Macys, and I'm done being an idiot. Rant!

[Joe Nerve]

Needed a new winter coat. There's a Macys nearby and my wife had a 25% off coupon.

Saw 2 great Tommy Hilfiger jackets on sale for 60% off! Regular price $250 and $225. Score. I can't decide, and my wife likes them both so she says she'll buy me the other . I love my wife. Anyhow... They tell us they can't take the 25% off because the jackets were already discounted. 60% off is still a great deal! We bought them.

Without getting into the math, cuz math is hard - I decided this time to research what I bought. Price on Amazon, without any sale - was cheaper than Macy's sale price!

I just re-orderd both jackets on Amazon for $40 less! Macys is getting theirs back tomorrow.

This kind of crap really gets to me for some reason. BS advertising/marketing. It should be against the law. I'm done with Macys.




I always wondered about their jewelry that they practically give away for free. 75% off THIS FRIDAY only, that they'll do for you on Tuesday cuz they like you, and still give you 25% off that price if you get one of their credit cards. I fell for that one last year and paid $60 for something for my wife that probably would have cost $40 on Amazon if I were able to find it there.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I almost always check prices on my phone before making a purchase in a brick & mortar establishment.

(I especially like doing it in stores that provide free Wi-Fi)

 

[Fat Freddy]

Tomorrow, Macy's will say "Sorry sir. you can't return sale items".....

Please take video.....

 

[MJ5150]

Yep Joe, that's happened to me too.
I don't buy anything anymore without checking Amazon first.
Even when I shop online, I use a couple Chrome extensions that check the Amazon price against other retailers and vice versa.

Sales secret.....I sold hot tubs in high school. Weeks before our biggest sales, the boss would raise all our prices to full MSRP. Then come sale day, we had 'blowout' prices that were still higher than normal.

-Mike

 

[Joe Nerve]

Yep Joe, that's happened to me too.
I don't buy anything anymore without checking Amazon first.
Even when I shop online, I use a couple Chrome extensions that check the Amazon price against other retailers and vice versa.

Sales secret.....I sold hot tubs in high school. Weeks before our biggest sales, the boss would raise all our prices to full MSRP. Then come sale day, we had 'blowout' prices that were still higher than normal.

-Mike

That's what Carvin's been doing with their liquidation sale. I love Carvin, wanted to buy some stuff... their "closeout" prices were higher than their regular "sale" prices.

 

[Alkali Ike]

There's a furniture store here that constantly advertises Everything 60% Off! Except they don't say 60% off of what. When you just look at the prices, they're about normal.

I needed a carpet shampooer. Fred Meyer had one regularly $229 on sale for $179. The same model on Amazon was $129 with free Prime shipping.

Citizen watches are always 50% off. Therefore the 50% off price is actually the regular price.

 

[murphy]

Of course Amazon is cheaper...they don't pay for rent...property taxes...hydro...floor staff and sales associates...benefits, pensions...product investments....community donations etc etc

just my thoughts

 

[MJ5150]

I agree with you @murphy to some extent on the overhead at Amazon compared to a store like Macy's.
However, Amazon has brick and mortar stores, and they contribute to the community.

-Mike

 

[Stumbo]

I agree with you @murphy to some extent on the overhead at Amazon compared to a store like Macy's.
However, Amazon has brick and mortar stores, and they contribute to the community.

-Mike

Ah, yeah...

2014 Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Site
The New York City Location to Handle Same-Day-Delivery Inventory, Product Returns
By
Greg Bensinger and Keiko Morris

• 
  Updated Oct. 9, 2014 8:00 p.m. ET

• 
  Amazon.com Inc. plans to open a store in the middle of New York City, according to people familiar with the plans, the first brick-and-mortar outlet in its 20-year history and an experiment to provide the type of face-to-face experience found at traditional retailers.
  
  Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Site
  

 

[murphy]

well there is a reason why Sears has gone bankrupt and closed down all its' stores...
Here we lost Zellars and Target
HMV is closed all over the world.....
A slew of small independent guitar shops gone
etc etc

 

[friskinator]

We got a great deal on a mattress last year at Macy's, but I won't buy from them again. We opened a Macy's card to get an extra percentage off, but we planned to pay the bill in full when we got the first statement. When we finally realized it was taking a long time for the bill to show up, I called to find out what was going on. Turns out they'd made an error with our billing address, and the bill came back to them as undeliverable. Of course, the balance had accrued some interest in that time, but even though it was their error, they refused to waive it. After a lot of complaining on my end, they finally got rid of the interest, but it took several frustrating phone calls to accomplish that.

That wasn't the first poor customer service experience I'd had with them. I stay away from Macy's at all costs now.

