Hello OzB
Went to chemist warehouse today needing magnesium. Researched online beforehand and found an online retailer selling identical item $7 cheaper.
I checked CW price match policy and it doesn’t say it takes shipping costs into account when price matching, so for my mind they should match it.
For reference, their policy is here;
At Chemist Warehouse if you find a cheaper price on the same item at another Australian Registered Pharmacy or Australian Registered Retailer we will match it and give you 10% off the difference.
The price matching policy is limited to the retail limit applicable or a maximum quantity of three of each product.
In Store:
If you would like to price match in store, please bring a catalogue from the other retailer containing valid proof of their price. The discount will take place during the time you purchase the product in store and our staff may choose to contact the competitor to verify their price before granting the price match.
Online:
If you would like to price match online, please send us a direct link of the product on the competitors’ website it is being advertised on and your order number. Please note we require notification of your price match request within 24 hours of placing an order with us.
You will need to pay for your order in full, however after your price match has been approved you will receive a refund for the matched price.
Exclusions:
Our price matching policy excludes international orders and offers that are exclusively online.This policy cannot be applied to products at the other company if they are:
• - out of stock
• - short dated
• - on clearance or discontinued
• - A part of a promotional offer e.g. buy one get one free
Chemist Warehouse reserves the right to deny any price matching claims if they do not meet the above criteria.
Anyway, they refused on the basis it was an online retailer and taking into account shipping CW was actually cheaper.
If their policy stated that, I would not have questioned it. I was also told that for instore price match I couldn’t just show a website (regardless if it was a physical store or not) and I needed to bring an actual catalogue. This angers me because it’s 2018.
Did I get a dud manager or should I let this one go?
That's fair, if the store had a storefront then that might have been worth fighting, but I wouldnt really ever expect them to match online-only stores because of the shipping costs.
Understandable that it's not included in the policy, but the same thing happens at officeworks when trying to match Bing Lee in QLD, no physical storefront in the state so they're pretty much obliged to include shipping to be fair on them.