ToysRus price match guarantee frustration
 

So I have a $25 ToysRus gift card and decided to purchase a platinum wavebird with it. They are 34.99 at my local ToysRus but my local Circuit City, which is two blocks away, has them advertised in the Sunday Newspaper ad for 29.99. I ask for a price match. According to the manager they only price match "sale prices" not everyday low prices. Huh? I say it is a Circuit City sale price as it is listed in their ad, and besides thier price match policy says nothing about matching sale prices vs. everyday prices. She says "ToysRus can't be expected to compete with discount store prices." Huh? Since when is ToysRus a little Mom & Pop operation. Basically she was telling me their low price gaurantee is useless and means nothing. I left after much frustration without the wavebird. I know its only 5 bucks, but due tothe sheer ridiculousness of not matching other stores everyday prices I couldn't bring myself to buy it. I will probably try later, I already called ToysRus' contact number to verify my interpretation of the price match policy was correct.

That's complete crap! Those Managers at your Toys R Us don't know what's going on. I purchased Travel Scrabble a few weeks ago for $20 at TRU and a week later I spotted it for less in Target's flyer. I brought the flyer and merchandise back to TRU to give me the difference ($10). The manager gave me no problem at all and told me the next time I have to do this not to even bother bringing in what I bought, they just need the add and the receipt. The lady then told me that TRU is losing a lot of money from competitor pricing and that things don’t look good for TRU’s future.

It’s awful that they are not willing to price match for you since my store in NJ gave me no hassle at all. I suggest that if you can find another store near you, go there and see if they will price match or just go at another time of the day when a different manager is on duty.

Just went back and tried again. Got it price matched and everyting went smoothly.

Sometimes it's just the person and not the company. These are stressful days so try to have a little holiday cheer! Sounds like you did the right thing.

If you really want to price-match it at Toys R Us, here is what you do if they give you a problem. If they do give you a problem, just buy it at their price and just go over to the customer service desk with the ad and they will give you the difference back. Unless they changed their price-matching policies, the price-match is valid after 30 days of purchase. Toys R Us only calls other store to see if they have it in stock usually to deter a lot of price-matching. But, like I posted before there is a huge loop-hole in their price-matching policy.

Glad you got it to work. :)

Happy Holidays!

I think like many of us have encountered, it depends on the person you deal with. I was able to get price matching on Black-Friday without a problem at TRU. If you continuously do price matching, try to remember who gives you the less hazzle and try to deal with that same person each time. I used to do price matching at Best Buy pretty often and found out that each person was different. I found out that usually the manager was pretty cool about doing it so I used to go her and ask her if I could price match it. She would usually just say yes and direct me to a cashier who she would let know that it was ok to do it.

"ToysRus can't be expected to compete with discount store prices."

Circuit City is a discount store? I would think 'discount store' means Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Big Lots, and I can see that exclusion. Pricematching is such a pain, I don't find it's worth it unless there's some motivating reason to shop at a certain store [like the gift card you had.]

Yeah it was definitely just the person(s) not the company. First the cashier called over someone to okay the pm, then when she told me no they called over the manager and she told me everything that was in my original post. It was really hard to keep my cool and not sarcastically explain how absurd her reasoning was, but I didn't want to cause a scene plus it was busy and I felt bad making others wait longer than I intended. I think the cashier agreed with me too. All in all, just learned that it was best to go back later and try again.

I agree dtcarson that "we can't be expected to compete with discount stores" line almost sent me through the roof. Well then why have a pm policy? I wanted to ask. I would consider CircuitCity somewhat of a discount store like BestBuy but I would consider ToysRus on the same level.