Marketplace
[Note: As I was about to post this I did a google to see if they call it a “guarantee” but it doesn’t seem so. I swear they used to at some point, and have seen references to it in various forum posts/rants, so maybe this is a specific change because they know they suck at honouring it and therefore dilute the language by removing “guarantee”? Regardless, I’ve left “guarantee” because that is the spirit of their claim.]
Hi all,
I’ve been doing price matches/beats at Officeworks for years, and have had overall good experiences and have rarely (if ever) left the store having to pay full price for an item I’ve asked for a price beat on. At worst, I would get the price beat on a slightly more expensive competitor price than I originally hoped for (usually only a couple of dollars less, and mostly because I either missed something or because I couldn’t be bothered pushing it with the staff). I’ve had quite a few times where it took maybe 10 mins of back and forth between staff/managers and referring to the policy (usually when it was a substantial discount on a $100+ item) but I still succeeded.
Not sure how, but a few years ago I managed to get them to price beat an iPhone from an eBay store (non-auction) after arguing with them on the phone for a while.
I’ve also done it at Supercheap Auto, Repco, Petbarn, and Pet Stock with no issue. They've actually been great about it, and my most recent Petbarn experience was amazing because they were happy about it AND looked it up themselves AND found a cheaper price than I did and asked if I had anything cheaper. That was amazing, and was done super quick.
Today I tried to get a price beat on a smart home item (Amazon as the competitor) that was also available at Officeworks. I had a look at this thread and a few others after a quick google, and since the Bunnings price beat was 10% versus Officeworks’ 5%, I thought I’d try Bunnings.
I went into my local Bunnings and went to the service desk. The first (younger) staff member was confused when I mentioned “price beat” and passed it to another staff member.
The second (older) staff member was also confused when I said “price beat” and “corrected” me by saying “price match”. I didn’t want to piss them off so I just let that one go and thought I’d argue that point later if they just matched the Amazon price (as opposed to beating it by 10%).
Anyway, when I said Amazon they said they don’t price match Amazon or eBay. I said they don’t mention that in their policy but they said something along the lines of “that’s how we do it”.
It was almost closing time so I just decided to go to Officeworks before they closed to get my items, as I knew I would get the items and the price beat. If I argued with Bunnings and didn’t get anywhere, I would miss out and not be able to get the items at Officeworks either.
This is pretty shit. I know the policy wording means I should get the price beat, so if I pursued it I’m sure I would eventually get it. That said, it’s a lot of effort. Also, for the average non-OzBargainer out there, it would mean paying more than the store’s (price beat) advertising promises. All because people don’t bother to actually read/explain policies to their staff.
Anyway, just needed the rant. Any similar/different experiences out there?
tl;dr: Bunnings didn’t price match Amazon and gave incorrect/nothing reason and I’m pissed off.
Some discussion here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/759675