A few times a year some major retailers advertise certain clothing and guarantee that they will have your size in stock, or you get the item free. (They will order the missing size for you and it is yours no charge.)
In JC Penney’s recent circular (7/22/07) they advertised certain men’s Docker pants and women’s bras with an “in-stock guarantee.” “We have your size or it’s free!”, the ad proclaimed.They also listed the sizes and styles that qualify for the free promotion.
So, if you go to the store and discover they are out of your size, you get a free pair of pants, right? Not quite.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Now how exactly is this an “in-stock” guarantee? If it is not at the store when you go there the first time, you have to go back six days later, and if it still isn’t in stock, then you can get the jeans free by going back a third time to pick them up if and when they come in???
Maybe in the same way that a former president thought there were various definitions for the word “is”, JC Penney seems to think that “in-stock” has nothing to do with products being in the store when you go there.
A request from Mouse Print* forwarded to JC Penney’s advertising manager asking why this shouldn’t be considered misleading advertising went unresponded to after the company made a similar “in-stock guarantee” last fall.
I tend to haggle sales-folks over things like this, and then it’s funny to see how quickly they get annoyed and claim innocense since they’re just simple sales-folks.
I recently went to a Sears outlet store that was filled with all kinds of “25-40% of tagged price!” signed. So when I substracted it from the ticketed price, and got to nice pricing, they told me they had already done the discount for me. When I answered then that their in store ’25-40% off prices’ were completely equal to their online pricing, they told me they didn’t know about that.
In the Netherlands, there is a fairly simple law: you have to sell items for the price you stick on the product (unless you can show that your clearly made a stupid mistake (flat screen tv for 9.99 in stead of 999)). No small print allowed. If you stuck a price on something, that’s what you’re selling it for. Not a dime more. Works really well. Judges nearly always side with the customer. I think US lawmakers should consider the same. Note: this also goes for ‘free’ products (that you get with something else). If it says ‘free’, it’s ‘free’, no strings attached, i.e customer picks it up, does not hand over anything and happily leaves the store. If you want to give your customer a gift with a certain purchase, you have to say ‘free with purchase of…’ in a legible font.
So if they have it “in-stock” in any of their stores around the country, it’s considered in-stock in your local store?
Sounds like deceptive advertising.
Looks like we need a new term for in-store-in-stock since “in-stock” apprently doesn’t apply any more.
This is just another way of American business screwing itself in the long run. No honesty. Too many bean-counters and not enough real merchants running businesses these days. My local store is cheaper when I factor in the cost of gasoline to get to and from Penny’s.
The “C” in J.C. Penney does stand for CASH!
J C Penny had a sale on $249.99 sports jackets for a two for one price sale $149.99 equaling $75.oo each. If not in stock, will have in 14 days or else free. Had one, not other in time, so I received second jacket free and only paid the $75.00 at time of first purchase
They stood by their word.
I find it interesting that you can say anything you want on the advertisments
and you can totally contradict what you just advertised in mouseprint with no
penalty. People have accepted this practice as acceptable. The advertisers will
continue to push the limits of deceit until we reach a tipping point.
Unfortunately it will probably have to be through government legislation since
individual integrity isn’t enough anymore.
I agree with Tom. We need more government regulation!
Wait wait wait-I hate government regulation! The more regulation there is the less responsibilty people and organizations assume. They rationalize that it is legal or falls within government guidelines so it must be OK. Plus the goverment can’t keep up with the private sectors ever changing methods of advertising and promotion.The preferred method is self regulation and setting a higher standard of conduct. I would also like to see the consumer demand more straight forward advertising by refusing to shop at places that deceive.
But what good are free pants if they don’t have them at all?
I wholeheartedly agree with Leslie Casadonte.
We do NOT need any more government regulation…God knows we have too much of that, already.
What we DO need is more SELF governance. With all the 1000’s of stores and online shops available to us, must we REALLY shop at JCPenney, or any other store who does not value their customers/clients?
After being treated to a series of bait-and-switch scams in the 70’s by Sears (and Roebuck, at the time) I decided I would NEVER set foot in their stores again, and, more than 30 years later, I’m happy to say that I have NOT.
JC Penney has consistently been the worst place to shop. Shoddy merchandise, changing returns policy, rude customer service, misleading advertising, misleading 10%, 20% Off bonus cards (only good on Non-sale merchandise and of course everything is on sale!) and more. We no longer shop at JC Penney and recommend that you do not either.