I really hope someone can help me. This past Thursday my husband and I were at our local Wal-Mart looking at laptops, mine is older and I just wanted to upgrade.
We saw a great deal on a HP Pavilion Laptop with 15.4″ screen, 3GB Ram etc. Great deal! The sign said Unbelievable Price $448.00. All the boxes were marked that price as well.
We had a sales associate assist us and did inquire as to why such a low price? The associate said she did not know but they had just recently got them in.
We decided to purchase the laptop and the cashier went to ring it up and the register screen told her she could not sell it. Item cannot be sold or something similar.
We had her call a manager, he (assistant manager) refused to sell it, saying that he cannot override and that it was marked and signage placed on display in error.
There was no actual manager available. They were actually intended to be for an after Thanksgiving sale (black Friday) and someone messed up, by pricing and displaying them early.
We have tried calling the store manager and also contacted headquarters and no one will return our calls. I feel that they are holding off until after the sale so they can just say, “sorry we only carried them for the sale.”
What are my rights? They have only 5 available, I am disabled and cannot drive, and there is no way I can attempt to get one when they really are on sale.
I feel I was cheated! If the item is displayed and priced don’t I have the right to it?
~Jayne K.
Dear Jayne,
Depending on what state you live in, it may be illegal and you might be able to take Wal-mart to court — but seriously, why bother?
Anything you buy at Wal-mart is of lesser quality than you can purchase just about anywhere else. The laptop you were interested in purchasing comes with an AMD processor, not an Intel processor for starters. It might look like a nice machine and seem to be a good deal but there are far better deals available.
For just a little more you can order a nice machine from Best Buy. Check out the HP – Pavilion Laptop with Intel Core2 Duo Processor T5800. You can order it online, have it delivered to your door and it’s just a tad more at $499.99.
Many merchants are offer free shipping and the prices online are fantastic right now. Why spend your dollars where they aren’t appreciated?
My husband and I never shop the stores on black Friday. I simply don’t do well with crowds. I was disappointed to find that we were going to miss out on a terrific deal Staples was having on monitors — and I really need two new monitors.
You can imagine my delight when I found the exact same deal online, with the added bonus of free shipping being offered (Staples delivers for free on any order over $50 — everyday.) and we were able to use an online coupon to save an additional $25.00. I ended up ordering two 22 inch monitors for $139.99 a piece – about $20.00 less than I could find them at any store.
Shop around. Be cautious where you shop online but the deals this week online beat most brick and mortar deals — hands down.
Thank you Annette. I am still amazed that we can not get one single person to call us from the manager to corporate. I will look at the one you suggested, but I will not stop until Walmart at least returns my call. Also, we are in Michigan.
Hi Jayne,
Wal-Mart doesn’t care about anyone or anything – except the bottom line. If they sell it to you then they would be violating state law by advertising a product and not carrying the “minimum volume” for that type of promotion (which is probably 5 units).
I’m sure that doesn’t make it feel any better, but consider it a blessing in disguise. I am a technical consultant and have a LOT of clients that purchase their hardware and computers pretty much everywhere. Anything from Wal-Mart is likely to last only half as long, and the loss could be devastating or far more expensive than spending a few bucks in advance.