topic Re: Macy's rant in Community Chat

Macy's rant

gidgetgh — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:12:23 GMT

This post is lengthy- my apologies.

I don't shop at Macy's a ton, but have bought some things there recently, including a new mattress/box springs. This may have been going on for some time now, but what is it with their "preview pricing" policy thing? It's not on sale today, but it's been on sale recently and it's going to be on sale again soon. So.... you can buy it today at the sale price, but you can't take it with you. You'll have to drive back here again to pick it up. What????

We bought a new bed a few months ago. We'd been to look at them and they were on sale. We went back less than a week later and they weren't on sale. The sales associate was all over us to buy. I said "uh.... not paying full price since I know the sale price (50% off) so no thanks. So he said "well it's going to be on sale again.... sometime soon. You can pay full price today and if it goes on sale within 10 days, we'll adjust the price for you." No thanks. If it doesn't go on sale then I've paid full price for it. Seeing that he was going to lose the sale, he said "ok....ok.... we'll sell it to you today at the preview price (50% off- just like the sale that just went off) but you'll have to come back in and complete the sale and schedule delivery once it goes on sale." Uh... no again. We'll just go somewhere else or we'll come back on our own one day if we feel like it, but I'm not making two trips for this.

So, in the end, they gave us the sale price and scheduled the delivery right then. I think he realized that they were going to lose the sale. We were the only ones in the bedding dept. And he's right. They would have lost the sale.

So I went the next week to buy a blanket for the new bed. First, two sales associates in the bedding dept. didn't know what a blanket was which was worrisome. They kept saying "blanket????" But I digress. Anyway, I finally found one that I might have been interested in and once again, the associate said that it had been on sale, had just gone off sale and would be going on sale again. That I could buy the blanket and pay for it, but that I'd have to drive there again (30 miles round trip) to pick it up. I said no thanks. I'll just go down the street to Bed, Bath and Beyond and buy one and use my 20% off coupon and take it home with me today. And that's what I did. On this trip, I left the dept. and went to another and asked to speak with the store manager. I met with him- very nice guy and I told him that I didn't like their pricing games.

I was there on Saturday and bought something and while I was there I looked briefly at a pair of earrings. You know the drill- on sale, an extra % off, more off if it's a day ending in a "y" or if you're wearing blue or whatever. I didn't have them pull them out of the case. Just browsed. I had to go back this morning to return the item I bought Saturday. I decided to get the earrings.

So.... they were no longer on sale. BUT..... they will be on sale again...soon. And you can buy them today and pay for them and then you can drive back again and pick them up. I said "see ya". The associate tried to stop me from leaving and went (on her own- I didn't ask her to) to her manager and spent quite a bit of time with her. She came back and said they decided to sell them to me for 50% and whatever coupon I had. She said the manager wasn't pleased that she'd come and asked to sell them to me at sale price. I told the associate thanks, but no. I didn't want to get her in trouble and that I hadn't asked them to bend the rules. And I said that I was irritated with their preview pricing thing and just decided not to get them. So I left.

I don't know what the right answer is for retailers. The every day low pricing/no coupons/no sales thing didn't work for Penney's. But everyone and their brother knows that Macy's has stuff on sale just about all the time now. So, why would we ever pay full price for anything there? And now there's the see it today, pay for it today and schlep back over there another day to pick it up. No thanks. It's just a pair of earrings and I can live without them (I think- LOL).

Ok- rant over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Re: Macy's rant

Tinkrbl44 — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:55:57 GMT

I have a Macys down the street from me, but I don't pay much attention to pre sale days ..... I just go when the sale is on, no problem, ever.

Just curious .... why aren't you complaining to Macys, instead of here?

Re: Macy's rant

bikerbabe — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:06:10 GMT

I like Macy's. It's only about a mile from my house. I like the fact that the sales are frequent and if it's not on sale today I probably will be within the next week. And if something is cheaper after you buy they will do a price adjustment. When nordstroms has their big sales you can purchase in advance and they will hold it for you to pick up at the start of the sale. It's better than not getting a sale price at all, right? I don't think it's a bad policy it's just not convenient if you have a long drive. You could always buy it online at the sale price.

Re: Macy's rant

MaggieToo — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:15:33 GMT

"why aren't you complaining to Macys, instead of here?"

She did complain to the manager and she is just venting.!!!

Re: Macy's rant

occasionalrain — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:17:04 GMT

So, because you didn't go to the store when the item was on sale, you still expect to get the sale price. I'd call that unreasonable.

Do you expect to get the Today's Special tomorrow at the price it was today? It's not Macys' fault you arrived between sales.

Re: Macy's rant

RainyDayGal — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:21:06 GMT

She didn't say she expected the sale price. She was willing to leave but the sales associate gave her the sale price on the mattress. Then she left the store and went to Bed Bath & Beyond for the blanket. Then she walked out without the earrings.

Re: Macy's rant

KYToby — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:30:32 GMT

I rarely shop at Macy's in person, preferring to shop for most purchases, so I am not familiar with this policy. My guess would be, though, that it is a way to get customers into the store more often (once to purchase and once to pick up) on the likelihood that the more times a customer is in the store the more opportunities for purchases such as impulse buys.

Re: Macy's rant

tansy — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:37:29 GMT

So can I add something slightly different? I don't stop at BB&B sometimes because I don't have a coupon with me. I think Macy's is in financial trouble:/

Re: Macy's rant

Peaches McPhee — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:01:53 GMT

I dislike Macy's too, although I shop there alot (prices and selections are good).

