I dropped by here during their Black Friday sale period since one of the books that I was…read moreinterested in showed up as being 30% off on their website. However, on their website, it mentions that prices may vary in the store which is "fine".
Since I was downtown, I decided to drop by this store as opposed to my usual Indigo store that I visit (in Pointe-Claire).
I looked for the book that I wanted to buy (The updated Wealthy Barber) and because it was on special on the website for 30% off, I wasn't sure if it would be located in the ground floor where they have tables with books on sale or in the personal finance shelves. I went to the personal finance shelve/section but couldn't find it. An employee noticed that I was having problems trying to find a book and asked me in French if I needed help. I answered in English and I know that French is the official language in Quebec but the employee spoke to me in French and based on his accent, I don't believe that he spoke English which I find strange since I would say that over 60% of the books are in English in Indigo and while Indigo does sell French books, the majority of their books appear to be English. I replied to him in French and told him which book I was looking for. He asked me what type of book it was and I told him that it was a personal finance book and I brought him to the aisle/shelf where I looked. He also couldn't find it so he asked another employee for help. I told her the name of the book I was looking for and she keyed it into her cellphone and said it was a personal finance or economics book. I showed her where I looked and mentioned that on their website, it shows that it is 30% off so I wasn't sure if it would be on the shelf or on one of the tables with the books on special. She called someone and I guess they told her that it was on the side of the shelf and that's where there were about 20 copies of the book.
Some of the books had a sticker on it which said 20% off and some of the books didn't. She took one of the books without the sticker and handed it to me and then went to help another customer.
I wasn't sure what the price would be given that my copy of the book didn't have a 20% off sticker and Indigo's website showed 30% off but also had a disclaimer that indicated "prices may vary in the store" so I asked the French speaking employee what the price for the book is. I've purchased books before so I know that books generally have their price printed as part of the cover. He took my book and looked and then pointed to the price. I then told him that the website shows 30% off, this book doesn't show any discount, and showed him some of the same book where there was a sticker on the book showing 20% off.
He went to another employee working the aisles and I asked him if he could tell me what the price of this book is and he then turned the book over and said "the price is here". I then told him the same thing which is some copies of this book have a 20% off sticker on them, my copy of the book doesn't, and the Indigo website indicates that this book is 30% off online. He then told me that the price doesn't always match the website price and this is normal. I told him that I was aware of this and just wanted to know what the price of the book is since if it was regular price (or 20% off), I wouldn't buy it today and would buy it online. He told me to line up at the cash register and ask the people working there to scan it.
I waited in line (there were about 15 people in front of me and 3 cash registers open). After about 3 minutes standing in line, I finally spoke with one of the employees manning the cash register. I asked her if she could tell me the price of the book and she did the same thing as the other employees which was to turn to the back cover and show me the price printed on the book's cover. I then told her that online, the price shows up as 30% off and on the shelf, there were some copies of this book with 20% off stickers on the book. She told me that the online price isn't always the same price as the in store price and I told her that I know this based on the disclaimer on the website and I just want to know what the price is since if it wasn't 30% off, I would just buy it online. She scanned the book and then told me that it was 30% off and I then told her that I would buy it.
She told me the price (including tax) and I told her that I had a Plum card. She said okay and I showed it to her on my phone which she scanned.
There should have been a way for me to find the correct price of the book without having to stand in line to "buy" the book and having each employee I asked about the price show me the price on the book's back cover like I've never bought a book in my life was somewhat insulting. If the book wasn't 30% off in store, it would have meant lining up in the line to buy the book for nothing since I would have just left the book there and bought it online.