Sears 15% Tool Box scam

[PassnThru]

I've been looking at this 8 drawer roll around and 18" deep 6 drawer top box for awhile. Looked again today hoping for 15% off.

This particular set, in black, does not show the discount. However, if I put the exact same combo in any different color in my cart it has the discount. Oddly enough, black is the only color you can actually get it in. Any other color will have at least one component that is out of stock. The other component might come in sometime within 59-61 days.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we'll give you 15% off on toolboxes unless they are actually available. In which case, we reserve the right to charge more.
I did chat with them - the rep stated that the black boxes were marked as 'online price only'. Yeah - that explains it.
I told her there was an appropriate phrase to describe this - 'bait and switch'. Then I had to drop off the chat.

 

[Buckgnarly]

 

[dsan]

Tell them that you will contact your state's consumer affairs dept. to see what they think of this fraud.

 

[PassnThru]

That's not really the point. I'm sure they have it in the legalese that the 15% does not apply to online prices only. The other boxes aren't marked as such so they have the discount. I don't think they are breaking any laws, it's just a sad way to do business. If you look at the 40" boxes they are pretty much the same. If you can actually get one, it isn't on sale.

 

[Givl Reggin]

This particular set, in black, does not show the discount. However, if I put the exact same combo in any different color in my cart it has the discount. Any other color will have at least one component that is out of stock.

They are clearing out the one-of-a-kinds and mis-matched items... nothing wrong with that. I don't see where that is a scam or fraud.

 

[mrholeshot]

Seems to be the American way of doing business these days. Sad aint it

 

[fr0mastaj]

Almost any of the Craftsman items I wanted was marked 'Online only price' as well, thus nullifying the 15% and the use of any coupons. Lame.

 

[Skin]

noticed that online only price thing pop up recently as well, i believe its a temporary system bug. Cant imagine they'd exclude online only items from online sales. Doesnt make a whole lot of sense.

 

[bmrisko]

Just buy a different color and wait the 60 days...

 

[jrodc455]

Sears is the king of bait and switch.

 

[Stuey]

This is NOT a scam! It's stupidity.

I've had so many issues with Sears sales in the past that I can only conclude that Sears.com's webteam is composed of high school interns who earned B's in "introduction to computers 101".

A lot of time Sears' promos will say "ALL ___________ on sale, 10%/15%/20% off.

What they really mean is "some _______ that are stocked in-store, 10%/15%/20% off.

This has been going on for maybe 2 years now where these online sales and discounts only seem to apply to merchandise that's available in-store.

e.g. "ALL Gearwrench on sale" means "in-store Gearwrench wrench sets on sale."

"All garage and tool organization on sale" means "tool organizers we stock at stores are on sale."

This has led me to believe that this is not a scam, but refusal to learn from mistakes.

Also, with respect to the tool storage, you have to be careful of the product numbers. I've seen 3 different model numbers for the identical ball bearing units at times. One sent of numbers for the in-store available ones, another set of numbers listed online and in the catalog, and another set relating to an "online-only" model. Of course there are 3 different prices.

You'll often find that's the case with some of the other ball bearing units available in-store, that they have online-only versions as well.

PLUS, this is about that time of year where Sears tries to push many storage units out the door. Last year this time they had a huge clearance sale.


Edit: The extra 15%-off promo isn't working on any of the tools I try to add to the cart either. Most are online/catalog items, and the ones that aren't are already on sale with "online only" pricing.

Funny how the promo says 15% off sale prices.

The issue with Sears is that they're so big that communication between departments is abysmal.

They get so many complaints during promos like this when things go wrong, but the issues are never corrected.