Sears Television Refund

Several months ago, I wanted to purchase a high-definition wide-screen television. You may not agree with my choice, but I decided I wanted a DLP 42" Samsung. Now, I had to decide where to buy it. I went to Circuit City, Best Buy, Sears, and a few other stores, to get an idea of whom to buy from. The price was better in some stores than from others. Sears was the closest store to me, and they had the lowest-price + 10% guarantee, as well (some of the others did, too). I brought in a newspaper ad from Circuit City (who had the lowest price at the time), and the salesman at Sears sold it to me at that price minus 10%. At the time, the set cost me around $2,000.00 + tax. He also told me that if I found a lower published advertised price within 30 days, I would get a refund of the difference, + 10% (+ the tax difference).

Two weeks later, I got a bunch of ads with the Sunday newspaper, and lo and behold, the set was advertised by Best Buy at around $1,800.00. I promptly took the ad to Sears, and they credited my credit card the difference + 10%. About 28 days after my purchase, another merchant in town was selling the same set for the unbelievably low price of $1,600.00! I again went to Sears, and produced the ad. You guessed it - they ponied up again + 10% (+ tax difference).

While it is true that if you wait long enough to buy something, you can probably get a reduced price, I was watching the NFL for a whole month in HD, and got it for the price I would have paid, had I bought it a month later.

By the way, I haven't purchased any of the additional warranties offered from these stores. The TV came with a one-year factory warranty. If any electronic product lasts out that first year, it generally has been my experience that it will outlast the additional policy. They wouldn't be offering it if it wasn't a safe bet for them, for the most part.