Wal-Mart scammed into price-matching the bogus 89.99$ PS4 listing on Amazon.

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kyIe said:
While I haven't read the entire thread, do YOU think that the people bragging about getting this deal are seriously oblivious, happy-go-lucky consumers who completely stumbled upon the deal and had no idea it was fake? And then proceeded to drive on up to their local Walmart immediately to price-match this so called "great deal." I have reason to suspect that a good 99% of people who took advantage of this knew exactly what they were doing.

There's a strong sense of entitlement going on in this thread as well, as if these people deserve something, since Walmart is such an evil company. That's just not true.
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Yes, it's probable that some knew they were taking advantage. Some may not have known though. We have no proof either way, unless someone bragging specifically stated they knew the price was fake. Regardless, I don't see why the customer should be punished because the store agreed to sell them something for a lesser price. They came to an agreement. No one was forced into the transaction.
 
I don't feel bad for Walmart.

but doing this shit will inevitably cause worse policies that make things shittier for the rest of us. customer friendly policies will inevitably be fucked up and turned into less customer friendly policies

See: Costco
 
Vestal said:
How do I know for sure? If I simply don't want to trust the seller listed on amazon and want it through walmart, well then Ill go to walmart and get it. It is on the business to do their due diligence.

The consumer is under no obligation to do the job of the business.
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Precisely!
 
Conkerkid11 said:
I know that, but several users here don't. How many of those who got the Xbox One knew the retailer listing the cheap price on Amazon was fake?
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I don't know. Why don't you go through that thread and PM everyone about it? While you're at it stop pretending like NeoGAF isn't made up of thousands of people with different opinions who might not be here all the time posting in similar threads. Just because people said one thing in another thread doesn't mean the same people are in this thread.

And if you see individuals being hypocrites from that other thread and changing their position just call them out by name instead of trying to diminish the opinion of people who had nothing to do with what you're talking about in the first place.
 
StylesClash said:
The WiiU was a Sears generated error. This was a fake third party seller. Big difference.
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For someone taking advantage of the situation in bad faith, it's ethically the same. I missed the Wii U thread yesterday, but I would have condemned it there too.
 
RobbieNick said:
i work at Wal-Mart. Recently, I had to do a (manager approved) Amazon price match for some smaller items, but the difference in price was staggering.She showed me each ad and was honest about that, but then I noticed something interesting. Every item on the list, like a bottle of shampoo for 9 cents, had ridiculous prices on shipping and handling ($10 shipping on the bottle of shampoo for instance). They weren't price matching Amazon, but rather more corrupt independent retailers on Amazon that were faking their prices. I brought it up with our store manager the next day, and he said their wasn't much they could do as it's a new company wide policy. Oh, and for those that don't care that Wal-Mart gets ripped off, please note that this affects my bonus.

Price matching online is the absolute worst idea ever.
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But price matching is going to continue to happen because otherwise Amazon gets all the money from patient customers. What will happen is that Wal-Mart will be more vigilant about price matching Amazon specifically like Best Buy does.
 
META said:
ITT: Bleeding hearts for poor Wal-Mart. How will this corporate giant every move on from such heinous buffoonery?
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Can people please stop with shitposts like this? Exactly NOBODY's heart in this topic is bleeding for Walmart.
 
ThatCrazyGuy said:
Really? Damn, them managers dun screwed up, if their bonuses are tied in any way. hehe.
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Not just the managers bonuses either. If enough markdowns get taken on matched stuff, all the employees bonuses get affected.

Of course, some managers are just like, "Fuck it, it keeps the customer happy" and would approve it regardless of situation.
 
Shig said:
The same could be said of a consumer knowingly tricking a retailer into giving them products at drastically reduced prices. Instead of paying fair market value, they're choosing to punish someone. But if it's many someones under a multinational corporation, it doesn't count, I guess?

I'm not going to excuse Walmart's shitty treatment of employees, but hurting the business isn't going to make them reconsider those policies, it's only going to make them turn the screws more. Supporting actions that are assuredly going to validate and accelerate the downward spiral of retail employment quality is a rather weird way to express solidarity and concern for the shoddy treatment of retail employees.
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I never supported the Amazon scammers. Read what you're replying to.
 
