Beware Gander Mountain deception!

Gander Mountain has been running some terrific sales on ammunition as of late---or at least that's what they'd like you believe. When the sales flyer came in Sunday's paper a few weeks ago advertising .30-30 Winchester for $7.99 a box, I jumped on it, as did others in my neck of the woods. The deal, according to the flyer, was $7.99 after two rebates: one from Gander, the other ($2.50) from Winchester. An asterisk indicated that there was a "Min. 2 box purchase" (taken verbatim from the flyer). So I bought 5 boxes. The guy in front of me at checkout bought 10. I jumped through all the hoops to get the rebates: copied UPC codes, clipped UPC codes, enclosed all receipts, and filled out the forms.

I just received by rebate check from Gander in today's mail for a lousy four bucks--the rebate for 2 boxes, not 5. Apparently, what they mean by "Min. 2 box purchase," is that their rebate will only apply to 2 boxes! Seems to me that the language of their flyer should have been "2 box limit," no?

I'm filing a complaint with the New York State Department of Consumer Affairs, but wanted to alert THR members of this deception in the meantime. It's not the money that irks me; this is simply wrong.

desidog said:

Thanks for informing us, so we don't go down that path. However, when complaining, it's good to complain to the right people. I'd drop their customer service an email, and see if they'll make it right. They'll be more help than we will. Send them a scan of the ad.

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I'm not looking for help or empathy, just sharing my experience and hoping some of you will profit by it. I've attempted to contact GM several times in the past with regard to other issues; by polite e-mails and letters, and phone calls. I've yet to receive a response. They are not customer-oriented in my experience.

Coincidentally, I happened to speak to a customer service manager at the store since my original post. After reading the ad, she was surprised that they didn't send me a rebate for all 5 boxes, which is how they've been representing the sale to customers. But after further consultation with another customer service associate, she recanted, suggesting that "by minimum, they meant maximum." I was too dumbfounded to respond. Furthermore, "everybody is human," sayeth she, to which I was also at a loss for words. The other customer service associate then said it was a typo in the sales circular. I politely replied that the typo's been in the circular for the last three or four weeks. Confused? Me too.

The point of my post was not to malign GM, only to make members aware of a deception in GM's advertising. Buy 2 boxes and you're good to go. Remember, minimum means maximum.

Yipes!

Hold the phone! A miracle has happened! A representative from Gander Mountain just called me, apologizing for the mess, and promising to change the language of their advertising. They're sending me a gift card for the difference in price.

So for those of you that have already been duped, call Gander on the phone and they will make it right. Yes, I know that a cash refund would really make it right, but it's better than nothing, which is what I expected.