Worksharp 3000 - $18

[tbarn]

I ordered it yesterday and got an email confirmation.
then today I got another email saying it was out of stock in the store. my guess is that it is still in stock but that was their easy way to cancel my order. I can't blame them though.
I will need to make sure they credit by card back the amount.

[gsmittle]

Argh. Heard about this too late—story of my life! A big YOU SUCK to everyone who scored.

g.

[phrog]

On the website my store was shown with "0" in stock. Just returned from there and they did have at least one in stock. (The price had not been reduced.) This "0" in stock must be the web master's way of stopping the ordering.
Richard

[woodturner]

The legal answer and that point: well since they sold me the product and took the money out of my account, I now own it. And they don't get to take it back.

FWIW, the "legal answer" is they DO have the right to correct mistakes - it's included in the terms and conditions you agree to when you buy from them.

So, they can "take it back" or just charge you the difference - you have authorized them to do so by buying the product. Retailers have sued customers in the past over issues like this. However, whether they do charge you or sue you is an open question, and probably resolved on a case-by-case basis.

[BigguyZ]

What about if their shelf display says $19.99??? I just came from Sears, during my lunch time, and when I got to the store, I say that the shelf tag itself says $19.99. Save $180.00 over regular price. And they had one in the box! I'm thinking YES YES YES I GOT ONE! WHOO HOOO! I bring it over to the register, and it rings up as $189.99. He get's this confused look on his face, and walks over to the tag. He spends 2-3 minutes staring at the tag, muttering "I'm confused". Finally, he gets a supervisor, who basically is completely rude and treats me like a thief! I immediately ask for a manager, and he basically does the same! He offers %20 off, but I'm like "No, you have the price on your shelf as $19.99, and you should honor that". I understand an internet error, but if it's on the tag- you should eat the hit. That's just sloppy. They had a corporate email with the verbiage of the canceled orders, and she's like "It's on the internet for this price and there's a disclaimer for the website!!! They canceled everyone's order on the internet!". Of course- I had to point out that this was their price tag on the shelf, and some people did get the tool for $17.99. Yeah, no luck. They gave me their customer service phone#, and I got the manager's full name (the supervisor refused to give me anything more than her first name).

They weren't even that apologetic. The thing is, I KNOW it's wrong. I KNOW it's waaaaay too low. But I worked retail for 6 years, and if EVER the tag was incorrect, we stood by the price and honored it- because that's OUR fault. They had warning of the issue, and the tag STILL said $19.99. But the worst thing is how they treated me- as if I tried to tuck the box under my arm and run away with it.

I won't be calling their 1-800 customer service line. I'll be writing a formal letter to the CEO and sending it to their corporate address. From my experience, that's the only way to get a response.

[vaking]

