Bunnings price guarantee promises customers, “if you find a competitor’s lower price on the same stocked item, we’ll beat it by 10%.” However, we’ve received some reports that the company is using a slightly different product code on the same or very similar products to avoid honoring the guarantee.
Has anyone in the Community experienced this?
is the key to them avoiding the guarantee. Bunnings have a lot of ‘exclusive to Bunnings’ items in their stores, which are fairly similar to offerings in other stores, but not quite the same.
It’s a catchy line that features in their advertising and no doubt draws in more custom, but the wording means they don’t have to apply it as often as customers might expect.
Thanks for the input 
Some years ago, we bought several bags of Dynamic Lifter from Bunnings and happened to visit Big W on the way home.
Big W had 20 kg bags of Dynamic Lifter for less than we paid for the 17.5 Kg bags at Bunnings so we returned to Bunnings. They refused to beat Big W’s price on the basis the 2 items were not identical.
We returned to our vehicle and brought the bags back for a refund right on closing time, much to the considerable annoyance of the staff, and bought the 20Kg bags from Big W the following day.
On the other hand, when we wanted to buy 3 lockable metal storage cabinets some years ago, we checked the price at Bunnings and then at another hardware store who were considerably cheaper.
We returned to Bunnings with a copy of the brochure with the prices written on it. Bunnings called the other store to confirm the prices and sold us the cabinets for 10% less, so we saved a bundle.
In our experience, the bottom line is that the products must be identical, and Bunnings tries to avoid stocking identical products, hence the 17.5 Kg Dynamic Lifter.
When Masters started in Cairns, a young employee told us that they would not be stocking any of the same items as Bunnings so as to prevent having to honour the price guarantee which they had copied from Bunnings.
Many industries/businesses do this.
The mattress industry is a leader in the technique by using different product numbers for different patterns on the same fabric, or slightly different fabrics.
Large chains also buy product with unique custom numbers so they can avoid price matches as well as claim theirs is ‘special’.
I further recalled that prior to Masters opening in Cairns, Bunnings had a “reduced to clear” sale on many Philips lights including fluorescent tubes and CCFL globes, and I bought a carton of Philips 36W fluorescent tubes for around 50 cents each.
When I asked a staff member why the stock was drastically reduced, I was told that they were preparing for the arrival of Masters and they would not be stocking the same items.
After we bought our present home in early 2015 and set about replacing the disgusting array of CCFL globes, some of which protruded below the fittings, we replaced them all with LED globes.
Both Bunnings and Masters stocked Philips LED globes, many of which were identical except for the packaging designs and the bar codes, and the prices of course.
I have noticed that at times when Aldi have similar hardware items on sale for a cheaper price that Bunnings reduce the price for a week to match the Aldi price on the Similar item .
With the use of the term Identical I also think that in the case of the dynamic lifter the product was identical but the package size was not the same so the response was full of manure .
A fairly common experience in the grocery when the large is on sale for less than the small or medium size, in absolute terms. eg small = $2, large = $1.75. Maybe they got a deal on a bulk buy of the larger size but had to pay full wholesale for the small. While irritating ‘size discrimination’ is long standing…
This has been their modus operandi since inception, they require most of their suppliers to provide a bunnings only product and as it differs in some regard either in packaging, branding or sizing they use it as a get out clause to not price match. A relative of mine once worked in their marketing department and he advised me that they had unique bunnings only stock as a policy.
I wrote to the ACCC a number of years ago with a blatant example of avoiding a price match on some AC underlay sheeting I was planning to purchase and the ACCC just gave me platitudes and defended bunnings. What I didn’t know then what I do know now is the ACCC is a toothless tiger captive to the big end of town.
The one that really sticks in my throat is “Lowest prices are just the beginning - That’s our policy.”
I’ll say it once, loudly: THAT’S NOT A POLICY. THAT’S A SLOGAN. and it doesn’t mean zip.
Great to hear you are spreading the word.
I’ve never tried this with bunnings but had similar experience with Hilton hotels. Hilton do everything to avoid honouring their ‘best rate guarantee ‘ but ocassionaly do so if you fight hard. I’m glad that you are taking this up. I believe this sort of anti-competitive behaviour needs to be challenged
These lowest price guarantees are actually a market distorting mechanism. The big powerful retailers (and suppliers with own website) just write the guarantee into their contracts which means suppliers can’t offer the product cheaper to others and smaller retailers can’t offer things cheaper. Overall prices end up being higher
I’ve bought Dulux paint from Bunnings and they price matched the Dulux speciality store no problems at all.
I had a similar experience. I bought an apple tree from Bunnings only to find the same pot size and variety cheaper from the local nursery. I took the details to Bunnings and they refused to meet the price, I indicated I would return their items for a full refund and purchase the item from their competitor. They then agreed to meet the ‘guarantee’ price.
It appears major manufacurers have differing product codes for the same item depending on the retail outlet. Have found this with electronic and electrical items especially, limiting the instances in which their pricing guarantees would apply.
Congratulations. I wonder will Bunnings now that they have been brought to their knees on the sale of Apple trees rebrand all their plants to a special varietal named in recognition of the store owners?
Or will they offer odd pot sizes that are made uniquely for Bunnings. Eg no more 10cm pots, but the same product in Bunnings 107mm pot. Or just a subtle difference in the potting mix. Is it sufficient to add to the plant description and pot size - ‘ in Bunnings certified growth supplement and plant health potting mix”?
Well done.
The good thing about Bunnings I have found is that you can always get a refund - no questions. I have seen variations between Bunnings stores on item price specials. On one occasion I asked for the price on a rug to be reduced to the same as the other store but was refused.
My main experience in this area is that Liquor stores will not match or beat a competitors price unless it is in print. There always seem to be plenty of shelf specials that are not advertised.
We were buying a drill same brand and features and appeared the same but when asked to price match to mitre 10 we were told the model numbers were different and don’t bother to check as bunnings had their own exclusive models so as not to have to price match. The shop attendant was most gleeful delivering the information.
