I just received my free Vistaprint stubbie coolers using the $30 voucher. Instead of receiving 3 free coolers, I received a box full of them (over 50!)…
I've also managed to effectively pay just over $170 for a new Galaxy S3 because of a more-than-likely price error on Kogan's website and a claim via 28 Degrees price protection.
Anyone have other great stories?
I would love to know more about your 28 Degrees price protection thing. I have a 28 Degs card but haven't heard of this!
call 28 degrees and ask if you can sign up for price protection. essentially they say if you purchase something and within 6 months, the price drops by more than $10 at the same store, you can claim the difference.
so buy a new phone for $800, then claim $300 difference 6 months later. you just need to provide screenshots.
the only catch is there is a fee of .5% of the closing balance, or something. but if you pay your whole card balance off before your statement is generated, there is no fee
"Shopper’s Protection insurance premiums are calculated each month at 0.5% of the monthly closing account balance of your 28 Degrees MasterCard. (For example, if your closing balance is $2,000, your Shopper’s Protection insurance premium for that month will be $10.)"
Never think of it. That's really good.
But 28 degrees doesn't have extended warranty for the purchase. I get 2 years with westpec, but westpec's price protection is not good at all - only 21 days and have to be over $75.
Westpac has a similar protection on some of their cards. Within 21 days, price diff has to be over $75 and is limited to $300- just some of the conditions. It comes free though.
Check your statement regarding those stubbie holders.
order total says 'FREE'
Bought a $200+ textbook off abebooks; never got charged for it
I suppose I should add mine.
About 1.5yrs ago saw a pricing error on the Dell website. 24" HD monitor for $0. Thought I may as well give it a go, nothing to lose. And they honoured it! Using it right now actually. It's a good monitor, a U2412M :)
Dell's $9 printer. The crappy $9 ones ran out of stock so they replaced it with a $100+ wireless printer.
Dell are really awesome when honoring deals :)
I got same thing with one of their monitors. Got a cheapy Dell monitor for $250. They ran out of stock, replaced it with a $500+ one.
now that i think about i think i told them i wanted a $9 refund.. guess i should have looked up the replacement model :/
Hhaahahah. unlucky.
You seem like a bit of a nightmare buyer.
Paypal disputing isn't meant to be a bargain and something to brag about
no. in the US citizens are more savvy to get the best deal from shylocks
I wouldn't say i'm a nightmare buyer. I've bought a lot of crap from China with pieces missing etc etc. They never reply so i lodge a dispute to try and work it out. They don't reply and i end up geting a full refund. That's what paypal dispute is for if you have an issue with an item…which i did.
U can't say someone is a nightmare buyer because they paid for a faulty item or items and then lodged a dispute about it.. That's what it's there for. If item is listed as 'partly broken' then fair enough, but otherwise i'd always dispute something that is not as described. If sellers don't like that concept then maybe they shouldn't be in that business…
A couple of weeks ago a kid at Coles forgot to charge me $30. I pointed it out to him.
very honest of you.
good work
that's nice of you because it would probably have come out of the kid's pay if you didn't
Does any other credit card offer price protection for price depreciation of purchases like that with the 28 degrees card?
CBA Platinum and Diamond do
Thanks. I've had a dig around and it seems that they have a guaranteed pricing scheme which is similar, but it's within 21 days and difference has to be over $75. Time frame's a little short, but I guess worth keeping in mind.
I asked for half a kilo of chicken breast at Coles and the girl put the normal amount on the scales. It only read 200gms so she kept piling it on. I took the package and walked straight to the fruit scales and it was well over 1.2kg. I should have gone back and grabbed a couple of lobsters which would have been a bargain if she used the same scales.
Not cool at all.
I'm told the employee would have had to put in the difference to make the books balance at day's end at Aust Post.
I don't know that an employer can do that.
YOu've been told wrong.
They may do it, but I do not believe they can lawfully do so. Do you reckon that chefs who burn a steak get charged for that or a waitress who drops a glass get charged for that? Employee stuff ups are a cost of business.
waitress who drops a glass, whether she have to pay or not depends on the owner. It depends on the situation.
overcook a steak, the restaurant staff will share it in the kitchen, business will cope with that. Chef will be fired if he is constantly wasting food though.
balancing the till is completely different story.
