I was at my local TRU trying to price match some Lego sets that I picked up earlier from KMart at 50%....I got a little carried away and had two cart fulls of various sets.

 

The poor cashier was obviously overwhelmed so she called her manager over. The manager initially tells me that she is unable to price match my items. So obviously I politely explain that they have a price match guarantee and I have my receipts from KMart who is a local competitor. She gives me a few other excuses before finally throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, gasping, and exclaiming that my recent string of price matching (over the past month) is getting out of hand and I have to leave some product on the shelf for her other customers.

 

Seriously TRU?

 

In the big picture of things I find it odd that either other cashiers, or other managers had tipped her off on my recent string of price matching. Granted I have been to this particular store 8 time this month for rather large purchases all involving price matching. However, it is still their policy and the fact that they tipped off store employees about my "rash" of price matching purchases is  a little troubling. It sort of makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong when all I am trying to do is some extreme lego couponing!

Isn't the price matching policy of most stores that they will price match prices listed in an ad but not percentages off?  Regardless, I don't why you would expect to be able to buy something on clearance at one store and then take that receipt to an unrelated store and have them price match it.  Your receipt isn't an advertised price.

They don't pm clearance or % off deals.

 

 

We will not match prices for competitors':

• Category-wide or storewide discounts
• Buy One Get One with purchase offers
• Gift with purchase offers
• Percentage (%) off discounts
• Out-of-stock or limited quantity items
• Doorbuster items
• Coupons

• Advertisements and websites with typographical pricing errors
• Prices advertised on Black Friday or the Thursday before
• Online prices advertised during the week
  of Black Friday or on Cyber Monday
• Online pricing that is limited to one day or less (e.***. one day deal, 6-hour sale,
  evening sale)

• Online

They have done it multiple times in the past throughout the month. The comment about "we have to leave some of the shelves for our customers". I've price matched with just receipts at Target, Wal-Mart, TRU, and KMart...

 

They don't pm clearance or % off deals.

 

 

We will not match prices for competitors':

• Category-wide or storewide discounts
• Buy One Get One with purchase offers
• Gift with purchase offers
• Percentage (%) off discounts
• Out-of-stock or limited quantity items
• Doorbuster items
• Coupons

• Advertisements and websites with typographical pricing errors
• Prices advertised on Black Friday or the Thursday before
• Online prices advertised during the week

  of Black Friday or on Cyber Monday

• Online pricing that is limited to one day or less (e.***. one day deal, 6-hour sale,

  evening sale)

• Online

No offense, but I think asking to price match at 50% or more for two carts full of Lego is just too aggressive.

It worked for you before because you got lucky, it wasn't suppose to work.

The store manager needed to learn their own store policy.
 
From the website:

We will not match prices for competitors':
- Category-wide or storewide discounts
- Buy One Get One with purchase offers
- Gift with purchase offers
- Percentage (%) off discounts
etc...

Your k-mart price match request should not qualify on at least those 2 points.

Personally, I think it's bad form to do this.  They have the parameters of their price matching set up and you are knowingly trying to get around them by hoping to get people to ring you up who don't know any better.  It's stupid of them to just price match your receipts because there are a number of reasons why your receipt could have a price for an item that is way lower than it should be.

The store manager needed to learn their own store policy.

 

From the website:

Your k-mart price match request should not qualify on at least those 2 points.

 

 

Yep, and one more point too:

 

* Clearance, closeout, damaged product, used, refurbished, open packages or liquidation sales

 

http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=11949070

Thank for the constructive criticism! I think you're probally right that I was too aggressive. Then I was scanning their policy to a limit of how many items they will match and I didn't find anything on that either. The end result of the shopping experience was the manager conceding by telling me that she could only price match 2 items. It just seemed like she was making things up because she didn't like the fact that I 2 carts worth of product.

 

With her not knowing the true policy and then just randomly making up a limit of 2 and her other comments was just too much.

The store manager needed to learn their own store policy.

 

From the website:

Your k-mart price match request should not qualify on at least those 2 points.

Agreed. I wish she would have just started the policy instead of reinventing her own wheel.

Thank for the constructive criticism! I think you're probally right that I was too aggressive. Then I was scanning their policy to a limit of how many items they will match and I didn't find anything on that either. The end result of the shopping experience was the manager conceding by telling me that she could only price match 2 items. It just seemed like she was making things up because she didn't like the fact that I 2 carts worth of product.

