Craftsman Professional 17 in. Drill Press 179.99 (normally 529)

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Chiz,
Out of curosity, when did you order yours? Seems like with our time line of us meeting yesterday you would have ordered before me.
Jeff

[ironhat]

Jeff , I ordered the first one at about 9:45 and then they had me order again at the store at approx 11:15.

[maxparot]

After this whole thing, I can completely understand why a Sears manager would refuse to honor online prices. While I am happy for those that benefited from this, I don't think it will be helpful in making Sears more accommodating in the long term. Frankly, the whole thing reminds me of TV shows where $20 bills are floating out of the skies and seemingly civilized people start stepping on each other as they grab for the cash.

This has not been the finest moment for the forum.

I have to disagree with you!!!!
First off, The forum is here for the benefit of it's members and the craft/hobby of woodworking. Finding deals on tools helps accomplish that goal.
Maybe the whole thing wasn't a mistake by Sears. After all even at a loss it get people shopping on both their website and in the store. (This is called a loss leader) Further maybe they figured ahead of time they could get away with cancelling and they'd still get some sales of other merchandise out of the deal.
Don't large retail organizations have proof readers for their advertizing?
Should local managers have the right to override corporate advertizing and /or policy other than to promote further customer satisfaction?
Many states have law which require truth in advertizing. If you want to limit quantities the ad must stipulate that. Cancelling orders while telling the customer to check out the web or store for another model may be considered "bait and switch" (illegal in many states)
The corporation or store will not tell you which laws apply in the state they are doing business in. They try to get away with whatever works and unless you know yourself and make a complaint they make out on it.
To sum it up I'm not sure if Sears/Kmart was acting in good faith nor do I feel that any large retail organization deserves the benefit of the doubt. Where a small organization wouldn't take a chance of being called to the mat on a intentional typo a large org. maybe since they have legal teams on retainer.
As for the forum and it's member's most do deserve the benefit of the doubt. The forum did it's best to deseminate information in the best interest of it's members and that is the forum working the way it should. "it's finest hours"

[xli1]

I went to the local store to special order one at the same price since the local store does not have one in stock for picking up. The expected arrival time is Nov. 28. Anyway, It deserves to wait. Just canceled the online order. Another one and half month to wait ...

[kirkroy]

Believe it or not I just got back from picking up my drill press at the Martinsburg, WV store. I ordered about 5pm EST yesterday, got the confirmation that my order was ready a bit after 10am EST this morning. The guy who brought it to my truck (glad I didn't bring the car, it's huge) said it was the last one in the store (not including the floor model).

[ironhat]

I went to the local store to special order one at the same price since the local store does not have one in stock for picking up. The expected arrival time is Nov. 28. Anyway, It deserves to wait. Just canceled the online order. Another one and half month to wait ...

Now, how did you pull that off when the in-store sale is for $50 off? I'm not trying to be a wise acre I just want to know the mechanics of the deal.

Here's the latest e-mail post from them:

Dear Charles

Thank you for your order with sears.com.

Unfortunately, your order for the 17 in. Drill Press with sears.com has been cancelled due to an error with the advertised sale price. The cancellation of your order is in accordance with our liability restrictions listed within our terms and conditions on our site. Your account was not charged. The correct sale price for this item is $479.99. If you still wish to purchase this item for the correct sales price, please contact us directly at 1-800-349-4358 option 2 for personal assistance in placing a new order. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sears Customer Care

[DLyon]

Now, how did you pull that off when the in-store sale is for $50 off? I'm not trying to be a wise acre I just want to know the mechanics of the deal.

The in-store price at my local Sears was $179.99. That's how I ended up with my drill, not through ordering via the web.

[mpauly]

I placed my order yeaterday around 11:00 am and got my confirm by 11:30. Went to go pick it up today and they didn't question anything at all. I played with the floor model and while it's a nice drill press, there's no way I'd pay $500 for it, but under $200 it was a no brainer. I have to agree with other's comments, this thing is heavy (box said 90 kgs =200 lbs).

Again, anyone want a HF 16 speed floor standing DP cheap?

Michael

[xli1]

Now, how did you pull that off when the in-store sale is for $50 off? I'm not trying to be a wise acre I just want to know the mechanics of the deal.

I have a email confirmation for picking up in local store, and also the guy overthere called me twice to let me know they have none in stock, I either need to go to store to order it or I can cancel the order. Of course I will order one. So I went there and did the ordering thing.

[FL Buckeye]

By 1:15pm today I still hadn't heard from Sears online about my order. So I printed out what info I had from the order, and headed for the Sears in Crystal River, FL. I enquired at the office while LOMF went to the tool dept to see if there were any on display. The office lady looked it up on the computer and asked if I was picking up the bandsaw too. I told her that I had picked up the bandsaw a couple of weeks ago. She went to the pickup area and came back telling me there was one (DP) there for me. I went with her , swiped the credit card, they loaded it and I was done. LOML told me that it was still on sale for $179.99 in the tool dept. Also, the best benchtop DP was on sale for the same price. I had surgery on my arm Thursday so will have wait to a few days to unload and check it out.

[davidtu]

Can someone who got a store receipt post it here, it is perhaps still possible to get a classic price-match on this.

Thanks!

[SteveK2]

I placed my order yeaterday around 11:00 am and got my confirm by 11:30. Went to go pick it up today and they didn't question anything at all. I played with the floor model and while it's a nice drill press, there's no way I'd pay $500 for it, but under $200 it was a no brainer. I have to agree with other's comments, this thing is heavy (box said 90 kgs =200 lbs).

Again, anyone want a HF 16 speed floor standing DP cheap?

Michael

Michael,
Which store in NJ?

[vaking]

The one guy who knows how to fix the web site was probably off duty. Trying to get good at Halo, or something like that.

JR

More plausible explanation is that all big companies nowdays have "change control" procedures". Everything that goes on corporate website gets reviewed days in advance. If you want to change what's on corporate website now - you need to get approval from "Change Management Committee". Getting that committee together outside of normal scheduled time will take hours at best. I work at big company and deal with this committee often. Having these procedures in place is now mandatory; at least for financial companies. The company that does not - will fail its audit and will have heavy consequense on its share price for it. I can easily see Sears prefer to take a loss on sale of product below cost than compromize procedure and risk failing audit. And at this point it is clear that price is a mistake, they cannot fix it at website but can try to do damage control at other levels. Every store will refuse to honor web price, will request you to place an order via web and let the order go through. If it does - the store does not have any responsibility and loss does not come out of local store's bonuses. If the web can cancel the order - let the website procedures deal with this.
This is a result of government mandated procedures like SOX.

[davidtu]

What are my odds?

Well, I ventured off to the local Sears tonight after jealously reading all of your posts. I didn't really expect to find it but lo and behold there was a Sale sign boasting $350 savings w/ price of $179! Cool.

Went right over to the cashier w/ the sign and they were surprised but rang it up. When they looked on the system they were doubtful when they saw it show as $479 and said it must be a mistake... but they also said they would honor it.

They got manager approval (a long wait) and I swiped my card and paid for a customer pickup when they get one in (he said it would be ordered expressly for me). So I have a receipt, I have a photo of the Sale sign, and I have to wait until 11/27 to get it.

Do you think they can back out on it or am I good??

[FL Buckeye]

Do you think they can back out on it or am I good??

I think you should be good, but from posts here today who knows?
Did you look the one on display over, and if so, what did you think of it? I want so bad to get mine out of the truck so I can look it over. Maybe tomorrow I will get the paperwork out of the box.