Shopping Woes
The Star newspaper ran a good article last Saturday on “Shopper’s Woes“. It featured excerpts of bad experiences from real life people and what one could do if you find yourself in a similar situation. Some of the tips were quite helpful but I’m not sure how practical they can be.
For example, I had a bad experience with a mobile phone. It was highlighted in the article 
and the advise given was:
Your rights: Indrani points out that if product quality is not met as described by the manufacturer or the retailer, you can demand redress.
When you return the item, you must state clearly whether you want a refund, a replacement or a repair.
It is important to note that if you agree to having the product repaired, and you sign off on it as being properly repaired, you cannot ask for a replacement later if the repair turned out badly.
This is a problem if you are dealing with a company that doesn’t value its customers. Some companies try to palm off temporary repairs on the unwitting consumer, hoping the warranty has run out by the time it breaks down.
I agree that I could have asked for a replacement. However, most of the time, when we purchase an item that comes with a warranty, the manufacturer or distributor will always repair it first under the warranty. It is only in very rare situations when they will replace the item. Unless you threaten to bring all sorts of action and highlight the situation in the papers I guess.
Either way, its a good article to read and good tips to take note of the next time you face a problem with your purchase.
Sales promoters inhibit freedom of choice
I had to purchase some makeup in a hurry last weekend for an emergency, and I thought to get some Za 2-way foundation powder. I’ve used it before and I thought it was value for money. I picked out my colour, and was immediately accosted by the sales promoter.
This store happened to be a department store and they had sales promoters who would write you a payment receipt of your intended purchase before you make your payment at the cashier. Now what this does is provide the sales person with evidence of sale and their commission.
How it is bad for us as consumers, is that it inhibits our freedom of choice.
Just after I handed the Za foundation over to the sales person, I saw they had a L’oreal counter. I’d been wanting to try the True Match foundation for a while so since I don’t usually buy foundations often, this was my best chance.
I told the sales person that I did not want to purchase the Za foundation anymore and apologized for the trouble. She however, was terribly displeased. I don’t quite blame her, but as a consumer who had not yet paid for her item, I felt I had the right to change my mind if I wanted to.
So, this is why I prefer to shop at places where I can browse freely and then take my item of choice to the cashier instead of being hemmed in by sales promoters.
Free gift enticements
Buying jewelry is such a big investment process that it isn’t something you can do over and over again no matter how much you enjoy it. So, jewelry stores have to resort to various tactics to get you to return. This was what crossed my mind when my colleague showed me a brochure he had received from a local jewelry store.
This brochure announced a special “open day” where prices of their jewelry including diamonds and other precious gemstones would be slashed. The part that was meant to entice was the big bold letters announcing that if you were among the first 50 people who attended and brought the brochure along, you would be entitled to receive a pearl necklace absolutely free! An enlarged picture of a lustrous string of pearls was included.
My colleague told me he had been receiving many of these such invitations with freebies after purchasing a set of diamond earrings once for his wife. When he received the first brochure, he had been excited at the prospect of receiving a free pearl pendant but when he got to the store, he was told that he was too late and stocks were finished. This was just slightly after the store opened! However, since he was already there, he was invited to look at the other things on sale.
Thereafter, all such brochures were consigned to the bin. My point to it all is that when we shop, we are invited to sign up for memberships or to leave our addresses and telephone numbers for record purposes. Our addresses and numbers may then be used to send us promotional material which in many cases are genuine but in the odd few cases are merely instruments to entice you to visit the store again.
This is more so with jewelry stores because the incidence of repeat buyers from the general public is not very high. Jewelry, especially diamond jewelry, are expensive items and are reserved for special occassions or anniversaries. Jewelry stores know this so these gimmicks are used to try to bring you back to their store where you may end up purchasing something, if not expensive, maybe something cheaper but either way, they make a sale.
I have nothing against jewelry stores in general. This is just an example because this is what struck me when I saw the discarded brochure. I was tempted to visit to pick up a free pearl necklace too but now I’m not so sure if I want to go all the way there to be told that I’d missed the chance by being customer #51.
When stores will not honour a lower price
Last weekend, I had an unpleasant experience at a Watson’s store. I needed to pick up an eyeliner, and I wanted to get a Silkygirl Funky Eye Lights liner. Its possibly one of the best drugstore liners I have ever tried. The price tag stuck on each liner was red and said RM9.80 each.
I was pleased because that is a great price for a great little eyeliner. When I took it to the checkout, the barcode scanned said RM13.90. I was surprised and pointed out the red price tag.
The Silkygirl promoter then came up to the cashier and said “The promotion is over. The price is RM13.90.” I was upset, because I needed that eyeliner yet although it was only RM4 more and still cheap, I felt very cheated because I’d had had to stand in queue for over 10 minutes.
I did not purchase it in the end on principle. Its awful when stores here don’t honour the lower price of the item. Its not my fault that the price tag was not amended to reflect the correct price after the promotion had ended. The store should have sold me that one at the promotional price then removed all the stock from the shelves to re-price them.
But there you go. They lost a customer and a sale and I lost myself an eyeliner.