That is to prevent people looking after the till took money from it.
if they dont have to make the difference then they can make mistakes occasionally in their favour and will never got caught.
(work at a restaurant before and have experience with chef/waiter/cashier)
I remember that a long time ago a certain major food retailer would make checkout operators pay any register shortfall.
On the other hand any register surpluses were kept by the business. :-(
So stealing is something to be proud of? You can try to justify it in your mind as a freebee, but it's just plain theft.
Hope you got your ticket for the karma bus
Shame on you.
We are here for bargains.. not to steal.
Got someone to sign up for an oe and sm ING account (for the $50 bonuses), however one account got two lots of $50 by mistake. He called up ING to report the error and they said he could keep it, awesome.
super cheap auto had missing numbers on there gas swap and go bottles…
said .99c the 37 happened to fall of the front…
The kid rang his state supervisor on Australia day after arguing with me that he wouldnt accept that price,
Well I won. .99c refill, Now its written in permanant marker not stick on's
Same happened to me at Big W at xmas time, 1kg pascal lollies had price tag of $1.99 so I bought 15 to give to my familly and friends, Turns out the 1 from $11.99 fell of… Still got them all for $1.99 ;)
ha ha ha classic!
"happened" to fall…
Yup, I watched it for a month, thought someone elce would have scored it, I got a photo of it, And no I didnt peel it off..
I figgured it was super cheap living upto there name…
Awesome thread!
How interesting that essentially everything in here is cheating of some form or other. Except for maybe the Dell and some credit card deals.
However everyone feels entitled to cheat (or not to point out pricing errors) when we are dealing with a large organisation. Where as as in the case of the 184 $ coming out of a Post employee's pay sounds like stealing (-17 Votes) even when it is financially more or less the same as getting 200$ books for free from Abebooks (+ 6 votes).
Both are about equally dishonest and involve a mistake on the vendor's end.
Dan Arieley has done a lot of interesting studies on dishonesty and I'd strongly recommend his books if you were interested in understanding the reasons behind our justifications. keep em coming guys.
nice try, dan ariely
I agree, there are people here that are more dishonest than what I had posted. There was a question and I answered. I was 16 years old when it happened. The cashier that did do the transaction was the owner and I had reported 3 times to Australia Post a scam that was happening with Australia Post which was making you pay example: $10.00 in postage but only sticking $7 on in stamps instead of using the electronic sticker postage that they now use. I do not see how what I did was any less honest than a company working along side the Australia Government scamming the normal person out of money. This came to my attention when a customer was told there was not enough postage on the parcel.
No one had $184 taken out of there pay
People take advantage of Pricing errors everyday at the chance of saving an excess amount of money. This is worst knowing your visiting a store your about to defraud there system and again, how is not being honest? And then wingding about it threatening to get Department of Fair trading ect to review the dishonor. Practice what you preach.
There have been a lot of dishonest deals on OzBargain. Including the time where Pizza Hut coupon was giving free items with zero cost. A member of OzBargain reported this as a honest person on the Facebook Page of Pizza Hut and was later than getting Facebook inbox's with threats and abuse, as well as here on the Forum getting abused and bullied for a display picture he had on Facebook. Those members did receive a temporary ban from OzBargain, how do I know this? Because that person that reported that coupon error was me. Do not start the blame game and "Shame on you". I'm sure there was one thing in your life you are not happy with. The difference is I accepted this and posted it, you sit back hiding it and putting crap on other people.
Moots,
Sorry to take your example, I just wanted to highlight some interesting books I read on the same topic.
Didn't meant to suggest that you were dishonest. Not sure why the comment was so divisive.
Great thread.
How many times have you been given wrong change and didn't notice it. Or bought something that was was not right or paid too much for something. So it goes both ways. Sometimes you win some like the book or other pricing errors that might come your way and sometimes you lose if you get overcharged for examples in restaurants if you don't check the bill everytime or in a supermarket if something scans incorrectly and you don't notice it. The restaurant or supermarket happens all the time I reckon.
How many times have you been given wrong change and didn't notice it. Or bought something that was was not right or paid too much for something.
