Food Lion Deception
Food Lion is a grocery store chain with a couple of stores in South Boston. It appears to me they were deceptive with this advertisement. This is a copy of the eMail I sent them. It is pretty self explanatory. Is there a possibility I misread the ad, and am wrong?
COPY OF EMAIL TO FOOD LION:
Reference your Food Lion advertisement in The Gazette-Virginian for the Week of 02/14/07 thru 02/20/07. I assume you don't open attachments to eMail, so this is a link to a scan of your advertisement at photobucket:
My wife went to both of the Food Lion stores in South Boston, Virginia this morning and was charged $9.96 for four 12 packs of Pepsi. She showed the advertisement to the cashier at store number 0744 and told her she thought she should have been charged $5.98. This is a link to a scan of the sales slip at photobucket:
The cashier told my wife she thought the ad was misleading, but the Pepsi was $4.99 per 12 pack.
Then my wife went to store number 0548 and showed the advertisement to the store manager and asked him if it was correct. He told her Food Lion has never had Pepsi at $2.99 per 12 pack.
I contend that a misleading advertisement is an advertisement which contains true information but can be easily misinterpreted by a reasonable person. A FALSE ADVERTISEMENT is an advertisement which is false. I contend this is a FALSE advertisement.
Now, I'll admit $2.99 per 12 pack would have been a pretty good price and the wife should have smelled a rat up front. I'll also admit that by today's standards, this is the low end of the scam spectrum. I'll probably recover financially in less than a year. In the meantime I have to live with a woman who came home from a special trip to town without the great bargain she went after.
I suggest that when for whatever reason your advertisement doesn't reflect what I have to pay at checkout, you put a poster or some other kind of announcement at the store entrance that the advertisement was a mistake and not valid and will not be honored.
Can you imagine our mutual embarrassment if I came into your store with only $3.00 in my pocket and tried to buy a 12 pack of Pepsi?
COPY OF EMAIL TO FOOD LION:
Reference your Food Lion advertisement in The Gazette-Virginian for the Week of 02/14/07 thru 02/20/07. I assume you don't open attachments to eMail, so this is a link to a scan of your advertisement at photobucket:
My wife went to both of the Food Lion stores in South Boston, Virginia this morning and was charged $9.96 for four 12 packs of Pepsi. She showed the advertisement to the cashier at store number 0744 and told her she thought she should have been charged $5.98. This is a link to a scan of the sales slip at photobucket:
The cashier told my wife she thought the ad was misleading, but the Pepsi was $4.99 per 12 pack.
Then my wife went to store number 0548 and showed the advertisement to the store manager and asked him if it was correct. He told her Food Lion has never had Pepsi at $2.99 per 12 pack.
I contend that a misleading advertisement is an advertisement which contains true information but can be easily misinterpreted by a reasonable person. A FALSE ADVERTISEMENT is an advertisement which is false. I contend this is a FALSE advertisement.
Now, I'll admit $2.99 per 12 pack would have been a pretty good price and the wife should have smelled a rat up front. I'll also admit that by today's standards, this is the low end of the scam spectrum. I'll probably recover financially in less than a year. In the meantime I have to live with a woman who came home from a special trip to town without the great bargain she went after.
I suggest that when for whatever reason your advertisement doesn't reflect what I have to pay at checkout, you put a poster or some other kind of announcement at the store entrance that the advertisement was a mistake and not valid and will not be honored.
Can you imagine our mutual embarrassment if I came into your store with only $3.00 in my pocket and tried to buy a 12 pack of Pepsi?
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$2.99 for a 12-pack is not uncommon. Your Food Lion sounds like a rip-off.
In Colorado, King Soopers (Kroger) often sells them 3/$9.00, and you don't have to buy three to get that price. They'll sell you one or 100, with no limit.0 -
You know living in Boston was your first mistake, Right?[}:)] 0 -
Thats why I drink beer. Don 0 -
quote:Originally posted by He Dog
You know living in Boston was your first mistake, Right?[}:)]
Living in South Boston, Virginia would be a mistake, but not the same mistake as living in the other Boston. Even beantownshootah decided to move to South Carolina. By the grace of a loving God, I don't live in either one. [:D]0 -
Jamesrk,
This type of thing is going on alot today. I had a bullet deal that fell through after the company sold them to me. After my credit card was charged and a confirmation was sent to me, they raised the prices and cancelled the sale.
