So my mom told me a story about her local Garden Ridge that really sounded funny to me. Not funny ha,ha - funny wrong. She was shopping at the Hurst store a couple of days ago. Picked out a couple of mirrors to purchase and once at the register was surprised to find out the price as it was ringing up was not the price as marked on the merchandise. I don't remember the exact amounts, but the original price was like 50.00 and they were marked with 30% off stickers. She noticed the error and brought it to attention of the employee/checker who told her something along the lines of "the register is ringing them up at 50.00" and regarding the bright orange sticker "people come in here all the time and switch stickers around" "Indian people come in here and move stickers around to different things". My mother took his tone and comment to mean he was basically insinuating that she had grabbed two stickers and tried to pull a fast one at the checkout counter. After her initial shock - she tried to explain that all the mirrors were marked with the stickers and she could walk him back to the shelf and show him. He refused and she asked to see the manager. My mom is not usually confrontational, but described the situation to me as one she wasn't going to let go; not because she wanted the mirrors at the marked price (which she was entitled to - right?), but because it was the principal of the thing since she had just been accused of being a thief. So anyway they go back to the mirror display and sure as **** there are like 50 mirrors all marked with the discounted price sticker. The manager apologized and then told her that they still would not be honoring the sticker price because they have a store policy to sell merchandise only at the price in the system, NOT the price as marked. WTF?!?! Is it not freaking illegal to show one price then charge another? According to my mom, Garden Ridge actually has a policy thats written up and posted near the check out stating they won't. I asked her if it looked like something for just that store, and she said it was printed out and looked like something the home office had circulated around. So again I ask - Aren't stores obligated to honor their prices? Cause this incident makes me think that there's a loophole or something that Garden Ridge is exploiting. Just wanted to get that out there.
Not illegal, but very deceitful. Kind of like how Best Buy makes their "fake" intranet site. When you see something you want on the website that's listed as on sale and you go into the store to buy it, they pull up the fake site that doesn't have the sale price listed any longer. Makes me not want to shop at places like that.
Welcome to the IKEA world. Half of the stuff they have in there is the wrong price or ISN'T FOR SALE AT ALL. Imagine trying to buy an entertainment center and then being told, "Oh, that's not for sale." WTF is this? A garage sale?
I should know this since I just took Consumer Transactions last fall but sadly I don't. However, I'm pretty sure that this constitutes false advertising and is illegal under the Texas DTPA.
It didn't get lost, it's just stupid and we've beat the PC horse to death... no desire to turn this into yet another PC discussion... no matter how ignorant/ridiculous the statement.
it is more than a pc issue to single out a race of people as committing theft. i see the point though, about it not being the main thrust of this discussion, and the "real issue" being of more import.
I worked at Garden Ridge when I was in High School. There was this code I knew off the top of my head that rang up "Assorted Decorative Items." So, basically, if someone told me the price rang up wrong, I used that code and sold it to them for the price they said. It didn't happen that often on regular stuff, and I'd call a manager if they said more than a buck or so less. Happened all the time that people would bring up silk flowers with no price tag, so I just gave it to them for what they said. I figure they make more money in the long run by keeping customers happy and making them want to come back b/c they get good deals and don't have to wait in line forever when a price is missing. Maybe Garden Ridge got sick of employees like me? I always thought their practices were pretty fair though, at least to the employees. That policy sounds weird.
Garden Ridge apparently took the ability to change prices at the Point Of Sale away from the stores because the cashiers and the customers were ripping them off.
capitalcity, You or your mom should take this story to the Consumerist The link. The LIVE for stories like that... Not only is it appropriate to that site, they can give you tips and stuff on how to handle these sorts of situations. And how to take it "up the ladder" if the local store doesn't respond reasonably..
I don't understand the Indian reference either, that's kind of random. Did she mean Indians from India, or Native Americans (if someone is odd enough to say the phrase they're probably odd enough to continue calling Native Americans Indians)?
My mom didn't say if the checker guy was black, white, whatever - and she didn't take the time to ask him to clarify his epithet. She assumed he was the type to label all brown middle-eastern types "Indian". If yall knew my mom you'd think the accusation was even more apphauling/amusing. Not that this qualifies her to be a good person, but it's part of her life... she's a methodist minister and the most kind and caring person I know. She told me not to, but I ought to go throw a coke on that douchebag.
Garden Ridge Feedback If the price marked in the system is always the price they charge, then there is no incentive for the store to maintain correct prices at the shelf. The individual store can save a good chunk of labor by not doing this maintenance. If challenged they can just shrug their shoulders and say, "well, it's just company policy".
...this has gotten lost. Indian people? what a weird (and racist) thing to say .... It may be neither weird nor racist. What if the policy was in fact implemented because customers, who happened to be Indian, were in fact switching tags. Has an accurate recounting of the facts now become a racist statement?
You're not making much sense. No, Germans should not be fingered for every Jewish murder? Do you know why? But it is possible here that "roving bands of Indian customers", or however one might describe them, were in fact in the habit of switching price tags. It is not racist to recount that. Does this mean all Indians are like that? No. I think the politically correct movement has, frankly, turned some people stupid, or rendered them unable to attribute any act to any group lest they offend said group (or sub-group).
well, i suppose if every incident of this ilk that has taken place at garden ridge has been perpetrated by Indians, then I stand corrected.
well, i suppose if every incident of this ilk that has taken place at garden ridge has been perpetrated by Indians, then I stand corrected. It doesn't need to be every incident. Was it a "racist" statement? We don't know. Could it have been? Yes. Was it necessarily racist? No. My point is that we cannot say this was racist given what we know from this post.
"Has an accurate recounting of the facts now become a racist statement?" Yes, apparently it is now racist to say; "two black men robbed the bank". Profiling.
Yes, apparently it is now racist to say; "two black men robbed the bank". Profiling. That must make things hard for the police.
