Fry's shady excuses for not honoring newspaper ads

[Trellabor]

I get the Fry's ad every Friday in the local Sacramento Bee paper. This week, they had advertised on the motherboard/cpu combo page that if you were to purchase 'A' Thermaltake accessory you could get 'A' second one for 50% off. You notice I hyphenated the A's up there because the paper did not state which or any particular accessory, or that it had to be a certain price to get the discount. The way the paper is printed it reads as 'ANY' accessory. You can see it here:

http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/...id=32664&type=

So, I went to my local store, and picked out the newer 1156 model as my 1st accessory since I was going to get the 860 i7 and Gigabyte UD4 combo for $379.99. I chose the SpinQ for my second, and 50% off accessory. So the sales associate goes to print out my paperwork to take to the front, and he is over there for quite some time. Finally I go over there to see whats going on, and they claim the 'system' won't let them take 50% off of the SpinQ because it's more than the 1st item ($59.99 vs. $29.99). I reiterated that the ad does not say, anywhere, that there is a price requirement, or item requirement to get said discount. This continued, until I asked for a Manager and the guy says 'I am the Manager' so I made clear that if they were not going to honor their own ad, I would not buy anything nor be a customer anymore. Long story short, they did not honor it and I walked out, very upset. Not only is that shady, but very poor customer service.

I'm sorry if this appears to be a rant, but it's not. Just be aware of how shady Fry's actually is, not even honoring their own ad. I'd advise anyone who lives near one to avoid it.

[unrlmth]

Was he really the manager? Also is this the store thats right off of 80?

[Trellabor]

Originally Posted by unrlmth

Was he really the manager? Also is this the store thats right off of 80?

Of that department, but not the store, which is who I asked for. It's the store in Roseville, not the one off of Northgate blvd. if that's the one your thinking of.

[Fr0sty]

dont you have some sort of agency that protect buyers right in the us???


because in quebec we have something like that and we could always make a formal complaint... but i doubt people do that for a small return....

[unrlmth]

I don't think I've been to that one. I was thinking of the one that you can see off to the right when your going west on 80.

I would try writing a letter to the store manager and see what he says.

[Vengeance]

Has never happened to me, I go to the ones in the Bay Area or the one off Northgate and this has never happened to me. They always honor what they show in the ad's for me when I show it to them.
They even refunded me money for my laptop that I bought the week before and went on sale for $100 less the next week. (I don't know if that's suppose to happen or not)

[JJT*90]

I quit shopping FRYs earlier this year when it took me over an hour and two trips (because they admittedly lied to me) to replace a bad motherboard, that I had purchased an extended warranty on through them.

[untrueparado]

Originally Posted by Fr0sty

dont you have some sort of agency that protect buyers right in the us???


because in quebec we have something like that and we could always make a formal complaint... but i doubt people do that for a small return....

ya, in the us, its called the BBB, Better Business Bureau, same as canada. u can file a complaint, and they will most likely honor it. i filed a complaint about a rebate for an off brand case that they carried during black friday and had it on sale for almost nothing $100-60mir-20instant=20. for something like $60 mail in, and they gave me store credit for it.

[nhan4]

Well, of course they won't, no stores would let you take the 50% off the the higher priced item.

Nice try though.

[jjjc_93]

Originally Posted by nhan4

Well, of course they won't, no stores would let you take the 50% off the the higher priced item.

Nice try though.

That is irrelevant.. It doesnt matter if its common sense to get 50% off the lower priced item, if there is nothing in the ad saying so then they are in the wrong and have dishonoured the advertisement.

[Trellabor]

Originally Posted by nhan4

Well, of course they won't, no stores would let you take the 50% off the the higher priced item.

Nice try though.

Save it. If that's the case, the Ad needs to say it. You want to talk about common sense then they should have enough of it to state it clearly in the paper, or hell yes I am going to take advantage of it which was the whole point. It needs to be honored, or it's false advertising.

[FX5200]

Report them, 10char.

[Defcon1_Admi]

I'd file a complaint to the BBB, as others have said. That ought to smarten them up.

[Mr.Scott]

Originally Posted by Trellabor

Save it. If that's the case, the Ad needs to say it. You want to talk about common sense then they should have enough of it to state it clearly in the paper, or hell yes I am going to take advantage of it which was the whole point. It needs to be honored, or it's false advertising.

You're correct. Most ads will have the disclaimer "50% off an equal or lesser priced item" someplace on them. Hold them to it. It's their fault for not proof reading the ad before it was printed.

[untrueparado]

Originally Posted by Defcon1_Admi

I'd file a complaint to the BBB, as others have said. That ought to smarten them up.

it wont do much for the "us". they will just give u an offer as a compensation for whatever u went through. $50 store credit, or whatever is there for you.

frys is a BBB member, so ur claim will be more effective.
http://www.la.bbb.org/BusinessFind.aspx?Name=

[nhan4]

Originally Posted by Trellabor

Save it. If that's the case, the Ad needs to say it. You want to talk about common sense then they should have enough of it to state it clearly in the paper, or hell yes I am going to take advantage of it which was the whole point. It needs to be honored, or it's false advertising.

Jesus H Christ,

You are so **** right, we need to get BBB on this, and the local news. Anyone know of any lawyers? We have to make sure they don't make you look like a ****** in that store again!

And while we're on this, lets get Best Buy for that $9.99 52" HDTV they advertised and they didn't honor it. FALSE ADVERTISEMENT FTL.

[JJT*90]

Originally Posted by nhan4

Jesus H Christ,

You are so **** right, we need to get BBB on this, and the local news. Anyone know of any lawyers? We have to make sure they don't make you look like a ****** in that store again!

And while we're on this, lets get Best Buy for that $9.99 52" HDTV they advertised and they didn't honor it. FALSE ADVERTISEMENT FTL.

If I recall correctly BestBuy had a disclaimer on their site dealing with wrong prices.

[greylock]

Lol, go buy a bag of thumb screws and get half off on a 50" lcd tv. Pls apply some common sense. Yes, they messed up in not printing the full statement of the half off requirements, but common sense should be applied liberally. Fry's, also, usually has a misprint disclaimer in their ads.

[jjjc_93]

Originally Posted by greylock

Lol, go buy a bag of thumb screws and get half off on a 50" lcd tv. Pls apply some common sense.

What does common sense have to do with it?? Thier fault for not stating it in the ad...

[greylock]

Originally Posted by jjjc_93

What does common sense have to do with it?? Thier fault for not stating it in the ad...

As my extreme statement was pointing out, use some common sense.