Tuesday my wife sends me an IM at work, "I think the coffee machine is dead, I think." I remembered that it had been leaking over the weekend, so I IM her back that it probably is and we should start looking for a new one. We both like to have espresso drinks every now and then, so I consider looking at combination machines that will do both coffee and espresso. I find one on Amazon and IM her with the link. However, I remember seeing that JcPenney was having a sale on kitchen stuff. Over Christmas we had purchased a cookware set for roughly half off the regular price of almost $400. It's a nice set and so far it has been great stuff. So I head over to JcPenney's website.
While I'm browsing their site, I come across a combination ( Espresso/Coffee ) machine. It is the same brand as the cookware we purchased. It is also on sale for $79.99!! As you can see, it is normally priced at $159.99!!! What a great buy! I IM my wife again and tell her to take a look. She likes it.
I use their handy-dandy feature of "finding it in the local store" and sure enough, they have one in stock at the store in the mall. So I decide to drop in after work and buy one. Here's a better look at it:
Once in the store, however, this story goes South. I make my way to the housewares department and start looking for the coffee machines. I see one that looks exactly like the model I wanted, but it is on sale for $119.00. It is the same original price ( $159.99 ), and it is the spitting image of the one I saw on the web.
Sorry about the picture quality. I took the picture with my cel phone.
Some guy wearing a suit and holding a radio asks if he can help me. I tell him my story, "I saw the coffee machine on the web site, it was $79.99." I go further and ask him if this is the one advertised on the web. He escorts me to the register and the girl there brings up the web site. Sure enough, it shows the sale price of $79.99. However, the web site in the store shows an actual price of $119.99. On the web it shows an actual price of $79.99. In the picture below, I am referring to the price to the right of the regular price of $159.99 ( under the "Now" column ). Remember, at the cash register, the cashier had brought up the same item and it displayed, $119.99 as the actual price. I wish I had a picture of that, but the opportunity did not present itself. But this is what it shows on the Internet website as of two days after my purchase.
He tells me that if I had tried to purchase over the web, I'd have actually paid $119.99. I tell him that my wife and I have been JcPenneys customers for a long time. We've bought clothes, bedding, all kinds of stuff and recently dropped $200 on cookware. He says to me, "Well, the price is $119.99 and it does show $79.99 as the sale price in the web site. I'll tell you what, I'll split the difference with you." Sounds pretty good, I think. He's actually trying to keep me as a customer. He isn't denying that some error has been made, and it's their mistake. So I accept and buy the coffee machine for roughly $99 plus all applicable Kansas taxes ( city, county, state, etc . . . Kansas loves to tax ).
It works ok that night. The instructions aren't very good. They're written as if the author had better things to do with their time, but I work my way through it and make some coffee, espresso, and even froth some milk to make the kids some vanilla steamers. Having had a coffee/espresso machine before, I can honestly say that the frothing component of this model worked very, very well compared to the last Krups machine we had. However, that was the only night the machine worked. The next day it would no longer make coffee. It quit working. I took the machine back to the store the next day and they did credit my account for the purchase ( I used a debit card ).
So why am I posting this story with all the pictures and dwelling on the pricing? After all, the manager tried to work with me and keep me as a customer. Also, I did get my money back. Well, for two days after the purchase I paid attention to the web site. I expected they would correct the mistake. It doesn't seem as if they are going to do that.
Furthermore, there is the discrepancy of what they showed me in the store ( about their monitor showing an actual price of $119.99 versus the screen print of $99.99 ). My point is, make sure you do your research concerning sales on the web. I know that sometimes retailers like to run specials that are for the web site only, but there is nothing on the pages above that indicates this was a "web site only" sale. If you try to buy the item over the web, it will tell you that the item is currently unavailable. So, you must go into the store to buy the item. However, when you go into the store to buy the item they have a sign that advertises the item on sale for $119.99. I took the cell phone picture of the item on display in the store last night when I got my money back. The screen prints are from this morning - two days after I bought the coffee maker. So, I guess we'll be looking for our coffee machine a bit longer than I expected.
