Why “rolling back” the price doesn’t always work in your favour

By Paul Smith

Sure, stores are allowed to raise the price of goods, anytime they want. But laughing in your face about how you missed out on a cheaper deal? That’s just plain wrong. So thank you, Wal-Mart, for stripping folk of those tatters of hope they so desperately clung onto in this year of hell.

Let’s hope we see these deals in ASDA soon, so we have yet another reason to despise corporate America:

walmart 01 Why rolling back the price doesnt always work in your favour

[The Consumerist]

Tags: asda, wal mart
Posted in Odd stuff January 8th, 2009 |

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under Odd stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

22 Responses to “Why “rolling back” the price doesn’t always work in your favour”

Posted by Alan | January 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am

Well, looks like tesco done the same as posted over on hotukdeals.

http://hotukdeals.com/item/313351/walkers-crisps-1-25-each-or-2-for-2
Posted by Robert | January 8th, 2009 at 10:18 am

This also seems to be the case with the Argos Sale

At the bottom of the page the state the ‘Previous sale price’ which sometimes is cheaper then the current one
Posted by Andrew | January 8th, 2009 at 10:47 am

Not quite the same, but I was in Waitrose yesterday and they have Tropicana Orange Juice 1ltr £1.68 each or two for £4
Posted by Paul Smith | January 8th, 2009 at 11:02 am

Outstanding stuff!

@Alan - Cheers for that, expect a story up soon.

@Robert - I’ve had a look on the home page and through the sale items, and can’t find one. If you do, could you get a screngrab and send it our way please? bitterwallet@gmail.com

@Andrew - If you happen to be passing by with your camera phone, could you dive in and grab a picture please?
Posted by Ows | January 8th, 2009 at 11:11 am

This isn’t the same either, but it’s worth scanning the milk aisles at the big Supermarkets for waaaaaaay cheaper creamy goodness, as both Tesco and Morrisons stock their own-brand 4L bottles of Semi-Skimmed for around £1.40, but ALSO stock 4L bottles of Fresh ‘n’ Lo (Tesco) and St Ivel (Morrisons) at £1.06…

I truly don’t understand the methodology!
Posted by Ows | January 8th, 2009 at 11:13 am

Apologies, that should read “2L” not “4L”.
Posted by Mike Hock | January 8th, 2009 at 11:54 am

I bet some numpty buckets still buy as it’s “on offer”
Posted by Joff | January 8th, 2009 at 11:57 am

Not really in the same vein of amazingness I know but whilst on the hunt for another Wii remote and nunchuk I noticed it’s cheaper to buy them separately from Game that as part of a controller bundle.

Tesco often have a similar “deal” to Andrew’s Tropicana scam on Ocean Spray Cranberry juice drink. As an aside, when did Cranberry Juice turn into cranberry juice drink (i.e. watered-down pish)? Can’t we handle full-on strength cranberry juice here in the UK? I bet we even put milk in our tea.
Posted by Noone Really | January 8th, 2009 at 12:04 pm

I think you’ll find with Cranberry Juice, it never was Cranberry juice. It’s just that they can’t get away with that ruse any more.

If you look on them all, you’ll find them laden with sugar.

Real Cranberries are actually quite sour and wouldn’t make a particularly good crushed drink on their own.
Posted by TomServo | January 8th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

Real Cranberry Juice isn’t as sweet as the sugar-laden stuff, but is still sweet enough to enjoy (natural sugars y’see).

Ocean Spray is quite possibly the absolute worst Cranberry Juice to buy - it’s not the best, just the best advertised…
Posted by In the shops now! #2: Tesco makes an offer you can refuse | BitterWallet | January 8th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

[...] sooner do we point out the miserable sale prices available to our US cousins, than you find equally ridiculous examples on this side of the [...]
Posted by chrisg | January 8th, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Walmart, one L.
Posted by Paul Smith | January 8th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Sorry Dad.
Posted by Andy Dawson | January 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

@chrisg - there’s supposed to be a hyphen in there. It’s Wal-Mart. Admittedly they’ve removed the hyphen from their new logo but the hyphen still exists in normal everyday use of the name.

Anyone want to try and out-pedant THAT?
Posted by Mike Hock | January 8th, 2009 at 1:17 pm

ChrisG not if you’re shopping in the Disney rip-off store Wall-E-Mart, which is I’m sure, Andy was thinking of
Posted by chrisg | January 8th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

More correctly, the name is WAL*MART.
Posted by fwiw | January 8th, 2009 at 2:03 pm

I agree with Robert’s point about Argos.

I noted an item- “Samsung S1065 10MP Digital Camera - Pink. 559/0993″ was in the clearance section after Christmas for £58.29.

It’s now selling at “Save Over £11.00 …… £68.29* was £79.99″, with the asterisked note at the bottom of the page stating “* Please note item 5590993 has previously been on sale at £58.29.”

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5590993/Trail/searchtext%3ESAMSUNG+10MP.htm

The price has actually increased by £10 in the last few days, whilst it was in the clearance section.
Posted by Andy Dawson | January 8th, 2009 at 2:06 pm

Nope - that was the old logo. Wal-Mart.

WAL-MART!

You’re on the ropes now chrisg!
Posted by chrisg | January 8th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

tag’s still wrong so FCUK-OFF
Posted by Andy Dawson | January 8th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Fixed it!

Thanks!
Posted by chrisg | January 8th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

Let’s call that a draw
Posted by Mike Smith | January 8th, 2009 at 9:09 pm

I’ve seen a worse sign than that. Taken in Tesco Durham:

http://blog.mikedavidsmith.com/?p=65