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It looks like they must be taking some lessons from our good friends over at the Gordon Brothers Group.
It looks like they must be taking some lessons from our good friends over at the Gordon Brothers Group.
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Sometimes its quite hard to peel back those tags. And what are the odds the store people will know the prices, much less tell you?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6798-100x100.png\")
@Marshfield: Exactly. I have had a salesperson flat-out lie to me and tell me that the marked price WAS the original price, when I knew it wasn't because I had bought the identical item before the \"sale.\"
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1st post!!!....
I noticed this at Mervyn's. Everything was being liquidated at 60-80%, but a few items had new stickers over the originals. I was wary of generic looking SKU's. I still made out well for Xmas shopping.
@esp13: My wife just got scammed as well! Albeit just over 2 dollars. Good thing we got a survey I can fill out!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-394934-100x100.png\")
@easy2panic: Actually, I WAS banned for uttering those words. Only abject groveling got my account reactivated.
Apparently the moderators are a bit more tolerant these days.
@esp13: For most liquidation sales that's par for the course. Both Compusa and a Circuit City store that's closing are doing the exact same thing. They jack the prices up to MSRP and then discount from there. But you have to keep in mind that it is a third party company that bought the inventory of the store and is running the closeout sale, not the chain themselves.
Kohl's has been doing this for years.
Honestly, every single item is \"On sale\" every time I go in that store.
50 percent off of overpriced, is still overpriced.
My favorite is the regular mens polo shirts that they have for 79 dollars, with 50 percent off. It is their house brand polo shirt, not a designer.
Its such a joke that store.
@Justinh6: Kohls is a game that you have to learn how to play. We all know that Store Credit cards are evil, but if you do happen to have one, they send out 15-30 percent off coupons all the time. Also, the best thing to do is troll the clearance racks. Just by using a 30 percent off coupon and a rebate I was able to get a Kitchenaid 600 Series Stand Mixer for 220.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-68654-100x100.png\")
@Justinh6: say what you want, buy i've gotten some awesome deals on bed/bath/houseware crap there. 5 huge ass towels for <$20. king size heavy-blanket-that-goes-between-comforter-&-sheets also for <$20. king size down feather set (comforter, pillows, thing-that-goes-under-the-sheets) for <$40. high thread count sheets for ~$10. 2 full silverware sets (nice ones too) for <$40 total.
you just gotta know what's a deal & what's not. oh, & please excuse my \"jargon\". as you can tell, i don't know jack about home furnishings. i know a good deal when i see one, though.
Kohl's did a poor job of trying to cover up their crimes! ha. I often take clothes into the dressing room, and try to peek under the new price tag sticker, to see what the original price was, just to make sure.
Kohl's is pretty much a rip-off, unless you MUST have brand names. If you are shopping there though and you must, buy your stuff when you see a price you like because next week it might be marked up more. I was looking at sandals last summer, the first week I looked most of the sandals were 30$. I went back the next week and the prices were back up to 60$ a pair. 30$ per pair is a huge, huge increase. I thought prices were supposed to go down and not up. Oh and for those that don't know Kohl's uses \"digital\" price tags on all their shoes so they can change the prices at any time without using price stickers. Its basically a watch or calculator type display attached to a plastic tag which is then attached to the shoes.
The other posters are right about everything always being on sale there. They are pretty much like every other department-type store. Plus I honestly feel they have too much merchandise packed into that store, and of course since I am very cheap when it comes to clothes almost all of it is much too expensive for my budget. They have so much stuff crammed in there that it feels like work just going through the clothes to find something in your size. There is also barely enough space to move between the racks since everything is so packed in. I basically don't look at their signs I just take all the things I want to one of their scanners and if I don't like the price I don't buy it.
I was in bon-ton today, they had a lovely coupon which got you 10$ off any item over 10$ and yes of course there was Macy's type exclusions on it which means you could use it on very few things in the store. Of course many of those items that you could use the coupon on were nearly gone or so picked over that there was barely anything to choose from. You couldn't put several items together either it had to be one item over 10$ to get the discount. They did a great job luring in the customers however I bought nothing. I also discovered that prices were actually marked up because the $2.99 christmas ornaments were now ringing up $3.75.
