i spent yesterday afternoon going from store to store looking for a printer/copier/scanner. due to circumstances more suitable for the pit, i am not interested in buying another HP product.
comp usa had an epson unit on display that was exactly what i was looking for. unfortunately, they had none in stock.
this morning, their advertisement in the paper lists this printer as a “hot sale” item.
aren’t retaIers required to have reasonable quantities of the items offered in sale advertisements available for purchase? it seems to me there were consumer laws passsed years ago due to “bait and switch” advertisements where retailers would offer great deals, then once you were in the store would be out of the item but have another similar item for a higher price.
I believe they have to have at least ONE in stock. What is probably likely is that they have a set amount of them “available” each day. They may have more in the back, but they won’t put them out until later. What you could have done is asked for a rain check. Usually stores will give them to you unless they specify otherwise. It has been my experience that usually within a day or two items that had mysteriously sold out on the day of the sale are restocked.
Realize that loss leaders are a way to get you to their store, not to get you to buy that item.
I’ve seen ads for CompUSA that said - in the teeniest tiniest type possible - “Minimum five per store” or something like that. That’s probably the maximum per store, as well.
The consumer protection laws were basically designed to prevent the old-fashioned practice of the first customer of the day walking into the store only to find the item was already “out of stock.” A good faith effort by the retailer just in case a featured item didn’t arrive in time would be something like:
providing a rain check
offering to contact other stores to find the same item
offering an equivalent item at a similar savings
or even posting a notice that the item didn’t arrive (rather than the sales clerk trying to strong-arm you into buying a higher-priced model)
But if the advertiser actually did have the item in stock and happened to sell all of them before you got there, that the way things go.
And I’ve been told by friends who worked there that, if it’s a really good deal, all 5 of those would be snapped up by employees. (Though they usually didn’t get their employee discount on top of the advertised sale price.)
And I’ve been told by friends who worked there that, if it’s a really good deal, all 5 of those would be snapped up by employees. (Though they usually didn’t get their employee discount on top of the advertised sale price.)
Part of the problem as well is that in chain store situations (from what I’ve read from workers at these kinds of stores), typically the stores themselves are not responsible for the content of the advertising and are not given advance warning of what will be for sale. Thus if they happen to be very low in stock on a particular item when the newest sale ad comes out, they’re stuck with angry, suspicious customers.