TechDirect Doesn't Honour Their Advertised Price Matching Policy

[Golem]

:mad:Warning, don't buy at TechDirect, they don't honour their advertised price match policy "We will match any advertised price" which appears in their advertisements (You have to look hard for it but it is there at the bottom right just above the word "Scarborough". The item: imego brand bluetooth headset TechDirect advertised for $19.99 (on sale from $29.99) which is available from Xpress Canada for $13 each ($3.99 lower than TechDirect) plus $5.99 shipping per order (one shipping charge for the whole order regardless of number and variety of items.)www.xpresscanada.ca/xce.php/main/Product/HSGN000006 . The owner, tony Barbieri, refused to honour his price match policy. I even offered to add the Xpress Canada shipping cost ($5.99) to the cost of the three bluetooth headsets I wanted. He refused. Instead, he stated he would sell me them at $13 plus the $5.99 for each one ($18.99 each). I told him that the price was virtually the same as his existing price of $19.99. I also showed him an advertisement from Fortune Computers, a very nearby store, which has them on sale for $16.99, $3.00 lower per unit than his price. He also refused to match that price and also insulted me as a "cheapskate". He told me to buy them from those other retailers and also told me he wouldn't sell me anything anymore, that I wasn't welcome in his store. I told him about various potential remedies I could pursue, including posting about him on RedFlagDeals.com. He said he has a lot of good feedback here and that he didn't care what I did. His email addresses are: tony@techdirectcanada.ca and tonybarbieri@hotmail.com Tell him what you think about what you've read here, hopefully he will reconsider his attitude, etc.

[edvc520]

geez man...
i would not make a deal out of it just because they would not honour a few bucks cheaper..

[rems]

geez man...
i would not make a deal out of it just because they would not honour a few bucks cheaper..

it`s their policy...they should honour it. Could be false advertising too...

[7jaii]

geez man...
i would not make a deal out of it just because they would not honour a few bucks cheaper..

it`s their policy...they should honour it. Could be false advertising too...

TigerDirect has been a total disappointment since they opened shop in Canada. The online is 'iffy and in-store is just refurb & grey-box on sale. Even worse are the MIR cheques that don't (or take for ever) to arrive.

It's one of the worst computer retailer in North America. Search my old posts or google "TigerDirect Lawsuit" "Guilty Settlement" "Fraud" for accurate news reports. TD has a long history of poor service and fraudulent advertising.

They used to advertise heavily on RFD but screwed RFD members right from the start. Lots of TD hate here...and well deserved.

[M08006899]

TigerDirect has been a total disappointment since they opened shop in Canada. The online is 'iffy and in-store is just refurb & grey-box on sale. Even worse are the MIR cheques that don't (or take for ever) to arrive.

It's one of the worst computer retailer in North America. Search my old posts or google "TigerDirect Lawsuit" "Guilty Settlement" "Fraud" for accurate news reports. TD has a long history of poor service and fraudulent advertising.

They used to advertise heavily on RFD but screwed RFD members right from the start. Lots of TD hate here...and well deserved.this is about TechDirect though ;)

[7jaii]

this is about TechDirect though ;)

Ooops, my TD radar's wonkers this morning. But I stand by what I said about Tigerdirect.

TechDirectCanada is like Factorydirect. They sell refurb, offlease, stuff from auctions (often uninspected until it arrives in the back room). It was a decent place for knic knacks Back at their Downsview location but it's went downhill after opening shops around the GTA. Kennedy sells out the fastest and Islington is a tiny shop compared to the old one.

Same rule applies here: it's perfect if you're buying $1-$10 items. Any higher than $29 and you might be disappointed when it breaks the next week. Order from eForcity or Dealextreme type stores for gadgets - it takes longer but better than TechDirect or FactoryDirect.

Any Store, even Canadacomputers offers better service than Tigerdirect (I had to write this).

:mad:[B]I told him about various potential remedies I could pursue, including posting about him on RedFlagDeals.com...and that he didn't care what I did.