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All of the major clothing retail run the same scam! Raise their everyday price by X percentage, then reduce by the same amount! Same shit, different stores.
Gold and silver has their prices change based on current gold and silver prices. Its not a crime. Prices fluctuate. It also happens with leather shoes.
Gold and silver prices do fluctuate, but when you have already bought the metal, you now have a set price for it which allows you to have set prices for your jewelry.
I've said for years that if you bought something at Kohls and didn't get it on sale you paid too much. This just proves that for me once again.
@unoriginal: There is no such thing as paying too much. You pay what you feel the value of the item is. it may differ between you and I, but if I think something si worth a million dollars and I get it for 900k, I have made a deal, if you think that same thing is only worth $10 then that deal means nothing to you.
@thrid001: Nope the value that I place on an item wasnt my point at all. It has to do with the fact that at one point in time or another virtually everything that Kohl's sells is on sale. If you wait you can get that $35 pair of jean for $15 instead. But for some people they would rather have the jeans instead of the 20 bucks, I want the money in my pocket instead.
Seriously though- if you are buying jewelry- dont you look online and compare values? Clearly these are not exotic one of a kind things..
Kohls can have great deals- but you need to find the price that is the bottom- like for certain undergarments I buy there- 60% is no deal... I have a bottom price of $14 on the item, and I wont pay higher.. that is it..
A better question for the woman to ask herself and to suggest to others is \"is this rock really worth what the price tag says?\" The fair market value is what a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller. The OP obviously felt it was priced correctly when she made the purchase.
It's like gas. The actual gas in the station tanks is the same, but depending on demand, the price moves.
In other words, jewelry is inherently worthless, therefore you determine what price should be paid. If you don't like it, walk away.
The real question is, why would anyone want to pay any amount of money for functionless luxury items such as diamond jewelry in this uncertain economic time?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-472309-100x100.png\")
@Loren Fisher:
People with money? Not everyone is poor, in debt or on the verge of losing their job.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-98787-100x100.png\")
@Loren Fisher: Also, the woman is elderly, and presumably retired. She may have her finances secured already.
@Loren Fisher: I live just a few miles from this store. Most of the people in the area are not worried about the economy nearly as much as most people. Also, even though they were marked up to be marked down, they could probably be resold at a higher price if the person really needs to.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-24204-100x100.png\")
Some people [gasp] actually have money saved up that allows them to not only survive these economic times, but to buy whatever they want as well.
/bought a 22\" monitor
Anyway, did the OP consider that the tags that were under her tags might have been leftover from a previous sale? Maybe they were 80% off at some point.
That's how Kohls sales work, they put stuff on sale at a certain percentage off for a certain period of time. After that, it might go back to regular price, or it might go on sale again at a different percentage off.
Justinh6: My favorite is the regular mens polo shirts that they have for 79 dollars, with 50 percent off. It is their house brand polo shirt, not a designer.
I once bought a ton of their polo shirts for $5-$12.
@lordargent: Like it has been repeated, everything at Kohls is on sale. The store is ridiculous. Their tags supposedly show the original price, then you have to do mental calculations to figure out the sale price. If they had a previous sale, it should have only been reflected in the % off, not on the supposedly original price on the tags. This means they are not only playing with the % off each week, they are also playing with the original prices, which is super crazy.
Regardless of their shenanigans, they sometimes have lower prices than others.
Working at kohls I watch the prices alot. I notice prices that are crazy expensive and crazy cheap. Some people are obviously stupid enough to pay full price.
I usually shop clearance or use their kohls charge when they have the % off coupons. Also 21 Days to get a price adjustment.
I have to say that kohls is the cheapest department store out there, they also have the best return policy. I buy chaps and arrow and urban pipeline mostly for good prices. I don't bother paying 30 for a pair of jeans because if you watch prices they will be 20.
The jeans I'm wearing now. original 50 on the sticker, marked down to 20. $5 off for my email address coupon, 30% kohls charge coupon, 15% for working there, and i got a great deal on these jeans...
The lady obviously thought it was a great deal so who cares what the original prices are. They were marked what they were marked.
