At least B2B has some ethics

Just a quick rant from my first real attempt at Christmas shopping over the weekend:

1. MC Sports had a car-GPS on sale with rebate. Great gift for $89!. Got home and found the $20 rebate form was only valid for purchases the weekend after Thanksgiving.
2. I saw that Staples had a nicer GPS on sale, so thought I might get that, and return the other one. Walked around the whole store, saw at least two displays of GPSRs, but not the one on sale.
3. The totally classless award goes to Target, where I wanted to look at a digi-vid camera on sale for $77. Found it displayed as $99. I ask the young lady behind the counter, who had to flip thru the flyer to confirm, yes it is the one on sale. I try to demo it, but it doesn’t work. She calls another staffer to fix it: “Can you fix the battery on this one, everyone wants to try it because its on sale.” BS meter goes off! I demo its higher-priced cousin and walk away.

Bonus: Mouse Print blog takes Macy’s to task for their Sunday ad price corrections.

Is it marketing’s fault? Or sales? Or sloppiness? Any way you look at it, it’s bad.

B2B couldn’t sustain such bad practices, IMHO. We have too high a level of ethics, and accountablity, to pull these types of shenanigans.