Last week, we received a flyer for Zellers with some nifty sales. Zellers is the Canadian version of Target. Just not as good (don't laugh).
One thing that got me excited was a faux leather (Naugahyde) Ottoman with storage and reversible top that turned into two little trays. It also came with two little foot stools. All for $99.99. Can't beat that.
Obviously not. The store did not think so either.
The sale started last Saturday, so my mom and I popped in on Sunday to check them out. There was not one to be seen anywhere. We found a salesperson and asked. They thought they had had one and sold it the day before. They told us to check during the week to see if they had more coming in.
This I did. I was told by 'someone managerial' that they expected at least 4 more in that nights shipment. I was also told that they had not realized they would be that popular and so had only had two per store.
This morning I called them, got a sales clerk in the furniture deparment who told me that 'no, there was no shipment and if they were getting some in, I should have gotten a rain check. I had been told I wouldn't need one before.
Hung up and called again. Got a manager. Was told that they had only gotten the two and had sold them prior to the sale. He said that they would have more in a few months.
When I ranted to my mom about this she pointed out that this sounded vaguely illegal. So I went and googled 'Loss Leader' and 'Bait and Switch.'
"advertising a sale while intending to stock a limited amount of, and thereby sell out, the loss-leading item advertised is legal in the United States. The purveyor can escape liability if they make clear in their advertisements that quantities of items for which a sale is offered are limited."
I am unsure of the retail laws in Canada, but I would assume that they would be similar.
I am really cheesed about this.
I know I can buy this type of thing elsewhere, but when you are on a budget, extras like furniture accessories can be way out of league. I was so happy to find something affordable that would do the job for now!
Learned my lesson I guess. It was too good to be true.
