I don’t know if this will take off the way the “good buy” thread I started years ago did (and I almost hope not because that will mean someone got “took”! ) but an experience I had this weekend has me REELING!!!
I bought a beautiful rug for my dining room from Home Goods. I have bought just about every rug I have owned from there with great luck. Always discounted from original price and occasionally “clearance” or marked down additionally.
I found this rug this weekend - a beautiful blue and light green floral Ralph Lauren Rug - 5 x 8 size. Loved it. My 2 D’s and I checked it over - it was marked down - and saw no issues. Asked the guy to take it down and to the front of the store - he told me it would be a few minutes and so to keep shopping and meet the rug up front. They roll and tape it up for easy carrying. We purchased it and brought it home.
Unrolled the rug and see at the top edge - someone has written several numbers (upc or whatever??) IN SHARPIE ON THE EDGE OF THE RUG!!! OMG! This would have been hidden by the hanging apparatus in the store that displays the rug. WTH? Don’t you think they might have noted the clear damage somewhere on the clearance tag? Defective, writing on rug - something?! So, so angry.
Rolled it right up and it will go back to my local Home Goods this week with a bitter customer. NOT a good buy!!!
Feel free to post any current or a past “not a good buy” experience. I hope you have “none” but know we all do - and will!!!
Bought my S a pair of jeans at TJM for Christmas. He hates to shop and they were a good brand and appropriate style for his age.
He put them on and buttoned them and said “I like them.” As he was trying them on, he tried to pull up the zipper. He kept playing with it as zippers can get stuck, etc. He finally realized the zipper teeth were there, but the pull mechanism was not there or not attached. No way to fix.
Since I did not try them on, I did not notice… But I find it hard to believe “someone” did not know this was a problem. When I returned them I said DO NOT put these back on the rack. Don’t know if they did.
I need to correct myself, #2. The store was not TJM. It was Burlington Coat Factory. Actually, I hate that store and very rarely shop there. I should have known.
Not really a bad buy but… I saw a plant vendor I like and they had some plants called Day Blooming Cereus and I was intrigued. I have a night blooming cereus and it’s quite an event when it blooms but you have to go out there at 11 PM to catch it.
Anyway, the plants looked like little scraps of Christmas cactus stuck in a pot and they had written the color of the plant’s flower in black sharpie on the flat stem! I guess that’s one way to be sure. I’ll have to wait a couple of years to see if mine really is purple magenta. I wonder if the sharpie will still be visible then?
For the record, TJM and HomeGoods are among my most very favorite places to shop - so at this point - I’m not knocking them in general at all - just this incident!
You know, as I think back to when I told the guy stock person that I wanted that rug he looked at me kind of awkwardly - I have to wonder if somehow he knew but didn’t want to let it on - he encouraged me not to wait for him to pull it down - just tore the tag off and said, “no need to wait, just take this with you to the front” - I’ll never know of course.
Stay tuned - to find out how the return goes in the next couple of days.
I watered my mini blooming cacti from Home Depot for several months. One day a bloom fell off one of the cacti. Upon close examination, I determined it was made of paper.
I had a bad carpet experience. I got a Shaw sample from a full service carpet store and loved it, so I ordered the carpet for several room (back in 2000). When it arrived, I checked it out as they unrolled it. It was much thinner than the sample. Shaw claims that samples are always thicker because many people could have handled the sample piece, separating the fibers, and thus making it feel thicker. I said, “Tell your driver it is going back.”
I ordered 3 Ugg pillows from Nordstrom Rack. The pillow covers came, but not the inserts. Called them, and the person I spoke with said they could offer me 25% back for my inconvenience, or I could return them. That didn’t seem like much, so I said I’d have to think about it. I called back, and they said they would only give me 10% back. I am NOT happy, but the pillows match my sofa very well, and I’ve had trouble fining a good match. Still debating what to do. Nordstrom customer service is usually so good, but not this time.
I purchased my new last year by myself – a first for me. I previously had my father, a friend, my husband with me to test drive and negotiate with me when purchasing cars. We were really busy with the kids’ activities and the holidays, and so I went by myself - intending just to look and test drive but ended up buying the car. My old car was having all sorts of crazy issues and was not going to last long - a purchase was inevitable. I was so crazy proud of myself - the price was under our target price and I was able to get everything that I wanted. I was so surprised that the salesman met my insanely low target price (we had done considerable research on the car and it really was an amazing price …I would soon learn why).