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@Stephen Brooks: You can find some crazy good deals if you actually look in the clearance racks - I get 3 and 4-dollar tops every couple of months, and I got a 9.99 fully-immersable griddle for christmas as well (there was a $10 rebate on that one, but as long as you actually remember to send those in it's no big deal).
Markups are very common in retail. They happen like, weekly, and has more to do with the buyers and vendors than any profit hungry executive. That being said, I hate Kohl's. That's what that idiot gets for shopping there.
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The price is the whatever you have to pay to get the item. The \"original price\" means nothing. I wish people would understand that. It's all marketing.
In fact, regarding most jewelry store counters at department stores, it is impossible to even buy jewelry at the original price. It's ALWAYS on sale for at least 50% off. I suspect the same is more or less true for all retail industries.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159929-100x100.png\")
I've gotten some great deals on their clearance stuff, especially shoes. Sometimes they will put all their clearance stuff at $2 - I've got a pair of NSS skate shoes I got for two bucks.
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I like Kohl's, but you mist watch them carefully.
Here in MA, back several years ago when they first got here, they were investigated by the AG Office for having stuff always 'on sale'...
So, if you know something at Kohl's is a deal buy it, but be informed.
Also, I would not recommend peeling off newer price labels revealing a cheaper label. In most places, it is considered shoplifting even if you pay a lower price.
It is not illegal to raise prices to a higher price or use a higher price as the basis for comparision for a sale display ..... IF the product was previously sold at that higher price.
Nice little technicality, the merchant must prove that significant sales occured at that higher price point. What is significant is subject to debate (and State laws).
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@Corporate-Shill: I wonder about that. I've seen the disclaimers that \"sales might not have occurred at original prices\" on national advertisements. Is that a legitimate \"I'm not saying...\" that gets around that or is it a different issue?
Sear's here in southern NH has been doing the same thing all Christmas season, marking things up after Thanksgiving, then putting them \"on sale\" a few weeks later for more than the original price.
For example, my mother bought my stepdad a craftsman rolling tool chest for christmas before thanksgiving for $179. After Thanksgiving they raised the price. Then just before Christmas they have it \"on sale\" for $229. Talk about criminal.
It is either a good price or it is not. I don't see how you were ripped off here.
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@Dansc29625: Being a smart consumer means running every advertisement, sale, price, and bargain through a filter in your mind. There are no sales. There is only what you will pay, and what they are selling for. Train your mind to ignore sale stickers of any sort. They mean nothing.
Free your mind, Neo.
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It is an attempt to mislead. Even if it's a good price, it's dishonest. It's no different than the \"grocery shrink ray\" in that way...it's an insult.
Consumerist, you guys have the wrong prices in the article.
\"She would have paid $290, rather than $368.\"
That's what the guy in the WBFF (FOX Baltimore station) said, which is different than what the article here says.
A few things could have happened.(used to work their)
1. They miss-marked the product at the warehouse, an a correction had to be made. Happens every once an awhile.
2.The price went up on the product. Annoying especially if you have over 500 plates and cups that need to be marked since they went up a dollar in price. It is just easier to place the new price label over the older.
But they do have some good deals if you shop their Clearance. Sales you have to keep an eye out for good coupons to maximize your savings. An a good return policy, what other store has no time limit. I once saw a four year old return, with receipt, and they got full purchase price back(cash). Also saw a no receipt return for a two year old product. Though they got very little back cause it was last sold at clearance(store credit)
@JoseRZ: @eligiblebachelor:
Actual some items of Bobby Flay raised in prices. So you got a piece that was hanging around the store for a while. It should of had a newer price sticker with the current regular price. All new inventory has the higher price. Honestly most register employees don't make it to the floor. So I have heard them tell customers really odd an wrong information.
The reference to \"Fox News\" is incorrect. WBFF is an affiliate of Fox Broadcasting Company (which is separate from Fox News). Additionally, WBFF is owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, not by any of the Fox entities or their corporate parent.
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If this really happened, Kohls would have no problem refunding the difference. They have a no questions asked return and refund policy.
They also have a one or two week policy of if you buy something and in that time frame it goes on sale cheaper than you paid, they will refund the difference.
Kohls is one of the best places to shop for anything. Yes some stuff is expensive, but the number of sales they have, price is not a problem.
Full disclosure, I used to work at Kohls and actually still shop there.
