Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

If you know me well, you know the following three things about me:
1.) I lack talent in the make-up/hair/primping department
2.) I hate direct confrontation
3.) I love Target more than anything else in the world.

I recently decided it was time to invest in a flat iron to help tame my hair. Two factors played a big part in this - the first was my sister who encouraged me to do so and the second was the fact that Monday is school picture day and I have to do something with my hair. Jill gave me the great advice about what type of flat iron to purchase, but I decided to purchase a more "economical" (shall we say) version of one before committing to a professional one. So off to Target I went.

I figured I could pick up a flat iron by Conair or Revlon or some other manufacturer and was willing to pay no more than $40.00 for said flat iron. Jill showed me how to use her Chi, which runs around $120.00, but I wasn't quite sure I was committed to spend that much money. Because let's face it - I'm not getting a bailout from the government and I already have a drawer full of beauty items used once and never thought of again. So imagine my surprise when I walk in and see a Chi Turbo flat iron on sale for $69.99 (original price 139.99). Woo-hoo!!!

So I called Jill to make sure this was a good deal and to see if she was familiar with the product and she assured me it was and I decided to splurge and buy it. I put it in my cart, continued with my shopping, and proceeded to the check out.

First I purchased $29.68 worth of merchandise which included a Halloween gift for my nephew and tissues and hand sanitizer for my classroom (because they're not provided to the students by the school, but that's a whole other post). Then the cashier rang up the Chi Turbo. Imagine my surprise when the total came to a little over $148.00. So I tell the girl that it was marked on clearance for $69.99 and she tells me that Chis are never on sale and looks perturbed as she flips through the circular for the week. Meanwhile a line is forming. She informs me it is not on sale. I told her there was a sign there.

So in comes the supervisor of the cashiers. I tell her the story. I want the Chi Turbo. There's a sign over the original price of $139.99 advertising it for $69.99. She says she can't sell it to me for half price. I said, tough, that's what the sign says. So she gets on her walkie-talkie thingy and calls a stock person. Meanwhile my cashier has suspended my transaction and has begun ringing up other customers, forcing me and my cart and my previous purchases away from the cash register and into the aisle. The stock boy confirms that there is a sign over the Chi Turbos for $69.99, but the sign is for Conair flat irons. The supervisor tells me this in a not-so-nice tone. I said, that's fine, but it's still mislabeled and you still need to give it to me for $69.99 (this is something I learned from working in retail and at a grocery store - if an item's mislabeled, the store is supposed to sell you the item for the mislabeled price and then haul ass and fix the label). She tells me again, while she's starting another conversation with another co-worker, that she can't sell it to me for that price, she'll have to get the manager.

So the manager comes and the supervisor tells her the whole story and then continues her other conversation because, let's face it, the customer service has ended. The manager goes down to the aisle and I follow her. Surprise, the sign is gone. She now basically accuses me of lying. I tell her that I'm short. The Chi Turbos were on the top rack and the sign was above them. The sign was at least six feet up in the air. I couldn't even reach the flat irons to begin with, Brian had to help me. I couldn't have changed the sign. The stock boy was just down here 60 seconds ago. He took the sign off and took it with him. She tells me the price is $139.99 and that's it.

Now, I'm a pretty understanding person. But she's here telling me that there is no sign and only Conairs would be $69.99 and Chis are never on sale. Meanwhile I see the stock boy sneaking by the aisle. All she keeps repeating is she's sorry, but that's the price.

Well I'm sorry too!!! But whoever stocked the items and placed the sign screwed up! I see it in stores everywhere, all the time. And those stores are nice enough to either sell the item to you for the wrong price or give you a discount of some sort. Ok - she couldn't sell me the item for half off, but she didn't even offer to give it to me for $20.00 off. She made it out to be my fault, the supervisor was done listening to me when she started her conversation about what she was doing this weekend, and the cashier was done with me when I made her look up the price. There was no customer service.

So I walked away. Then I returned the $29.68 worth of merchandise that I charged on my Target credit card. And another thing - Target has recently installed new credit card reader machines. Your signature is no longer required for any credit/debit card purchase under $50.00 (the same applies at CVS drugstores). In this age of identity theft, is it really a good idea to let people charge things without looking at the card or asking for a signature? I think not.

Effective 6:15 P.M. EST, I have decided to boycott Target. Because, if this happened at Wal-Mart, you know I would have walked out of there with that Chi Turbo for $69.99.