Office Max False Advertising Not Honoring Price Match Guarantee Rude Customer Service ripoff Los Angeles California

Micro Center was selling Verbatim 2.4x 8.5GB/240 Min DVD+R Dual Layer 20-Pack for $27.99. I went to Office Max to see if they would give me a price match (they were selling the item for $49.99). When talking to the shift Manager (Arnoldo) he stated that they would not match the price because Micro Center was not a direct competitor.

However, on their wall in large print, it stated that they would give a 115% price guarantee for direct competitors and a full price match to non-direct competitors. I pointed this out to the manager and he still refused.

I then decided to call corporate. I spoke with Mary K. and she told me that it was at the manager's discretion to honor the price guarantee. So I asked her "Although your COMPANY as a whole claims that you have a price guarantee, Corporate will not force a store to price match to another store?"

"A price match is at the discretion of the manager. He can decide whether to honor a price match or not."

"So what you're basically telling me is that your advertisements, commercials, even that huge sign inside your store states that you have a price guarantee, the manager can just decide on his own not to honor it? Isn't that false advertising? Customers can easily be lured into a store believing that they have this guarantee but there actually is no guarantee that it will be honored?"

"It is up to the manager to decide whether to honor the guarantee."

I hung up and left the store, fuming mad that such a large corporation could be allowed such blatant false advertising.

Now I know that there is the idea that 'some restrictions apply' etc. but this is just plain BS. The corporation makes you believe that they have a 115% price guarantee for competitor prices, 100% price guarantee for non direct competitors, and at the whim of a manager they can just say no? I brought a legitimate advertisement (a printout showing the entire ad and another showing the details of the product) so I did my part in getting the price match.

Samuel
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.