To send a letter of complaint to this retailer and possibly cost someone/several people their job ?

[whitebits]

Back story....DS has been dropping major hints for a present he wants from Santa. The store catalogue gives the price as 6 and unfortunately this particular toy is exclusive to this store so we can't buy elsewhere. We did see a few being advertised locally on Gumtree and Ebay by private sellers for 60 (!) but DH said "fuck that (that's a direct quote ) I'm not paying 60 for a 6 toy."

I've gone into the store numerous times over the last few weeks only to be told that they've just sold the last one or they're waiting on a delivery the next day. DH popped into the store today as he was in the area and overheard another Dad talking about this toy basically saying thank God he got it as he wasn't prepared to pay the Gumtree/Ebay price for it. So DH went up to the counter and asked if they had the toy in stock. After much deliberation and several visits to the stock room the sales assistant said yes they had one left and DH bought it. He overheard an exchange between the assitant and another employee along the lines of "ok, we'll split the money from the next one..." Then one of the other employees stupidly/honestly told DH that he and other staff members had been buying the stock and selling it on Gumtree or Ebay for 10 times the store price !!!

Whilst I'm the first to applaud their entrepreneurial spark, isn't this just bloody wrong ? Dh was absolutley bloody fuming. I've been trying to think it through. It's different from someone wandering in off the street and buying all the stock for 6 quid and then flogging it on Gumtree at a significant mark up, isn't it? I think Dh is most angry at the fact that we've been lied to numerous times when I've gone to the store and been told they don't have any. He called earlier to speak to the store manager but they were unavailable so is thinking of emailing their Head Office to complain. We know at least one of the people involved as they have served us previously in the store. So what would you do ?

I think the point is though, that they don't seem to be making it to the shelves....the employees seem to be buying them before they display them & then selling them on, which isn't fraud, but pretty sure it isn't company policy either!

Just as no child is entitled to exactly what they ask for, so you aren't entitled to be able to purchase it..... She is entitled to be given the opportunity to but it. If they aren't making it to the shelf, that is a lot different to missing the stock when it IS on the shelf.

I think it's spiteful to report tbh. You got what you wanted, leave it. It is spiteful to children whose parents cannot afford over the top inflated prices because someone thinks they are entitled to make a quick buck! What about the parents who cannot afford gumtree/ebay prices?

These people have lives, mortgages/rent to pay, mouths to feed. And what about the parents they are exploiting? By charging parents 60pounds for a 6 pound toy they are taking money away from bills, mortgages, food etc. If you have a family to support & bills to pay, be fucking honest...do what most people the world over do & earn a living honestly.

Yes, you can say that parents don't have to but it, but is is a 6 pound toy, an essential part of game, why is it OK to rip people off?

Good will to all men eh? Hahaha, so it is OK for these guys to rip off parents, but not for them to get sacked because of it? Where is their goodwill to all, marking up & making a huge profit from a 6pound toy?

The store staff treated you (and many other customers) as fools and mugs, why should you allow them to do that? because apparently they earn shit wages so are entitled to rip people off.

If you were never gonna pay in inflated 60 eBay price what's the problem? Because people will...people who can hardly afford it, and then find themselves struggling to pay a bill, or by food. Why should these guys get away with it, just so they can line their pockets at the expense of parents?

*Never understand people who can't just get along with their own lives without fighting a battle over something pointless to get someone sacked over a piece of 6 quid plastic! If one person sold ten of these in an evening, he has made a profit of 540 pounds in one evening. How is that nothing? And this won't be the first time! Have you tried to get something for your child, that ONE thing they have been asking for, only to be defeated? Or had to pay ebay overinflated prices for? Chances are, that they too never made it to the shelf either.

You don't get to rip people off just because you earn a low wage.

Argh... I obviously can't spell buy!

*Never understand people who can't just get along with their own lives without fighting a battle over something pointless to get someone sacked over a piece of 6 quid plastic! If one person sold ten of these in an evening, he has made a profit of 540 pounds in one evening. How is that nothing? And this won't be the first time! Have you tried to get something for your child, that ONE thing they have been asking for, only to be defeated? Or had to pay ebay overinflated prices for? Chances are, that they too never made it to the shelf either.

Makes me wonder what else they are grabbing - minecraft lego, elsa snow globe dolls, etc

Report them in writing to head office.
I've spent the last 2 weeks searching for a £40 toy that I can't get anywhere. I am really pissed off with the people on ebay etc for double that. I nearly paid the double as I was desperate but came to my senses.
What they are doing is very wrong!

It is fraud if they bought it with a staff discount (it will be a condition of the staff discount that they don't use it to buy goods to sell on).

It is gross misconduct if they have been telling customers that they don't have a product in stock that is in stock, because they want to buy the product themselves to sell on. It basically amounts to competing against their employer.

If customers become aware that the staff are doing this then it is undoubtedly conduct that does or might bring the shop into disrepute.

It's also a distortion of the market in that the price is artificially high due to one person buying up all the stock for resale.

It's shoddy behaviour on every level and I personally would report it, but that doesn't mean you have to, OP.

I'd still report to head office.

7 yo Ds wants the Kaos trap. He only decided a few days ago when I knew there were problems with supply. I've told him about the racket and that he can buy it in the new year with any Christmas money, for the normal price. (I didn't want him to be disappointed on the day.) Hope that doesn't mean I'm a grinch .