.

    i'd be interested to know if anyone has ever taken them up on that

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  Wiz.au on 19/11/2012 - 22:20

  OK, My story with OW this week:
  OW have the Canon LiDE Scanner for $165.
  I found it ADVERTISED for $129 and in stock at Landmark Computers (lmc.com.au) which have 4 retail stores.

  When I took the advertisement to OW, the male rooster other wise known as a "Coc_"head checked his price and couldn't match it, so gave me some phoooey that he would only match it if he included the $15 freight cost to get it here. I mentioned that no where in the policy did it say that, and he pointed me to the "online" section of the fine print. I disputed the fact I was buying it online, as I could pick it up from any of the the Landmark retail stores, that this was not an "online ONLY" price, it was a price in a retail store. He said the Lanmark store is in Melbourne, and "we don't price match if the shop is in a different state". Again, I asked him to show me this in the terms and conditions, and he simply pointed out that he can only match the price of the product landed here, so had to include the $15 freight. I countered again that I am not buying it online, so you cannot add the freight charges, as I can purchase it, or have it purchased for me, from any one of the 4 retail outlets for $129, no more. At that stage I'd had enough and left the shop as it was clear this guy was going to do everything he could not to match the $129 as it was below his min sell price.

  When I got home, I rang OW and the call centre person after a bit of chatter told me he would check it out. When he returned he advised me that Landmark had a restocking fee for returned items (same as poster above) and that OW have a full refund "change of mind" return, so the "product" is not "identical". What a load of crock! That's a "RETURN POLICY" not a description of the product!

  I voted with my money and bought one from Landmark, and paid the shipping which still cost less than Officeworks price.

  As a side note, Harris Technology, another branch of Coles Myer like Officeworks, would go down as low as $140, with free pickup from the same Officeworks store. I nearly did this just to see the look on the guys face as I walked out the same store where he lost the sale with the same product at a lower price. Like, I would have even been happy if the OW roosterhead has said "Sorry mate, $XXX.xx is the lowest I can go, how about that?" I may have said yeah, OK, that's close enough. But he just had attitude as soon as I asked for a price match for $129. I nearly walked out before he even started because of the attitude I got when he realised he couldn't match it.

  My other issue is that they are now advertising "Lowest Price Checks 2x per day". OK, So you know other stores have the same Canon scanner for $129, I've even done your work for you. So why haven't you lowered your price from $165 yet???

  OW are full of shite!

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    May4th on 19/11/2012 - 22:40

    that restocking fee sounds like the standard lie they are trained tell to get people to give up, and it's given as a reason to refuse pricematch when they have not actually called up the store to check.

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    Associatedronnknee @ Officeworks on 20/11/2012 - 01:27

    +6

    "I disputed the fact I was buying it online, as I could pick it up from any of the the Landmark retail stores … the Lanmark store is in Melbourne, and "we don't price match if the shop is in a different state""

    So were you planning to drive interstate and buy the scanner in Melbourne?

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    Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 20/11/2012 - 11:57

    +1

    The petrol would cost more than the delivery cost…..this is all kinds of funny.

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    tyler.durden on 20/11/2012 - 22:32

    +1

    You should complain to ACCC. If enough ppl complain to ACCC they will look into this.

    OW would then need to put up an official policy instore and online.

    That way they can't make dodgy excuses since we can then say where in the policy are you referring to this.

    Without an official policy
    they can make up anything and we can't argue or take legal action.

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  peterpeterpumpkin on 20/11/2012 - 17:17

  To be honest, I'm surprised any company would overstate price matching claims after Flight Centre and Video Ezy were disciplined. I've never price matched at OfficeWorks so can't bear witness to specific cases, but I am extremely intolerant of deceptive advertising and labelling. Note that from a legal standpoint "deceptive advertising" doesn't have to be false - just deceptive. TPG was taught an expensive lesson in this…

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  mangoman on 21/11/2012 - 12:03

  Can you please post the examples of what you are trying to price match?

