We’re in the process of updating our article on Lowest price and price match guarantees - where a retailer guarantees that if one of their stocked items is advertised for less at a competitor’s store, then they will match or beat that price.
We’d love your input.
Have you ever tried to have a lowest price guarantee honoured? What was your experience like?
I have used this twice recently.
Officeworks beat a price from an online seller for printer toner by 5%. The cashier simply confirmed with a colleague that they were able to use the price from that particular seller.
Purchased a TV from the Good Guys, salesperson beat a competitor’s price after I showed details of a lower price advertised on the competitor’s website. I also found the same item advertised at a lower price a week or two after purchase and received a voucher for 120% of the difference to be used with 28 days. They do have limitations on which competitors they recognise for the post-purchase guarantee. The current conditions relating to the post-purchase guarantee are still very good but different to what is listed in the 2014 choice article.
I have also found some price guarantees to be worthless as different packaging or model numbers might be specific to the retailer offering the guarantee, making them different to an otherwise identical product being sold by a competitor.
When buying an appliance or other expensive item, I normally do a google search on the model number and a price comparison normally appears at or near the top of the results page. Whilst there is no guarantee that the lowest available price will be displayed, it allows for better negotiations when visiting with your preferred retailer.
Apple matches by up to 10% prices of products sold by rival PHYSICAL stores. But no more than 10%. So if Officeworks sells iPads at 15% off the RRP, Apple will only drop by 10%. They will not match.
The real kicker is that iPads rarely if ever go on sale by leading retailers. Online, barely known vendors will discount iPads by say 10%, but Apple will not match those prices in my experience, citing a “PHYSICAL STORES only” policy.
Unless Apple has changed their policy, my understanding is that Apple uses an agency agreement to control retail pricing to restrict price cutting.
These articles attest to that policy.
https://www.mybusiness.com.au/sales/5500-reader-question-are-agency-agreements-actually-price-fixing
I tested David Jones price promise a few years ago and was very disappointed in the result. Their claim was that “we regularly monitor our competitors’ prices so that you don’t have to”. This implied to me that that they would match any price they new to be lower. They sold a cheese that was available for a few dollars cheaper at Adelaide Central Market and were quite happy to match that price when I provided evidence. But they made no change to their standard price. Next week I had to provide evidence again.
They plainly knew the competitor’s price but made no adjustment to their own price. The onus was on the consumer to do the research. Which wasn’t what they promised.
Our local Supa IGA has identical slogans but it is just lip service.
They simply state that they monitor competitors’ prices. They don’t say they will match or better it.
Whilst they are generally in the ball park with the pricing of most items, they have some glaring discrepancies like Kirks 10 x 375ml can packs of soft drinks which they list at $10.45 a pack in stark contrasy to Coles & Woollies normal price of $6.20 a pack, yet all 3 will have them on special for $5.80 a pack.
They must be making a fortune when they are not on special.
You’re right. I had a similar experience buying a dishwasher from DJ’s a few years ago. Prove a rival sells for less and DJ’s will price match. For that I was happy, knowing DJ’s stands behind its sales unlike some vendors. And now that you mention it, they did not change their std price. You’re correct: the customer has to provide evidence each time he/she wants to make a purchase. That said, it’s still a better policy than most vendors.
I find some items that i want to buy i intensively search online to find some retailers sell it for a few dollar less. Sometimes its a hassle as they can be out of stock. On the other hand i have purchased the things i need successfully. I am not comparing this to where they beat it by a percentage. It shows looking around save money and time. Sometimes prices are the same so have no choice.
I very rarely use travel agents but I did on one occasion use Flight Centre who boast they will beat any lower price. Just be careful with expectations. In the Flight Centre case, they did honour my evidence of a cheaper price … by ONE dollar! 
Not worth the restrictions that come with using a travel agent!
That reminds me of an instance where I too was told by FC they will happily match a rival’s lower price. But when they gave me their invoice I saw that it was still $28 more than the rival.
This was explained as their “booking fee”.
After some argy bargy, FC agreed to “waive” the “booking fee”. “Scoundrels” is too polite a term to use.
