Beware of Shopping “Gotchas”

June 21st, 2010

There are universal annoyances that we’ve all encountered, the ones that can potentially spoil our shopping or dining experience. I’m not talking about armed robbery here, sometimes these are little things you could avoid if you anticipate them. But boy, they can all add up to a big loss and make us hopping mad, elevating our blood pressure! We’ll just call them “gotchas” because everyone feels cheated or tricked when it happens to them. We’ve grouped ours into six categories. See how many of these are on your list.

Grocery Stores and Wholesale Shopping Clubs

• Allowing organizations to solicit in front of stores: they stop you on the way into to store, and again on the way out (they don’t even remember that they’ve already approached you).
• Cash register solicitation: a container on the checkout counter or the checker asks you directly if you will donate to a charity when you check out, and then the company publicly takes credit for the donation when, in fact, all the money was donated by customers. I’d rather donate directly.
• Grocery sackers engage you in conversation while you are trying to monitor your items as they are being scanned. You’ve gone to the trouble of clipping all those coupons and matching them to sale items, and then you could miss seeing if you’ve been charged incorrectly.
• Stores relocating stuff every other week, forcing you to go up and down the aisles to find items you need, and the store hopes you buy extra items on impulse.
• Stores that never open all the checkout lanes, even when the lines are long.
• Receipt checker at the exit marks through your receipt as you leave the store, making the items illegible when you need the receipt for a rebate.

Electronics and household appliance stores

• No stock: you’ve taken the time and trouble to check the store’s website to see if a particular location convenient to you has stock of an item you want, but when you go to the store, they say they can’t find any. This is high on my list, and forces me to shop online!
• Store offers price matching, but it’s impossible to actually compare because of slightly different specs or bundles or model numbers, so they don’t ever have to pay you any difference in price.
• Upsells: extended warranties, overpriced accessories (USB/HDMI cable), or store credit card. You buy a $44 vacuum cleaner and they want to sell you a $29.95 extended warranty.
• High pressure sales: the price is only good “if you buy RIGHT NOW!” It’s not true, and you should walk away.
• No rebate forms: the store advertises the price after rebate and doesn’t provide the form. Make sure you can download or find the form yourself before buying or you’ll be paying more than you thought for the item. When this happened to me, I was so angry that I returned the item.

Clothing stores and drug stores

• Misleading signage: the sign on a clothing rack says, “50% off,” but does not apply to everything on the same rack. Or the item directly behind a sale sign on the shelf is not the specified item (it’s more expensive). I can’t believe how many times I’ve been caught by this one.
• Being approached aggressively by sales people from mall kiosks to try their lotion or fragrance as you try to walk past them. They never take “no” for an answer.

Fine print disclaimers

• After you sign up for newspaper or magazine subscriptions, everyone else gets a reduced rate “not available to existing customers.”
• Especially on television ads, the disclaimers that go by too fast to read them.
• Offer “may not apply in certain (undisclosed) regions.”
• Not all applicants may qualify for best rates.
• “Free shipping” that actually is not free (e.g. according to this fine print free shipping at Toys’R'Us is only free up to $25)
• Mis-advertising a “free item” that earns reward bucks equal in value to the purchase price of the item. The ads say “it’s like getting the item for free.” The truth is that you have to buy the item first, and then go back to the store to spend the reward bucks on your choice of another of the same item or something else. The reward bucks are really only a coupon off a future purchase, and the original item is not free.

Restaurants

• When the waiter tries to take your plate away while you’re still eating, or offers extra condiments without telling you there’s a charge for them.
• Specials of the day are displayed without prices listed, but cost more than the typical menu items.
• Discount dining certificates – read the rules carefully, and be aware that weekends may not be available, gratuity is automatically added and based on the total before coupon is applied, and a minimum purchase may be required at some locations.
• Actual food items look nothing like the advertised picture – particularly true with the current 99¢ burger war.

Credit card balance transfer fees

New credit cards come with offers to transfer your balance from another card at a promotional interest rate. They’re especially attractive if you’re carrying a balance on another card at a much higher rate. For instance, if you can transfer a $10,000 balance on a card charging 20% to a new card with a 12-month 0%promotional rate, you’ll save $2,000 over the course of a year. Be aware that in the small print you’ll find that you’ll have to pay a balance transfer fee, based on a percentage of the amount you transfer.

Which gotcha do you hate the most? Take our poll and let us know! Also, tell us in the comments if we overlooked any of your own pet peeves.

Entry Filed under: Shopping