Zhu Zhus Tar-jay

I got an email confirmation from Target informing me that my Zhu Zhu Pets have shipped. I must admit, after the clusterfarkas with Medco earlier, and reading Target's little disclaimer about how the prices you see on their site isn't necessarily what you'll be charged depending on the price of the item during shipping, that's a relief.  Target has had a history of mispricing things on their site, leading people to think they're getting a great deal, then canceling people's orders.  (Sound familiar?)  The 2 big one that comes to mind is the Britax Marathon misprice fiasco of 2008 and a more recent one involving their store brand of diapers which happened around the 2009 holiday season.  Although considering the Zhu Zhus were Target's Deal of the Day, technically I shouldn't have been worried, but once bitten twice shy, ya know?  I took a screen shot of the Zhu Zhu deal, prepared to plea my case if necessary...not that it would've done much good I'm sure. They'll just argue that it was a misprint of some sort.

Here's Target's policy on pricing, copied and pasted from my order confirmation:

When will I be charged?
We cannot confirm the price of an item until your order enters the shipping process nor will we charge your credit card until your order enters the shipping process.

When will my order be confirmed?
Please note that your Order Acknowledgment email means that your order request has been received. It does not mean that your order has been shipped or that the price of an item has been confirmed. Despite our best efforts, a small number of the items on our Web site may be mis-priced. As part of our shipping procedures, we verify price before an item is shipped out. If an item's correct price is lower than our stated price, we charge you the lower amount and ship you the item. If the item's correct price is higher than our stated price, we will cancel your order
and notify you of such cancellation via email.

I really really do not like this kind of price guessing game policy.  Consumers very often base their decision to purchase something on the price of that item displayed.  They get excited over it. Some people tell their kids about it. Kids get excited over it. Kids don't understand such Fizzbin-esque pricing that leads to the cancellation of their goodies, and really, adults shouldn't have to deal with this kind of guessing game and lack of control over their purchases either.  I guess it's kind of similar to going to a physical store and an item ringing up the wrong price, but the difference with that is, if the merchant cares about their customers' loyalty, more often than not they will give it to the customer at the price they expected to pay based on what was marked on the shelves.  You don't really get a chance to dispute it with an online order because the CSR will simply tell you, "sorry, can't help you. The order has already been canceled and there is nothing I can do about it" because there is no face to face interaction with the customer. It's easier to tell someone "you're shit out of luck, sucks to be you" when you're not in front of them.

One little nice surprise though was the total came out to be a little less than I'd expected and told when I placed the order. Apparently, Target's website miscalculated the sales tax by a few cents. Not a big whoop, but still, paying less is always a nice treat, even if it's just a few cents.

Now let's hope I catch UPS before my kids do, unlike earlier when the UPS guy handed my kids the box of costumes that arrived today, which they promptly ripped open. Good thing it wasn't a surprise!  The Zhu Zhu Pets, however, are supposed to be a surprise for their birthdays.

Deals be runnin' with the devil: Zhu Zhu pets

I've held off on these for as long as I possibly could, but after much debate with my husband over IM, we caved and bought a pack of these rodents for our kids for their upcoming birthdays.

Target's deal of the day is a 3 pack of Zhu Zhu Pets for $15.99.

Use the code MT9ZC7RW at check out for an additional 10% off. Shipping is free. By the time it was all said and done, after tax 3 Zhu Zhus for around $15. My last check on Amazon, just one of them goes for $11, so that's a pretty good savings...even if you do think it's Tickle Me Elmo fad redux. :p

Source: Couponing to Disney

P.S. Don't forget to shop through sites like Upromise or Ebates. Shopping at Target.com through Upromise will give you 2% back for college. Ebates will give you 3% cash back.

Price juggles

I made a lil quickie trip to Target to pick up some things and while there, I decided to get my son a Hot Wheels car to reward him for being so patient this week.  As I perused the toy aisle, I was happy to see some happy little yellow tags protruding out indicating a Temporary Price Cut.   Just in case you didn't know, I like savings. :)

I first saw a pack of 5 Hot Wheels cars for $4.49.  Not bad since they're typically $5+ a pack or .97 individually.  So I picked a pack out.  Then I saw something even better: a 10 pack for $8.99 instead of the usual $9.99.  Ok, savings of $1 instead of 50 cents.  I'll take that instead.  As I grabbed the 10 pack I noticed something else: the individually packaged ones were on sale for 79 cents each!  Ok, think quick, how much is that for 10?  Right, $7.90...um...that's an even bigger savings than $8.99.  It makes absolutely NO sense...well at least to the consumers that have been previously trained to think that buying more equals savings.  Apparently, that's just not the case anymore. Consumers practically need a degree in mathematics to figure out merchants' pricing tricks.

Needless to say, I picked out 10 of the individually wrapped ones not only for the savings, but I also got to pick specifically the ones I wanted instead of a pack of mixed in stuff that we might not want.  (Yes, I can hear my husband telling me that I didn't NEED to buy 10, but I did because now I can hide them and bring them out later as rewards. Plus they make great stocking stuffers.) The whole experience made no sense whatsoever, but it's taught me an important lesson: as a consumer, I need to be smart about the way I shop. Conventional trains of thoughts no longer applies anymore.  Merchants are coming up with new and different ways to make money off of unsuspecting shoppers.

Caveat emptor.

Target

Hey, those of you who are still looking for a costume for your kiddos, some costumes at Target are as low as $7.99 this week! It's in their circular and you can view the online version of their ad here! It's on page 14-15 of the ad this week. (I'm not sure if there are different ads for different locations but it's on page 14-15 of the Denver metro ad.)

Star Wars socks

For those of you who have jr. Star Wars fans, Target's Dollar Spot section has Star Wars socks for $1 a pair. There's also light up yo-yos, pencils, markers and misc Star Wars stuff for $1. Can't beat a buck for licensed products. :)