Oscar said:
It's only immoral and wrong if we miss out on it, that's how it works here.
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Good lord.

This thread has obviously become a festering shithole.

Azula said:
I don't take as much issue with price match failures. If Sears was actually selling the system at that low price (even if it was a mistake), they were still selling it. Individually, people could have moral issues with this. But I don't take as much issue, if Sears was selling this to people at that price. Wal Mart chooses to price match what other companies are doing. So, it's just an effect of their system.

But, I take issue with this, because this guy was scamming innocent people using a really shady tactic. And then people turn around and use his scam, to scam these companies. At least to me, it makes you no different then the scammer. Sears was an actual sale, this wasn't. It was a falsified identity to trick people, and people sued the same thing at Wal Mart.
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Highly doubtful Sears ever actually will deliver a system to a consumer at that price. Any major website worth its salt has in the fine print that they reserve the right to cancel ANY order in the event of pricing errors.

Vestal said:
How do I know for sure? If I simply don't want to trust the seller listed on amazon and want it through walmart, well then Ill go to walmart and get it.
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Okay, but does your back hurt now from all those gymnastics?
 
Nibel said:
rlPjAr2.png
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damn my boy gamed the system.

monta-ellis-handshake.gif
 
META said:
Why don't you go have a look at the WiiU pricing error thread and then come back. People here went crazy over that yet we're condemning it here.
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A company making a pricing mistake is just as problematic as a fraudulent listing.

Stop being obtuse here. A pricing mistake affects everyone, not just the people who took advantage of the mistake. So does customers defrauding a price matching policy.
 
PeakPointMatrix said:
Goddamn it people, this is going to ruin legitimate price matching for everyone.
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This is what I'm worried about. I -love- online price matching (it's why Wal-Mart has lost most of my business over the past couple of years, even with having access to a small discount). I love how Best buy handles it and I think it's handled there very, very well and I think Wal-Mart wanted to do the same thing but when your employees don't care and your management doesn't care enough to even go over the policy with your employees, well, things like this happens.

This is a great egg in the face for Walmart, sure. But I fear it'll lead to something like the quoted; way more strict price matching policies.
 
I see nothing wrong with this, just like when there the are glitches on the PS Store, where certain games become free.

pricing errors happen all the time. It's probably miniscule to their bottom line.
 
prag16 said:
Highly doubtful Sears ever actually will deliver a system to a consumer at that price. Any major website worth its salt has in the fine print that they reserve the right to cancel ANY order in the event of pricing errors.
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There were people that did get orders from Sears. Some later ones got cancelled but some did get them, especially the pick up in store ones.
 
Vestal said:
How do I know for sure? If I simply don't want to trust the seller listed on amazon and want it through walmart, well then Ill go to walmart and get it. It is on the business to do their due diligence.

The consumer is under no obligation to do the job of the business.
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Would you be able to state , in court , under oath, that you truly thought this listing was legitimate? Somehow I really doubt it.
It is your obligation not to lie when you know something to be false. The only reason you aren't checking is because you know it will prove that the listing was false.
If it were an honest mistake, and you really though the listing was genuine - that's another story. But this isn't the case here.
 
META said:
Why don't you go have a look at the WiiU pricing error thread and then come back. People here went crazy over that yet we're condemning it here.
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As I said, I missed that thread. I would have condemned it there too. And browsing through that thread now, it looks like plenty of people thought that was unethical too. Probably not as many as here though obviously. But I've already explained why I think the two situations are basically the same from an ethical standpoint. I'm obviously not alone in that opinion either.

Ponn01 said:
There were people that did get orders from Sears. Some later ones got cancelled but some did get them, especially the pick up in store ones.
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If that's the case, then that's kind of shitty, but it's more penalizing Sears for their own blatant mistake rather than going out to another bystander retailer to try to scam them. Which I guess isn't as bad. But still kind of shitty.
 
