On 8/2, I was doing some routine shopping at my local Target store. And I wandered into a "Clearance" area for some of their outdoor items, including gas grills. There were several large signs that said "Clearance, priced as marked"
I saw a "floor model" of a grill that I was interested in. It was obviously scuffed, had a few minor missing pieces, etc. And I was hoping to get a good deal on it, however I did not see a price tag anywhere.
I then saw a customer service representative from the department. I asked her how much the grill was since I did not see a price. She pulled a flyer card off of the grill, scanned it, and said that the grill was $179. That sounded like a good deal to me, so I wanted to go ahead and buy it before someone else did, but I wouldn't be able to pick it up until later that afternoon. She checked with someone else, said that would be fine, and then helped me roll the grill to the front of the store to check out with it and pay for it.
I paid for the grill, they printed a copy of my receipt, attached it to the top of the grill, wrote my name on it, and said that they would see me later.
Later that afternoon, I arranged to borrow a friend's truck to pick up the grill. When I arrived at the store, and told them I was here to pick up my grill, the girl at the customer service counter refered me to see someone else. This lady (wearing no nametag) explained to me that after I purchased the grill, she realized that the picture on the price tag did not match the grill that I had bought. That $179 was NOT the price for the grill and that she had replaced the clearance grill that I was supposed to pick up with a different grill.
I told them that was not acceptable, that I checked with multiple employees of the store, they then sold me the grill for $179, it was MY grill and I was just here to pick it up... Not some other grill.
Some guy named Kevin (who wouldn't give me his last name) came up and explained that he was the manager. He explained that the grill was actually a $500 grill (brand new in the box price) and that he wasn't going to give it to me for the $179. I said that I was sorry if his employees had made a mistake, but I had to make special arrangements to borrow a truck to pick this up, I had paid for it, I wanted MY grill.
He offered to sell me the grill (that I had already purchased) for 20% off of the $500 price. I declined, as I had already purchased the grill, and asked if I had taken the grill with me at the time of purchase, would he have come to my house to either reposses the grill, or to try to charge me more for it? He said that they would not do that. I then asked if since I already purchased this grill and it was rightfully mine, perhaps I should just take it out of the store with me regardless of what he said. At this point he called a Target "rent-a-cop" security guy over... It was quite unprofessional.
I ended the encounter by telling Kevin to have the store general manager call me to resolve the issue. Either Kevin decided it wasn't important enough to bother with the general manager, or the general manager decided that I wasn't important enough to deal with, but either way no one has gotten in touch with me, and the issue is unresolved.
As it stands, Target has my money ($179 tax), they have the grill that I rightfully purchased, and they inconvenienced both me and my friend by making me borrow a vehicle which would end up being worthless.
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