Ames Department Store is a bait & switch ripoff. Cinnaminson, New Jersey
Ames Department Store is a ripoff, 1 Left BUT 3 times the advertised price. ALL OUT in only 2 Days, as Usual, this SUCKS!! .....
I am 67 yrs.old and saw an ad in Ames for a little pool for my grandchildren when they come to visit. The sale started Sunday. On Tuesday I went there, but no pools or even any sign that they ever had any at all. BUT they did have one left of another brand that was over 3 times the price and the box was beat up and retaped.
I spoke to the manager and he offered to give me a 10% discount but I had to take the only one they had, beat and open box.
I have never gone to Ames and gotten anything that was advertised and they actually had it! Those ads are not a waste because they think once they SUCK you in the store, you might buy something else. I just get mad and vow never to go in there again! Then another flier comes and I try again. SUCKED AGAIN!!
Don
Cinnaminson, New Jersey
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Barb
Cumberland,Maryland,
U.S.A.
sometimes we did not have the items that ran in the ad
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, April 03, 2003
I'm a former employee since Ames no longer exists now. I do agree that sometimes we did not have the items that ran in the ad, but many times we did offer a substitute or rain check(for seasonal items you could not get rain checks).
But when we did have items that were advertised they usually sold out on the first day the ad ran. It was always really crazy on Sundays.
True that it was our distributors fault and they should have been better organized. They should have at least made an effort to get the items in stock that ran in the ad. Perhaps we would have been around longer if they did.
We(the employees) would joke about how they must find out in advance what we don't have in stock and put it on sale. Not really funny but that's how it seemed sometimes.
Believe me it is no fun hunting around the store for items that aren't even in stock. All in all I liked working there and was sad to see it go as so were many of our customers.
angela
schenectady,New York,
i can answer that
#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, August 16, 2002
i am an employee of the company and what you all have been saying is true that we dont always have the items in stock because you try to wait until you can get the discount when there are a lot of people who shop there and dont get a discount so they but the item on sunday. You cannot always blame the store its the management and distribution center that does the ordering and also the ads were printed 3-6 months in advance. So if you want to be upset with the company dont take it out on the employees because they have no control of the ordering or the number of items in the store.
April
Waldorf,Maryland,
Ames will eventually be just another Chapter 11!!!
#4Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 26, 2002
You're definately right. I have NEVER gone into Ames and found the item that I was looking for that was advertised on sale. I have even gone when they opened on a Sunday morning. The worst part about this is that most of their advertised items, state in very small print that you can not get a raincheck. And the items that you can, you eventually get a postcard in the mail that states their very soory, but still do not have that item in stock and are offering you 20% off any regular priced item. It really sucks when they send that and the item you wanted was 50 or 55% off or a one time sale.
Let's face it this is one of the reasons that Ames went out of business before. It's just a matter of time. Their price will never beat those of Walmart or even Target. That can't keep up with the completetion. I have a friend that worked for them and eventually quit. She couldn't take their abusiness towards their employees. She says they never order the sale items their out of and when they do have the items in stock, they will purposely move that item and put it shelved with simular items so that the customer doesn't realize that they picked up the wrong one, and most pay without realizing it.