Borders bookstore - false advertising?

Factual Questions
1

So I stroll into a Borders with my family, and on the door is a big red poster reading:

Buy 4, get the 5th free.

It doesn’t mention what it applies to, but it does mention what it excludes:

  • Gift cards
  • Previous purchases
  • Online purchases
    (Also, the free item must be the least expensive one. Note that the word “item” was used; it did not say “book”, “cd”, etc.)

So we pick up 5 DVDs and bring them to the counter, where the clerk informs us that, “Sorry, it’s only for books.” After double-checking the poster and a futile call to the manager, we give up and purchase the 5 DVDs anyway.

But isn’t this false advertising? Shouldn’t one of our DVDs be free?

2

You should have stayed for the Manager to show up.

A few months ago, a register clerk at Borders once told me that my $20 credit (from a previous return)had expired.

“Bullshit!” I replied quietly. “Call the boss, please.”

He did, and I got the credit - swiftly and painlessly as if I had offered cash.

I think some store managers tell their clerks one thing, but when a customer is the least bit aggressive, the Manager caves.

And yes! That was false advertising. I wish you had stood your ground.

3

No, they didn’t say "Buy **any **4 items in the store, get **any **5th item free. For all you know, they could have been referring to 5 specific items (if they really wanted to be pricks about it). Nor do they say that the listed excluded items are the **only **excluded items.

This could lead to a war between the lawyers and the logicians.

4

Come on, Panache, the message is clear enough.

Buy 4, get the 5th free.

In a store like Borders, this would apply to any 5 books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, etc. If Borders wanted to limit the offer to one category, they were obliged to specify it.

Buy any 4 books, get the 5th book free.

Otherwise, no matter what assortment of 5 products you take to the checkout counter, the clerk can reject it. “Sorry, it’s gotta be 5 civil war videos from the bargain tub up on the second floor.”

If TonyJ played the hardass, he’d have won.

5

Aha! Enter Cicero, and the exception that proves the rule. Remember the Cecil column on that little phrase?

I’m sure any lawyer would argue that because some items were specifically excepted on the placard, that all other items not specifically excepted were fair game.

FISH

6

Nonsense. I’m sure that somewhere at the store there is a complete listing of all the fine print attached to the sale conditions. These absolutely do not have to be displayed on every piece of advertising in the store.

Whether you could argue your way into a free fifth item is a completely different matter than whether this is false advertising. Managers have great leeway to override policies in specific cases. But if you had a lawyer stupid enough to take this to court, Border’s attorneys would have the idiot for lunch.