"Bait and Switch"

PART ONE:

Everytime I go to Walmart Paris has to go look at the toys. It makes me smile because I remember begging my Mom to do the same thing. For months she has gone to the Barbie isle and played with the Barbie B-Smart laptop. Well, with a certain holiday approaching I decided that this would be the perfect gift for 'Santa' to bring.

I did my research. Most stores online carried the item for around $50. A little steep for this Santa. Fortunately I found 2 stores that carried it for 1/2 of that price. I think it was last years model- but I can't be sure. It looked exactly the same. One of the stores was out of stock, so I ordered it from the other.

More than a month later it still had not shipped. I decided to do some research online. Sure enough it was now listed 'Out of Stock' at the store I ordered it from. The crazy thing is that every store locally had it in stock- just not the warehouse.Even though I hadn't been charged yet, I really wanted that item. I called customer service. All they could say was "Sorry. We'll ship it when it comes in." I knew that there was no way it was going to be here by Christmas. She also suggested that I go to my local store where I could get it off the shelf. Again, for $50.

To make matters worse- I did another internet search only to find that the same toy was now up to $100+ at some stores and no where was it any cheaper than $50.

I DON'T WANT TO PAY $50! That's why I ordered it for $25!

I honestly feel like they lured me in on purpose and now expect me to pay the 50 bucks just to have it under the tree on Christmas morning. ARGH!!! It's so frustrating.

I decided to bite the bullet and paid the $50 anyway. Someday when my daughter is older and has kids of her own I'll have to tell her this story. Just the thought of seeing her on Christmas morning when she sees what 'Santa' brought will make it all worth it.

PART TWO:

I was going to name the store but changed my mind after they totally redeemed themselves tonight.

Aunt Mel braved the crowds on Black Friday to get me a couple items that were quite a steal for the other 2 kids in this fam. She then packaged them up and sent them to me. Lego's are quite a prized commodity in this home as well as many others and if you can get them at that price you just can't pass it up!

Once the package arrived I opened it up to examine the contents. After pondering for a while I decided that the gift for boy#1 was perfect, but the one for boy#2 wasn't exactly his style.
I traveled to my local store to survey their stock of Lego's and found a suitable replacement. I talked to customer service to make sure an exchange could happen.

Well, tonight I took the item in- the item that was purchased on BLACK FRIDAY for nearly 1/2 the regualr price!- to exchange it and the store gave me the REGULAR price for the exchange and I was able to get an ever better set than I had originally planned.

I guess two can play at their game!

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for 'Santa' to shop at this store afterall! ;o)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!