'Price match'... Yeah right!

sparky1982

I thought I would post this here (hopefully it's the right place, sorry if it isn't).

I have been looking at buying a bigger tent and I came across a decent one on Go Outdoors, and to make it better it is on offer! They however didn't have this particular one in my local shop meaning I would have had to travel much further to pick it up or order it online (thus having it delivered when I would have liked to have been camping with the family instead). Having had a look around I found a company (www.campingworld.co.uk) selling the same tent albeit more expensively, yet they offered a 'price match'.

Having completed their 'price match' form and emailing it to them I had the following reply:

Sorry, your price match request has been declined this time on the basis:

Unfortunately this item is already at the lowest available price

Model: Birdland 3 Tent 2013
Option: Birdland 3 Tent



Our price for this stock item was:199.99 (GBP)Your price match request for this item was:168.00 (GBP)
Now I'm not completely sure what was wrong with my request for them to decline it... I found the same item, cheaper, somewhere else and requested them to 'price match' it, something that they offered! www.campingworld.co.uk have a list of requirements (which had there been an issue with any of these, I wouldn't have thought about price matching).

Maybe they need a lesson in understanding the term 'price match' so they can actually offer it to people!

That said I think we shall still go away but more importantly I personally won't ever use www.campingworld.co.uk for anything ever again!

somethingcorporate

Price match will always have T&Cs that mean they do not have to price match. They won't sell it to you at a loss, it could put them out of business.

We had a price match promise in Jessops when I used to work there about a decade ago but we could not match a lot of places online and just got as low as we were allowed to.

Remember a huge company like Go Outdoors probably pays a lot less for their stock than a small online company who has far less bargaining power or volume discount so simply may not be able to go a lot lower and absorb losses for sales elsewhere that smaller companies simply cannot.

Edit: I've had a quick scan of the website but cannot find any reference to a price match, can you post a link?

visidigi

Price Match link is in RED at top of item page... e.g.

http://www.campingworld.co.uk/Models.aspx?ModelID=9383

Terms are...

1. Identical items only
2. Item must be being sold by a genuine business seller that can dispatch to your location
3. Item must be listed on seller's website and we must be able to view selling price
4. Item must be new, unused, in stock and available for sale
5. Applies to total checkout price including cost of shipping
6. You must request a price match voucher code using the form available on each product listing page
7. Voucher codes are valid for 1 week only
8. Policy is discretionary and subject to change without notice
9. Not valid for use with any additional sale, discount or promotion
10. Use of a Price Match Voucher Code will invalidate any affiliate promotion
11. Camping World reserves the right to decline any Price Match request

They're covered...

somethingcorporate

Well spotted. As per my reasoning above a company would have to be insane to offer a blanket price match but given a company is not obligated to sell any item to anyone they could simply refuse outright without a reason anyway.

earthstorm

some will also only consider a price match within a certain distance from their store and some will not price match online prices.

Dont forget you go to Go Outdoors and they have large premises which have to be paid for, but an online store may be dropshipping so they have no premises (min.overheads), so this is the reason some wont price match online retailers

mattyprice4004

So I can set up a fake website selling camping gear, then force other companies offering price match to beat it?

Thought not, use some common sense. It's their choice.

Money-Saving-King

It's seems pretty obvious to me. Right at the top of the page where you start to fill out the form it says this:

"To send your Price Match on this model please review the terms and conditions, complete the following form, and click ‘Price Match'. We will review your request and notify you through email as to whether it has been approved or declined."

It's extremely obvious!!!