Fellow Shoppers, buyer beware. Vitamin World "Buy one get one Free" coupon is shady at best, scam at worst.
It is my opinion that the recently mailed Vitamin World "BOGOF" coupon, promotion the Grand Blvd., locations "going out of business" is nothing short of a marketing scam.
I just spent about one hour of my morning dealing with a business, Vitamin World, Store #3974, 655 Grand Boulevard, Suite D104, Destin, Florida 32550, 850-622-1589.
I received, as I'm sure most of you all did, a post card in the mail recently. The card advertised a "BOGOF" on the Entire Store, due to the location going out of business. As a customer of the store, over 5 years, and a user of protien supplements and the like, I could not wait to get to the sale.
I arrived at the store this morning and began to locate items I use, bars, powder and other vitamin supplements. As I was shopping the first Red Flag, came up as an older gentleman came into the store inquiring about items and the sale. The manager told him that he had to have the Post Card with him, the one mailed out by name, to specific customers. The man did not have his card and assumed (wrong) that they would honor the sale for him. When he was told he "must have the card present" he was rightfully upset as no where on the card does it say you have to bring it in with you to get the sale promotion.
He left, upset. I found my card in my pocket, and somewhat relieved, continued to shop...
I got to the point where I was ready to check out and I had a "ball-park" figure in my head of how much the bill would be, based on the posted prices on the shelve and BOGO Offer. I estimated about $125.00, give or take a few.
I received my total bill of $199.00 and thought it was a bit high. Being that I was never a math major, I thought I must be off with my figures. I was.
I left the store and inspected my receipt. I found I was charged for each item, nothing was noted as "Free" or N/C. Having worked in Retail, I know that sometimes a business will take the two items and sell them at 50% off instead of BOGO, so that the margins and inventory show a sale as opposed to a "give away", Retail tricks of the trade..
I decided to question the pricing, at minimum, I wanted the prices explained as I was growing more and more confused. I went back inside to find another customer making a return, this on some sort of Recalled Item.
When I questioned my bill and asked the staff to tell me how much I paid for a specific item, they were at first confused and then understood my simple request. It was at this time that they quoted me a price of $34.00 for each of the two items I'd selected to use as examples. I went to the sales floor and found the items, which are clearly posted for sale at $41.99. Simple math would dictate this is in no way BOGO or 50% off, regardless of how you slice it.
It was then that the Mystery Sale was revealed. The price I saw, bold numerals is the "Member Price" (Note: I am a Vitamin World Member), but the BOGO sale was only based off of the "Regular Price" which is listed in small type font to the left of the BOLD "Member Price". When I reminded the staff that I WAS a member, I was told that the BOGO was based soley off of the REGULAR PRICE. The regular price was $66.99, thus my SALE of $34.00 per unit. Yes, it is a discount but the sale is poorly worded and even more poorly executed.
Then, it got interesting. I composed myself and advised the staff that based on what I felt was false advertising, I was going to return most of my purcahse. I kept the necessities, opting to return the items I was going to stock up on.
The Manager was kind, but a bit clueless as it took 15 min. to process the return. On to of that, he told me that other people had been upset this week with the sale and that customers had even thrown items at him in disgust. He advised that the business was trying to re-negotiate its lease and "might not be closing" and due to the post cards having been mailed out, the "Owner", name not provided, told his team to honor the cards, but not put any signs out. It all started to make sense.
Whomever is running Vitamin World on a regional or corporate level has ruined my trust in the business. After 5 years of shopping the store on a monthly basis, I will not return to any of their locations. Uneducated staff and shady business practices are not something I choose to spend my hard earned dollar on. Vitamin World was my outlet after leaving GNC due to extremely high prices. Now, VW has failed and in their attempt to scam a buck from loyal customers, they have pissed off the Watcher. Not a good thing to do.