As per the studies in the book, it is around 40 to 50 % of people who report / return wrong change.
And that figure drops to 20 % if the receiver perceives the giver as rude. all empirically tested.
dealman i worked for big company to many years. what i can tell u shock u with there mistakes. just so u know dose not come out of employee pay some in head office might lose there job but that it.
I actually had a minor case of this last night, when I headed to Woolies last-minute to take advantage of the half price Tim Tams. I grabbed a box off the shelf, which holds 12, and piled on another 4 for a total of 16: 10 original, 2 caramel and 4 dark choc. I had the 10 original in a box and 2 of the dark choc, the rest were loose. I got home and realised that I had only been charged for 8 original, so only 14 in total instead of 16. The cashier must've miscalculated the amount in the box, or something. Scored 2 free packs of Tim Tams :)
which tim tam did you like the most….
the Original, The Caramel or….. The Dark chola….
15 years ago or so my mum grabbed a box of toothpaste (12 tubes in a box) as it was on special at safeway. got to the cash register and they scanned it. the bar code on the outside was for an individual tube. mum says she only realised after she got home and checked her receipt.
hmmm I paid for a Microsoft Surface and never got it…. is that a bargain?
What the???
When the first PS3 slim was released I scored one for $79 delivered from JB hifi after a price error, I'm still using it now.
But in saying that over the years they've got plenty more money out of me because most electronics in my house are from my local JB as they have excellent service and have looked after me well.
When I was on holidays in Queensland my mates go a kilo of prawns for free from Coles because they had the wrong price up, they were happy for us to have them for free instead of the correct price because they said it was their fault.
@Gotbean
I'm glad your order worked out in your favour mine was the opposite they failed to put it through when I emailed them they fixed it but when it arrived it was missing items, the bag for the item was there just no item in the bag.
Was buying some bananas at Woolies, went t o the self serve and the scale didn't read the bananas. Paid 70-90cents for 5-6 bananas.
Bad ass deal.
i dont think fruit and such should be able to go through self serve, it doesnt get used right
I think if Coles/Safeway want me to be a checkout chick without paying me, passing on the savings or even giving me proper training to use the self-checkout then I don't see a problem in it.
Same thing happened to me, was going to put down a heavy pumpkin ~ 5 kg, when the scales just got a bit of weight, it registered 0.001 kg, so I got it for $0.00
My bf bought an icecream got too much change back so gave it back to be recalculated and still gave too much back, we gave up and left
I ordered a few things from vista print… They never showed up, and a month after the expected EDD, I ended up getting a refund.
2 days later, the items showed up in the mail…
Lucky me I guess.
However, about 10 years back I asked one of my suppliers for a quote on a projector… The cost should have been about 10k. When the quote came back, it was only for about $1500. As tempted as I was to order 10 at that price, I did do the honest thing.
I also get offers for many things - sign this telco contract, and I'll put an iPad in your car boot.. Or buy this photocopier and a TV will show up on your home doorstep.. I never take it, not only because it's unethical, but if I got found out, then my career and reputation would be destroyed… But it obviously happens enough for offers to be made.
Where do you live? The Bronx?
I think its common for a purchasing manager to be offered those extras..
what sort of companies would have 'purchasing managers' like this? I want to get my self a job like this for the future :P
What airzone says is true. Say no thanks to the gifts and it will save a lot of problems later on.
I went to a certain fast food mexican restaurant. Girl behind the counter was a real douche.
I Gave a $10 note, she gave me change for a $50…took 2 steps away then decided to order a drink. I Gave a $20 note, she again gave me change for a $50…
I was paid $75 to eat fast food Mexican.
I don't count the above as being dishonest. It's their error.
I have friends who create fake websites for dodgy price matches from OW and others, others who just put expensive fruits and vegies thru self-serve Coles checkouts as "unwashed potatoes" and others who regularly call to make fake complaints about delivered food (crust, pizza hut etc) to get free vouchers in the mail. THOSE I consider dodgy and I think those people are dicks.
Why do you have dick friends?
Wow, thats more than just being a dodgy dick. Thats pretty much scam/fraud…
It may be their error, but that doesn't mean you're not dishonest if you realise their mistake but decide to pocket it anyway.
hahaha, nice. I can understand the mistake being made once but twice is hilarious!
