I've been looking into upgrading from my current machine, a Quick Mill Silvano, to a higher end HX or maybe even possibly a DB machine, but surprisingly this is not a post looking for buying advice. Lots of those here already! :D It's just that in the midst of my research, I was looking into the Rocket machines and noticed idrinkcoffee.com is having a blowout sale and the savings at first looked too good to be true. They're advertising a discount of $946.00 on the Rocket Giotto Evoluzione (v1)! But then I noticed that their advertised regular price for that machine is $2895.00, which is almost a $700 discrepancy in pricing compared to other Canadian retailers like Espressotec and Morala Trading (they list a price of $2199). It's also a higher price than the yet to be released R58 which they're advertising at $2695. So is $2895 actually the original price of the V1 Evoluzione? I've only just been looking into these machines so I honestly have no idea on the actual MSRP for these machines. I just want to make as informed buying decision as possible. I emailed them asking for clarification, but have yet to hear back.
And I suppose pragmatically it shouldn't matter since $1949 is still a great price, but I'm pretty sure it's illegal (at least in Canada) to misrepresent a sale like this.
Maybe it's the recommended retail price, which has nothing to do with the real avarage market price. Also different exchange rates and taxes might be responsible for those discrepancies.
*** "This drink of the Satan is so delicious that it would be a shame to leave it to the infidels." (Pope Clement VIII on coffee)
We advertise MSRP pricing and then we typically show our price, during our Rocket Blowout sale we added a third sale (blowout) price. There is no misrepresentation here. There are retail outlets in Canada that charge $2500 for the Giotto Premium Plus.
However, I do agree that three prices can be a little confusing so I have changed the pricing to reflect our old price and the new blowout pricing. Customers are well informed enough to realize the differences in pricing.
SJ
Find www.iDrinkCoffee.com on facebook and become a fan for deals, contests and more.
And not to belabour a point, but the whole reason there is legislation around honesty in pricing is because the customers are informed by the prices you advertise. Are you implying that customers would see that you were offering a $900 savings and think that you weren't always charging the MSRP for that item? That's exactly the practice the Ordinary Price Provisions of the Competition Act is trying to prevent. According to your own explanation, it's possible your old advertising would have failed the "ordinary price" test of that Act in both ways:
(1) a substantial volume of the product was sold at that price or a higher price within a reasonable period of time before or after the making of the representation (volume test); (2) the product was offered for sale, in good faith, at that price or a higher price for a substantial period of time recently before or immediately after the making of the representation (time test).
iDrinkCoffeeCanada Said:
We advertise MSRP pricing and then we typically show our price, during our Rocket Blowout sale we added a third sale (blowout) price.
Thank the good Lord that even with our current nanny state government we don't have in place, laws that allow a "do good'er" to twist the reputation of well established vendors who honestly and openly advertise their prices and MSRP (MSRP by the way is what the maker says it SHOULD sell for (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) which really is not market price and all but the dimmest of dolts know this) thus showing how willing the vendor is to sell the product at an honest price.
Thank God for the U.S.A.
EDIT, I guess I just broke my own sig line and fed the trolls, DRAT!
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
Thank the good Lord that even with our current nanny state government we don't have in place, laws that allow a "do good'er" to twist the reputation of well established vendors ...
calblacksmith you forgot one word in your sentence, and it is "YET".
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
On the contrary. I don't think this post marrs the reputation of idrinkcoffee.ca one bit. A valid claim was made about inacurate reputation of a sale (exaggerated savings compared to their regular price) and idrinkcoffee.ca quickly made the correction. Certainly this is a great 'blowout' price, but agree that this is a bit of a grey-area and the sale appeared better than advertised. I think the appropriate action was made and idrinkcoffee quickly changed their pricing to reflect the actual sale. No big deal. No harm done. A very appropriate response was given. In my books, this makes idrinkcoffee look fair and honest with no intentional misrepresentation. A positive PR move on their part as far as I'm concerned.
... who honestly and openly advertise their prices and MSRP (MSRP by the way is what the maker says it SHOULD sell for (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) which really is not market price and all but the dimmest of dolts know this) thus showing how willing the vendor is to sell the product at an honest price.
What constitues "regular price" is something we disagree on. If I sell a product with an MSRP of $20 at $10 for a substantial period of time then turn around and sell it for $5, do I claim a $5 discount or a $15 discount? If you are of the opinion that "regular price" is the MSRP no matter what, then you'd say it's acceptable to advertise a $15 savings. As my post made clear, I disagree; in my opinion, MSRP is irrelevant in this case and $10 is the de facto regular price. So, we disagree on the semantics, fair enough. No sense going around calling complete strangers dolts.
And honestly, if they did in fact show all three prices, the MSRP, their "regular price" and the blowout price, I'd say that's perfectly legit. But they were only showing MSRP and their blowout price.
A comment if I may. I believe the vendor in question was totality straight forward in their explanation, and offered publicly to correct their advert to make it perfectly clear. That SHOULD have been sufficient, and in fact our OP is in violation of a CG rule: "Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings."
I could have issued a strike to the original poster and deleted this thread, but as the vendor replied, I felt obliged to allow this thread to continue. Equal time, etc. I feel this should be a done deal and this issue settled.
If the OP has any other concerns, I recommend he contact Idrinkcoffee.com PRIVATELY to discuss this further.
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