An hour ago I walked into a Sears store next to my office. I was not expecting any special deals and was not prepared to argue about it. Just in case I checked the display and found the price tag of $19.99. I did not see any available units (except display unit) so I took the tag and brought it to the cashier. For couple minutes the cashier was looking at the tag in disbelief, then called the manager. The manager took the tag to a computer terminal and spent 5 more minutes digesting it. Then he got up, stated that was the best deal he had ever seen but the inventory record said he should have had one unit available. He then went to hunt for the unit. No arguing or objections. I was still expecting him not to find it and was ready to offer him to take the display off his hands for this price. The fact remains - he found the sealed box and now I have that box for $20 and change including tax. When I was paying the cashier did say that the price was supposed to have been $189.99, just somebody missed a digit. I must say - they behaved like gentlemen.
I want to give credit when it is due.
I also want to share another experience I had at the same store. This store is next to my office and I like browsing their tool section at lunch. A little walk helps to relax and tool section certainly beats display of dishes at Macy's next door. Few months ago I noticed clearance of 12"CMS for $80. Not a mistake - just few boxes of a discontinued model they wanted gone from inventory. I was on the market for CMS, so I jumped on it. I bought a CMS, selected a box and asked a clerk to put a tag with my name on it and place the box in customer pick-up area. This was lunch time, I had no car with me and bringing saw to the office was a stupid idea. I would have needed property removal tag to take it out later. I then called my wife and asked to meet me after work with the car (40 minutes drive for her). In the evening there was nothing to pick-up - the saw walked from the customer pick-up area. Sears wanted to give me money back - I objected. I maintained that customer pick-up area is like safety deposit box at the hotel. Items there are already not a store inventory but a customer property and they were liable for theft by their employees. Anyway - the saw was gone and clearance was over - there was not much manager could do. At the end manager and I came to a mutually-acceptable agreement. He had an open box (customer return) of another saw sitting on a shelf. The returned unit was a better model - professional grade dual-bevel instead of consumer grade single-bevel saw. The unit had been incorrectly assembled at the factory and customer returned it because it was not cutting straight. I took that saw off his hands for about same price. It took me 30 minutes at home to figure out that some washers were put in wrong places. The saw has been busy at my shop ever since. The end result here was a mutual benefit. Department manager avoided a conflict with customer. I think he did follow up with the employees at his department - some faces dissappeared after that. He sold an open box item for about 30% of a price of a new saw of same model. I did not mind spending 30 minutes to get a much better product. I never worked at retail but I do believe being manager at retail store is a difficult, nerve-wrecking job. I don't want to make their job any harder than it already is.

[Knottscott]

I ordered one last night for $18 and picked it up today. It took them a long time to retrieve it so they brought out a $5 gift card too!

Has anyone ever used the Work Sharp and the Scheppach (or similar wet/dry sharpener like the Grizzly, Tormek, Jet, or HF)? The Scheppach works well, but it takes several minutes per blade to get the initial bevel. How long does the Work Sharp take? I suppose I could always resort to trying both before deciding which to keep.

[Uncle Cracker]

Has anyone ever used the Work Sharp and the Scheppach (or similar wet/dry sharpener like the Grizzly, Tormek, Jet, or HF)? The Scheppach works well, but it takes several minutes per blade to get the initial bevel. How long does the Work Sharp take? I suppose I could always resort to trying both before deciding which to keep.

All these sharpeners are designed to take off material slowly, to avoid burning and also avoid using up your expensive tools too fast. The downside is that it takes longer to do an initial bevel or change the overall shape of your tool. You can use a slow-speed grinder to save time by removing bulk material, and then use the sharpener as it was meant, to bring the correct edge onto the tool.

[poolhound]

The worksharp 3000 has now gone completly from the sears website.

[sparkeyjames]

Makes me wonder how many "guests" of this site hit up sears for one as well. I'm sure other sites had it posted too. So I'm sure there was a decent run on them. I just hope none of you get an extra hit on your credit cards from it.

[Knottscott]

Makes me wonder how many "guests" of this site hit up sears for one as well. I'm sure other sites had it posted too. So I'm sure there was a decent run on them.

It definitely was just as hot a topic elsewhere as here....I think it was on darn near every wwing site I frequent.

All these sharpeners are designed to take off material slowly, to avoid burning and also avoid using up your expensive tools too fast. The downside is that it takes longer to do an initial bevel or change the overall shape of your tool. You can use a slow-speed grinder to save time by removing bulk material, and then use the sharpener as it was meant, to bring the correct edge onto the tool.

Thanks UC. I know the sharpeners with a vertical wheel like the Scheppach put an even hollow grind bevel across the blade, which is more desirable to some, while the horizontal grinders achieve a flat bevel and have higher speeds toward the edge of the grinder. Like many things, I suppose it's a matter of preference.

[Uncle Cracker]

Like many things, I suppose it's a matter of preference.

Pretty much... This sharpener may be a little better for some things, while the Tormek might be better for others. Now, I don't have to choose, because I have both!