How did it happen. Assuming your drink was <$10, you gave her a $20. If she was giving the change for $50, there would have been 2x$20 notes plus change. How does one not see the mistake of giving a customer TWO OF THE NOTES when he just handed you ONE a few seconds ago!!
I was literally laughing when I walked out :-)
I once had the bank error in my favour: collect $200. I was driving a hat at the time so the bank must have felt sorry for me :(
7 years ago there was a deal where you could get a free xbox 360 when you signed up to an Optus plan through a reseller (Crazy Johns or Allphones or ???). I signed up, took the xbox home and then the next day took advantage of the Optus 15 day cooling off period for bad connectivity. Only had to pay for current usage which was about $6!
I had to return the phone and they sent a courier bag for it. I was fully expecting to be required to return the xbox too but they said that wasn't part of the monthly plan so I could just keep it.
Nice! I think I remember that deal.
errr… the best I got is this…
I went into JB and looked at the 2 for $40 range of games. Told the guy "Can I just buy one for $20 and not 2 for $40?". Guy accepted and stuck a $20 sticker on it.
I know.
lol. you need to work on your bargain skills.
No wait! I remembered a slightly better one!
Ordered a Steelseries headphone online at JB and they sent me a faulty one. Emailed them back and forth and ended up sending it back to their expense to get a replacement. Also they refunded me back the full fee + shipping cost (then would pay again). Some days later, the replacement came and worked fine, but forgot to charge the $9 shipping fee!
TL:DR Save $9 on delivery!
"lol. you need to work on your bargain skills."
teach me bargain sensei!!
ummm it happened with me a lot but the best are with apple ;)
the first time it was with my Iphone 4 32gb, after 3-4 replacements with refurbished iphones which there were faulty they decided they will give me a brand new phone but there is non in stock neither iphone 4 or 4s so the gave me brand new iphone 5 ;) but the took the box :(
the second time with my ipad2, it was registered with applecare but somehow its not registered in their system so when I had problem with it I went to apple store and they told me its out of warranty, I had to call applecare to confirm its under the warranty (and thank god I did not throw the receipt) after 30 min in phone they give me $100 credit to buy anything from their website plus they replaced my ipad with ipad 4 ;)
by the way I bought the ipad second hand very cheap :P
when i saw this deal http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/95219 for Laphroaig 10 Year Old Scotch Whisky $63.90 @ Dans
noticed a price error where six bottles cost $63.90. I ordered 12 bottles.
got a call from dans saying my money would be refunded and that they are giving me a bottle for FREE.
I got a new phone through Virgin on a $50 plan. The thing was not delivered to me so they delivered another instead. Part of the deal was that I get 3 months of rental free, but because their records showed two phones ordered I received the discount twice. I even rang Virgin to alert them to this error but they just kept assuming it was an error in the way I was reading the bill (and could not answer me when I asked why then I had a balance of -90 dollars when I rang). I ended up giving up and essentially got the 6 months free instead of 3.
About ten years ago when my twin daughters were 13 we went to Vodafone and let them pick out their first mobile phone. The paperwork was done with each girl being direct debited for the handset only and they put prepaid sims in them. Not long after the store relocated and due to the confusion the direct debits never started. Months later I got a letter about one of the accounts, saying I needed to come back in as there was a small discrepancy in the paperwork. Yeah right, small discrepancy like you lost the contract. I ignored it. Soon after the debits started on one girls account, but the other one was never charged a cent.
A few years ago we had some new driveway gates made - the job was to manufacture the gates and install them, cost well over $1,000. We got home from work the day they installed them to find that the design was not what we had ordered. My wife insisted that they remove them and replace with the correct gates, which they said they would do. Despite a few follow up calls we waited…and waited…and they never showed up or sent a bill. So we ended up getting them for free, and fortunately although it is not exactly what we wanted, the design is not too bad, so have got used to it.