TechDirect dudes don't care what you have to say or post. I'm not defending this guy because I agree all retailers should treat their customers with respect. However, TechDirect doesn't really care what you say - he's not willing to put up with arguing so get out. Which is pretty similar to most smaller shops anywhere in the GTA - especially certain neighbourhoods.

If you expected TD to offer Big Box Store service & policies then you're in the wrong place. Costco's membership fee has a purpose, as does Futureshop's markup & extended warranty, and so on and so on...Techdirect Canada can't compete with small computer shops on College (or Hwy 7) let alone mainstream retailers. Don't waste your breath arguing or threatening to do "stuff" because that TD dude doesn't know any better.

[delavoie]

thanks for the heads up..
If they wont honor their own pm policy, what's to say they wont honor a return policy.
I'll stay away from this dealer.. and pass the word.

[Golem]

Ooops, my TD radar's wonkers this morning. But I stand by what I said about Tigerdirect.

TechDirectCanada is like Factorydirect. They sell refurb, offlease, stuff from auctions (often uninspected until it arrives in the back room). It was a decent place for knic knacks Back at their Downsview location but it's went downhill after opening shops around the GTA. Kennedy sells out the fastest and Islington is a tiny shop compared to the old one.

Same rule applies here: it's perfect if you're buying $1-$10 items. Any higher than $29 and you might be disappointed when it breaks the next week. Order from eForcity or Dealextreme type stores for gadgets - it takes longer but better than TechDirect or FactoryDirect.

Any Store, even Canadacomputers offers better service than Tigerdirect (I had to write this).



TechDirect dudes don't care what you have to say or post. I'm not defending this guy because I agree all retailers should treat their customers with respect. However, TechDirect doesn't really care what you say - he's not willing to put up with arguing so get out. Which is pretty similar to most smaller shops anywhere in the GTA - especially certain neighbourhoods.

If you expected TD to offer Big Box Store service & policies then you're in the wrong place. Costco's membership fee has a purpose, as does Futureshop's markup & extended warranty, and so on and so on...Techdirect Canada can't compete with small computer shops on College (or Hwy 7) let alone mainstream retailers. Don't waste your breath arguing or threatening to do "stuff" because that TD dude doesn't know any better.


7jaii,

You should stick to the topic of my thread - TechDirect and their false advertising that they "will match any advertised price", not make excuses for them by comparing them to other retailers who do and do not have price matching policies. No one required or forced TechDirect to advertise "We will match any advertised price", the owner decided to advertise it. I don't expect a retailer to price match if they don't advertise that policy but, if they do, I expect them to honour it. My pursuit of remedies regarding TechDirect's dishonourable behaviour is my right to address their lie regarding price matching. The amount is quite small but the issue is huge, that's why its so important to address it. I did phone the Toronto Sun, the publisher of 24 H, their free paper, and received a reply that the false advertising problem is "being addressed". I am fairly certain that there's a clause in the advertising contract between the Sun and TechDirect prohibiting false advertising which includes not honouring advertised price matching. I don't know the specifics but it could be the loss of the prime advertising space on the back of the 24H publication which is probably in great demand by other companies. I am also pursuing other remedies which may have a greater negative consequence for TechDirect. TechDirect could have avoided this if they had merely honoured their advertised price matching statement which probably wouldn't have cost them anything, just reduced their profit. Tony, the owner, has very poor people skills, business practises, and judgment. As has been said, "buyer beware" which I have now done regarding TechDirect.

[adblink182]

HA! I thought this thread was about TigerDirect too! lol

but still, same applies for both then :)

[7jaii]

7jaii,

You should stick to the topic of my thread - TechDirect and their false advertising that they "will match any advertised price"

Hey Golem, settle down. I'm not excusing their behaviour. I'm saying TD dudes don't give a rat's @ss what you do. It's barely a legit business that can shutdown, change names, locations and resell the same junk to the same repeat customers.

Just like Factorydirect regulars, we know what we're buying when we enter the place. It's ain't Bay Bloor Radio and it's not even Tigerdirect standards. I agree fully with your rant but dude, you're letting it affect your brain. You hold cash in your hands and in this climate that makes you Top Dog. Shop where you're respected - end of story.

