Comment Re:So just like the old Sears crap? (Score 1) 532
When my oldest needed a laptop right that minute for class after the old Dell gave up the ghost he went to two local stores, the Staples and Best buy. The Staples were doing nothing but bait and switch, every model he would look at on the floor was magically out of stock but they could get him 'something similar' for a $300 markup
I doubt Staples was trying to pull a bait and switch. This is probably what happened. Your "oldest" was only going to buy the laptop and nothing else, right? Well, since the profit margin on PCs is so slim, Staples has a program in place where each store is expected to average at least $200 in attachment sales with each PC sold otherwise the store gets in trouble with the district manager. They call this attachment sale total their "Market Basket" and it can consist of anything sold in the store (e.g. MS Office, antivirus software, extended warranty, laptop bag, printer, printer ink, paper, a pen, a candy bar, a soda,... etc.).
If the sales person sees that the customer isn't going to buy anything else with the PC (called a "dry sale"), then it's not uncommon for them to pretend that they don't have the PC (or other similarly priced PCs) in stock, especially if it's going to drop their weekly "Market Basket" average below $200 or drop their warranty sales percentage below 6 percent.
To avoid making the customer suspicious of anything, they'll sometimes tell the customer that a higher priced model (usually something not on sale) is available, but it's also a model that is more than what the customer is willing or planning to spend. The customer will then leave and go somewhere else. Yes, they lose a sale, but they also save their "Market Basket" and warranty sales numbers which can sometimes be more important if they don't want to get in trouble with the district or regional manager.
