But your sign says it's on SALE!!!

[LillFilly]

Not the Customers fault, but rather our Office.

An anchor store had a promotion and wanted it put on the marque 'Este Lauder on sale'

Only...

I got a call from the store asking why all their customers were complaining when their Este Lauder products didn't ring-up at sale price and what was written on the sign?

Ooops...

Apparently the store had sent in to the Office that it was 'Elizabeth Arden on sale' and the Manager wrote Este Lauder by mistake. Maintenance was set right out to change the sign!

[Betweenshades]

In my previous life in the automotive world, the customer would have gotten the discounted price (especially after a hissy fit. Gotta love working big box automotive). We once sold a $30k car for like $17k because of an error like that. I don't agree with it, necessarily, but there it is.

[MoonCat]

In my previous life in the automotive world, the customer would have gotten the discounted price (especially after a hissy fit. Gotta love working big box automotive). We once sold a $30k car for like $17k because of an error like that. I don't agree with it, necessarily, but there it is.

Heh. Years ago, one of the big auto dealers around here held an October promotion. Bring in a pumpkin, they would weigh it, and give you XX # of dollars per pound off the price of a car (can't recall if new or used). Well, somebody was smart enough to go out and get the biggest, most humongous pumpkin they could get their hands on. And you can find some damn big ones at farmers' markets around here.

Dealer was not happy but had to honor the deal. They pulled that ad pretty fast, though.

[Betweenshades]

That is awesome! LOL!

And to think, all they had to do was put a poundage limit in.

[Ironclad Alibi]

An electronics store advertised stereos for 299 bananas.

In 1986, Silo (a chain of home electronics stores) ran a television commercial in 23 markets nationwide, offering stereos for "299 bananas." They never thought anyone would take them at their word; after all, "banana" is a widely accepted, if playful, term for greenbacks. Who could possibly mistake one for the other? Thirty-two customers held the retailer to its unwitting word; they showed up bearing loads of the yellow fruit and demanding the store keep its end of the bargain.

"The ad said bananas, by golly, and so we had 32 buyers come to our Southcenter distribution point Saturday morning to exchange bananas for the stereos," Ed Altizer, Silo district manager, said. Each stereo was exchanged for $40 to $60 worth of bananas, and Silo took in a total of 11,000 bananas.

[sak1na]

Yep, so many things in our store have the wrong prices, scans at 10, but says 7 on sticker. its a hassle for us to fix and we get complaints after complaints. theyre working on getting it sorted but its taking a while.

[bainsidhe]

Wasn't there a Pepsi promotion a few years back that showed a kid (in jest) buying a jet with his Pepsi points? And then a guy who actually tried redeaming his points for said jet? You'll notice how most advertisers now SAY when something is in jest vs. just assuming no one will ever try to buy it.

[Dreamstalker]

http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/pepsijet.asp

Yup. Now the ridiculous ad disclaimers make some sort of sense....but I'm still all for removing them and watching the fun.

[EricKei]

It was always my understanding that disclaimers on ads have exactly -zero- legal benefit. Their primary purpose is to discourage people from suing in the first place, iirc.

[Dreamstalker]

We've been noticing ads with minor silly antics (kid getting into an SUV through the rear hatch, etc) with "do not try this at home". In that same vein, the obviously dangerous and stupid stuff doesn't have any disclaimer...