B&H not honoring the advertised price?

mpix345 wrote in post #17038767
I thought the point was that MDJAK believed the proprietor lied to him about not having the new model because he was trying to clear out inventory of the older model. I also took it that MDJAK was able to rationalize his actions to some degree based on that belief.

Yeah, I got that, but I cannot see why any sane retailer would do that.

There are two possible outcomes to that tactic and the retailer loses out either way.

1. The customer comes in wanting the latest model because it has cool new features, he has the mone to pay for it. The retailer says "we don.t have it in stock, but we do have the old model which is cheaper", the customer leaves the store and goes to find a store which does have what he wants. Retailer loses a sale.

2. As above, but the customer decides to go with the older model at the lower price. Retailer makes a sale for an item $1,000 cheaper than the one he COULD have sold.

I really don't see how, even if they did make the sale and the customer didn't leave without buying anything, that is to their benefit. They may well still have older inventory to shift, but there will be people who cannot afford (or don't need) the latest model who will be looking for that model as it is so much cheaper.

Why would they deliberately lose the extra $1,000 sale, and risk losing even more if the customer left to buy the new model elsewhere?

Anyone who quits shopping at B&H is just going to get screwed. One of the best companies you can deal with in ANY retail market.

^ They are almost as good as Adorama

sandpiper wrote in post #17039583
Yeah, I got that, but I cannot see why any sane retailer would do that.

...

The "logic" doesn't make any sense to me either, fwiw.

Unless they've oversold the new version with preorders. And wanted to offload the old version. Although 25 years ago preorders were usually done over the counter for music and video games. Not sure about computers. Otherwise I agree.

losangelino wrote in post #17040485
Unless they've oversold the new version with preorders. And wanted to offload the old version. Although 25 years ago preorders were usually done over the counter for music and video games. Not sure about computers. Otherwise I agree.

Yes, I can understand them saying they don't have any new ones if they don't have any spare after covering preorders. That may have been the case above, they said they didn't have any new ones because all of those they had were already presold and awaiting collection. It also explains how they had one in the back room that they gave him by mistake.

Of course, then they aren't lying about not having any new ones in stock, if all they have are already presold.

MDJAK wrote in post #17034474
While Henry answered the question, errors happen. Suppose a store placed an ad for a $4,000 item and by a printer's error or otherwise it was listed at $400. Do you think you should get it for $400 if they catch the error before shipping the item?

It would be nice if the world worked that way.

Well, nice for the buyer. I've read several stories of where third party sellers on Amazon (using Amazon shipping) made a pricing mistake which was promptly picked up by sites like SlickDeals. As a result they log on the next morning that all their inventory has been sold and shipped overnight at an enormous loss for them. Not good at all for the seller / business.

One time I noticed an expensive set of speakers on sale on a printed Sears ad. Not only was it a good deal for *each speaker, but the ad said *per pair! I went straight in there and they said the ad was an error but honored it anyway. Got me a pair of home floor standing speakers for a great deal! They only had 4 speakers in total so I'm sure someone else picked up the other pair shortly after.

The salesman said since it was a printed ad that they had to honor the sale.

I've "gotten lucky" but that is all I consider it. I would never expect my odds to be 100% in favor of a company being able to cover a big loss.

It has happened on large scale however in the earlier days of online sales and mistakes. The "Famous Dell $1,100.00 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Debacle of 2003" for instance. Literally hundreds of these lenses sold and actually delivered at the price of the Non IS version due to a pricing error on the website. It took about 6 months for canon to manufacture enough for them to fulfill all the orders.

losangelino wrote in post #17033652
Here in california, at least, stores honor prices even if it's priced incorrectly by mistake. No arguments from managers. I think it's in ca statute to prevent bait and switch.

Yes. Frys electronics always putting price-error on their ads but no-more price-error from them this years.. Their price-match policy is very good,10% different.

losangelino wrote in post #17033652
Here in california, at least, stores honor prices even if it's priced incorrectly by mistake. No arguments from managers. I think it's in ca statute to prevent bait and switch.

I have to say that is nuts ... so if an ad designer messes up and makes an ad where the local Caddy dealer is selling 2014 Escalades for $6000 instead of $66,000, the dealer is required to sell his Escalades for a $60,000 loss?

I can see larger retailers like Fry's honoring a price mistake out of goodwill, but I'm shocked that there is a law that could put a smaller store out of business due to a single inadvertent mistake.

It's worth noting that laws vary from state to state and in several the law differs for an in-store vs customer-absent (web, phone, etc) transaction.

If you had taken a trip to purchase an item you found in a print ad, only to find a pricing error, I think the retailer has SOME obligation to make to you for your troubles.

I don't think a pricing error on a website, and your mouse-pointing and button pushing inconvenienced you sufficiently to justify an obligation to sell at its mistaken price.

jrbdmb wrote in post #17050362
I have to say that is nuts ... so if an ad designer messes up and makes an ad where the local Caddy dealer is selling 2014 Escalades for $6000 instead of $66,000, the dealer is required to sell his Escalades for a $60,000 loss?

I can see larger retailers like Fry's honoring a price mistake out of goodwill, but I'm shocked that there is a law that could put a smaller store out of business due to a single inadvertent mistake.

It's the responsibility of the person who makes the ad to make sure it's right and proof read it. The consumer has a right that advertised prices are correct.

mpix345 wrote in post #17033993
I am sort of disgusted by the attitude that says it's OK to take advantage of a mistake made by a retailer. The OP is done with B&H because of this? Doesn't the positive relationship work both ways? Why would you want to get over on a retailer that has been good to you? Because they made a pricing mistake? Maybe a real person made that mistake. Does anyone feel entitled to put a real person in harm's way at their job so you can save a few bucks on photography gear?

SMH at the internet bargain hunting vulture mentality.

If you think a bait and switch thing is going on that is a different story, but I don't recall B&H every being accused of that.

A definition of Bait & Switch is irrelevant of vendor's reputation, it's changing the terms of sale after agreement has been reached (and in OP case, the payment was already made & accepted).

It's the acceptance of payment that makes the difference here, at least for me. If they refused to sell when he placed an order, no problems. But taking his money and then asking for more does not look good. If it was another store, I'd steer clear of them in the future, I still have my respect for B&H but I don't think they handled it right. As I said, if you only look at the events as described by OP, it's the very definition of B&S. Just my opinion.