So called Special Offers.

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Excuse the ranting, but one thing that really winds me up is so called "Special Offers".

I love special offers, I just hate it when they use false advertising and small print. A good example was a very well known large chain of computer shops. My printer had packed up and I went to buy a new one. Right by the door there was a stack of printers with a big sign hanging from the ceiling (about 7 foot up) saying £69.99, the printer was ideal for my needs. I asked my wife to carry the printer to the till for me (I am disabled) and we went and waited ages to get to the front of the line with the heavy printer. When we got there the person scanned the printer and told us that will be £99.99, £30 more than the sign had said the printer costs. I argued it and was told that if I had read the sign properly I would have seen that price for the printer was only when you buy it with a computer!!! I told them where to stick their printer (well I was not that polite) and went and checked. They were "right", but the £69.99 was in numbers about 15cms high, the bit about having to buy a computer was in letters about 1cm high! Also bear in mind this was up above my head (I am 6´3"). I wonder how many other people did the same thing and if they had been buying a lot of expensive stuff, would they have noticed the extra £30? If they did, would they all argue it?

I wonder how many shops have an unofficial policy to rip off customers? One of our local supermarkets always seemed to overcharge us (they are slightly better now). Special offers always seemed to be put on the shelves saying buy one get one free etc. but for some strange reason it took a long time to update the tills to know the offer price. We had to complain loads of times, I am sure its better now due to the amount of people that complained about the "accidental" over charging. I wonder how much extra they made on those buy one get NONE free deals etc.

What does the above sign say?

It actually says "Half Price when bought with any other item over £50", but if you were in a hurry would you notice the small print?

This is one I have seen around a bit recently "Special Offer £5 off the RRP", but they lay it out so you think the game or DVD is £5 and not £5 off the recommended retail price.

The thing with businesses is that they are businesses and business is business!

Say I was boss of a chain of supermarkets with 500 shops and we get some new type of bottled energy drink in. The drinks cost me 50p, the recommended retail price is £1. I advertise this new drink as 25% off only 75p, but tell the computer to forget to update the tills for 24 hours. People buy lots of shopping and out of the 500 people who buy the drink only 10% of people notice the lack of offer on their receipt. Its only 25p per bottle that the customers lose, but what would the shops gain?

1 shop = 500 x 25p = £125
500 shops = 500 x £125 = £62,500
10% get their 25p back - £6,250
Extra profit generated by the "accident" £56,250
Now imagine a shop that does offers like that everyday!
£56,250 x 365 = £20,531,250
Yep, 20 MILLION in a year!!! That must be VERY tempting. Even if that overcharge was just 1p per item then the extra profit would still be £821,250 a year. I think I am in the wrong business!

Please stop ripping us off, not everybody is as rich as you and some of us need those special offers to be special offers. The funny thing is that if I go and argue that I have been ripped off by 50p I get looks from the staff as if to say why bother, its only 50p, but I bet if I was spotted stealing something from the shop for just 50p they would still complain. Some shops claim they always prosecute shoplifters no matter how much or how little the person takes, well I think we should all fight for every last penny that they are stealing from us.