Party City possibly, Google search engine Falsely advertised online, causing a 40+mile drive round trip, durring rough economy and gas pricing Madison Wisconsin

I searched on Google for something like 'clearance sale of Halloween candy', some days after the holiday, and Party City was the best retail store, with a bag of individual chocolates totaling 225 pieces or 3 LB & 13.85oz, marked down from $25USD to $6.25, with 16 bags available, at just 1 store left of the 2 in Madison,WI. It was perfect to help with our tight budget and sugar loving kids, over the next few months, if we got a few bags and put them in the freezer.

The next day, we had the time to drive there, and checked again, with "16 bags available" still on Google search and the direct website. BUT, they told us once we got there, they did not have them, and all other old/clearance candy was piled on the counter (but not what we were looking for).

Not only did this nationwide, trusted company FALSELY ADVERTISE (aka, lie) to people to get us into their stores, they also cost us gas money driving our suv 20+ miles from the country into the city and then 20 back home, and all in this 2023 gas economy, and inflation everywhere else. This defeats our very point of choosing them over closer stores - because they had 'incredible deals' over the other ones. We lost half a day, got lost in the city, and the worst part, we lost our temper in the car, bickering over who was right and wrong. THANKS, PARTY POOPER CITY.

I called the next day, and because they are a legit enough company, they actually had a live person answer the call. But this woman (that I think was in another country), said something like 'we understand', and 'someone higher up will get back to you a few days later', then preparing to end our call, asked 'if there was anything else I can help with?', despite NOT helping AT ALL - she wasn't concerned enough to EVEN ask for the store #, nor my information to reconnect with me later (I even recorded that obvious BS chat). Then she jotted down my info when I called her out on it (though she's still a disgusting representative of Party City!).

Though I could probably search my call/email records, I'll just say they probably FAILED to contact in the 3 days, so I had to keep at it. I just quit calling though, and went through email, with their response being these repeat requests for a precise sales receipt, probably as protocol that wasn't applicable to me ...because my specific problem was "I could NOT buy it". I wrote that, and finally got a bit of an actual, accommodating response: they'll take some small percentage off probably 1 item that just sounded like every company's typical sale's reduction. It was nothing near the advertisement. It was like $6.25 off of a $25 item, it should have been the other way around; $18.75 off, to bring the total TO $6.25.

It was even weirder than that; even though the item (or 16 items) weren't even in the store, and after an employee and store manager and I spoke about it, and looked at a live Google / Party City search that confirmed it, and even after I told the 1st call rep (who most obviously didn't care), and emailed 4 or 5 times; the item was STILL up, AND still falling in price. This bag with a green witch on it went from $25, to possibly another sale price before I saw it, to certainly $13,  and then $6.25, and finally to $2.50 / TWO DOLLARS and FIFTY CENTS after weeks of aging chocolate. I took screenshots of all this from the 1st night I was enthusiastic over the sale so to help our budget and kids, up to the $2.50¢-webpage. They must have taken me seriously enough about my claim to post these lies on Ripoff Report, and other sites, because for some reason, it FINALLY QUIT displaying that item on Google's search and PartyCity's search for 'clearance candy' - though the url or sku got me back to the page, with it finally saying 'out of stock / $25 when available' (sku: 640362 / store: 518).

My request to reconcile this, was we finally get the minimum 4 bags that would have made the drive worth it. But that holiday version is out, so an equivalent item to buy, which would be 4x bags of 3 LB chocolate, at $2.50 each, AS ADVERTISED! (though technically it was a bit more than 3lbs, and they could even be held to the full 16 bags the site mentioned for 3+ weeks). And ideally not drive again, and not pay for the shipping and handling if sent, because we already LITERALLY handled the shipping (or tried) by going there, and not have to buy $60+ to avoid S&H that the site requires. And if this minimum compensation for our day's driving is granted (plus days of calls/emails), we wouldn't even bother them for some free gift or coupon over the initial lying, and subsequent disconcern.  They would rather save their time and money, than prevent negative far-reaching comments, that we even warned them we would make. ...And not even a 'thank you' for our promoting them to finally change what everyone could see on the internet, or for their future internet vigilance.    ex. of equivalent:  4x bags, or 12LB = $10  5x bags, or 15LB = $12.50