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I really don't see the problem here. She obviously felt like they were worth what she paid for them. What is the definition of a good deal? A deal where both parties are happy. After the fact she realized that later what had gone on but it doesn't change the fact that she at the time of the purchase, felt they were worth what she paid.
people do this with cars all the time. Buy a car, find out your buddy got the same one cheaper and it's not until THEN that you feel like you were ripped. Up until that point, you were satisfied with the deal. But merchandise prices go up and down. Just because I was willing to sell you a car at x price today, doesn't mean it will be the same price tomorrow. If that car happens to become a hot seller guess what. It's called supply and demand. However, if kohl's was saying that it was x percent off of the original price and it turns out it was x percent off of a different price than that is wrong.
@snoop-blog: Great point, and I can promise the guy buying on the last day of the month usually gets a better deal than those shopping on the first day
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REFUND! Oh yeah, I'd be returning the merch and telling 'em to shove it.
KyleOrton is correct... the practice is not illegal, IF the merchandise has actually been previously offered for sale at the higher price. What's illegal, is to raise prices arbitrairly, in order to give a big discount. Yes, Kohl's \"regular\" pricing is generally high, but when deep discounts are offered, nobody can beat their prices, and this definitely holds true for the jewelry they offer. I've seen instances where the \"close-out\" items (which can be bought at an extra discount with coupons) are sold at close to \"scrap\" value, because (in some cases) it simply costs too much to register & process things back through their system
without a big extra expense. How do I know this? I once helped to set up a jewelry department at a brand-new Kohl's store. This does not mean that all the jewelry there is \"good\", just that it can be good VALUE for the money.
Yup this is a Kohls thing. I grabbed some \"Bobby Flay\" skewers on Dec 24th and the first package was marked $9.99 and the sign said 20-50% off. So I scanned it at the price check station and it said it was $7.99 originally $9.99. My Mom says so it is regular price? Showing me the other packages that say price is $7.99, I grab that package and do a price check and it says price is $9.99 now $7.99.
We played dumb at the check out and the cashier had a look of oh you caught us on her face and then keyed in the true 20% off. She tried to explain they were putting up discount signs too early for Friday's door busters but it was clearly a sign of raising prices and giving a 20-50% \"discount\" to make consumers feel good for paying full price.
@eligiblebachelor:
Actual some items of Bobby Flay raised in prices. So you got a piece that was hanging around the store for a while. It should of had a newer price sticker with the current regular price. All new inventory has the higher price. Honestly most register employees don't make it to the floor. So I have heard them tell customers really odd an wrong information.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-156263-100x100.png\")
Restickering merchandise to raise the price is common, and may be done for legitimate reasons by reputable companies, e.g., mismarked merchandise, price from vendor went up so retail has to go up to make profit, etc. Restickering to raise the price, so you can quickly thereafter call it a sale or discount when you're selling it at the original full price is, although common too, deceptive and not a reputable practice. Caveat emptor.
This activity is as old as time! People get so caught up in the discounts sometimes upon discounts totaling more than 100% they never seem to catch on that marking up a product 50% can still yield a profit on an 65% discount!
For Example:Wholesale price $10. Selling Price $25.00. Markup 50% - New Price $37.50. Markdown 65%, so Sale Price $13++ - a 30% Gross Profit with volume to match.
Ain't markets wonderful!
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to be honest i dont feel that sorry for her. she paid what she thought was a fair price. no one forced her hand. it wasnt exactly gouging for bread in a catastrophe, this is jewelry.
perhaps it was dumb of them for cheaping out on printing out a whole new tag for the item yes. but they do have the right to price as they wish. you have the right not to buy it. she saw the price, thought it was fair, thats all that matters in a transaction.
God, We were doing that at another jewelry store. Half the time it rang up more expensive than the tag, we just hadn't gotten around to marking the prices up on items by the time the customer wanted to look at it. Im not surprised. Why do you think the mark up is so huge, my employee discount was 30% and I could take the discretionary discount too up to another 30%, and im sure the store wasnt losing money. I usually gave discounts, I gave full discretionary to all who were Military Service because the store didnt give a special discount. I think they do now...