Beware, question the sale and don't get ripped off. I will also be contacting the Better Business Bureau and Vitamin World Corporate Offices.
www.vitmainworld.com
w
It is my opinion that the recently mailed Vitamin World "BOGOF" coupon, promotion the Grand Blvd., locations "going out of business" is nothing short of a marketing scam.
I just spent about one hour of my morning dealing with a business, Vitamin World, Store #3974, 655 Grand Boulevard, Suite D104, Destin, Florida 32550, 850-622-1589.
I received, as I'm sure most of you all did, a post card in the mail recently. The card advertised a "BOGOF" on the Entire Store, due to the location going out of business. As a customer of the store, over 5 years, and a user of protien supplements and the like, I could not wait to get to the sale.
I arrived at the store this morning and began to locate items I use, bars, powder and other vitamin supplements. As I was shopping the first Red Flag, came up as an older gentleman came into the store inquiring about items and the sale. The manager told him that he had to have the Post Card with him, the one mailed out by name, to specific customers. The man did not have his card and assumed (wrong) that they would honor the sale for him. When he was told he "must have the card present" he was rightfully upset as no where on the card does it say you have to bring it in with you to get the sale promotion.
He left, upset. I found my card in my pocket, and somewhat relieved, continued to shop...
I got to the point where I was ready to check out and I had a "ball-park" figure in my head of how much the bill would be, based on the posted prices on the shelve and BOGO Offer. I estimated about $125.00, give or take a few.
I received my total bill of $199.00 and thought it was a bit high. Being that I was never a math major, I thought I must be off with my figures. I was.
I left the store and inspected my receipt. I found I was charged for each item, nothing was noted as "Free" or N/C. Having worked in Retail, I know that sometimes a business will take the two items and sell them at 50% off instead of BOGO, so that the margins and inventory show a sale as opposed to a "give away", Retail tricks of the trade..
I decided to question the pricing, at minimum, I wanted the prices explained as I was growing more and more confused. I went back inside to find another customer making a return, this on some sort of Recalled Item.
When I questioned my bill and asked the staff to tell me how much I paid for a specific item, they were at first confused and then understood my simple request. It was at this time that they quoted me a price of $34.00 for each of the two items I'd selected to use as examples. I went to the sales floor and found the items, which are clearly posted for sale at $41.99. Simple math would dictate this is in no way BOGO or 50% off, regardless of how you slice it.
It was then that the Mystery Sale was revealed. The price I saw, bold numerals is the "Member Price" (Note: I am a Vitamin World Member), but the BOGO sale was only based off of the "Regular Price" which is listed in small type font to the left of the BOLD "Member Price". When I reminded the staff that I WAS a member, I was told that the BOGO was based soley off of the REGULAR PRICE. The regular price was $66.99, thus my SALE of $34.00 per unit. Yes, it is a discount but the sale is poorly worded and even more poorly executed.
Then, it got interesting. I composed myself and advised the staff that based on what I felt was false advertising, I was going to return most of my purcahse. I kept the necessities, opting to return the items I was going to stock up on.
The Manager was kind, but a bit clueless as it took 15 min. to process the return. On to of that, he told me that other people had been upset this week with the sale and that customers had even thrown items at him in disgust. He advised that the business was trying to re-negotiate its lease and "might not be closing" and due to the post cards having been mailed out, the "Owner", name not provided, told his team to honor the cards, but not put any signs out. It all started to make sense.
Whomever is running Vitamin World on a regional or corporate level has ruined my trust in the business. After 5 years of shopping the store on a monthly basis, I will not return to any of their locations. Uneducated staff and shady business practices are not something I choose to spend my hard earned dollar on. Vitamin World was my outlet after leaving GNC due to extremely high prices. Now, VW has failed and in their attempt to scam a buck from loyal customers, they have pissed off the Watcher. Not a good thing to do.
Beware, question the sale and don't get ripped off. I will also be contacting the Better Business Bureau and Vitamin World Corporate Offices.
www.vitmainworld.com
w
