UKC

Got a great deal on saturday, taking advantage of their price match, but what do you make of this:

I was browsing around the sheffield store and tried on a montane black ice down jacket (£225, (rrp £250)) v nice coat but I think ill give it a miss at that price.

When I got home I checked google shopping and found it on Field and Trek for £125. Imagine my glee when I realised I could get it for £112.50 from Go Outdoors. I phoned the price match hotline and was told to send them an email with the details and they would "get right back" to me, they did not. Until this morning when Go Outdoors sent me a message to say as F&T were sold out they would not be matching their price.....

Ploy? I very much think so.

Anyway the moral of the story is take your smart phone to the store and do it via human interaction, I hope it's cold this weekend .

To be fair that has always been their rule. If an online store it has to be in stock and also the same colour etc. Why would a shop price match something you can't actually go and buy somewhere else?

I have had several brilliant price matches (well price beat) from go outdoors.

In reply to Milesy: I'll second that.

In reply to andic: Why price match? Why didn't you just buy it from the company that were offering it at the price you wanted? If it is a 'price match' you lose nothing... if it was a price match plus a bit extra (you said you could get it at 112.50 vs 125 that F&T were selling at), you've lost a deal at Go-outdoors/given them a chance to weasel out if thats what they have done, and have now lost the opportunity to buy from F&T for a measly £12.50 difference.

As an example of my thinking, drives me nuts when come renewal time, my insurance company tries to give me a bad price then offers to match/beat somebody elses if I just tell them who it is and how much it is. I always decline and go to the company that offered the best price.... why should a company get away with quoting a 'bad' price only to offer to beat somebody else if they are more competitive or eager for business? I reward the person offering the good deal, not the dog in the manger approach of the company who tries to piggy back off it.

In reply to Milesy:
Ah but it was in stock at F&T on saturday when I made my enquiry, were they using delaying tactics to avoid matching? I believe so.

Fair play to the store staff for doing the match though.

In reply to andic:

Its not clear in my OP that I returned to the store armed with my phone and got the store to do a price match

In reply to andic:

1)How would they know that F&T were so low on stock that by waiting a few hours they'd be able avoid the price match?

2)Why would they bother? Go Outdoors seem to think that the price match offers them a competitive advantage, so they're hardly going to be foolish enough to have a policy of deliberately delaying a sale.

Too much paranoia going on here...

In reply to andic: I like G Outdoors. They don't have everything, but for climbing and general outdoors they have a good range with mostly competetive prices. Their sales are frequent and often pretty fantastic.

Re your email, you sent them an email on Saturday, probably their busiest trading day and they almost certainly just didn't get around to it.

All in all I think for a large chain they offer pretty good service.

In reply to andic:

Shopper, how much is that jacket,
shopkeeper £200.
Shopper How Much ! The price online is only £150.00
Shopkeeper: Well buy it online then.
Shopper they are out of stock.
Shopkeeper: Well I will do it for £150 when I don't have any .

In reply to andic:

I think more likely it was sitting in someones email inbox / desk to look at when they started work again on Monday morning. How are they going to know that if they hold off two days then it will be out of stock? That doesn't seem plausible at all. Go outdoors have a price beat because they want your business. They would rather take your business and make less profit than they want (or even no profit at all) than go to someone else. If they make a little profit from the sale then they still make profit. If they break even, or at worse loose a little they have gained a customer with good opinion of them who is likely to go back and shop again, or might even buy other items the same day.

In reply to andic:

I got a pair of Quarks for £247.50 instead of their shelf price at GO of £324 as I told them (and they took my word for it) that Joe Brown's in Llanberis sells a pair for £275. I was pleased with that!

In reply to andic: I got a Vango tent for £90 instead of the advertised £190, as F&T had it at £100... didn't use the website, just went to the GO store and they checked on line before agreeing to the £90 price. Sales woman on the till seemed quite pleased to be giving me a bargain, and why not it wasn't coming out of her wage.

In reply to Milesy:

Price matching is quite a good way to price differentiate - you set your prices a bit high (though not too high that you don't make any sales), those who care about price will do a price-match but those who don't will just pay what you're charging.

Neil

In reply to andic: Go Outdoors are painfully slow (up to 5 days) price matching products online.