TechDirectCanada will change names & locations again and Ernie and his crew will screw more unsuspecting customers. Who are these guys? They operate & supply all TD stores with inventory. Trust me, Ernie and Dave and others don't care about you and when push comes to shove they'll push back. It's a very unprofessional scene running the books.

And this applies for many business in Toronto. You don't like your pirated DVD? Want to exchange your BluRay that you paid cash without receipt? Buying gold or unlocked Cell Phone? Those owners don't care what you do after they take your money. Push hard enough, antagonize those cashiers too much and you'll notice dudes follow you back to your car. Try it at Pacific Mall or Dragon City - Toronto isn't sunshine & flowers. A lot of people earn cash or launder earnings through multi-layered businesses.

(Sounds like a conspiracy but it isn't. Every ethnic neighbourhood has an outlet or dude who sells greymarket & items without papers).

[carmaster]

This is how techdirect operates. They close down and file false bankruptcy. They change their name from Canada Warehouse Outlet to Techdirect. Factorydirect use to have the same price match policy and refused several times. These stores sell low quality and cheap products. TechDirect operates like Futureshop and Bestbuy when it comes to price matching. They refuse it on most occassions. Don't buy from them.

[Donomight25]

Hey Golem, settle down. I'm not excusing their behaviour. I'm saying TD dudes don't give a rat's @ss what you do. It's barely a legit business that can shutdown, change names, locations and resell the same junk to the same repeat customers.

Just like Factorydirect regulars, we know what we're buying when we enter the place. It's ain't Bay Bloor Radio and it's not even Tigerdirect standards. I agree fully with your rant but dude, you're letting it affect your brain. You hold cash in your hands and in this climate that makes you Top Dog. Shop where you're respected - end of story.

TechDirectCanada will change names & locations again and Ernie and his crew will screw more unsuspecting customers. Who are these guys? They operate & supply all TD stores with inventory. Trust me, Ernie and Dave and others don't care about you and when push comes to shove they'll push back. It's a very unprofessional scene running the books.

And this applies for many business in Toronto. You don't like your pirated DVD? Want to exchange your BluRay that you paid cash without receipt? Buying gold or unlocked Cell Phone? Those owners don't care what you do after they take your money. Push hard enough, antagonize those cashiers too much and you'll notice dudes follow you back to your car. Try it at Pacific Mall or Dragon City - Toronto isn't sunshine & flowers. A lot of people earn cash or launder earnings through multi-layered businesses.

(Sounds like a conspiracy but it isn't. Every ethnic neighbourhood has an outlet or dude who sells greymarket & items without papers).


Your first rant was off topic, premature and unprofessional.

This one was just dumb.

[7jaii]

Your first rant was off topic, premature and unprofessional.

This one was just dumb.

To each his own. They are my opinion and you don't have to read it. There was no slander and both Tigerdirect and Techdirect have sketchy track records. Tigerdirect having been found guilty of scamming their customers and having to pay a fine & setup a separate MIR verification system.

As for neighbourhood baddies, that's true too. Ever wonder why nobody has PS3 or XBox discs inside the store - they tell you to wait while they run off to grab your discs? Yeah I'm way off base, it must be grandmothers downloading 0-Day releases, cracking DRM and burning off 1000 discs daily off presses.

You have your opinion and I won't judge you.

[Golem]

Hey Golem, settle down. I'm not excusing their behaviour. I'm saying TD dudes don't give a rat's @ss what you do. It's barely a legit business that can shutdown, change names, locations and resell the same junk to the same repeat customers.

Just like Factorydirect regulars, we know what we're buying when we enter the place. It's ain't Bay Bloor Radio and it's not even Tigerdirect standards. I agree fully with your rant but dude, you're letting it affect your brain. You hold cash in your hands and in this climate that makes you Top Dog. Shop where you're respected - end of story.

