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!