I use their handy-dandy feature of "finding it in the local store" and sure enough, they have one in stock at the store in the mall. So I decide to drop in after work and buy one. Here's a better look at it:
Once in the store, however, this story goes South. I make my way to the housewares department and start looking for the coffee machines. I see one that looks exactly like the model I wanted, but it is on sale for $119.00. It is the same original price ( $159.99 ), and it is the spitting image of the one I saw on the web.
Sorry about the picture quality. I took the picture with my cel phone.
Some guy wearing a suit and holding a radio asks if he can help me. I tell him my story, "I saw the coffee machine on the web site, it was $79.99." I go further and ask him if this is the one advertised on the web. He escorts me to the register and the girl there brings up the web site. Sure enough, it shows the sale price of $79.99. However, the web site in the store shows an actual price of $119.99. On the web it shows an actual price of $79.99. In the picture below, I am referring to the price to the right of the regular price of $159.99 ( under the "Now" column ). Remember, at the cash register, the cashier had brought up the same item and it displayed, $119.99 as the actual price. I wish I had a picture of that, but the opportunity did not present itself. But this is what it shows on the Internet website as of two days after my purchase.
He tells me that if I had tried to purchase over the web, I'd have actually paid $119.99. I tell him that my wife and I have been JcPenneys customers for a long time. We've bought clothes, bedding, all kinds of stuff and recently dropped $200 on cookware. He says to me, "Well, the price is $119.99 and it does show $79.99 as the sale price in the web site. I'll tell you what, I'll split the difference with you." Sounds pretty good, I think. He's actually trying to keep me as a customer. He isn't denying that some error has been made, and it's their mistake. So I accept and buy the coffee machine for roughly $99 plus all applicable Kansas taxes ( city, county, state, etc . . . Kansas loves to tax ).
It works ok that night. The instructions aren't very good. They're written as if the author had better things to do with their time, but I work my way through it and make some coffee, espresso, and even froth some milk to make the kids some vanilla steamers. Having had a coffee/espresso machine before, I can honestly say that the frothing component of this model worked very, very well compared to the last Krups machine we had. However, that was the only night the machine worked. The next day it would no longer make coffee. It quit working. I took the machine back to the store the next day and they did credit my account for the purchase ( I used a debit card ).
So why am I posting this story with all the pictures and dwelling on the pricing? After all, the manager tried to work with me and keep me as a customer. Also, I did get my money back. Well, for two days after the purchase I paid attention to the web site. I expected they would correct the mistake. It doesn't seem as if they are going to do that.
Furthermore, there is the discrepancy of what they showed me in the store ( about their monitor showing an actual price of $119.99 versus the screen print of $99.99 ). My point is, make sure you do your research concerning sales on the web. I know that sometimes retailers like to run specials that are for the web site only, but there is nothing on the pages above that indicates this was a "web site only" sale. If you try to buy the item over the web, it will tell you that the item is currently unavailable. So, you must go into the store to buy the item. However, when you go into the store to buy the item they have a sign that advertises the item on sale for $119.99. I took the cell phone picture of the item on display in the store last night when I got my money back. The screen prints are from this morning - two days after I bought the coffee maker. So, I guess we'll be looking for our coffee machine a bit longer than I expected.
I'd recommend contacting your state attorney general's office. I believe this is against the law, they use the website to advertise the product for instore purchase and then attempt to charge you more than the advertised price. I do believe that is illegal.
Hey Chris, thanks for weighing in.
I gave some thought to that prior to posting this. I haven't really made up my mind at this point, however I did send this story to The Consumerist.com. Even if I don't get a hold of the AG, the story will get more eyes on it.
An update to this: The Consumerist did post this story to their site! The Consumerist rocks!!
I wonder how many folks they've taken advantage of that didn't pay attention to the differences on the web and in the store....and then bought the sales clerk's story that he probably just pulled out of his ass....
Did you feel a bit like "60 minutes" and you were out exposing JCPenny's hidden secrets?