The Great "Price Beater Policy" Hunt

MSE_Martin · 4 September 2008 at 11:06AM

Find it cheaper and we’ll beat the price deals are an open invitation to haggle, and better still some price match policies offer to refund you the difference plus more on top.

So I want to tap MoneySavers' knowledge to collate a list of the best out there and any tips to make them work better for you.

Please help us collate the list...

I want to find those companies that say they’ll give back more than the difference or a refund.

Please note in your post:

The company’s name
Details of its price beater promise and how much extra it gives back
How to claim the money back
How to exploit any loopholes
Useful links

PS My problem with price promise policies

While they're great for haggling, in general it's a piece of marketing I don't liket: when a shop says "find it cheaper and we'll refund you the difference".

What it really means is:

We'll try to make you think our prices are cheap by saying this
Yet we can now price as we want, safe in the knowledge that the worst than can happen is we'll have to reduce our price to the same as our competitors.

How many people actually go checking the price 'after' they've bought something? The time to do that is before.

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mountainchrisriver · 9 September 2008 at 10:50PM

Well as I have posted about them tonight on another thread I shall start the ball rolling... I have successfully used Richer Sounds (HiFi equipment, TV's etc)...

"NOT ONLY WILL WE MATCH ANY GENUINE ADVERTISED PRICE BUT WE'LL ALSO GIVE YOU:

Products over £4001: £100

Products from £3001 to £4000: £50

Products from £1001 to £3000: £20

Products from £101 to £1000: £10

Products up to £100: £5"

Easy to do; found the cheaper price and then gave them a call with the cheaper price, suppliers website etc and it was beaten there and then... :beer:

Useful link with all the info you need...

http://www.richersounds.com/information.php?cda=static&cst=pricebeat

Hope that is the right idea...

john6241 · 10 September 2008 at 8:12AM

I called into there store on Saturday to buy an Sony Bravia LCD tv which was advertise on there website and slightly cheaper than the local cash and carry when the 5yr warranty was added in, when i asked about the TV i was told it was a rubbish model ( actually worse than that !) and they didn't have any ledt, even thought the print out i had from the live store check was only 30 mins prior.

The rep than told me to buy an LG tv as these were better ( additional £200) or a Sony for a further £300 !!

Very diappointed with Richer Sounds, did write toi head office who said if i still want one i can go and collect. No apology or anything about the previous comments etc !:mad:

lean&mean · 10 September 2008 at 10:47AM

I've used John Lewis's "Never Knowingly Undersold" policy many times, sometimes before purchase and sometimes after.

They have added a rider to their policy: they don't match web-only prices, but if the web company has a bricks and mortar outlet with stocks, JL will match it.

I bought a Sony HDD recorder a while back, took a print-out of a web advert from a Tottenham Court Road store showing a cheaper price. The sales guy (partner) rang the store to check the price and whether they had stock and then knocked off about £50 from the price, and he couldn't have been nicer.

My experience of the after-the-event price matching wasn't quite so good. I'd bought three LCD TVs there when we moved house and then checked the prices online. When I went in a (different) sales guy said, "the policy isn't really there for you to search for a lower price and get money back". Cheeky! Nevertheless they found that two TVs were cheaper and I got about £30 back after a couple of weeks.

The process for "undersales" is different if they are found after the event. Sales staff pass the details to the "Assistant General Managers" office who investigates and then writes to you with the outcome and, if appropriate, a cheque.

Incidentally, it's still worth negotiating with them over big ticket stuff if you can find a reason for them to reduce something. I got £300 off a laptop because it was the last one on the shelves and a display model. And of course their computers have 2 years warranty thrown in, and TVs have 5 years.

(I used to work for JL, about 25 years ago!)

vandanfc · 10 September 2008 at 12:14PM

For anyone after the current top ten chart games for Wii, DS and xbox and ps3 Morrisons this week have them on special offer - however most of the time they have sold out. HOWEVER if you have Currys store locally they should agree to price match Morrisons price. Currently you can get Tiger Wood Golf 09 for Wii and Mario Kart for Wii for £15 each.

Chief1975 · 10 September 2008 at 8:54PM

vandanfc wrote: »

For anyone after the current top ten chart games for Wii, DS and xbox and ps3 Morrisons this week have them on special offer - however most of the time they have sold out. HOWEVER if you have Currys store locally they should agree to price match Morrisons price. Currently you can get Tiger Wood Golf 09 for Wii and Mario Kart for Wii for £15 each.

I got PC world to price match Morrisons, although they have got a get out by saying it must be in stock, fortunately they didn't check when I went in.

Be warned you will get large queue of people build up behind you while you wait, the person behind me was in a wheel chair!

collingtrees1 · 11 September 2008 at 9:58AM

Halfords have a great deal on many stereos and sat navs with free installation thrown in, argos have a click and reserve website listing many of the same products, that allows you to print out a reservation of the items, showing the price and local store holding stock.
Halfords will accept this for price matching and still have to throw in the 'free' installation. Got £50 off a £200 stereo recntly, typically argos are 10 - 25% cheaper.

regards
martin

MadAsABrush_3 · 11 September 2008 at 9:58AM

Not a shop, but a great result this week on a hotel 'best rate guarantee' deal...

I'm already booked for next summer's holiday, and need 2 hotel rooms at Los Angeles Airport for 1 night (there are 5 of us).

The Westin Hotels 'Best Rate Guarantee' promises to match any other publicly available rate (except for auction type Hotwire/Priceline) at their hotels, and give you either a choice of 2000 Starwood Points (their loyalty programme), OR a further 10% off the discounted rate.

SO...

westin.com wanted $249 per room per night. I found rooms in the same hotel for the equivalent of $106 per night on octopus.co.uk. The nice bit about Westin's deal is that you don't have to book the other rate and then claim from them (or the other way around). You simply send them the details of the rate and where you found it, they do the research and come back to you with the yes or no on whether it meets the criteria for the rate guarantee program.

Within 24 hours I had submitted my online claim and had it approved. I've saved nearly $250 before I even leave home!! AND the bonus 2000 Starwood points will go a long way towards covering the cost of our final night's stay at the end of our holiday too!

Another nice bit is, while octopus.co.uk would have required me to pay in full at the time of booking, westin only want paid when we check out at the end of our stay!

RESULT!!

ms_piggy · 11 September 2008 at 1:50PM

bought a new car recently and went back and forward between two dealers (same car) until neither would go any lower got all the extras I wanted for free and then some!

Dazcoops · 11 September 2008 at 6:44PM

Had a nightmare with our tent due to the weather so wanted to get a new one. I was online looking at tents at a number of stores and noticed on that Go Outdoors outdoors will price match any store bricks or online and then reduce it by 10%.

The tent I was looking at had already been reduced by them to £99.

A quick google search found the tent at £79. I printed the page of and took it to the store the next day (Praying they didn't notice the "out of stock" writing in red.

They didn't but did check postage at the online store, which was £4.50. I didn't think about that one. They Added that to the total and then did the price match.

I ended up getting the tent for £75.15
You do have to have a yearly membership card which you can purchase at the till, for £4. In total I shelled out £79.15.

Not bad considering I only had to do a quick google search.

Daz:rotfl:

brightonman123 · 11 September 2008 at 7:04PM

do i have actually have to buy at shop 'a', then find it cheaper at shop 'b'..?

would like to just point out the cheaper place, and claim th difference!!

The Great "Price Beater Policy" Hunt

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