Aug 29, 2007 7:50 pm US/Eastern
How Not To Lose Money When Products Go On Sale
by Kirstin Cole
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
It's frustrating when you buy something and it goes on sale the next week. And while many retailers offer price protection so you can make up the difference, unless you regularly visit the store how would you know about the sale?
Now, CBS 2's Consumer Reporter, Kirstin Cole, has the details on how you can be notified every time an item you bought has been reduced.
Bryan Lemster is always leery when it comes to buying electronics, knowing a sale may be around the corner and he'll end up overpaying. "Those prices do tend to drop more frequently than other items," said Lemster. But he can't go shopping every week at every store to stay on top of the deals. And he'd never been able to score a refund from a retailer, until now.
"I used www.priceprotectr.com when I purchased this monitor," said Bryan. It's a frequently unused policy known as price adjustments.
PriceProtectr.com is a free way to get an automatic message when the price drops on something, anything you've purchased. Like Bryan's new Gateway LCD monitor, for which he got back $100 dollars, once his website notified him.
"I think it's great, it provides consumers with the ability to get the best prices," said Bryan. "Some places require you to physically come back to the store with the credit card that you used, other places might say you can mail it or fax it in," explained Price Protectr CEO, James Wallace.
He said retailers started offering price protection policies after consumers would return an item that went on sale only to turn around and re-buy it at the sale price. But what good are these policies, he said, if people aren't taking advantage of them. "Which is why we have the owl watching the prices for you," said Wallace.
At dozens of some of the biggest retailers, like Costco, Sears, the Gap, "If the price goes down during the price protection policy, we send you an email, it's that simple," said Wallace. And they add new retailers every day.
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