Recently I sent in a story to Consumerist about Kohls about how Kohls practices the world famous 'bait and switch' sales technique. We've found at two stores now, that Kohls puts products on shelves marked 60% off. When you take that product up to the register, where they claim it must have been moved by customers. However, conveniently they can take 10% off. \"No? Okay let me see if my manager can take 20% off, but I doubt it will be much more than that. How much did you think you could get it for online?\" After one time it might be an anomaly, after twice, with all their sales reps carefully watching your every move and supposed customers erroneously running around rearranging heavy appliances I seriously doubt. When we emailed Kohls customer service, we were ignored and so we learned to ignore Kohls.
We've found our Wal-mart regularly changes their prices upwards, then suddenly drops the price as an example of 'role-back' pricing. Wal-mart is also keeping their pricing up with this last year's high shipping rates from the high gasoline prices. We also noticed that Wal-mart is NOT restocking products they regularly sell, in an obvious attempt to sell the 'price point' products and attempt to recoup some of their losses. The high volume philosophy is out the window and rural locations still markedly higher prices than higher volume stores in more urban settings...
@Invective: Actually, I work at Kohl's and I can tell you that that's (mostly) the truth. Sometimes I tell off coworkers for putting things in clearance when they can't find them, but mostly it's customers who put the merchandise in clearance. People ask themselves if they really want to buy it, change their mind, and set it on the nearest shelf - clearance. I regularly clean it out, and an hour after cleaning, there's more items added to it. This is assuming I have the time to sort through every item in my three separate clearance locations, separate the non-clearance, and put it away. We DO get in trouble if we leave things in there that aren't marked down, especially when we're adding more clearance. We try our best to keep clearance nice, but we have a lot to do, and sometimes clearance gets left behind. You should be glad that Kohl's is willing to offer a discount at all, most stores wouldn't care. We have the Yes We Can policy, which allows us to drop prices for the customer's convenience. This isn't some huge corporate conspiracy: it's one employee trying to keep up with a lot of work, and Kohl's saying sorry for the inconvenience by offering a courtesy discount.
Same thing happened to me at Kohl's in Little Rock, AR. I went to get a Kitchenaid meat tenderizer for my wife. All Kitchenaid products were \"20% off\". When i looked at the price tag, which said $24.99, i saw there was another tag under it that said $19.99. It was like that on multiple products. I got the Kitchenaid meat tenderizer at Target for $15.00
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Whats amazing about this is that people are surprised. Macy's has done this for years as have many other retailers.
Whoever wrote this article got the prices wrong.
She paid $368 instead of $290.
Maybe there wouldn't be an error if someone watched that FOX Baltimore video.
@MooseOfReason: By the way, I'm pretty sure I posted that comment before. I came back to check if I got any responses, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it got deleted.
I had the same thing happen with $250 earrings marked up to $320. Emailed Kohls and complained last night. Today received email response to refund difference and an additional $20 for the inconvenience....
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Hmmm, I wonder when Kohl's changed their price on these. Was it a long time before the sale? If so, then I don't see a problem with a store raising it's prices. It happens. If it was right before the sale, then this is shady.
I work At Kohls and this happens to many items, but it doesnt happen before a sale or anything. It is what we call white ticket markups and we also have white ticket mark downs. It normally happens around the first of the year. So say Kohls has a pair of pants thats MSRP says $20 and they run out and buy more and the pant company charges them more the second time becuase of production cost. Well Kohls cant sell one pair of the same jeans for less and one for more. So we have to markup all the old stock to the new stock prices. This also happens in the reverse where the MSRP is lowered. That actually happens more so than the price being raised. This is one reason for a white ticket markup. Many other things go into such as theft and other contributing factors. Kohls was not ripping the lady off.
I work for kohl's and we receive merchandise that is ticketed by the vendor. that may not be what we are selling the item for. we have to remove or cover the incorrect price.....it is an error on the part of the vendor and they are charged back for it.
easy. its called a white ticket markup (or down) we get info from corporate on a particular item we have in stock and we go and change the prices, we print and put a new label on the merchandise according to what the company (whom we are selling this stuff for) wants.
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I really hope she got the difference back.
@Francisco Rodriguez:
Do a chargeback for the difference.
@Francisco Rodriguez: me too. :(