They had to bring the new car around to my old car since I had not cleaned it out. When they brought it around to me the dealer and the young boy who drove it got into some words and they were curiously looking at the windshield – I noticed this but was distracted with cleaning out my minivan (filled with tons of kids stuff) and trying to stay somewhat dry - it was raining like mad. After I loaded in all of my stuff into my new car, they told me that they noticed that there were no floor mats and they would take it around to service and bring it back in a few minutes. It was pouring and i went inside to wait. I waited and waited and waited - for over an hour and by this time the rain slowed to a drizzle. How long could floor mats take?
The car came back, floor mats and all, and slightly annoyed at the long delay I drove away. About 15 minutes down the highway towards home it started to rain heavily again. As the rain hit the windshield dozens of scratches in the front glass were revealed. They were all over going in every direction, and they were deep. I was so upset. When I pulled into home I inspected the car. It was not the car that I had test driven - and this one was a mess. Upon inspection, there were deep scratches all over the car - the hood, the roof, the front and back windows. I was furious.
I called the dealership and the manager said I must have done something to damage the car that they would never sell a damaged car – had I not looked over the car first? They implied that I had taken it to a bad car wash and caused the damage (in the pouring rain??) I drove right back (40 minutes) to the dealership - fuming. I insisted that this car was not the one that I had test driven - and then I proceeded to walk to the back lot (in the pouring rain) and pointed out the car that I had driven. Seems that they had “promised” that car to another dealership and after a huge scene it was revealed that the car I drove home was damaged by a bad snow scraper blade after a recent storm. But of course “there was nothing they could do” – they had already “sold” my old car to another dealership (I had been waiting for over an hour after purchasing the car, and with the drive home and then back it was almost 3 hours later). They offered to have me bring back my “new” (damaged) car later in the week and they would buff out those scratches - that they were just on the surface and it would be easy to fix. Oh, heck no.
I refused to leave without the car that I drove and thought I “purchased”. It took another 2-3 hours but I finally left with the right car – of course I had 2 cars titled to me and keep getting information for both cars. The entire thing was a mess and it has clouded my feelings about the car – I hate it! I am bothered by many little things and wish I had never made the purchase. Bad buy all around.
novice mom, wow, wow! What a &()(# of a dealership!
This reminds me of our first minivan purchase, decades ago. New van, and the ex drove it home to gleam in the driveway. The neighbors came around to inspect and admire and the tall guy across the street, looking down on the top of the car, found a sizeable dent. What? So ex drove it back to the dealer and refused to accept it. But there were no other vans around with our set of options, which included stick shift. It would be several weeks before they could get a similar model. I think we ended up with a few extra options due to needing another van. We were a one car family, and had sold our other car, so the dealer paid for a rental for several weeks.
The ex returned everything. He was meticulous about detail and things being less than perfect or as promised. Aside from the car, he returned a few refrigerators during a kitchen remodel. One had a dent, one had bad seals. And then the folks delivering scratched the wood floor, and the appliance dealer paid for a floor repair. He was always pleasant but insistent. He felt a little persecuted-everything he bought was broken and really did need returning.
What jerks @novicemom23kids. At least in Michigan, I know you have 3 days to change your mind on a car purchase. I would have done exactly what you did. And reported the dealership to the states attorney, to the car manufacturer and social media. Unbelievable!
I spent a lot of money and bought one of those Vita Clay clay cooker machines-sort of like a cross between a Mediterranean tagine pot and a crock pot.
It burned EVERYTHING to the sides of the unglazed clay pot, no matter what temp setting you put it on. By the time I realized this it was really too late to return it. What a waste of money.
I don’t shop at Burlington Coat Factory either. There is just something about the place that totally turns me off. Years ago, they would only give store credit for refunds and that’s really when I stopped going to begin with. Since then, I’ve gone in one a couple of times and made a pretty quick exit. I can’t explain it.
I watered my mini blooming cacti from Home Depot for several months. One day a bloom fell off one of the cacti. Upon close examination, I determined it was made of paper.>>>>>>