Beware Borders!

Emma1973

Dont know if this is in the right place but hey ho!

Popped into Borders this afternoon with lots of other people obviously drawn in by the 'up to 50%' off and 'Closing Down'. But dont be sucked into by the thought of a bargain!

Less than a month ago they were having a up to 75% off sale, same books now have 20-30% off instead. There was barely any 50% discounts, and many of the hardback books were still quite a bit more expensive than say, Asda or even WH Smiths!

So dont fall for the old promise of a bargain, and shop around!

KatiePrecilla

I agree. I went into the one in Southampton on Saturday and there were no bargains at all. All the books and toys were still over priced compared to the supermarkets etc!!!

eslick

it was on the radio the other day that the 50% off is from the rrp and not the original prices, therefore as no one charges rrp the prices will be higher.

pat.smith

Same problem at the Team Valley Borders and when my daughter went through checkout they charged the original price!!!!!!!!!!!!! Borders in Leeds had many genuine 50% reductions.

jaytin

W H Smiths have always had better bargains on bestsellers coming up to Christmas, I don't think Borders will be worth more than a casual glance until the shops are actually about to close. I guess they are just trying to make as much as possible on the stock they still have. We were in on Saturday and it was very busy but only 50% off a few sections, we did get good bargains on some maths books for my son. The staff were all very cheerful and they were giving out free chocs to everyone from big tins, which was nice! :j

pennystretcher

The first time I managed to argue my point (the discount SELs say "from ORIGINAL price") and got the discount taken off from the price I would have paid previously - RRP was £9.99, "our price" was £4.99 and I got the discount taken off the "our price".

The second time I went round, one of the books had RRP £7.99 printed on cover but went through the till as £9.99. The staff member at the till was very unhelpful - the boy said "he couldn't amend the discounts at the till" which I knew to be wrong, since I got the discounts amended the previous day.

Fair enough, they are all stressed due to job losses etc., but they forget they aren't the only ones who are facing the uncertainty....and they still have the jobs to do - it won't help them a bit when they get narky with the customer. :mad:

tynegirl

I was in Borders last week and noticed books that were on offer the week before were back to full price with 20% off. Also my friend who had £70 worth of gift cards was told she had to spend £140 in order to use them - half money, half card for each spend. The cards were a retirement present so she is not happy!

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat

OH popped into Borders in Cambridge today to see what BBC Good Food 101 cookbooks they had (I like these books ) He said that even with the reduction, the books were still cheaper on Amazon, so left empty handed.

TheMoneySpider

Always sad to see a bookshop close but it's closing for a reason.

dnomyar

The wife went shopping in Birmingham City Centre last week for Christmas pressies. She asked me what I would like, so I said a book, Jamie Olivers America. I even told her that Sainsburys has it for £9.99, Asda for £11.00 and Tesco for £11.00. Where does she go... Borders, sees the 20% off sign and thinks its a bargain. The book she got was £26.00 (£21.00 after discount) and even then she got the wrong book. We took it back this weekend and they wouldn't refund only exchange. The Jamie Oliver book was again £26.00 pound. Had a look round and nearly every book, gift cd or dvd was well over priced.

Don't know if its the liquidators making as much money as they can or if Borders was always exspensive but if they are going to rip off the consumer like this, then the sooner they close down the better.

PixiePie

dnomyar wrote: »

Don't know if its the liquidators making as much money as they can or if Borders was always exspensive but if they are going to rip off the consumer like this, then the sooner they close down the better.

They're not really 'ripping off' the consumer now are they - the RRP is £26, so that's what they want to offer it for. If you want to buy it for cheaper, you are more then welcome to go elsewhere - I fail to see how this is ripping anyone off - it's all very clear what their price is and that they are giving 20% off their price. it's the same as everything else - why people go shop at Tesco when the same item is cheaper at Aldi? Why go to Sainsbury's when you can get the same thing for less at Asda? For lots of different reasons. You just sound a little annoyed that your family made a mistake - it's not the shops fault, they clearly tell you the price, you decide to accept that price or not, not their fault. We've all done it and brought something then seen it cheaper elsewhere - no need to have a go at the shop for one's own mistake.

And them not giving refunds is because, by law, they are not allowed to now they are in administration, it's illegal for them to.