  If you are trying to price match something it must be cheap, and this is ozbargain…..
  It would also back up the validity of your claims

  Also if you call someone, it is difficult to validate your claim, especially if its oh i have this piece of paper…. But i suspect its more a case of you found a little internet store with a price and they are either charging high delivery fees to make up the price or are out of stock because they sold out so quick.

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    May4th on 22/11/2012 - 11:47

    well you see internet stores have websites which you can direct them to. it was the asus tablet from flingshot with free delivery.

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      Associatedronnknee @ Officeworks on 22/11/2012 - 13:16

      Looking at Flingshot now, the Asus Transformer 32 GB + Dock is not identical to the one Officeworks sells. The difference is the colour (grey vs champagne gold). I don't know why the people you spoke to could not have simply pointed that out.

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        May4th on 22/11/2012 - 15:21

        +1

        that's because the sale was two weeks ago on the gold version. yeah if it was that simple OW staff would have picked that out, it's a much better reason to refuse a pricematch than making up phone numbers

        oh yeah i forgot to mention, they called me later saying the shop looks "dodgy" (exact quote) as the address supplied is not valid. i google mapped the warehouse address on the flingshot website and it pinpointed the place straight away. i guess they must have checked it on apple maps or something ;)

        it's bullshit like that which destroys your store image which they spend millions in advertising to polish, i don't understand why the management fail to see that

• Officeworks @ Officeworks on 23/11/2012 - 12:00 Comment score below threshold.
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    May4th on 23/11/2012 - 13:13

    where is the detail in terms and conditions there officeworks? what does identical item with identical terms and conditions mean? how do we shop with confidence when staff at your head office gives false and fabricated information to avoid price match on legitimately identical items?

    how about some clear terms and consistency across stores and drawing up better protocols for price matches and training your staff better?

    we don't ask for much, only that you honour what is advertised and not being made to feel like a thief exhorting money directly out of your staff's pay check while we are at it.

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    insular on 23/11/2012 - 14:42

    +6

    love it. completely oblivious to the discussion that's been going on here. officeworks copies and pastes the same ambiguous gibberish off their website.

    neg him down to hell!

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    muzzamo on 30/11/2012 - 12:21

    +1

    lol the first rule of social media is to not paste press release/official gibberish in response to complaints

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  kermuffle on 25/11/2012 - 17:38

  maybe we should start at new thread or sticky of officeworks stores that actually price match, and/or who to contact within those stores to get a deal, and vice versa

  e.g.
  officeworks box hill south - not good for price matching
  one of the staff memberds told me: manager isn't letting them price match, auspost is selling hard drives at a loss (lol), officeworks doesn't match officeworks prices, officeworks doesn't match pictures of recepits, officeworks doesn't match receipts from interstate etc.

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    Associatedronnknee @ Officeworks on 26/11/2012 - 02:39

    +2

    I can confirm that copies of receipts (even from Officeworks itself) are not sufficient proof for price match. The price may have been exclusive to that particular customer, due to error, or available only at the time of transaction. The store that is being price matched still gets called to verify their price and stock quantity. If the store is located interstate, the shipping fee is added.

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  Hintswen on 29/11/2012 - 23:32

  I called officeworks on Monday at 7:30pm to ask if they will price match a NAS form an online store. The store I wanted to price match from said they have over 5 available but the Officeworks employee said he needs to call and make sure they have them in stock so they will call me back the next day once they confirm it.

  Tuesday:
  Waiting waiting waiting. 4PM I decide to call them back, guess what they suddenly don't price match "special order" products because they aren't "In stock" at officeworks. WHY COULDN'T THEY TELL ME THAT THE DAY BEFORE!

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  tyler.durden on 07/12/2012 - 06:24

  Guys/Gals

  I suggest anyone who has an issue with OW, please contact ACCC.
  If enough people complain then it becomes a national issue and they will look into this..

  I already made a complaint with the ACCC.

  I suggest everyone who hates OW dodgy LPG policy, complain to ACCC.

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