 

With her not knowing the true policy and then just randomly making up a limit of 2 and her other comments was just too much.

They're only supposed to pm 2 of the same item so technically she didn't make the number up she just has the policy completely confused. I would be extra nice to her since she is still letting you abuse their pm poilcy. Who knows what she'll let you pm in the future??

Personally, I think it's bad form to do this.  They have the parameters of their price matching set up and you are knowingly trying to get around them by hoping to get people to ring you up who don't know any better.  It's stupid of them to just price match your receipts because there are a number of reasons why your receipt could have a price for an item that is way lower than it should be.

Not the case. I didn't know that you can't price match off of a receipt. Again, my local Wal-Mart, K-Mart, TRU, and Target have all done it with no questions asked until recently. Now that our helpful forum members have pointed it out I know that I have gotten lucky in the past and will not get aggrevated when managers make up their own rules in the future.

Agreed. I wish she would have just started the policy instead of reinventing her own wheel.

But if she knew the correct policy, you would have walked away empty handed.

I left with a smile on my face and thanked her for her time and patience. No voices were raised...shouldn't be an issue in the future. I just came here from advice/constructive criticism and to vent. Now that I know the policy I guess I got lucky that she PM my two HD at $65

But if she knew the correct policy, you would have walked away empty handed.

Empty handed with product but I would have left with a clear understanding of their policy.

I hope you didn't do this knowing TRU pricematch policy in advance.  If the manager knew they were clearance priced items she would have had the opportunity to tell you an honest reason why you can't have any of them.  Sometimes I'm really disappointed in hearing the lengths people go to in trying to save money on Lego. 

 

The most absurd comment by a manager?  I'm not sure about that.

 

I think a TRU manager can just ask a person to leave the store at any one point.  I am sadly sure there will be a day where I read a topic about that happening and I don't think it's far off.

It doesn't actually seem like he knew the TRU pm policy. Most of the people on SD would be writing down the ladies name so they could find her the next time they need a pm lol

I wasn't real happy once when I was trying to price match the City: The Mine last year when Wal-Mart had it advertised at $40.  The manager said she needed to see a physical add.  I showed her the add on my phone.  "So, you want me to go 600 feet over to Wal-Mart and get you an ad?"  She said, "Yes", so that's what I did.  It's just funny when they price matched an online price just a week or so earlier, but then I needed to get a physical ad on this trip.  I know, it's just like calling HR or your insurance company. You'll almost always get a different answer, depending on who you talk to.

Ouch, there goes the gravy train. I'm sorry but that's WAY to aggressive. If you lay low, you might have been able to milk it longer. It must be great while it lasted.

I wasn't real happy once when I was trying to price match the City: The Mine last year when Wal-Mart had it advertised at $40.  The manager said she needed to see a physical add.  I showed her the add on my phone.  "So, you want me to go 600 feet over to Wal-Mart and get you an ad?"  She said, "Yes", so that's what I did.  It's just funny when they price matched an online price just a week or so earlier, but then I needed to get a physical ad on this trip.  I know, it's just like calling HR or your insurance company. You'll almost always get a different answer, depending on who you talk to.

I don't think TRU did online pm back then so that might be why they needed a physical ad.

This is understandable - but they are pretty ridiculous when following their own pricematching policy.

 

Luckily my TRU manager is cool. he does ti and lets me use coupons.

Isn't there an old saying that you can shear a sheep many times, but skin it only once? Eight trips to price match other stores clearance prices is going a little too far in my opinion. Once in awhile, great, take advantage, but it is instances like this that will certainly make their way up the corporate chain and will eventually lead to changes in the policy and we will all suffer.

People doing stuff like this is the reason the rest of us have to jump through hoops when we try to do a legitimate price match.

I thought price matching off a receipt was legit..as stated before i had done it several times in the past with no issues. I wasnt trying to bend any rules...

You cant say that a manager telling you that they cant price match because they need to leave some product on the shelves for other customers is not absurd.

I do not commit fraud, nor do anything malicious against the ToysRUS corporation.

I am a father of my 4 and have spent the past 13 years as a United States Marine. Im not compromising my integrity over Legos....relax

Companies put purchasing limits on sale items quite often to prevent people from cleaning out their stock.