I hate going into Harvey Norman, I hate the low false ceilings, the soft fluorescent lighting, the temperature inside their stores (always just a little slightly too warm no matter the season). Everything inside their stores makes going in just not remotely a pleasant experience.
I do on occasion however find myself needing to go into a Harvey Norman store to buy things, things that aren’t available elsewhere or that I need immediately that I could source online but cannot wait for it to be delivered.
Usually I try to avoid Harvey Norman and go to other shops like The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi before resorting to Harvey Norman.
I also try to check online before travelling to a physical store for the item I need. JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman both have relatively accurate stock indicators on their sites so if it’s something that those two sell that’s the first place I look.
The item in question that I purchased today was a Belkin CarAudio Connect FM Bluetooth (http://www.belkin.com/au/p/F8M117au), this is the Australian site for Belkin and has a price below it of $109.95.
Ticketed price $129.95
Also on Harvey Norman’s site it’s also listed at $109.95.
JB Hi-Fi’s site had it listed for $110 however the store closest to me didn’t have it in stock, other wise I’d have gone there and not have worried about the 5 cents.
When I went into Harvey Norman’s store then I was more than a little surprised that it was priced at $129.95. You can see the two images here I’ve taken of the box and the price. I of course asked in store why the discrepancy, though they didn’t really say, they just gave it to me for the online price and crossed out the ticketed price. I don’t recall the last time I saw a price for an item above that of the price on a manufacturer’s website.
But to have a website price and then to have a price in-store $20 above that of your website, well it’s not really going to make anyone want to go into a physical “bricks and mortar” store is it?
Update:
After tweeting about this and mentioning @HarveyNormanAU they said that the store I bought it from had old labels. They also answered a question after that; 'would I have been charged the ticket price even if I hadn't asked about the web price?', whomever it is on the end of Harvey Norman's twitter feed says no, I'd have been charged the web price as that's the most up to date.
I'm still not entirely convinced as my experience in store didn't fill me with confidence, the guy who assisted me (and crossed out the price) didn't seem surprised and didn't offer any information about the discrepancy.