TechDirectCanada will change names & locations again and Ernie and his crew will screw more unsuspecting customers. Who are these guys? They operate & supply all TD stores with inventory. Trust me, Ernie and Dave and others don't care about you and when push comes to shove they'll push back. It's a very unprofessional scene running the books.

And this applies for many business in Toronto. You don't like your pirated DVD? Want to exchange your BluRay that you paid cash without receipt? Buying gold or unlocked Cell Phone? Those owners don't care what you do after they take your money. Push hard enough, antagonize those cashiers too much and you'll notice dudes follow you back to your car. Try it at Pacific Mall or Dragon City - Toronto isn't sunshine & flowers. A lot of people earn cash or launder earnings through multi-layered businesses.

(Sounds like a conspiracy but it isn't. Every ethnic neighbourhood has an outlet or dude who sells greymarket & items without papers).

You're right about Tony, the "owner" of TechDirect, not giving a "rat's ass" about what anyone thinks as he stated himself to me on Wednesday in the College Street store. Well, I do give a "rat's ass" about myself which is why I've posted what happened here, contacted the Toronto Sun, and am pursuing further potential remedies. Giving a "rat's ass" about oneself is known as self-esteem which appears to be lacking in many as evidenced by their willingness to allow others to abuse them.

TechDirect/Tony not honouring their advertised price matching statement is not "going to my head", it is about their lack of honesty and those of other retailers who lie. Accepting their lie is condoning it. The reason TechDirect/Tony and others get away with it is because not enough consumers take the time and trouble to address it. If we continue to allow the Techdirects/Tonys to get away with it, more retailers will do it which will further reduce the quality of life we have and, for people like me, want to have and improve.

I remember TechDirect's predecessor at the same location, possibly owned by the same person(s) which went "bankrupt". Fake/inteneded bankruptcys hurt everyone because it's a zero-sum game where the "bankrupt" winners suck the financial resources of their creditors, their employees, and taxpayers and consumers in general. TechDirect's false advertising indicates where, as you imply, they are potentially headed. I am also aware of the "money laundering" aspect of businesses like TechDirect which, even if it is true, is very difficult to prove, Spadina Avenue is full of "shady" appearing stores which don't appear to do enough business to support their overhead but stay in business for many years. If Tony is laundering money and was smarter, he would be in the private ATM business, which is a great way to launder money by locating them in stores, filling them with "dirty" money, and giving a kickback/percentage of the ATM cashflow to the retailer who allows the money launderer to use their business bank account to facilitate the money laundering. Grey market, stolen, and counterfeit goods are also present in stores around College and Spadina which people are willing to turn a blind eye to but I have read in the RedFlagDeals forums that when a particular College and Spadina computer store was confronted with the evidence by a customer, the store ownere quickly and quietly gave a full refund. I try not to buy those kind of goods because they undermine our society.

I could go on and address your other comments but I've spent too much time doing that already and need to use my time and energy to pursue other potential remedies to end TechDirect's dishonesty.

[pompoco]

You're right about Tony, the "owner" of TechDirect, not giving a "rat's ass" about what anyone thinks as he stated himself to me on Wednesday in the College Street store. Well, I do give a "rat's ass" about myself which is why I've posted what happened here, contacted the Toronto Sun, and am pursuing further potential remedies. Giving a "rat's ass" about oneself is known as self-esteem which appears to be lacking in many as evidenced by their willingness to allow others to abuse them.

TechDirect/Tony not honouring their advertised price matching statement is not "going to my head", it is about their lack of honesty and those of other retailers who lie. Accepting their lie is condoning it. The reason TechDirect/Tony and others get away with it is because not enough consumers take the time and trouble to address it. If we continue to allow the Techdirects/Tonys to get away with it, more retailers will do it which will further reduce the quality of life we have and, for people like me, want to have and improve.

