A bad way of doing business

Dear Editor: I am upset — actually angry — at some store practises these days. It has occurred before, but seems to becoming more common at several locations.

Today I went to a well-known, big box store for an advertised special. The product was advertised at a savings of 40 per cent. When my wife and I arrived at 11:30 a.m., we were told they were sold out. That in itself doesn’t sound like a big deal.

I said to several staff, “sold out already?,” I know it was a good buy, but already?

One staff member then told me, “yes we had several business people in here after hours and they bought up the stock we had.” Again I thought, not a big deal, right, I will ask for a raincheck, and pick up the product when they get more in.

But, when I was refused a raincheck, because it was a limited quantity sale, well I became upset.

This used to occur frequently at Zellers. They almost always had items advertised on sale, that were not available even if you were the first person through the doors when they opened.

I was told they were sold out, because staff had the first opportunity to purchase. In some cases, they were offering an alternate product in its place, but if you did not want that product you were out of luck.

It is not the customer’s fault that the doors were opened after hours giving select individuals or businesses an unfair advantage to an advertised special.

I have no problem with that, provided the rest of us are allowed a raincheck in its place.

If this can’t be the case, why advertise a special. David W. Kuhn West Kelowna