Azula said:
I don't take as much issue with price match failures. If Sears was actually selling the system at that low price (even if it was a mistake), they were still selling it. Individually, people could have moral issues with this. But I don't take as much issue, if Sears was selling this to people at that price. Wal Mart chooses to price match what other companies are doing. So, it's just an effect of their system.

But, I take issue with this, because this guy was scamming innocent people using a really shady tactic. And then people turn around and use his scam, to scam these companies. At least to me, it makes you no different then the scammer. Sears was an actual sale, this wasn't. It was a falsified identity to trick people, and people sued the same thing at Wal Mart.
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Oh this is shady as fuck and ethically in the wrong by and large for 99% of the people taking advantage of it.
 
Kimosabae said:
the corporate sympathy on display in this thread is appalling
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Even if you think it's okay to screw over WalMart because they're evil and rich, you're not just hurting the company. You're potentially hurting the workers at the store (losing their jobs over these incidents, no wage increases) and your fellow shoppers (higher prices, an end to price matching).
 
RedTurbo said:
What don't you understand?

If a pricing error happens and it is the fault of the seller, the seller must acknowledge it and let the buyers that got it at the error price to keep their purchase.

A customer making up a fake amazon listing and then going to the store to get it at a "deal" that doesn't exist is scamming.
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According to...?
 
You're a scum if you took advantage of this (because this is just going to lead Wal-Mart into not price matching Amazon at all in the future). The Sears Wii U mistake is a whole different story and honestly, that was perfectly fine to price match (since it's a competing retailer, not some bogus listing)
 
this christmas

we

gonna

eat

Cheddahz said:
You're a scum if you took advantage of this (because this is just going to lead Wal-Mart into not price matching Amazon at all in the future). The Sears Wii U mistake is a whole different story and honestly, that was perfectly fine to price match (since it's a competing retailer, not some bogus listing)
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agreed, but w/e to each their own

get you a playstation, y'all
 
Hatchtag said:
That's not switching price tags. Wal-Mart is offering to match a price. They are pricing their product on their own. They are choosing to base it off a price of what they believe is another store. Just because they're stupid enough to believe it's another store and match it does not mean that the customer has swapped price tags.
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While not identical, the intent element is the same. "[A]ttempts to purchase such merchandise personally or in consort with another at less than the full retail value with the intention of depriving the merchant of the full retail value of such merchandise"

Even if a court did not find criminality in the action, it would certainly still qualify as fraud. Criminal or civil, it's still illegal.
 
I tried doing this the other day with the Wii U, to no avail. At first I was disappointed, but after doing a bit of reading about the possible affects you can have on employees, I don't feel so bad anymore. It would have been an amazing deal, and honestly I knew the negative ramifications of what I was doing, but I didn't really think much of it until recently. I considered trying to do this with the PS4, but I'm not gonna. It's just a bit too unethical for my taste. Yeah, it's technically the mistake of the person selling me the product and/or the company with the mispriced product, but knowing the fact that I can affect someone's paycheck which they could use to put food on the table makes me feel uneasy about the whole thing.
 
prag16 said:
For someone taking advantage of the situation in bad faith, it's ethically the same. I missed the Wii U thread yesterday, but I would have condemned it there too.
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I doubt the people who took advantage of the WALTONS care that you are condemning their actions. Obviously, you probably already realize that. I am sure the waltons are crying themselves to sleep in their billions.
 
Raonak said:
I see nothing wrong with this, just like when there the are glitches on the PS Store, where certain games become free.

pricing errors happen all the time. It's probably miniscule to their bottom line.
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I really think it is. The slippery slope to corporate and consumer armageddon in this thread is funny though.
Violence Jack said:
I feel bad for those that may have lost their jobs for this, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for Wal-Mart.
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Who is losing their jobs? Don't managers need to approve this stuff?
sketchsanchez said:
weird. Best Buy wont match 3rd party sellers so I'm surprised that Walmart would.
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Their official policy seems to lack any sort of specificity, which surprises me.
 
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