What would you do?
- Thread starter mystixboi1
- Start date
Stratguy
Coffee Junky
I probably would have seen the condition of the guitar and wondered why the price was so low. Being one of those "there's no free lunch" kind of people, I would probably have started asking enough questions, to make sure I wasn't being taken, that somewhere in the process the mistake would have been caught. thwap0
OGG
Master of the Meh
Yeah, that's just bad form. I could maybe see them calling to say "Hey, congrats on the awesome deal, we screwed up, but we're going to stand by the sale. Just wanted to let you know what a super deal that was..."
Or something along those lines. To ask the buyer to return it is pretty lame, and only leads to uncomfortable hand wringing and guilt, which is only certain to have but one long term impact... that customer is lost forever either way.
Conversely, if they just called to let me know that they screwed up big, but that the sale was final and that it was OK to keep it and enjoy it, they'd likely get all of my future business and recover their loss many times over.
So my new response is "Fuck them in their stupid fucking meathead faces".
Prages
User Error
About 10 years ago I walked into a local music shop that does mainly consignments and used gear. They had a 1984 Marshall 2203 head...a little beaten up and missing a knob or two, marked at $360 on consignment. It worked perfectly. I carried it up to the register and started checking out. As the transaction was nearing completion, the owner of the shop came back from lunch, looked at what I was paying and just said "If I'd have been here when that came in, I'd have given the seller the $300 and set it on the floor for $600. You're lucky I wasn't here."
I took it home, cleaned it up, replaced the knobs, kept it for a year, and took it back to the same shop and put in on consignment for $800. It sold within a week.
I've bought and sold quite a few things from that shop.
Pretty much this.
I'd hold them to the original deal but I'd give them a chance to make some of it up on other deals.
If it's actual dollars that they need to make up, it might be difficult to sort out because I'd have to look at higher dollar items. If it's profit margin they need to shore up, it would be a lot easier because a lot of accessories are high margin items.
Blend the mistake with a handful of high margin stuff and the bean counters will see a deal with an overall acceptable margin.
Gary Blanchard
beloved, local musician
I'd have to wonder what the store would do if they realized they had overcharged. Would they have been in touch?
mikesr1963
Gonna walk my dog, you?
I pay with cash and don't give my personal information if they ask for it at check out. I would never receive the call.
OGG
Master of the Meh
Way back in 88, my band mates and I pooled our resources together in order to make a one time, huge gear purchase at GC for as many of our wishlist items we could get. We took two pick up trucks and the five of us walked in an hour before closing time and grabbed the GM. We told him we had a set dollar amount, and a list, and we went to work going through the store, gathering the items, and piling them up near the register. That process took us beyond closing time.
Once everything was in the pile, the GM totalled it up, and it was way over our budget. So the haggling began (he totalled everything at full retail). After about 20 minutes of haggling, we reached a wall. We were about $800 short of the target. So with great sadness, started removing the least necessary items from the list until we got to the magic number.
The money changed hands, it was now more than an hour after closing, and everyone just wanted to go home. So the GM and a couple of employees helped us load everything into the trucks and we took it all back to home base.
The next day, while setting things up, it suddenly dawned on me that the items removed from the list, we're never removed from the pile... so here we had like 12 or so items we didn't pay for.
I called the GM and told him that in all of the rush to get out of the store, nobody got around to separating out the stuff we weren't getting. I expected him to ask us to bring those items back.
Instead, he asked for a list of the items and my address so he could generate a new receipt that was properly itemized for warranty and inventory purposes, and he would mail me a copy so we wouldn't have to drive back down there.
Yup. True story.
But, that was the GC of old. Those days are ancient history.
Modern Saint
Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
First off I would have pointed it out of the price different when I was at the check out counter. If the sales person said I was wrong and it was the lower price after pointing it out then there is no reason I should have to pay the difference - real experience.
If the item was miss tagged and was sold, it is the stores fault for putting the incorrect tag on. First of all, all of the guitars are serialized and usually noted on the sales receipt. The receipt itself is the proof of sale of that item at that price.
If the item was miss tagged and was sold, it is the stores fault for putting the incorrect tag on. First of all, all of the guitars are serialized and usually noted on the sales receipt. The receipt itself is the proof of sale of that item at that price.
mystixboi1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
According to the original poster, he spoke to two different sales people and told them that the pricing is incorrect. He said that they acted like they didn't care.
Modern Saint
Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
It is what happened to me. I got the call a few hours later asking me to pay the difference. As I explained to the sales guy, I showed you the price tag - even pointed to the model number and you disagreed.
The sales guys don't care until they realize that they messed up. Now if the customer never pointed it out, that is another story.
fused
Improvisationalist
In my case, I won't go into a GC anymore so it would have to be a ma/pa shop and I know the owners where I shop really well... We gigged the same circuit years ago, so yes, I'd take it back... They have done tons to support me over the years, it would go back... No harm done..
smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
A smaller version of this right now. About a month ago I ordered a 10 pack of guitar strings from Amazon. Amazon said they were delivered, but they were nowhere to be found in my leasing office. So after about a week I logged onto Amazon and said that I couldn't find the package. They sent me another one free of charge, which was great. Today my leasing office found the package, it had fallen behind the shelf or something, I don't know. But I feel like I need to return it. Amazon probably doesn't care and it's only $30 but I will feel guilty if I don't return it. Am I being silly?
Kerouac
weird musical dildo
I'd email them. The worst thing they could do would be say "Yeah, send it back." That's when you tell them sure, as long as you pay return shipping.
Any of the big stores references EVERYTHING by serial number. Everything MUST be sold by serial number.
If that serial number came up with the wrong price it wasn't even the sales guy's fault. Somebody fucked something up really hard on the back end. That's management.
Let them lose their job. It takes real effort to fuck that up.
If that serial number came up with the wrong price it wasn't even the sales guy's fault. Somebody fucked something up really hard on the back end. That's management.
Let them lose their job. It takes real effort to fuck that up.