I recently bought a tennis racquet from a uk site, it was priced at ~AU$130 which was good enough to buy, but I wanted to check I was getting a decent exchange rate so switched the pricing to pounds and was £89, so that was close enough, I switched back to $AU to buy it and it now said $89! So I paid that, it went through no probs and was sent express post, I had it 3 days later =)
Another time when the Sims 3 had just come out, I was in Kmart and saw all the old Sims 2 packs were on sale for $20 and they had put a $20 sticker on Sims 3 also, so I got that for $20 instead of the $70-80 it was supposed to be.
Tried to buy a 3-pack of glass baking dishes at Coles that had a clearance price of $15. They wouldn't scan at self-scan, so we got one of the employees to give us a hand. It wouldn't scan for him either, so he went to check the price, came back and confirmed it was $15. We're still not sure why, but he typed in $0.01 as the price into the register and told us to have a really nice day! That was pretty cool.
Had a few other things over time, but my shocking memory is failing me right now.
The poster above reminded me that I got the Sims 2 + University for $30 when that was released. Loved that, considering The Sims 2 on its own was still $70.
Bought the Acer A500 October 2011 for $389 from OW. The price fell to $249 less than a week later, so I went back and asked if they could refund the difference. They did, and I was happy, as it was so unexpected - only having to pay $250 for it, instead of nearly the $400 I was prepared to pay.
The 3DS XL receipt fiasco a while back that a clerk accidentally processed for $120. I ended up buying ten 3DS XL for $120 from two different Target stores. Paid cash for intractability purposes.
The question is, did I broden them? Technically no, however that would involve a long winded explanation of the broden concept. So yes I did, but in my rebuttal it "fell in my favor"
Woot woot! That must be the sound of the neg train steaming ahead…
since we're so big on technicalities now, you should know those purchases didn't technically "fall" in your favour. You actively sought it out and that, to me, is nothing short of dishonesty.
Yes I agree it was dishonest in that regard. They pricematched a receipt but that is as dishonest as it got. If something falls in your favor like certain other ozbargainers have posted here and it is not reported, to me that is not any less dishonest. There is no denying that it would have been exploited on OB had it of been a coupon uploaded which the company had left out "must be original coupon."
vengeful much? Yes, i do admit i might have indulged in transgressions that i'm not proud of, but i learn from my mistakes and in the process try to be a better person. However i must have failed spectacularly along the way because from the way you put my personal flaws, anyone would think they're as easily found as students in a school and as numerous as the stars. So pray tell, where was i accused of exhibiting a similar behaviour? As far as i can recall, none of my unwanted behaviour involved an intentional act of price-matching in view of profit (which is purely a speculation on my part as you could have given those 3DS XLs away, but really). In fact, i don't think i've ever price-matched anything in my life. Thought about it? Sure. Attempted it? Almost. Actually did it? Don't think so.
I would also like to point out to you that i never said your behaviour was "unethical". Whatever conclusions you may draw, or have drawn, from my comment was purely conjecture and presumption on your part. Don't put words in my mouth (or rather in this case, text in my keyboard).
Ok sheesh calm down. That is what you called your own behaviour when the shoe was on the other foot. Yes, I'm sure ozbargain has improved our values and made us better people just like everyone in prison says they are innocent. The 3DS XL was some friends and profit too.
Some people just can't face the facts and try to make excuses by justifying their behaviour against the behaviour of others. Typical religious righteousness. Unlike you I am not ashamed of my behaviour or condone the actions of others when certain hypocrisy is at play. So lets move on.
Clearance shoe sale at Myer, the sales assistant actually asked my sister what size she was and went out the back and brought out a heap of shoes in her size for her. Scanned the pair that she liked down to $5.00, they were priced at $130!
she was being hit on
haha…the sales lady was about 45!
gross ;)
Sister bought an LCD TV with a supposedly compatible Skype cam that costed $30. Found out that it was an older, incompatible camera model and we needed the newer $90 version. Went back to JB Hi-FI and they not only posted out the newer camera for free but they also refunded the $30.
Have received some nice bargains at Coles:
Expensive tomatoes for the price of cheaper tomatoes, system didn't ask to specify which
Got 4-pack Red Bull 250mL cans for price of 1 can. I wondered why the price was so cheap, the scale complained that it weighed too much but the girl came over and punched in some codes without saying a word. After looking at the receipt it seemed the system registered only 1 can. Possibly from reading the barcode of one of the cans.
Nice work!