When an offer goes beyond being baaaad

Fluffykins

This was absolute pants and I offer it up as a cautionary tale

Our leaf blower had failed (all the magic smoke came out). Saw a Flymo 2700W in Homebase at £89.99 with 15% off on the day, taking the price down to £76.49 Went to ask for one but there was no stock, so I ordered one.

Later that evening, discovered the same item form Argos was available at £69.99, without any "Special Offer". OK, that's understandable; different shops, different prices but; here's the rub: Argos and Homebase are both part of the Home Retail Group.

One might have forgiven a slight diffrence in pricing between retailers in the same group but for Homebase to sell at a premium of thirty percent above Argos' price is, quite frankly, taking the p**s. To go on and make an apparently fake "Special Offer" price, but one which still puts a premium of 10% over and above Argos' normal price, is getting on for offensive.

I contacted Homebase and asked if they would explain their pricing in time to avoid me cancelling the order and going elsewhere. I never did get anything in time, beyond a request for my order details, to which I replied.

In the end I bought elsewhere, outside the HRG for less than sixty quid, delivered.

jenniewb

Thanks for the info, but hate to break it to you: companies do this a lot and being owned by the same group doesn't seem to stand for much at all.

Phones4u, Carphonewarehouse, E2save and possibly others all offer different prices and even different services yet they are all owned by the same group. Thats just at the top of my head but I'd be suprized if there weren't (many) more to add to that list. Moral is; always check with everything first!

Fluffykins

Quite right: Like I said; I'd be (moderately) relaxed about differing prices in different chains, even within the same group. What I found breathtaking was the sheer extent to which Homebase seems willing to well and truly ream its customers.

sayahu

For me it was the other way around, homebase where cheaper on a garden chainsaw then argos by £10, though I could have gotten a £5 voucher from argos as it was over £50 spend.

Always best to check prices whenever possible.

35483

jenniewb wrote: »

Phones4u, Carphonewarehouse, E2save and possibly others all offer different prices and even different services yet they are all owned by the same group. Thats just at the top of my head but I'd be suprized if there weren't (many) more to add to that list...

Phones 4u and Carphone Warehouse are NOT owned by the same group. Where did you get this information from? :question:

sharpy2010

Fluffykins wrote: »

Quite right: Like I said; I'd be (moderately) relaxed about differing prices in different chains, even within the same group. What I found breathtaking was the sheer extent to which Homebase seems willing to well and truly ream its customers.

Seriously, does this really bother you that much? Isn't the onus on you, the customer, to search for a deal that you are happy with, rather than relying on a company which has been set up to make money?

Yet another example of someone trying to blame someone else...