Tricks suspected at opening of store
2007-06-07
ON the opening of the new Game store in Paarl on Wednesday 30 May, I went to buy a camera as advertised (R2 299). I am a Belgian on holiday in Paarl for a month.
When I asked to buy the camera, the lady in charge told us that there were no more models as advertised (in spite of the fact that the camera was still presented at that price behind the counter).
When I enquiried about the camera behind the glass, the saleslady told me that it was a camera at a “higher” price.
Eventually another salesman came and after discussion told me that I could have the camera behind the glass for the same price of the advertisement, as ‘compensation’ for my problems (the camera was then R2 499 instead of R2 299).
But, when we arrived at the cashier, the lady claimed the price was R3 200 on the bar code.
Another chief of the shop was called and told us that if we were taking the camera at R3 200 he could offer a ‘discount’ of R200!
Really, I thought that I was on a “Persian market” discussing the price of a “carpet”!
I refused the proposal, saying that they had to sell at the advertised price, that was legally my right. They did not respect the advertised prices or the indicated price at the counter.
After returning three times to the shop (three days later) I succeeded in obtaining my camera at the price advertised with this justification from one of the managers: It was not “fraudulent practice” but just confusion resulting from too many people in the shop on the day of the opening!
Henry Scaillet
Mantobombi Tofile, spokesperson of Game, replies: We fully understand the frustration experienced by Mr Scaillet. According to store manager Gary Lauf some of the specials had run out on opening day.
What we normally do is try to pull stock from nearby stores, but this process can take up to two days.
In this particular case our salesman, in his intention to do well, offered the customer a substitute camera with a R200 discount to compensate him for all the trouble he had gone through.
When they got to the pay point and he was told that the camera was actually R1 200 more, he took down the customer’s details and promised to contact him as soon as new stock arrived.
Stock arrived on the Friday and the customer came in to collect the camera that he had wanted to buy initially.
We do apologise for the lengthy inconvenience he experienced due to various and unforeseen circumstances, and only hope that he has not been dissuaded from shopping at our Game stores in the future.
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