Friday, March 5, 2010

And Other Than That



Happy Aloha Friday night. Meanwhile, last night, I ordered $200 worth of energy bars online for my motorbikes. "$200" and you're entitled to free shipping, you see. Financial genius. Free shipping. Do the math. Financial genius added to free shipping and what do you got? I'll be remiss not to note that $200 was enough to buy two items. At any rate, the motorcycle parts company is always mailing me their latest catalogs. While I was busy ordering from the company's website, I just happened to glance down at their catalog which I had on my desk, and noticed on the front cover a $25 coupon waving at me. I typed in #176 and true to their word, they deducted $25 from my bill. Getting off topic, but have you ever bought a bottle of anything at the store, and forgot to remind the clerk to peel off the discount coupon on the aforementioned bottle? Then while you're unpacking your sundries at home you realized that the coupon is still on the same bottle and you hadn't received the discount that induced you to purchase the item to begin with.

5 comments:

OkiHwn said...

You gotta watch out for those free shipping offers. When I ordeed my Dell desktop before, it was free shiping advertised. I was surprised when there were charges were from the East Coast somewhere to Hawaii. There was no thing stating it was just within the contiguous continental U.S. So I complained and Dell gave me credit for the shipping to the West Coast and I paid it from there to Hawaii. Now-a-days they are clearer but in really fine print.

Anonymous said...

yep! that has happened to me. but I am too lazy to return to the store with my receipt to complain.

RONW said...

Nate- many online retailers don't know Hawaii is a state. Seriously, though, more than a few internet stores that I came across don't ship to HI or AK even if you agree to pay for the extra. I dunno the reason behind this. I've been thinking that they might have a bulk rate agreement with their shipper that applies only to the lower 48, and I even suspect there's some form of kickbacks involved, especially with stores that do a high volume of business with a single shipper. There's freight agents (independents) out there that specialize in arranging the best shipping methods and prices for you on commission basis, they rent and share a Matson container with other agents, I surmise.

On one occasion, my solution was to have the online store ship a 90-lb package to the West Coast address provided by the independent shipper, and the agent would then take it from there and ship the package from the West Coast to Hawaii for a modest fee. Otherwise you end up paying more for shipping than the item that you purchased. If you have a friend who lives on the West Coast it's possible to ship an item via that route, but obviously a lot of bother, bother, on the intermediate party. I guess that you simplified the process by persuading Dell to bill you only for the Hawaii mileage. Here's another screwed-up situation.... I bought something online and the retailer said Hawaii shipping is extra. When I got the bill, the online store's idea of "extra" was to bill me for the West Coast mileage, and add on to that a duplicate West Coast-plus-Hawaii mileage. In other words they billed me twice for the mileage of the West Coast portion.

gigi- LOL. As far as returning things purchased online, most of the internet retailers that I've dealt with have an easy return policy and it's generally hassle free when you do Email them on the matter from my own experience. You first request a "return merchandise number" before shipping the item back and write the assigned number legibly on the front of the package that you're returning. They do deduct a restocking fee, but still better. But, yea, you still have to make a trip to the post office.

Rowena said...

Frankly, I am still waiting on the discount sticker for bottled beer. But speaking about free offers, discounts, rebates and the like, imagine how I had feel when my faddah nevah open da rebate check for my camera. He put it aside and didn't open it until 3 months later...when the check was no good anymore. That's the first time I've been $100 short in my checking account.

RONW said...

Rowena- dat's a huge amount. If you don't fill up that rebate form right away, there is a tendency for it to slip your mind, permanently.