[BigguyZ]

So, just a quick update. During traffic, I called the complaint line to lodge a formal complaint. The woman who took my information was very nice.

Anyway, I basically had two choices: take a payoff of a $25 gift card right then, and there's no mandatory followup/ resolution. OR- they will send an email to the General Manager, who then is forced to follow up. Here's the fun part, I asked them to verify who the General Manager is, and he was one of the people who was rude to me! :-O

So, the issue will be sent to the Regional Sales Manager.

I'm wondering what I should do. Stick to the principle of it, and insist on getting the tool for what they listed it as. Or try to maximize some sort of payoff.



In addition, I stopped by two other stores on my way home. The first had the tools and had removed the small tag showing $19.99- and had a larger poster sized tag showing 189.99. The second place still had the $19.99 tag on the shelf, and I politely asked a sales rep to get one of the items from the cage. He did, and when I pointed out the $19.99 price, he thought it was curious/ funny, but he was cool and calm about it. Was treated much better than before. The manager was called in, and he refused to honor the price. Not happy with the decision, but at least he was very courteous about it- unlike earlier.

Funny thing is, a customer being helped while I was waiting for the manager was talking about how Sears is getting hit hard. The whole time I'm thinking "I wonder why". the pricing issue aside- I'm flabbergasted at how inept the orginization is as a whole. I've worked at other retail jobs, and I can say that after once or twice of people asking about such a low price- the entire company would get an alert to remove the incorrect signage and update it. How in the world can nothing be done about an issue that apparently is well known? That's just lazy, or stupid. Or both! So yeah, Sears is obviously not run well.

OK, I'm done ranting. Congrats to those who got the deal. Oh, and by the way- I went to a Sears that the website had shown not having any WS3000s in stock. So if you aren't in the TC, you may want to try your luck still. The $19.99 signs will probably still be there...

[woodturner]

But I worked retail for 6 years, and if EVER the tag was incorrect, we stood by the price and honored it- because that's OUR fault.

I'll be writing a formal letter to the CEO and sending it to their corporate address. From my experience, that's the only way to get a response.

Different stores make different choices, just like different people make different choices. Some stores do honor incorrect pricing, some correct the error. However, the retail climate today is different than it was even just a few years ago. Consumer fraud is much more common than in the past. Customers will switch tags on products to get a lower price, then present just the argument you did. Not saying you did that, just saying that far too many people do. As a result, most stores are much less willing to honor errors than they might have been in the past.

You may well have success at bullying the CEO into giving you what you want. It's often more economically sound to give an irate customer what they want than to follow policy.

[BigguyZ]

Different stores make different choices, just like different people make different choices. Some stores do honor incorrect pricing, some correct the error. However, the retail climate today is different than it was even just a few years ago. Consumer fraud is much more common than in the past. Customers will switch tags on products to get a lower price, then present just the argument you did. Not saying you did that, just saying that far too many people do. As a result, most stores are much less willing to honor errors than they might have been in the past.

You may well have success at bullying the CEO into giving you what you want. It's often more economically sound to give an irate customer what they want than to follow policy.

You know, I kinda take offense to this. Maybe my post had an irate tone to it- I hope not- but I was/ am not irate. I know about how things work, and getting into a heated debate or yelling match never helps. So as far as bullying goes- I would not call it that.

Also, for me, at this point- it's not just about the error it's about how they handled the situation. I had two encounters regarding this issue, and for one I was insulted and treated badly, while the other I was denied- but treated much more kindly at least.

Now regarding the error- it was indeed their error. But I work in business, and if my company mis-states something, we stand by it and eat any costs that are incurred. And we're talking $1,000s of dollars, not $170. I just think that companies are operating poorly, and aren't maintaining any sort of standards. I don't like that, but it's a frustration that's amplified if they then go on the offensive and treat the customer poorly.

But anyways, I don't have more to add, so.... yeah.