Life is full of surprises and incompetent people. Many times, when things go wrong, it is attributed to a simple business error. I can understand how a large enterprise like Wal-Mart or Kroger(large grocery store for those of you who don't know and love them) can easily let the price on the shelf and the computer get out of step.
Over the last few years, I have been watching more closely, how the errors come up and whose favor they are in. I haven't kept a scientific track of the errors or done any scientific measuring of the data, but if the errors were honest errors, I would expect that 50% or half the errors would be in the consumer's favor and 50% would be in the store's favor.
Without any collection of scientific data, I find that I RARELY has an error go in my favor. Most of the time, the error nearly always seems to be in the store's favor. When I go to Wal-Mart or Kroger, I always check my receipt to be sure that the items I buy are what they are advertised for. The other thing I've also seen is that the label under a product with the pricing doesn't match the product that it resides under. Again, I'm sure there is no deliberate attempt to deceive the buying public, but having an inquisitive mind, I wonder whether this is an error or deliberate deception.
Kroger has the best policy that I'm aware of. If it rings/scans incorrectly, it's free. Wal-Mart has a similar policy, but you have to go stand in the customer service line. Krogers does seem to make corrections when they have a pricing problem where Wal-Mart don't seem to care.
Then there is what I consider to be pure customer deception. This is where the advertisement looks like one thing and the truth is hidden in the small print. The most familiar case of this is with the Discover credit card. They advertise that you get 2% back on purchases but just don't mind to tell you that it is after you spend $3K for that year.
Several years ago, I worked for some time in Germany and paid German tax there. A couple of years later, I received a refund from the German government because there had been an error in my tax calculation for the time I had worked there. They found the error and took it upon themselves to make it right. Can you ever imagine our IRS doing the same?
The bottom line is just watch and count the number of errors when dealing with
businesses. Count the number of problems and see who is favored most of the time. I
seriously doubt that it will be you. Is there something wrong with this picture?
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