Recently in New Hampshire(where I live), and apparently nationwide, Home Depot no longer price matches Lowes 5% off(when using lowes credit card). The price matching claim on their website remains the same, so this policy change must have been issued as an internal memo and is unavailable to the public. The Home Depot price matching statement is so vague that it provides managers with poor guidance from corporate, making this explicit guarantee more of a discretionary decision based on what person you deal with in store. In the same manner it provides consumers with so little information, that they may assume it covers more than it does. It borders on false advertisement for making such a bold claim that they are often able to back out of with little or no explanation. It offers Home Depot the benefit of being able to make great promises on the website, while refusing to honor them in practice. My first question is are they in any way legally obligated to honor the policy they have set forth?
The Home Depot Claim: Nobody beats our prices. Take advantage of the guaranteed low price If any competitor tries, we'll beat their price by 10%. Guaranteed.*
*If you find a current lower price on an identical, in-stock item from any local retailer, we will match the price and beat it by 10%. Excludes special orders, bid pricing, volume discounts, open-box merchandise, labor and installation, sales tax, rebate and free offers, typographical errors and online purchases. Online purchases are subject to price match only.
In-store customers: policies do not apply to going-out-of-business sales, or discontinued, clearance, obsolete, seasonal, or distressed merchandise of a competitor.
Prices must be regular retail prices of competitors.
http://ift.tt/1T2mQVM
Contrasted with the Lowes price match claim: We guarantee our everyday competitive prices. If you find a lower everyday price on an identical item at a local retail competitor, just bring us the competitor's current ad, and we'll beat their price by 10%. If a competitor is offering a percent off discount, we’ll match the final net price the competitor is offering. Our price guarantee does not apply to installation labor, to the competitor's closeout, special order, discontinued, clearance, liquidation or to damaged items. Limited to reasonable quantities. Please reach out to Lowe's Product & Sales Customer Care at 1-877-465-6937 or visit your local store.
http://ift.tt/1318Ui2
I was in the store when I was informed of this change, and I did speak with a manager at the time who was of little help. I went home to email corporate through the website.
I received this response: On Feb 5, 2016, at 11:31 AM, XXXXXX XXXXXXXX <customer_care@homedepot.com> wrote:
Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX,
Thank you so much for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care.
We do value your business.
I'm sorry that we no longer honor the 5% match.
Our Low Price Guarantee will meet and beat competitors' advertised prices on identical products by 10% in stores.
We will meet online competitor prices on purchases done on HomeDepot.com but will not provide the additional 10% discount. We've also added some valuable new benefits to your Home Depot account.
I apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.
XXXXX XXXXXXX Resolution Expediter –Store Support Center - Email Team The Home Depot | 2455 Paces Ferry Road | Atlanta, GA 30339 Phone: (800) 654-0688 EXT 76085 | Fax: (877) 959-9768
I responded on Feb, 6 2016 with: XXXXX XXXXXXXXX,
You no longer price match advertised prices. Lowes advertises their price, and the 5% to card members in writing on the website. I have a lowes card, its all advertised and in the easily verifiable. You're walking a fine line, where you want to advertise this policy and then create specific loopholes. You price match but you don't price match percentages(lowes does), however percentage price match is not even mentioned in the policy. It should be specified in writing on your website that you "price match" but do not "price match" percentage discounts. This means that if lowes is running a special promotion on washing machines of 10% off, plus my 5% means I get 15% off at lowes and 0% off at home depot. It gets better, if you guys are offering 10% off on washing machines and lowes isn't, I can go there and get 10% off because of you guys plus my 5% again, so 15% off again to your 10%. You might want to claim your prices are better, and sometimes they are by a slim margin, but not that much better. It would probably take someone filing a lawsuit to get you to fix your policy statement so that is professional, clear, concise and unquestionable so at least we know what we are really being offered as a consumer before we walk in the door and get denied a "price match" when you "price match." It seems you don't want to be too specific because then you would have to honor what you put forth. Remember when verizon was offering unlimited internet and then was throttling its users? It got in big trouble because that is not unlimited internet.
Your prices are in line with lowes in most cases, and I may buy a bolt from you when lowes does not have it. Large purchases are a different story. When ordering 12 windows for my upstairs rental unit for $5000, 5% of that is $250. Refrigerator for $1000, 5% of that is $50. That 5% is on top of any advertised special discounts, every day of the year and over the course of the year adds up. Even when you do offer similar things, like a 40-gallon water heater for the same price you can't price match because the brands are different. Just seems like a dishonest business model where you post a vague policy on the website that sounds great, but means nothing. If you think I have the time to look up the price of every stick of lumber, every gallon of paint, valve, bolt, nut, screw, etc, then you must think 2 hrs is an acceptable checkout time as well since I have to show each item and price to the cashier so they can manually change it, which also usually requires a manager. Walmart matches advertised prices, all I do is scan my receipt and I get a refund if a competitor has a lower price. Lowes gives me a discount without me having to jump through a million hoops as well. If you won't price match because the brands do not match that should be clearly stated on the website. Identical item 40-gal 9 yr warranty electric water heater with dual 4500 watt heating element in both cases, but it is a different brand so no price match. I don't even know if this is what corporate intends because there is so little guidance online that it seems like its just a managers judgement call. The price match should have an addendum that reads, "issued at managers discretion" in big letters, because from my point of view this is how it works. If it exists, I would love to read the real legal document that outlines your actual price matching policies, however that is probably only an internal corporate document that is not available to me.
(end of email)
Price matching can become a very complicated argument, but my basic question is that if I can buy an item at lowes, and take them the receipt with my actual purchase price how can they claim they will only match the price on the sticker and not the fully advertised final price I paid. Does this not qualify as a regular retail price as they state in their policy? I could buy this item on a regular basis, at any interval I choose and this number is the regular retail price I pay. Lowes publicly advertises their price for the item, and the 5% off every day on their website. Lowes also addresses percentage discounts and makes it clear what they will match while Home Depot prefers not to address this at all in their statement. I fully support Home Depot legally not price matching if they make no claims that they will. If it is not a violation of the law to put forth a false advertisement like this it is still a dishonest business practice. Thanks for reading, sorry for the lengthy post.
Submitted March 06, 2016 at 02:05AM by GIRAFFERAILER http://ift.tt/24IzXP5 legaladvice
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