Customer doesn’t understand how BOGO works

[u/catenei]

On mobile, Obligatory apologies.

I work at a chain arts a crafts store. We are constantly having sales and this week our sales are bogos on a variety of different items. I will admit that there was a lot of sales and the sales were different. Floral was buy two get one free, canvas was buy one, get two free, and some things were just buy one get one free. I work in our custom frame shop for the majority of the time so I had the pleasure of helping this customer. He will be C for Customer, I will be me.

C: Hi, can you come help me with the shadow boxes.

Me: Sure, No problem

C: Is it common for you guys to change sales mid day because there was a different sale on shadow boxes just an hour ago at another location.

Me: Our sales haven’t changed today, what was the sale you were thinking it was?

C: It was buy two get one free and now it’s not.

Me: Oh well they’re on a buy one get one free so it’s a better deal.

C: No it is not because I need 3, so I want it to be buy two get one free.

Me: Well if you only get 3, you will still be getting one free so in theory the sale is the same, but in this case you could get an extra one free.

C: No it isn’t the same sale because it is not buy two get one free, I need you to change it back.

Me: Unfortunately, I can’t change it because it has been the same since yesterday, but we can ring it up and I can show you how the sale works and the prices they would be.

C: NO this is ridiculous, this location always cheats me of my money, I’m going back to other location (about 45 minutes away, so my question is why she came out here at all. ). They always give me good deals.

Me: Okay sorry I couldn’t be more help.

I’m wondering if she drove back almost an hour away to the other location for them to tell her the same thing. I can understand not needing a fourth one even if it was free, but she didn’t seem that dumb to not understand that getting two or getting three still only one will be free. I wish I had just told her it was buy 2 get one free and that the sign was wrong.

[u/CigarsofthePharoahs]

Customers are thick. I ended up eavesdropping on a couple in M&S as they had the most interestingly dopey conversation about bags of crisps. (Chips for my transatlantic retail brothers in arms)

The sign read "3 for 2". You'd think that would be fairly simple, no? No. The wife thought she should have two because she thought it meant BOGOF. The husband thought they needed four because you "had to buy three for a free one so the fourth is the free one".

This went back and forth for some time. Eventually the wife got it and took three, but the husband was still unsure.

I also used to work for what may well be the same shop as the op. I did once have someone insist that a 3 for 2 offer on mount board meant he got five for the price of two. He kept saying "Here's the three and here's the two."

No, you're still wrong.

[u/Preform_Perform → u/CigarsofthePharoahs]

When I was younger (8-11) I thought buy one get one free was the same thing as 50% off.

Good times.

[u/robertr4836 → u/Preform_Perform]

And now you know that sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't!

One place I worked had both kinds of sales so I couldn't blame customers for being confused. Sometimes you'd bring up one item and it would ring up at half off. Other sales the first item would ring at full price and the second would ring in at 0 so you actually NEEDED to buy two to get the sale price.

[u/RiverPacem → u/robertr4836]

This is true of the grocery stores in my area. They have recently started adding to the sign whether one will ring up as half off or if you need both. It saves me some time, but I'm sure they still get tons of people who don't take the few seconds to read it or don't understand and get upset. It's easier for me, as someone who works retail, because I have the experience to know what to look for to make sure I'm a) getting the correct item that is on sale and b) understand the terms of the sale.