With our current financial meltdown, it's nice to know that the grocery stores are happy to use every trick in the book to con unsuspecting shoppers out of their hard earned cash.One such scam came to my attention today as I went to purchase some Deer Park bottled water. I'm not a huge fan of the product, but it is better than tap water and it is cheap. Maybe one day I'll have the money to waste on beautiful Evian water every day. But until that time I'll rough it.
Last time I went into Kroger a 24 pack of half liter bottles was $3.99, 11c more expensive than Walmart, but the special offer was that you got a $2 discount coupon for your next water purchase if you bought two 24 packs. You earned even more coupons if you were willing to buy more than two.
A few days later I returned to Kroger looking to get my special discount only to find that the price had been jacked up to $6.79 for the same product. Even with a coupon that would leave me paying $4.79.
Now I'm not one for penny pinching over groceries. I don't clip coupons, and I don't read those annoying special offers that fill my mailbox. But equally, I don't like to see companies take the piss.
Kroger are continually fucking with the price of bottled water, with special offers, coupons, incentives to buy other brands and other shitty underhand marketing. But there is simply no excuse for selling the same product Walmart has at nearly $3 more. We know they can get close to the Walmart price, because they often do (provided you have your special Kroger Discount Card).
My issue is that by fucking around with the price it cons people out of money for no reason. It allows the company to create misleading advertising about 'specials' that only seem special after inflating the price for a few days.
So Kroger, how about you stop trying to scam people, and just offer a fair and reasonable price? Your customers will like you for it, and so will I. Until that time, you can shove your over priced mediocre bottled water up your collective asses.
