ProStreetOnline.com - Subaru Enthusiasts Car Club of the Sierras

sperry · 2006-07-07, 12:26 PM

I was shopping for a Koyo radiator for my WRX, and found these guys online via Google. Since they're right down the street from Gruppe-S in Hayward (who's currently working on my car), and since they had a great sale price on the 2002 WRX Koyo radiator, I figured it'd be a cinch to get things ordered.

I called 'em up today around 11:30. After waiting on hold for 10 minutes or so, I confirmed they did have the rad I needed in stock, but it was at their "L.A. warehouse", so instead of just having someone from Gruppe-S drop by and pick it up, I told them to ship it to me in Reno. I confirmed the price of $339.99 with free shipping and ordered it on my credit card.

Fast forward to an hour ago. I get a call back from their sales guy who tells me "the price was incorrectly listed on the website". Nevermind that I confirmed the price over the phone. Anyway, he tells me the price is actually $420, but that he could sell it to me for $390. I tell him other vendors sell it for $360, so I didn't think a "sale" price of $340 was really that absurd, could they please honor the price from the website. The guy puts me on hold to talk to his boss, and when he comes back he tells me they'd be loosing too much money at that price and can't do it. So I cancelled my order.

Frankly, $390 shipped isn't a bad price for the radiator. What prompted me to cancel my order wasn't the pricing correction, but the way it was handled. This place is obviously a small shop, as demonstrated by the long wait on hold... I doubt they've got more than one person answering the phones. No big deal there, I can't fault them for being small. However, to tell me "it's in our L.A. warehouse", when they're clearly not big enough to have 2 locations is pushing it. When I asked if it was in stock, they should have told me "we don't stock them in Hayward, but we can drop-ship them from the supplier in 2 days". And not admitting they drop-ship wouldn't be a big deal, if they were keeping on top of the prices from their distributor.

I guarentee the whole issue stems from their supplier raising the prices on the radiator, and ProStreet simply didn't know until they called to have my rad ordered. Hence the 30 minutes before they called me back to tell me the price was "wrong on the website". I can understand them not honoring a type-o on the website, but when they list the price of the item correctly, then forget to maintain it, that's their fault.

Of course, I recognize they're in a no-win situation. Either they honor the price and lose an actual $50, or they don't honor the price and lose my future business which doesn't have an actual price on it. Perhaps I should have mentioned that this year alone I've spent easily $15,000 on parts/labor/tire/brakes/entry fees/etc to race the WRX... but then again, I'd like to think that a shop would treat *all* their customers and potential customers as if they were big-spenders.

So, I've got no animosity towards ProStreetOnline, and I'm not recommending that people avoid ordering from them, as I recognize they're probably a small shop that works hard to do a good job that just got caught in a no-win situation due to their supplier's pricing change. In fact, they seem like the type of shop I normally support, since the little guys usually tend to care about their customers ten times more than the big guys because each customer means so much more to their bottom line.

My suggestion to them is simply that the next time they're caught in a similar no-win situation, they err on the side of supporting the customer, even if it means losing $50, and correct their list price after the sale so they don't get burned twice rather than assume the customer probably wouldn't have spent that much at their shop in the future. At the very least, they should offer to match the price of another vendor, even if it's at their loss.

dknv · 2006-07-07, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperry

..I can understand them not honoring a type-o on the website, but when they list the price of the item correctly, then forget to maintain it, that's their fault.

Of course, I recognize they're in a no-win situation. Either they honor the price and lose an actual $50, or they don't honor the price and lose my future business which doesn't have an actual price on it.
...
My suggestion to them is simply that the next time they're caught in a similar no-win situation, they err on the side of supporting the customer, even if it means losing $50, and correct their list price after the sale so they don't get burned twice rather than assume the customer probably wouldn't have spent that much at their shop in the future. At the very least, they should offer to match the price of another vendor, even if it's at their loss.

Hopefully, cancelling your order does send a message to them to make sure their website prices are kept up-to-date. The other thing they might want to think about doing is to offer the customer a voucher for a discount on some future purchase.

sp00ln · 2006-07-12, 09:01 PM

Isn't there a law against that? "Bait and Switch"?

sperry · 2006-07-13, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sp00ln

Isn't there a law against that? "Bait and Switch"?

"Bait and Switch" is when someone advertizes something at a great price to get people into the store, then tells 'em "well we don't have anymore of those, but for a small bump in price we'll sell you one of these". That's why on car ads from used dealerships they'll list "one at this price" under the ad.

This whole situation is similar, but not the same. They claimed it as an "incorrectly listed price". Which in reality, that's what it was... since their cost went up and they never bothered to update the price on the website. So while it wasn't a typo, it was still listed incorrectly.

