Bait and switch?

Hello,

This question is in regards to bait-and-switch. I purchased an LCD TV for a very good price on Nov 23rd. I pay $65 extra to have it delivered to my house on Nov 25th. The day comes and goes, and I don’t receive the TV. I call support and they tell me that the TV is out of stock and will be available on Dec 6th (Wednesday). I tell the agent that I can’t get it delivered on a weekday, so I schedule it for Dec 8th (Saturday). Again, the day comes and goes, and no TV. I call again, they tell me the TV will be available on Dec 17th (Monday). I tell that new agent that I will just pick it up in the store.

So I call again on Dec 14th (Friday). This time they tell me the TV is no longer available at all. At this point I ask her what I can do and if I can get a similar TV. She says that I will get an offer for a similar TV. I call again on Dec 15th and the agent tells me she put me in a queue and that I will get a call about a replacement TV within 24 hours. So I don’t receive the call of course, and so I give them a call on Dec 17th to ask them about the offer. The agent tells me that she can’t make an offer to me and that she is going to forward it to the supervisor and that they will give me a call within another 24 hours. At this point I was very doubtful.

I finally get a call today, Dec 18th, almost a month after the TV was supposed to be delivered to my house. This is what the supervisor tells me (almost word for word): “I am sorry, we don’t carry this TV anymore. What we have done is credit your card for the amount. I can give you a 10% discount on any TV that we carry.” So I ask him if they can give me a similar model instead of the one that they promised me. Get this, the guy has the balls to say that a similar model is nearly $1000 more ($1999) and that with the 10% I would have paid over $800 more than the TV that they promised me (no doubt still a lot more than the same model at a different store).

So is this bait-and-switch? What can I do about this, if anything? They took my money, they wasted my time. I could have gotten a different TV at a different store for perhaps a bit more, but still on sale. Now the sale is gone, and I would have to pay over $200 more now than if I had ordered during the sale.

[annjd]

Based on what you say here, you could get full refund or file suit against them (or at least threaten to do so) in small claims court or in regular court; filing in small claims court is easier and requires no attorney...you could try to collect all of the costs and damages that you suffered due to their behavior... You may also report them to your state attorney general's office.