Tag: discount

Posted in Life

Another dent and another discount

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The oven went belly up last week.

I had used it that morning to bake bread and it worked just fine. Salmon was on the menu for supper. I heat up and baste the salmon in a cast iron pan on the stove top for a few minutes, and then put it in the oven for another five minutes or so to finish cooking it.

This time, when I went to put it in the oven, the temperature hadn’t gone up in the last fifteen minutes. That’s strange. I turned the oven on and off. I turned off the breaker, waited a few minutes, and flipped it back on. No luck.

We need an oven for our cookie business. I texted my wife, “I guess you’re going to get the double oven you’ve wanted.” I got online, found the one we had looked at in the store, and bought it. It would arrive two days later. Nice.

The delivery guys arrived right on time, carted off the old applicance, and slid the new oven into its space in the kitchen. It took my wife all of five seconds to notice, “There’s a dent on the handle.” It was about the size of a dime. I went out and brought the delivery guys back in. They looked, took pictures, and called it in.

After a brief exchange, the voice on the phone said, “We can offer a discount of $350.” It took me all of five seconds to say, “I’ll take it.” It amounted to a 30 percent discount on the price of the oven. I knew I could buy a replacement handle for much less than that.

I was right. A new handle cost about $100 from a repair warehouse. It arrived three days later.

I’m impressed by the customer service. I’m dismayed by how easily a shipment is damaged. Then again, I’m sure it survived a long journey from China. And what’s a few dings or dents, right?

What’s the markup on an appliance? I don’t know. I’m sure everyone made money. And we have a working double oven. Sweet.

Posted in Life

A little dent and a big discount

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The delivery guys with our new garage freezer arrived ahead of schedule. I didn’t have to spend my day waiting through the four-hour delivery window.

I watched as they lowered it to the ground and unboxed it. One of them called me out of the garage and said, “I need to show you this.” He showed me a small dent on the edge of the door, about knee height. He said, “You have two options. You can send it back to the warehouse. Or you can accept it and I will call in to see if there’s a discount.”

I called my wife out to take a look. If we sent it back, who knows how long we’d have to wait for a new one to be delivered? It took three weeks to get this one. We decided to keep it, especially it was just cosmetic and it was, after all, for the garage.

The delivery guy immediately called someone who answered, “Save the sale.” He gave her the information, and she replied, “We can give you $165 off the price.” I didn’t expect that much, so I said, “Sounds good. We’ll take it.” So we got a twenty-five percent discount for a little dent that I haven’t even thought about until now.

The freezer was packed in a styrofoam padded box, so who knows when or how it got damaged? I’m sure the company didn’t want it back, so this was a win for everyone.

Posted in shopping, Stories

50% off

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

My wife found some nice home decor items at a local craft/hobby/home decor store. She had been waiting for certain items to appear on the shelves and when she did, she snapped them up.

On her way out of the store, another customer told her that those items would be on sale on Monday. If you bring them back, they will refund 50% of your purchase. I know, I thought it sounded too good to be true, too. My wife called and sure enough, that’s what they would do. And you couldn’t just bring your receipt. You had to physically cart the items into the store with the receipt, and they would credit your card.

We had already hung the items on the wall, but they came down easy enough. My wife loaded them back into the car, carried them back into the store, and drove them back home with the promised 50% credit.

Sweet. But I have questions. Why not just sell the items for 50% off. After all, a lot of stuff in the store is “50% off.” Why make them bring the items back in? The receipt isn’t good enough? Why can’t you do this whole thing online? You can do everything else online, from refinancing your home to buying a car.

Of course, I know the strategy is to get you back in the store. That’s why you get bonus bucks, discount coupons on your receipt and flyers in the mail. The more often you’re in the store, the more you’ll buy. Plus, how many people will actually take down the decor items and bring them back to get the discount and credit? I’m guessing not many.

That’s marketing these days. Drive traffic to your website. Get people into the store. Put wonderful items at the end of every aisle. Make people think they are getting a great deal. If they are willing to give you 50% back, think of how much that item was marked up to begin with!