Either way it doesn't make much difference to me 'cause I got a Koyo rad in the car now, and it cost me $365. So it's not like I missed out on any sort of a deal at $390.

murphy · 2006-07-25, 03:29 PM

I know that in any store that if the price for something is listed, humm..lets say you see a shirt and its labled $10, you take it to the register and they say $15. Well they have to sell it to you at the listed price. Same with places like safeway and what not. (have had that confirmed buy store employees). I'm wondering if that would hold true for net stores.

sperry · 2006-07-25, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murphy

I know that in any store that if the price for something is listed, humm..lets say you see a shirt and its labled $10, you take it to the register and they say $15. Well they have to sell it to you at the listed price. Same with places like safeway and what not. (have had that confirmed buy store employees). I'm wondering if that would hold true for net stores.

I don't think there's a law about that sort of thing, but most places, especially larger business, have policies that dictate they sell for the listed price simply to avoid the bad publicity and customer service hassles of people complaining.

However, I've seen places online like Dell and DiscountTireDirect that will cancel orders in the system for items at an incorrect price.

2006-07-07, 12:26 PM	#1
sperry The Doink Real Name: Scott Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 20,335 Car: '09 OBXT, '02 WRX, '96 Miata Class: PDX/TT-6 The way out is through	ProStreetOnline.com I was shopping for a Koyo radiator for my WRX, and found these guys online via Google. Since they're right down the street from Gruppe-S in Hayward (who's currently working on my car), and since they had a great sale price on the 2002 WRX Koyo radiator, I figured it'd be a cinch to get things ordered. I called 'em up today around 11:30. After waiting on hold for 10 minutes or so, I confirmed they did have the rad I needed in stock, but it was at their "L.A. warehouse", so instead of just having someone from Gruppe-S drop by and pick it up, I told them to ship it to me in Reno. I confirmed the price of $339.99 with free shipping and ordered it on my credit card. Fast forward to an hour ago. I get a call back from their sales guy who tells me "the price was incorrectly listed on the website". Nevermind that I confirmed the price over the phone. Anyway, he tells me the price is actually $420, but that he could sell it to me for $390. I tell him other vendors sell it for $360, so I didn't think a "sale" price of $340 was really that absurd, could they please honor the price from the website. The guy puts me on hold to talk to his boss, and when he comes back he tells me they'd be loosing too much money at that price and can't do it. So I cancelled my order. Frankly, $390 shipped isn't a bad price for the radiator. What prompted me to cancel my order wasn't the pricing correction, but the way it was handled. This place is obviously a small shop, as demonstrated by the long wait on hold... I doubt they've got more than one person answering the phones. No big deal there, I can't fault them for being small. However, to tell me "it's in our L.A. warehouse", when they're clearly not big enough to have 2 locations is pushing it. When I asked if it was in stock, they should have told me "we don't stock them in Hayward, but we can drop-ship them from the supplier in 2 days". And not admitting they drop-ship wouldn't be a big deal, if they were keeping on top of the prices from their distributor. I guarentee the whole issue stems from their supplier raising the prices on the radiator, and ProStreet simply didn't know until they called to have my rad ordered. Hence the 30 minutes before they called me back to tell me the price was "wrong on the website". I can understand them not honoring a type-o on the website, but when they list the price of the item correctly, then forget to maintain it, that's their fault. Of course, I recognize they're in a no-win situation. Either they honor the price and lose an actual $50, or they don't honor the price and lose my future business which doesn't have an actual price on it. Perhaps I should have mentioned that this year alone I've spent easily $15,000 on parts/labor/tire/brakes/entry fees/etc to race the WRX... but then again, I'd like to think that a shop would treat all their customers and potential customers as if they were big-spenders. So, I've got no animosity towards ProStreetOnline, and I'm not recommending that people avoid ordering from them, as I recognize they're probably a small shop that works hard to do a good job that just got caught in a no-win situation due to their supplier's pricing change. In fact, they seem like the type of shop I normally support, since the little guys usually tend to care about their customers ten times more than the big guys because each customer means so much more to their bottom line. My suggestion to them is simply that the next time they're caught in a similar no-win situation, they err on the side of supporting the customer, even if it means losing $50, and correct their list price after the sale so they don't get burned twice rather than assume the customer probably wouldn't have spent that much at their shop in the future. At the very least, they should offer to match the price of another vendor, even if it's at their loss. __________________ Is you is, or is you ain't, my con-stit-u-ints? Last edited by sperry; 2006-07-07 at 12:30 PM.

2006-07-12, 09:01 PM	#3
sp00ln EJ205 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Reno, NV Posts: 1,196	Isn't there a law against that? "Bait and Switch"? __________________ Turbo is a decent with modification.

2006-07-25, 03:29 PM	#5
murphy EJ22 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: RENO Posts: 484 Car: 03 evo, 06 R6	I know that in any store that if the price for something is listed, humm..lets say you see a shirt and its labled $10, you take it to the register and they say $15. Well they have to sell it to you at the listed price. Same with places like safeway and what not. (have had that confirmed buy store employees). I'm wondering if that would hold true for net stores.