I don't like how you don't know how much an item will cost until you check the price on one of those scanner things -- the true price is RARELY on the item itself. I used to hate them for those coupons (even though I used them), but now you just have to use your Macy's card to get the additional 20% off. Finally, my Macy's is always a mess -- they never seem to clean the place up. My local WalMart looks better than my local Macy's.

Rant over.

Re: Macy's rant

gidgetgh — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:18:16 GMT

On 8/18/2014 occasional rain said:
So, because you didn't go to the store when the item was on sale, you still expect to get the sale price. I'd call that unreasonable.

Do you expect to get the Today's Special tomorrow at the price it was today? It's not Macys' fault you arrived between sales.

Of course I didn't expect to buy the earrings today if they weren't on sale. That's why I didn't buy them when the sales associate tried, on her own initiative, to get the sale price for me. I didn't feel comfortable doing that so I didn't buy them. Since they were on sale Saturday, I thought they might still be on sale today. But they weren't and that's ok. What's frustrating is that apparently they're going to be on sale again shortly. That's what I find frustrating with their pricing.

Of course it's not Macy's fault that I arrived between sales. My point is that they seem to be always having a sale. It's hard to keep up with when they have sales and when they don't. I just don't want to invest that much energy figuring out Macy's sales schedules.

Re: Macy's rant

RainyDayGal — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:24:10 GMT

In the case of the earrings, if they offered to give me the sale price and I really wanted them I would have purchased them right then and there.

Re: Macy's rant

gidgetgh — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:25:41 GMT

Thanks for the posts everyone. I was just venting. I don't expect anyone to bend rules for me- wouldn't ask anyone to.

With the mattress- we'd just been in there and it was on sale. We went again and it wasn't, but apparently it was going to go on sale again, date unknown. We had no intention of paying full price when we knew what the sale price had been so we were prepared to leave. No drama- just we'll go somewhere else. Lots of places sell mattresses. I'd read in Consumer Reports, when researching mattresses, to ALWAYS try to negotiate the price, regardless of where you were shopping. So we told the sales associate that we weren't going to pay full price when it was just on sale. And we weren't going to come back again and have to do the transaction in two trips. We were prepared to shop elsewhere and they decided they wanted our business so we bought there. It's not more complicated than that.

On the earrings- I didn't feel comfortable with the sales associate trying (on her own initiative) to bend the rules for me. So I didn't buy them. Again, really not that big a deal.

I think the point I was trying to make with my post and didn't do too well explaining is that Macy's is always having sales. Then they end the sale only to start it back up a few days later. I don't want to spend my time researching when a particular item is on sale or isn't on sale or if a coupon will or won't work or it's a pre-sale and they'll give you the price, but you can't take it home with you. That's just too much hoopla. Lots of other places to spend my money.

Re: Macy's rant

RainyDayGal — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:36:05 GMT

I'm not sure the sales associated was really trying to bend rules on the earrings. They're trained to make a sale. She did what she was supposed to do - check with the manager. And since the manager said yes, I don't think there was a real problem. If the manager didn't want to sell them at the sale price she would have said no.

Re: Macy's rant

gidgetgh — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:41:45 GMT

The associate told me that the manager said no at first and the associate told her she was going to sell them to me at the sale price anyway- that she felt it was her job to please the customer and the manager reluctantly said ok, but first suggested shipping the earrings to me. At that point, I'd kind of lost my appetite for the whole thing and really didn't want the associate to do that. So I just gave up. I'm sure I'll be back there one day and they'll be on sale and if I still want them, I'll get them. Or I won't. It was a slight impulse purchase so I was really ok not getting them.

Re: Macy's rant

bikerbabe — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 22:12:51 GMT

I remember when I was a child most department stores had sales only a couple of times a year.

Re: Macy's rant

maddiecat — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 22:14:35 GMT

I'm not a Macy's fan. I get coupons all the time, but the list of exclusions makes me dizzy! I wind up tossing most everything in the trash.

Macy's stores in cities like San Francisco and New York are MUCH nicer than the stores in Dallas and have far better service.

Re: Macy's rant

RainyDayGal — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 22:22:13 GMT

On 8/18/2014 gidgetgoeshawaiian said:
The associate told me that the manager said no at first and the associate told her she was going to sell them to me at the sale price anyway- that she felt it was her job to please the customer and the manager reluctantly said ok, but first suggested shipping the earrings to me. At that point, I'd kind of lost my appetite for the whole thing and really didn't want the associate to do that. So I just gave up. I'm sure I'll be back there one day and they'll be on sale and if I still want them, I'll get them. Or I won't. It was a slight impulse purchase so I was really ok not getting them.

Wow, the manager tells her no and she said she's going to do it anyhow? I'm surprised the manager backed down. I think at that point I'd probably be fired if I didn't something I was told not to. But you're right, you might not even want them now. Maybe you'll find them online on sale.

Re: Macy's rant

jubilant — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 20:49:38 GMT

DH and I find Macy's coupons frustrating. Just more paperwork to muddle through and so many things you can't get with them....at least the things we like. It seems such a waste of time. I had someone in the jewelry dept. tell me I could buy some earrings (she saw that I had my eye on) at a sale price but would have to come back to get them. We also live about a 35 minute drive from Macy's and only get there about every couple of months. I just told her...."No thanks, I don't know when I will get back this way". My DH said the clerks in men's dept. did this to him and he felt the same way. To us, it is poor business and makes Macy's appear desperate....but then....maybe they are!!!!

Re: Macy's rant

Sunarrow685 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 20:52:15 GMT

d/p

Re: Macy's rant

Sunarrow685 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 20:52:54 GMT

I love our Macy's. It's clean and organized.

We shop there a lot as well as Macy's online.