Last week was very busy for a family wedding due to which we had to bring a lot of items from the neighborhood Dmart (Powai, Mumbai) without planning and made most of the payment from the less crowded express counter where only 10 items can be billed. My experience says that these vendors have a hidden agenda in offering services in the name of convenience. Here is the proof.
There a pack of 100 paper tissue is Rs.45. Along with this, there was also an offer of 'Buy One Get One'. Since I needed 20 paper tissue packs, I took 10 packs and went to the counter and charged them Rs.450, saying, Please give me 10 free paper napkins under 'Buy One Get One'. Sonal, the girl at the counter, paid Rs. Made a bill of Rs. Returned saying 'in this case you can't come to this counter as 20 items are done and we don't take more than 10 here!' When I insisted that I had only taken 10 items and the store was giving me 10 items free of cost, he sternly said that I cannot use the express counter facility. She offered to allow us to buy even one item and reduce its price to half. This gave me an idea and asked if I would buy a paper tissue for Rs 22.50. Will take Since I knew that 50 paise doesn't work, she would charge something close to zero. I thought it was Rs.22. Legi but he charged Rs 23, which means he charged 50 paise more on every purchase.
Immediately the floor manager came and argued with me that the counter is for quick service and hence only limited to 10 items. I kept arguing that I didn't take more than 10 items, the store itself gave 10 gifts, which is being ignored. He also said that he does not have the right to get 50 paise discount. With this sentence of his indirectly he said that he has the power to charge 50 paise more. Standing in the store itself, I apprised the senior officials of Dmart about the inconvenience being caused in the name of convenience.
Area Manager Piyush Pankaj responded immediately. Within two minutes, phone after phone started ringing there. More than my reasoning, he was troubled by the pressure of the top management. He was told to please me and send me away at any cost and I refused to leave until I knew the real meaning of 'buy one get one'. Would have gone on and could not understand the logic of taking Rs.23 instead of Rs.22.50.
I was standing aside, meanwhile another customer came with 10 items, including two honey bottles wrapped together, according to Sonal, these were also 11 items. The customer argued, if the two bottles are in the same packing, then it should be treated as one as both the bottles have the same bar code but this was also ignored.
If the stores are giving some concession then they cannot have a hidden agenda to charge more money in the name of rounding off the price or use language that suits their perception. Piyush finally agreed that it was their 'mistake and not a misunderstanding' (many sellers call their mistake a misunderstanding) and promised to rectify the discrepancy in the name of cost-convenience very soon.
The bottom line is that if you facilitate something with a hidden agenda, it will tarnish the image you have built over the years.