Watch for the reissued meat at food lion, remember about five years ago when (20/20, or dateline) did that expose on them taking meat and washing it off with clorox after it expired and then repackaging it for sale.0 -
quote:Originally posted by JamesRK
I'll probably recover financially in less than a year. In the meantime I have to live with a woman who came home from a special trip to town without the great bargain she went after.
James, I hope a speedy financial recovery for you.[:D] My wife would still be there arguing.[:X][:X][:(!][:X]0 -
what a rip off!
Dillons (aka Kroger) regularly has coke or pepsi at $6/24 pack,
Wally World has similar prices as well0 -
quote:Originally posted by muss
Jamesrk,
This type of thing is going on alot today. I had a bullet deal that fell through after the company sold them to me. After my credit card was charged and a confirmation was sent to me, they raised the prices and cancelled the sale.
Watch for the reissued meat at food lion, remember about five years ago when (20/20, or dateline) did that expose on them taking meat and washing it off with clorox after it expired and then repackaging it for sale.
Sounds like the crap Sportsmans Guide pulls, which is why I don't shop with them.0 -
james, the store is wrong. you could demand the advertised price and win.
the marketing and floor managers arent communicating. the floor should have known this special was on.
have you heard back from food lions main office?0 -
they're Food Lion, and you must be the Food Water Buffalo. 0 -
Sounds like Food Lyin' to me.
But that's just me.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
james, the store is wrong. you could demand the advertised price and win.
the marketing and floor managers arent communicating. the floor should have known this special was on.
have you heard back from food lions main office?
Not yet, but my eMail comes through hughes.net and they are usually slower than snail mail, so that may not mean anything.0 -
Actually, I interpret that ad to mean that the limit of free 12pks is 2. If you purchase 5 or more :
If you were to purchase 6- 12 packs:
You'd be paying full price for 3 of them, get 2 for free and then pay $2.99 for the 6th.
BTW...the wife went shopping today and bought 4 - 12 packs of Pepsi products for $10.990 -
quote:Originally posted by scrumpyjack
Actually, I interpret that ad to mean that the limit of free 12pks is 2. If you purchase 5 or more :
If you were to purchase 6- 12 packs:
You'd be paying full price for 3 of them, get 2 for free and then pay $2.99 for the 6th.
BTW...the wife went shopping today and bought 4 - 12 packs of Pepsi products for $10.99
The ad states limit of 2 free. You got the equivilent of 2 free, if the regular price (retail w/o the card) is $4.99. Had you bought more than four, the additional 12 paks would have been $2.99ea. Vague, agreed, but not really misleading.0 -
quote:Originally posted by jbc23060
The ad states limit of 2 free. You got the equivilent of 2 free, if the regular price (retail w/o the card) is $4.99. Had you bought more than four, the additional 12 paks would have been $2.99ea. Vague, agreed, but not really misleading.
You know, I think you just might be correct. That's even worse than I thought. That would require me to be of almost average intelligence to understand the ad. Who the hell do they think they are dealing with? [:D] [:D] [:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by JamesRK
quote:Originally posted by jbc23060
The ad states limit of 2 free. You got the equivilent of 2 free, if the regular price (retail w/o the card) is $4.99. Had you bought more than four, the additional 12 paks would have been $2.99ea. Vague, agreed, but not really misleading.
You know, I think you just might be correct. That's even worse than I thought. That would require me to be of almost average intelligence to understand the ad. Who the hell do they think they are dealing with? [:D] [:D] [:D]
[:D]0 -
but she only bought 4.
that equals:
1 regular price/one free
1 regular price/one free
any more AFTER THAT would be 2.99 with an mvp card, full price without.
bill should have read:
+4.99
+4.99
+4.99
+4.99
-4.99 rebate
-4.99 rebate
=====
19.960 -
James, a few points:
1. Boston sucks (but you knew that already), and I am formally announcing that I have joined you in Dixie (you're in SC, right?).
2. Prices in Boston are (unfortunately) necessarily higher than elsewhere in the country, because cost of transportation, rent, living, etc are all higher. You can NOT expect an ad published in VIRGINIA to be honored in Boston!
