Target and Price Matching BULL

Anyone who has needed to return something to Target in the last decade already knows that Target has horrible customer service policies. Recently, Target has started to advertise that they price match. Sounds like they are coming around, right? Don’t be too quick to jump to that conclusion.

Here’s a short recap of my experience with Target today.

Toys “R” Us has an ad for the LeapFrog Alphabet Pal. Their sale price is $10.49. Target has a coupon good for $10.00 off the LeapFrog Alphabet Pal. Seems like a mistake that you could get the LeapFrog Alphabet Pal for $.49 cents, but Target corporate issued a letter saying that, yes, indeed they would stand by this offer.

HOWEVER, when I took a printout of the Toy’s R Us ad and a copy of the Target Web Coupon to Target this morning, things did not exactly go smoothly. I got there when they opened, and found one of the LeapFrog Alpahbet Pals. Excellent. I waited in line at a register, and then was told by the cashier that I needed to go wait in line with customer service. Inconvenient. I waited in line for customer service, and then was told I needed the actual ad from Toy’s R Us, not a print off of their ad from the internet. In needed to be glossy to be “valid”. Are you kidding? I asked to talk to the store manager. The store manager, who smelled as if he had spilled the entire bottle of cologne on himself this morning, had this response:

Target will "price match" if you bring in a glossy original of the ad. This needs to be the WHOLE AD, not just a page from the ad. This is the “only” way to verify that the ad is “real” and “current”. A printed copy of the ad from the internet (which clearly showed price and dates) was not acceptable. It was also not in their policy to verify the ad over the phone with Toys “R” Us.

This is a total BAIT AND SWITCH tactic. Get you in the store by making an offer, and then change the offer when you get to the checkout. Target is not interested in price matching, they are only interested in "claiming" to price match. They want to “look” like they are like Wal-Mart, but they are not.

I tried to play Target’s little game, and I made the drive to Toys “R” Us to get the ad for the LeapFrog Alphabet Pal. Toys R Us has numerous copies of their current ad booklet for anyone to take. However, the LeapFrog Alphabet Pal sale price is a “door buster” deal. These deals are printed separately, and they only print enough copies for each register. These ads are not available for customers to take from the store.

I’ll give you one guess as to whether or not Target is already aware of this “issue”. It is possible that Toys “R” Us sent this “door buster” ad to newspaper customers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the only way to view the ad was online. What a pathetic ploy by Target.

Chip