Black Friday – I really hate you

SIR,

I must admit that I have never been a Black Friday shopper. The effort and bother in fighting one’s way through throngs of people to save a fiver has never been my cup of Costa coffee. However, this year I found myself in the masses at Tralee.

People with bags full of bargains raced to and fro from shop to shop, searching for the last few items that their credit card would allow.

I, on the other hand, strolled this way and that in no particular hurry. After a while I found myself in the children’s section of a store and was looking at some clothes with Santa Clause themes on them. The price was €42 with 20 per cent reduction, so the new price would be about €34. A bargain, you might say, until I peeled back the new price tag and found the old price tag showing €28.

So when is a bargain not a bargain? When the store decides to rip its customers off. At first I thought that this might be a genuine, mistake so I checked others. Some were genuine and others not.

So, like all things, I suppose it is a matter of ‘let the buyer beware’ there are those out there who would rip you off.

So if you really want to know if you are getting a bargain.

1. Check the cost of the item a week or two before the sale. Then you will know just what kind of a ‘bargain’ you are getting.

2. Check if a new item has a new price tag over the old item, and if you find a difference call for the manager and complain like hell in the store. This will give them something to think about.

A lesson learned. At least for me. So all of you out there watch out when you are out there looking for bargains. Your best bargain may well be to sit back and wait until normal shopping arrives back, Sincerely,

Michael O’Meara,

Faha,

Killarney.