3. WERE the ad published in MA, I believe MA state law says that the store would be required to honor it. (But apparently it wasn't, see #2 above).0 -
you got them for 2.50 per 12 pack the way Iread it, the ad does not say how much they are it says buy one get one limit 2 fee then any extras are 2.99 so if you buy 2@ reg retail you can have 2 free then each additional packs would be regular retail then the next would be 2.99 so if you bought 12 twelve packs you would pay>
reg retail x 2
2 free
2 @reg retail
2@2.99 ea.
2@ reg retail
2@2.99
and it is a scam......called BUYING GROCERIES! TOO MUCH UNION INVOLVMENT THAT'S WHAT SCREWED THE AUTO INDUSTRY UP YOU KNOW0 -
I've bought 12 packs from Giant and Weis Markets for 4 for $10.00
Both Pepsi and Coke products.0 -
You got away cheap. I payed $52.00 for an extra large blind bag, and got a large instead of an extra large.I'm lucky I measured the bag when I recieved.I called the place I ordered the bag from and they credited my card with ten bucks.If I had sent the bag back I would of been out $10.00 and no bag.Its the new way of doing business, screw the customer, who cares if he ever comes back.What ate my lunch it the company that makes the bags mislabled the box that the bags come in.I wonder how many people they screwed.The company that sold me the bag now,( after being caught), wants to make it right.No I'm not going to post up the names of the two companies.Well not right away. 0 -
they got you !!!! all they have to say is that they are not responsible for typographical errors 0 -
Was in Destin on vacation last summer. Went to the local grocery store chain. They had Coke/Pepsi 12 packs on sale for $2.50 each. Bought 20 of them.
So $2.99 is not too far fetched.
Ben0 -
quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
James, a few points:
1. Boston sucks (but you knew that already), and I am formally announcing that I have joined you in Dixie (you're in SC, right?).
2. Prices in Boston are (unfortunately) necessarily higher than elsewhere in the country, because cost of transportation, rent, living, etc are all higher. You can NOT expect an ad published in VIRGINIA to be honored in Boston!
3. WERE the ad published in MA, I believe MA state law says that the store would be required to honor it. (But apparently it wasn't, see #2 above).
beantown, I guess I should have given more detail on the geography. I live in Halifax County, Virginia. The closest "Big City" is South Boston, Virginia, not Boston, Massachusetts. I'm actually from Alabama, and I sound like it. I used to get some strange looks from the ladies in the real Boston's combat zone when they asked me where I was from and I told the "South Boston". [:D]
By the way, congratulations on your escape from Boston. [:)]0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
but she only bought 4.
that equals:
1 regular price/one free
1 regular price/one free
any more AFTER THAT would be 2.99 with an mvp card, full price without.
bill should have read:
+4.99
+4.99
+4.99
+4.99
-4.99 rebate
-4.99 rebate
=====
19.96
Bob,
$9.98 should have been the answer.0 -
They put the screwing to a company I worked for a long time ago. Had nothing to do with food but they strung them along on a deal and then just flat out screwed them.
My shadow will not darken their doorway.0 -
EVERYONE SHOULD DRINK MORE WATER[^] ACCORDING TO MY DR 0 -
you only get two free if you buy 2 at full price with the mvp card.
i shop food lion. i have the mvp card. i know the tricks this store has. james and i are about 3 hours from each other.0 -
James I have given this much thought and have finally realized that the whole problem is because you shop at a grocery store calling itself "Food Lion". What the heck kind of name is that for a grocery store? I mean, I understand the "Food" part, but what were they thinking when they threw in the word "Lion?". What the he!! has a Lion got to do with going to the grocery store?
It might be that they orginally meant for the name to be "Food Line" as in you having to wait in line when checking out; or that is the "line" of business they are in- the food "line." And then when the first sign was made with the name planned as "Food Line", the sign company make a mistake and instead put up the word "Lion" in place of "Line". Then somehow, someway, the top execs at "Food Line" thought the name was pretty catchy, plus the sign company probably offered a big discount off the agreed upon price if the grocery store would accept the "Food Lion" sign, so that is how the name became to be used. This is just my theory and may not be based in fact.
Bottom line, don't shop or do with business with people that have given their business a crazy name.0 -
oh great...does that mean pigply wiggly's must go too?[:(]
and what the heck is a harris teeter anyway?[:D][:p]0
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