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Staples and Copics: Bait and switch, or honest mistake?
12 years ago
I'm sure everyone here's heard about that nonsense that happened with Staples in regards to Copic markers. Now, Consumerist has taken to reporting on this issue... unfortunately, their write-up is completely and totally erroneous. =/ They compare what Staples did to any other advertising slip-up, and chide the justifiably angry customers.
Here's what actually happened:
1. Copics were on sale last week. Most notably was a set of 72 markers for $16. Now... taken by itself, that could be considered a simple pricing error. In fact, Staples addressed it as such, pulling the markers from stock, cancelling the orders, and informing customers that they would be back up at the "correct price". Now, if that had been all that'd happened, there wouldn't really be a story. This leads to the next point:
2. Copics went back up yesterday and were available in stock again. It was at this time that I myself placed an order for two sets. During the checkout process, there was a notice letting me know that the products "might not be available"... but that gladly linked me back to the rest of the site to look at OTHER marker sets instead. Also note, in order to process the order, Staples required a lot of my personal info—despite me using a "guest" checkout. Part of this process included trying to make me agree by default to receiving tons of their advertising and spam.
3. Said order was able to be completed, with a confirmation number and all. So, we have: Markers put back up at a price stated to be correct by Staples, an attempt to get customers to buy other products instead, phising for personal information, and then a confirmation for the order after all.
4. Later in the day, the markers went out of stock again and were unavailable.
5. Finally, and very important: It wasn't just "a set" of Copics available at a discount. It was three entire pages of markers, all priced in a way that made sense to each other. Far, far beyond a simple "typographical error".
Today, I (and many, many other customers) received e-mails letting us know that these orders were all going to be cancelled due to "incorrect pricing".
Taken as a whole, you have a company that advertised several products for sale in a bid to business to their page, then that ended up reaping untold amounts of valuable e-mail addresses (very valuable) and personal contact information, and all without any intention whatsoever to honor their sales.
This is fucked. Up.
Here's what actually happened:
1. Copics were on sale last week. Most notably was a set of 72 markers for $16. Now... taken by itself, that could be considered a simple pricing error. In fact, Staples addressed it as such, pulling the markers from stock, cancelling the orders, and informing customers that they would be back up at the "correct price". Now, if that had been all that'd happened, there wouldn't really be a story. This leads to the next point:
2. Copics went back up yesterday and were available in stock again. It was at this time that I myself placed an order for two sets. During the checkout process, there was a notice letting me know that the products "might not be available"... but that gladly linked me back to the rest of the site to look at OTHER marker sets instead. Also note, in order to process the order, Staples required a lot of my personal info—despite me using a "guest" checkout. Part of this process included trying to make me agree by default to receiving tons of their advertising and spam.
3. Said order was able to be completed, with a confirmation number and all. So, we have: Markers put back up at a price stated to be correct by Staples, an attempt to get customers to buy other products instead, phising for personal information, and then a confirmation for the order after all.
4. Later in the day, the markers went out of stock again and were unavailable.
5. Finally, and very important: It wasn't just "a set" of Copics available at a discount. It was three entire pages of markers, all priced in a way that made sense to each other. Far, far beyond a simple "typographical error".
Today, I (and many, many other customers) received e-mails letting us know that these orders were all going to be cancelled due to "incorrect pricing".
Taken as a whole, you have a company that advertised several products for sale in a bid to business to their page, then that ended up reaping untold amounts of valuable e-mail addresses (very valuable) and personal contact information, and all without any intention whatsoever to honor their sales.
This is fucked. Up.
There isn't really bait and switch. I think that's an overused term. x_x
It sucks at any rate, but so it goes.
they are idiots most likely.. whereas someone is listing the markers at marker price, instead of retail.
In this case, however... it looks very much like malice, or at the very least, a really unethical way to try and get a ton of money.
Hell, even if it WAS an accident, Staples now has very valuable demographic data on a subset of customers that they know will try and look for good deals. Not only can they use that info for their targeted advertising, it's stuff that they can sell to other companies for cash.
Keep in mind, too, that I'm usually the first person to defend companies—my friends sometimes call me a corporate apologist, heh—so please don't feel like I'm just doing the whole "entitled customer thing". By the same token, however, I like to think that I'm good at smelling when companies are laying thick tracts of bullshit.