In store they do ok, but then THEY never have what I want in stock.

I did get them to price match their own website price though, which saved me money

In reply to andic: In all fairness to Go Outdoors I got a Deuter Guide 45 litre rucksack from them for £80 on their price match scheme when they were retailing at most places for £130.

In reply to andic:

Some places leave items up at sale prices even if they're sold out, so they appear cheapest on Google Shopping etc and get people to visit them.

They've always been able to quickly price match things for me.

They're right to be careful, though. Many retailers post phantom discounts to get them up the Google Shopping rankings. When you try to buy the item, it's out of stock.

Ironically, it's usually GO that doesn't have the item in stock. They're buggers for that. It will be available in one store 300 miles away, and not eligible for home delivery.

In reply to andic: Only got good things to say about their price matching policy, got a set of Quarks for £204!

In reply to andic:
I worked for Gooutdoors for a while and they were very fair and clear with their policy on price matching, we would even check price matches on a computer in store with the customer if they asked.
I remember giving a bloke £8 off a pair of evolve pontas rockboots because banana fingers had them for 50p cheaper. The only bad thing you can say about that is that small independent shops just can't compete.

When it was ccc in Sheffield and Hathersage everyone would sing their praises all day long but now they are getting punished for their success. The usual British way.

It's not all good but it's far from as bad as some people think.

In reply to andic:

I got a Rab down jacket for £125 when it should have been £165, through Go price matching, I was very pleased... But if I wanted something enough, and it was that good a deal, I would not wait for an email, I'd do it instore, but that's just me, I'm too impatient!

In reply to andic:

The only thing which annoys me about their price match is that they will look at a price + p+p then price match to that, but still charge you delivery on top of their price

other than that you can get a great deal with it

In reply to andic:

Go outdoors are very fair in my opinion, I got a TN superlight voyager for 230 free p+p, when F+T had them on sale. They did check the price carefully though on the F+T website before agreeing to the price. Did it over the phone and the girls checked the website while I was on the line,
total bargain.

In reply to climber david: why don't you buy from the other company then? Wouldn't that make sense... you know, buy from the company offering the 'good' price - reward them for it perhaps?

In reply to andic:
as said above, I reckon it was just stuck in someone's inbox rather than anything more sneaky.

so yeah, smartphone is a good idea, or if they can check instore. Still, if it's a good price..you gotta balance the potential saving against time & effort, just like ordering online rather than buying it in a shop - waiting for delivery, wrapping yourself in blankets until it turns up, not getting a smile off the pretty shoplady (or man) ...

In reply to andic: I think its safe to assume they left it until monday morning due to office opening hours or the level of staff on monday am possibly been higher. resulting in them finally getting through the weekends email.

one of many possiblities, but I agree they probably had a spy at F&T who informed them to just hang on a couple of hours and they will be out of stock. Mwwahahahahahaaaaa!

In reply to Ferret:


It appears that Go Outdoors' 'price match' is, in fact, a 'price match, and then some', giving an extra 10% discount on any other price:

"When I got home I checked google shopping and found it on Field and Trek for £125. Imagine my glee when I realised I could get it for £112.50 from Go Outdoors."

£125 - 10% = £112.50

In reply to captain paranoia: Well- its an extra saving I guess if thats the case but I personally don't like it. Feels to me like the consumer does all the leg work for Go Outdoors. If they want the business they should price at a level to attract it.

I personally love a bargain but I look for the best price and buy it. I don't look for the best price then go and check if theres a price match plus some that will get me an even better one. Just me, but I feel a certain amount of guilt at randomly buying from the cheapest source as it stands and I assuage that a little, and promote what I see as 'fair play' by going with whoever is selling at the best price. They have priced to win my business and it seems unfair for another firm to then get my business on the basis of 'we'll skin you at the wrong price if we can get away with it unless you challenge us, at which point we will give you a good deal' which is what price matching and price matching plus a sweetner boil down to.

In reply to Ferret:

GO outdoors is the only place I can sensibly get to on a regular basis. Given that I'll be going there anyway, it makes sense to me to see whether I can get any reduction going.

In reply to GrahamD: Fair enough - much of the thread appears dominated by a desire to find a deal, then go get Go Outdoors or wherever to better it.....