MediaMarkt: Ich bin doch nicht blöd!

I finally got around to buying a printer today. I had been to the Apple Store a few weeks ago when they had a Printer Guy there to help you decide on what kind of a printer you need, so I had a company and a number sorted out (HP Laser Jet 3055 All-In-One - B/W, Ethernet, AIO, talks with Macs, relatively cheap price per page, ...).

We have lots of stores around selling technical equipment, so I started at the one closest to home.

The first one would order it for me and quoted me a price in writing. An irritating young man tried to tell me that I needed the printer they had on sale that day, I tried to be polite in my "Buzz off!", although he was playing the Little-Woman-probably-doesn't-know-what-a-printer-does game, making me want to swat him.

The second one wouldn't even order it.

The third one, Media Markt, had one in stock and on the floor.

I immediately went into guard position, as there were other guys walking around, interested in printers. This baby was mine, although there was no price posted. Took a while for me to flag down a salesguy, Media Markt is packed like a can of sardines on a Saturday. He quoted me the same price as store one orally, so I said: Yup, that's great, I'll take it.

It is a big box, but sales guy help me lug it to the elevator. On the ground floor, however, teeming with bargain-hunting humanity, I had quite a time getting it maneuvered to the cash register, fishing some DVD jewel cases from a bin on the way there. I stood in line with the box, glad to finally be rid of the load for a while.

As the cashier rang it up, I handed her my credit card and was planning my get-away by taxi. I remember vaguely thinking - strange, that's not the price, but I was exhausted and wanted to get home. I punched in my code and lugged the box outside. I wrestled it across the street, flagged down a taxi, squeezed it into the back seat, and made it home.

I sacked out on the sofa for a bit to recuperate, then I got out the receipt to put it in my tax stuff. I stared at the bill - they had charged me 140 Euros MORE than the price that was quoted to me! My exclamation was the advertising slogan of the company: Ich bin doch nicht blöd, I'm not stupid!

I called the store and was put on hold for a while. It was Saturday. The lady checked the database, yes, that was the price. But I could bring the printer back. No, I do not want to lug it back. I want to pay the price quoted to me. Well, I could come down and speak to a manager.

I hopped on a bus and made my way back to the store. Now, what did that guy look like exactly? I went around a bit before I actually found him. Turned out, he's a "free-lance salesman" (euphemism for "slave labor without benefits"). And he was shaking in his boots, he's supposed to check the prices if he's not sure. He asked me if I had a quote from another company, that would help a lot. Luckily, I have the written quote from the first store to prove that this is the real price, just 20 Euros under the list price from HP themselves.

He is unsure of the procedure, and needs to locate some special kind of person for me. They have different kinds of vests and name tags on, it is some sort of secret code. But he does manage to locate the floor manager - without name tag or vest - for me. We wait until he is finished sorting out other problems, and then salesguy explains my problems.

It took quite some paperwork, but they did refund me the 140 Euros. And hope that I don't feel bad about the store. We'll see. I'll get my next spindle of blank DVDs from the store that wrote me that offer - if I can avoid Junior. And make a mental note to always check the prices at the cash register.