Did I get ripped off? What should I do?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

There’s a yarn shop on the same block as my video store. My sister wanted to buy me a sweater’s worth of yarn for my birthday. So I went shopping at this store, to have my sister call and pay for it over the phone.

Now, this is the most expensive yarn store in the universe. I’d say the yarn they carry averages $20 or $30 a skein; they have yarn as much as $80 a skein, that I’ve seen. And not touched.

So I found some yarn that would work for my planned sweater at $8.75 a skein. They only had 4 of them though, so I asked if they could order any. I said I’d buy a whole bale, 10 skeins. The owner of the store said she’d see what she could do. So a couple days later, she tells me it’s still available, and she’d order me a bale.

I tell my sister. She calls, gives her credit card info. I stop by to confirm everything, the owner says turns out it was discontinued, but she found another store with 6 skeins of the same dye lot! Woot!

So today I pick up the yarn. Owner, big smile, “Thanks! Tell your sister thanks too!”

The invoice slipped in with the yarn shows that my sister was charged for “10 skeins @ $14.95.”

WTF?

First off, if I’d known my sister was willing to go that high, I might’ve expanded my shopping parameters. But probably not; I like the cheaper yarn.

But WTF?

2

That rather depends upon what the owner told your sister, no?

3

So . . . if she told my sister, “Oh by the way the price has gone up,” that would be OK?

Those four skeins sat on their shelves for at least a year, at $8.75. Is that relevant?

4

Ah right, I understand now.

Yes, you’ve been ripped off.

5

Well the 10 skeins I understand…one store had 4 and they got 6 from another store. It depends on how much the other store charged for their skeins and if there was shipping charges involved to answer the price question. I would certainly question the shop owner and find out what the overage was for.

6

Yeah, you were ripped off, at least two ways. One, she charged you the higher price for all 10, even when her 4 were marked down. As for the other 6, she should have told you if there was going to be a higher price involved. Of course, assuming that she found them at another store for that price, she’s only passing along the higher price, not pocketing extra money…except for marking up the 4 she had on hand.

7

I’m sure it was more for the reason Hockey Monkey said. Oh yeh add that she found the yarn in matching dye lots for you.

8

Hm. So, the fact that the increased price would certainly have change what I would’ve bought, you don’t think she should’ve informed me of it?

9

She should have informed you that she was going to charge you a higher price on the yarn she ordered.

I would go back and ask for a refund. Tell them you only wanted yarn that cost $8.75. If they don’t give you one then contest the charge. Credit cards tend to have better consumer protection than bank cards. If your sister used a credit card then they will hold back the charge for you.

10

Sounds to me like you got ripped off, but your only recourse is to say, “Darn!”

11

WTF are you doing in a yarn store if not touching the yarn?

Either a.) you have incredible self-restraint or b.) the shop owner is a tyrant.

I know I couldn’t see $80 yarn and not play with it. I mean, it’s not as though you can drop it and break it…

12

I’m a little confused. How were YOU ripped off? This was your sister’s birthday present to you, you found the yarn you wanted, how much you wanted, and she paid for it. Or are you saying your sister ripped you off?

Bear with me…I’ve not much had coffee this morning.

13

Just run in there, guns blazing. That’ll learn 'em!

Seriously though, you should have asked about the price when the store owner called and said they were available, and you said “Get me 10, stat!”

14

It would be worth knowing what the other six skeins cost. The way I figure it, if they were $14.95 each then you should have been charged $12.47/skein as the average price (48.75 + 614.95 = 124.70/10). I’d go back and ask the owner how much the extra skeins were each and take it from there.

15

Alternately, they could have cost $19.08 each. If I’ve done my math correctly, four skeins at $8.75 and six skeins at $19.08 would tally to $149.48 total purchase, giving you an average price of about $14.95* per skein.

*Actually, it would be $14.948 per skein, but I was wild and crazy and rounded to the nearest whole penny. I mean, really, what 1/5 of a cent between friends?

16

snerk

17

The additional difficulty is that this woman is a customer in my store. Also, most of her customers are probably also *my *customers. A feud would probably cost me. Plus she’s incredibly intimidating: at the coffee shop in between us, whenever there’s a new barista there’s a betting pool for how soon this yarn woman will make the new barista cry. I could definitely see her taking offense at any suggestion that she ripped me off, and badmouthing me to her customers. Who’d be afraid to disagree with her.

I think all things considered I’ll grudgingly let it go. But it sours me for shopping there in the future.

18

Ah, but your sister is not a customer in her store other than this one transaction, correct? I’d let sister know what had happened and since she is the paying party, ask her to check into it. Of course she may in turn choose to let it go as she feels it’s worth every penny to make her brother happy and warm…

19

Even if you were’t purposely ripped off, you are the victim of an error. Return the yarn and get your money back or a credit on your card.

Then TAKE your business elsewhere. Mistake or on purpose the business will hopefully learn to bill customers accurately.

If they won’t give you your money back , have your sister open a dispute on your credit card when the bill comes.

20

Yeah, unless you’ve already started using the yarn, I’d say return the yarn and then go get yarn somewhere else.