Target, Ford Road, Clanton, MI - pricing problems on sale merchandise

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on June 19, 2002:

From: Email User

RE: Target, Ford Road, Clanton, MI - pricing problems on sale merchandise

Recently I shopped at Target in Canton (Ford Road) Michigan. I purchashed a pair of wrangler Jeans and a polo shirt. Both were in racks or shelves directly underneath sale signs that indicated they were on sale for a certain price. When I went to pay for them I was charged a higher price. When I complained to the cashier, she said, (blatelnly) you will have to go to the return desk, even though I was still in the cashier line.

Talking to the clerk at the return desk, I was informed (even though, the Jeans were in three shelves directly under the sale sign and the paticular polo shirt was in a rack of same brand names but none of the shirts came under the listed saled price.

When I asked the clerk why they would stock all these items under a sale price sign when they were not on sale she said "its up to the customer to make sure that the merchandice their buying is the actual item listed on the sign for sale. I then informed her that all the items under the sale sign seemed to be the wrong item.

She said" Talk to the manager" Talking to the manager she pretty much said the same thing, " its our responsability to make sure that the store has the right item stocked as listed in the for sale sign> This seems to me that this is blatent price and marketing deception to lure the customer to buy a higher priced item, thinking they are getting that same item on sale.

Checking some items in the store, I noticed things like signs (Large font lettters) indicating the item below was on sale in most instances and in some (shirts being advertised as being on sale , the sign actually was put over a pants rack and the advertisement that it was actually shirts being the item on sale was in fine print, so the sign read Sale $11.99 over a pant rack but the actual item on sale was shirts in some other location.

Talking to other people, this seems to be an ongoing practice with not only Target but other major companies as well.