I remember TechDirect's predecessor at the same location, possibly owned by the same person(s) which went "bankrupt". Fake/inteneded bankruptcys hurt everyone because it's a zero-sum game where the "bankrupt" winners suck the financial resources of their creditors, their employees, and taxpayers and consumers in general. TechDirect's false advertising indicates where, as you imply, they are potentially headed. I am also aware of the "money laundering" aspect of businesses like TechDirect which, even if it is true, is very difficult to prove, Spadina Avenue is full of "shady" appearing stores which don't appear to do enough business to support their overhead but stay in business for many years. If Tony is laundering money and was smarter, he would be in the private ATM business, which is a great way to launder money by locating them in stores, filling them with "dirty" money, and giving a kickback/percentage of the ATM cashflow to the retailer who allows the money launderer to use their business bank account to facilitate the money laundering. Grey market, stolen, and counterfeit goods are also present in stores around College and Spadina which people are willing to turn a blind eye to but I have read in the RedFlagDeals forums that when a particular College and Spadina computer store was confronted with the evidence by a customer, the store ownere quickly and quietly gave a full refund. I try not to buy those kind of goods because they undermine our society.

I could go on and address your other comments but I've spent too much time doing that already and need to use my time and energy to pursue other potential remedies to end TechDirect's dishonesty.

+1
I'll get PO'd too if someone tries "shady" and are always amazed at how most people let get themselves trampled over...
"it's only...", "not worth it..." etc. which seems so contradictary to the widespred basicaly ingrained canadian pettyness, I experience on a daily basis...
Seems like people are to lazy to demand correct service, but on the other hand are ticked off and need to bicker about everything....

[Golem]

+1
I'll get PO'd too if someone tries "shady" and are always amazed at how most people let get themselves trampled over...
"it's only...", "not worth it..." etc. which seems so contradictary to the widespred basicaly ingrained canadian pettyness, I experience on a daily basis...
Seems like people are to lazy to demand correct service, but on the other hand are ticked off and need to bicker about everything....

Requiring a person or business to honour their statements/commitments is neither "to (too) lazy" or "need to bicker about everything".

[Golem]

I received a phone call from the Toronto Sun regarding TechDirect not honouring their "We will match any advertised price" policy advertised in avertisements in the Sun's 24H free daily paper. The person who called stated that the Sun is going to do "something" about this problem. I told her to let me know what that "something" is, after they do it.

[porkchopboi]

ur an idiot golem... went to tech direct many times and they pricematched everything.. Tony is a stand up guy and treats everyone fairly.. heard only good news about them.
Golem ur a cheap F**k, u have nothing else better to do with ur time, and if u seen something online u should have bought it online. I bet now because ur sooooo cheap, u r going to lose out on the other many great deals at Tech Direct. ur an idiot!!
FYI Techdirect, techsource, tigerdirect, factorydirect are not affiliated at all. i've known all the guys at each store and they are all different.
Tech direct is the best place to shop.. great guys, and great deals. They pricematch everything... u just might be a total and complete idiot Golem.
and chhhheeeeeaaappppppp!!!
It sounds just by ur post we know what kind a person u r... a cheapppp F**k! No wonder why they wouldnt help u out.

[7jaii]

ur an idiot golem... went to tech direct many times and they pricematched everything.. Tony is a stand up guy and treats everyone fairly.. heard only good news about them.
Golem ur a cheap F**k, u have nothing else better to do with ur time, and if u seen something online u should have bought it online. I bet now because ur sooooo cheap, u r going to lose out on the other many great deals at Tech Direct. ur an idiot!!
FYI Techdirect, techsource, tigerdirect, factorydirect are not affiliated at all. i've known all the guys at each store and they are all different.
Tech direct is the best place to shop.. great guys, and great deals. They pricematch everything... u just might be a total and complete idiot Golem.
and chhhheeeeeaaappppppp!!!
It sounds just by ur post we know what kind a person u r... a cheapppp F**k! No wonder why they wouldnt help u out.

They're operated by different ownership - Yes. But OP was talking about TechDirect. I have to call B.S. on you. How do you find time to visit every location (Factorydirect alone has about 10 across Southern Ontario) and meet the franchisee/owner. You certainly didn't meet Tigerdirect's owners.

In any case, your post will earn you a 3 day vacation. Enjoy your posting privileges while you can.

[skyfly]

thx for the heads up. never visit techdirect again