 

[charlie monroe]

Of course Amazon is cheaper...they don't pay for rent...property taxes...hydro...floor staff and sales associates...benefits, pensions...product investments....community donations etc etc

just my thoughts

And according to the NYTimes, Amazon's combined income tax burden is just over 1/3 of what other businesses pay in Federal Taxes alone:

"S&P Global Market Intelligence found that Amazon paid an average tax rate covering federal, state, local and foreign taxes of 13 percent from 2007 to 2015, Invalid Link Removed That is a smaller share than the Standard & Poor's 500-stock average of 26.9 percent, and the federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent"

 

[Oddly]

C'mon, @Joe Nerve , you know the rules. Pictures or it didn't happen.

Also, I bet the best you'll get in returning is store credit.

 

[Joe Nerve]

C'mon, @Joe Nerve , you know the rules. Pictures or it didn't happen.

Also, I bet the best you'll get in returning is store credit.

The jackets weren't impressive enough to post pix . Maybe I'll take pix of the Amazon box.

They'll give me my money back. If they don't I'll stand in the jacket section all day with a sign that says ITS CHEAPER ON AMAZON.

Or I'll pay some kid to do that for me .

 

[Fat Freddy]

The jackets weren't impressive enough to post pix . Maybe I'll take pix of the Amazon box.

They'll give me my money back. If they don't I'll stand in the jacket section all day with a sign that says ITS CHEAPER ON AMAZON.

Or I'll pay some kid to do that for me .

 

[two fingers]

Of course Amazon is cheaper...they don't pay for rent...property taxes...hydro...floor staff and sales associates...benefits, pensions...product investments....community donations etc etc

just my thoughts

They are looking at building a new distro hub and my state is one of the candidates. They say it will be the size of a small town and have 50,000 full-time employees.

What do you think the property taxes are on a warehouse the size of a voting district in Houston? Where do you think many of their products are housed? Who do you think writes software and pulls orders? A quick Google search shows they have 541,900 employees currently. That's almost the population of Wyoming. Clearly they are paying salaries and benefits to SOMEBODY. Macy's has 140,000.

Do you have any idea how many millions of dollars Amazon and its executives donate to charity? Bezos alone has donated millions of dollars for medical research alone....and there are tons more donations as well.

I'm not an Amazon fanboy. In fact I rarely order from them. But your reasoning is backward. Amazon has more overhead by a TON than Macy's does. Sure, they do a ton more in sales. But claiming that Macy's has to charge more because they have more overhead is ridiculous.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

When society finally devolves to the level of Idiocracy, Amazon will own everything:

I hope you haven't torn the tags off those jackets:

Macy's Customer Service Site

"purchases with price tags attached"

This seems to be a common theme in their returns policy.

Turns out they'd made an error with our billing address, and the bill came back to them as undeliverable. Of course, the balance had accrued some interest in that time, but even though it was their error, they refused to waive it.

Sounds like my experience with Kohl's & Kroger, when I started cards with them.
I don't think it's an error, they intentionally foul up the delivery.

 

[Richland123]

I am the ultimate comparison shopper. I research certain items and I am cautious and wary of discounts and sale prices on things. Sometimes, the discount is taken off the "manufacturer's suggested retail price", which is usually much higher than a store's regular item price. In the end, I get great deals on things.

I prefer going to stores to see things in person and I do not buy much online unless it is something I cannot get in a local store.

 

[hrodbert696]

My question is, would you have bought the jackets anyway if you hadn't gotten to try them on first? If not, you were "showrooming," and that's not a practice I would feel good about. Macy's is spending money on floor space, staff, utilities, etc., so that you can have the experience of trying the goods on and seeing if you like them. They're hung out to dry if you take advantage of that service and then go buy them cheaper from a retailer that didn't invest in all that overhead for your convenience.

In the long run, I like having brick-and-mortar stores around to have the shopping experience and try stuff out in person rather than rely on internet pictures and the vagaries of search engines to locate stuff I want. To me that's worth spending an extra $20 now and then. I do shop online, but mostly when it's stuff I can't readily find in brick-and-mortar stores - academic books, CDs from obscure artists, stuff like that.

 

[pcake]

always compare prices! examples - sears had an exercise bike i wanted at $699 but it turned out that amazon had the same bike for $350. also our local pet stores have the cat litter we use for $18.99 but at amazon it's sometimes as low as $11.99, and we buy it weekly. these things add up - we save at least a couple thou a year just by comparison shopping.

it's not always cheaper on amazon, btw. i've found many things on amazon that are cheaper at a local store or another online store. i'm a bigtime amazon shopper, but again it makes sense to compare.

btw, it's very common these days for stores not to give discounts to already discounted merchandise. always read the coupon fine print.