RAZZIE: Watsons

Compare the price on the receipt to the price
on the promotional standee. Note that the date
of purchase is still within the promo period.

Beware of merchants who display one price but charge another!

They display a discounted price but what appears on the register when the cashier swipes your item is the regular price.

Stores often display promotional signs trumpeting great bargains. I'm sure many products end up in our shopping carts simply because of those signs.

But did you know that they could be charging you regular price for something that you thought you were getting at a discount?

Merchants often misrepresent how much they charge customers. I know because it has happened to me twice. I suspect it happens more often than that—but how many of us remember the display price of the things in our cart?

I recently bought my favorite Watsons item. Take a look at the price on the promotional sign: Buy 1, Take 1 for Php89.

Watsons hand soap is great
value for money and comes in
exciting summer variants.

Now take a look at the cash register receipt. I was charged Php109. Rather, they were trying to charge me that. A difference of Php20.

The cashier tried to fix the problem as shown by the cancellations (minus signs). She even disappeared for five minutes (at the end of a long, hot day!) to ask her supervisor about the obvious mistake.

Would you believe she came back and still tried to charge me Php109 for a product that was labeled Php89?

She finally gave up, seeing that I wouldn't budge and the place was closing. I hope she didn't have to shell out the difference, because I got a receipt that read Php109 even after I paid only Php89.

By the way, the other time I discovered a similar mistake was at Savemore Berkeley on Katipunan. I hope this isn't a common occurrence at SM stores!

RAVE: SmartPhoneMate

Hit the "Post data now" button four times daily
to get your monthly Php50 prepaid load

This app gives you free load credits and Groupons!

Only users of Android, BlackBerry, iOS, and Symbian (S60 3rd ed. onward) can participate. Available in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Qatar, South Africa, US, UK. Incentives: Monthly prepaid mobile top-ups, Amazon and Groupon coupons. Click here to see details for your country.

It surprises me that so many Manilans have not yet heard of SmartPhoneMate. Or maybe Manilans are just so jaded that they think this app is too good to be true: Free prepaid load or Groupon coupons each month? No way, right? Way.
The catch? You have to install a research app that will log your smartphone behavior. That’s the reason I only use it on a backup phone. To be fair to SmartPhoneMate, they have not done anything to cause my phone to lag or change in any way.

It used to be that you could just keep the app running in the background on the rare occasions you stumble onto free Wi-Fi around the metro. That’s how I got around Php100 worth of free load last year on each of my two Sun phones during the same month. (Yes, sadly, I have two Sun numbers–and two Smart numbers spread across multiple gadgets. No Globe. Yet.)

But the SmartPhoneMate guys have caught up with tech-savvy Filipinos and are now stricter. Here are their terms and conditions. Check out numbers 2 and 7.

1. You need to have active GPRS/data plan throughout the participation period.
2. SmartMeter must be active on your mobile for 20+ days in a calendar month.
3. Participants must click on the SmartPhoneMate icon as well as restart their mobile device twice daily.
4. Participants must not change SIM / handset
5. Participants must participate in a Monthly Survey. (I have never participated and yet I get my monthly top-up.)
6. Participants must share their complete & correct demographic profile.
7. Active participation implies we receive notifications to our server 4 times daily for a period of at least 20 days in a calendar month.
8. Participation in calculated on a calendar month basis and Incentives are processed by first week of next month.
9. You consent to receive SMS/Email/Notifications/Alerts from SmartPhoneMate. (irrespective of your NDNC/DND status)

If you use multiple phones that are traceable to you, you will get a call from SmartPhoneMate. A lady with a Chinese accent called me to verify my details. After that, I decided not to be so greedy (and not give myself a headache over Php50!). I unsubscribed all my other gadgets from the service.

But I still enjoy Php50 free load credits on my Sun phone every month. You could too. Visit http://smartphonemate.mobi/ph/ to sign up.