Comments on: Eleven Tricks Stores Play To Make You Think You’re Getting a Better Deal Than You Are

By: Ariel

Ariel — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:25:04 +0000

The supermarket in my neighborhood like to play bait and switch at their deli… You ask for a product by name brand and they give you whatever is open in that brand and then get irritated when you call them on it… For example – you ask for regular cheese and then they slice you up low sodium cheese in the same brand and label and charge you for the regular brand of cheese. You get home and there is no taste of course to the low sodium cheese and most people would not take it back. This has happened to me too many times to count. They used to slice you up another brand and insist it was the brand you asked for. They do it with all of their meats and cheeses. I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten home to open my deli products and they are not the brand I asked and paid for. I even heard a worker behind the deli one day tell a new worker when I asked for the the cheese – “just slice up whatever it there”. When you bring it back they act like you are a pain for wanting what you paid for. They even went so far as to give me the right product upon return and had the nerve to mark it “no charge” when I was doing an exchange. They never wrote up a return slip just threw the wrong one in the garbage. They even re-designed there deli showcases so that all of the cheeses and prime choice meats are only visable on a vertical display – you cannot see the actual block or meat they take out of the case – you have to follow them to the cutter and strain your neck to see over the top of the counter… It’s sad because its a great store except for the bait & switch at the deli and how do you prove it???

By: 11 Tricks stores use to fool consumers « Close Encounters of the Cheap Kind

11 Tricks stores use to fool consumers « Close Encounters of the Cheap Kind — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:53:21 +0000

[...] Tricks stores use to fool consumers Here is a really good post over at SavingAdvice.com. They detail 11 tricks that stores will use to trick shoppers into thinking they are getting better [...]

By: askprofit

askprofit — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:13:27 +0000

I have fallen victim to the “buy one get one free” scam. I didn’t get anything for free!

By: Jsahko

Jsahko — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 05:33:47 +0000

My newest peeve is when they place sale tags in front of the wrong items. You have to get down on the floor to see what the little sale sign actually says and then it’s in grocery store code – “JWLBRDCHKBRSTSAND 2pkAc 12pc 15oz 2-3.99lb”. You grab one take it up front and it’s NOT on sale at all. It was actually a sign for the store brand next to it or some such thing.

Another recent one is the grocery chain’s deli listing prices by the 1/2 lb. rather than the standard pound. Maddening.

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:10:39 +0000

There was a small Wal-Mart in my home town that had a huge cracker jack display in one of their main aisles. The cracker jacks were marked 10 cents a box forever and then I walked in there one day and the price had gone up to 15 cents but the sign said they were marked down from 20 cents! What a lie! I guess it is possible that they were marked at 20 cents for a couple of hours, but this is just another example of how stores dupe you into thinking you’re buying at a reduced price.

By: Norma Walker

Norma Walker — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:35:17 +0000

I do’t like grocery stores that will put a sale price in front of an item but when you look at the regulat price it is the same.

By: K

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:21:17 +0000

My latest peave is grocery ads where they name a general broad food group (like “General Mills cereal”) for a certain sale price and then put “select varieties”. You can’t tell until you go into the actual store to see what is actually on sale. Sometimes even then it is hard to tell.

By: Raymond

Raymond — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:06:28 +0000

This sort of reminds me of the common ruse that eateries and lunch cafeterias use. They’ll offer you a reasonable price for the main dish/course but then gouge you by jacking up the price for the extra soda or drink. I think people tend to forget that they are merely shifting part of the price from the meal to the drink.

By: Debbie M

Debbie M — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:40:41 +0000

If prices are given for quantities, such as 5 for $2, you may or many not have to buy the quantity given. At most places, you can get the same per-unit price for buying 1 as for buying 5, so don’t buy 5 unless you want to. However at some places there is a higher per-unit price if you don’t buy 5.

I have made both mistakes: I have bought too many because I thought I had to when I didn’t, and I have bought only one thinking I’d get a good price when I didn’t. So ask!

By: Rose

Rose — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:27:50 +0000

The one that irks me is typically found at stores with Frequent Customer cards, such as CVS and Food Lion. They’ll advertise a sale price that’s only good if you have one of their cards. Some cashiers have a dummy card that they’ll use so that all shoppers can get the discount, but I’ve been to some stores that didn’t, and it feels like a bait and switch.