Dishonest Advertising

<p>Earlier this evening my entire family made a trip to the Edgars Eastgate store. This was after receiving an sms boasting about the lanuch of their new store design and they promised loads of promotions with upto 75% off. Further to the SMS - on a visit to the store earlier in the week - the staff also bragged about the specials and urged us to come through. After spending about 3 hours in the store today, when it came time to pay the drama unfolded.</p> <p> </p> <p>I am not at all ashamed to put it forward that we were definitely on the look out for the bargains and great deals that were promised, however, we also had some normally priced merchandise. As the items were being scanned by the cashier we asked her to confirm the discounted prices.</p> <p>None of the items were the price that it should have been !!!</p> <p>Example 1:</p> <p>ITEM: Accessorize Necklace</p> <p>ORIGINAL PRICE TAG : R149.99</p> <p>PROMO: Red sticker on it is marked 70% off</p> <p>SCANNED PRICE: R75</p> <p>CORRECT PRICE: R45</p> <p> </p> <p>After enquiring with the cashier, she showed us a hand written price on the item of R245. She claimed that the new price on the item is R245 (hand written) and not R149.99 that was printed on a label price tag with a barcode next to it. She further clarified that the 70% is based on R245 and it is now R75.</p> <p> </p> <p>Without further squeling, we asked her to remove that item.</p> <p> </p> <p>Example 2:</p> <p>There were a whoel buch of nail polish marked for R20 and this was below a sign that said 50% off.</p> <p>We confirmed this with 2 department assistants and they both confirmed this price as well as the 50% off.</p> <p>When we get to the till, the cashier says to us that the 50% only applies to Elizabeth Arden products and not the ones we took.</p> <p>We tried to explain to her, that we had confirmed this with the workers in that department and that the sign is right above these exact products - but her word seemed to be final.</p> <p> </p> <p>Again, we did not squel much, we asked her to please remove all these items as well.</p> <p>With quite an annoyed look on her face, she yelled out for her pitt-boss to come and void those items.</p> <p> </p> <p>LAST STRAW:</p> <p>There are massive signs throughout the entire store bragging about getting R150 off your purchase if it is valued at R600 or more : "Spend R600 or more and get R150 off" </p> <p>In small print below this they said "Excluded cellular"</p> <p>and that was all the signs said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Again, we enquired with staff walking through the store, and they confirmed that this deal was over and above the loads of specials the store has. Great Stuff!!! If I cannot believe asking your trusted staff - who can I believe???</p> <p> </p> <p>I lost the plot - I asked my family to please stop begging this cashier for each and every item - to give us the price that was promised by the stickers and promotions displayed all over the store. I asked them to leave all of the clothing that was carefully chosen for our various family members - and we left the store empty handed.</p> <p> </p> <p>For the first time in my life I was embarrassed for being a shopperin Edgars. I have been a loyal customer to this very store for the past 12 years of my life. I have spent a estimated R175 000 - R200 000 over the past 12 year. GO back and look at the points that were accumulated over the years, it will speak for itself.</p> <p> </p> <p>I felt disgusted at the level my wife, daughter, mother and father were pushed down to where they now needed to beg with the cashier - to give us the promised price!! Item after Item after item.</p> <p> </p> <p>I screamed for a manager, and no one came through, I just had a whoel bunch of dumb-struck poker faces staring at me inthe form of Edgars employees there to watch the show.</p> <p>When I was near the door - then I can hear someone yelling and screaming at me and asking me what the F#$% is my problem.</p> <p> </p> <p>To stay clear of any further altercation - I continued to walk out of the store and stood by the door.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have heard of the horror stories on facebook - where there were claims of prices being increased by 50% and then an offer for 25% off put on it. SO you stil end up spending more than the normal price.</p> <p> Today - I saw this for myself. When I mentioned this to the cashier - she started to giggle and said she will work it out manually on the correct prices.</p> <p> </p> <p>Is this what Edgard and Edcon has come to? Is it not a fixed-price retail store? </p> <p>Do they operate like the store at Oriental Plaza and the Flea Markets!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>This time I will not stop unti I get the desired response for Edgars.</p> <p>You need to give me back my dignity. </p> <p>You need to recognise where you or your employees have stuffed up - acknowledge it - be a man.</p> <p>You need to then also apologise to al your customer for being an outright dishonest advertiser (in and out of the store)</p> <p> </p> <p>One last thought - if I was not paying attention to all the prices fixes, and changes that happen at the til point - I could have left your store thinking that I got a great deal - but in reality I would have paid more than what I would have paid on a normal shopping day. IS this the kniving type of retailer you are!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>I am also not oblivious to the fact that I am not the first person standing on the soap box. and I wont be the last. BUT even though I am not expecting and decent repsonse from Edgars Eastgate or Edcon - I am going to continue to demad it.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>