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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU or is Urban Decay?

30 replies

MandyBanana · 26/11/2018 12:55

Lovely Mners, I am happy to be told I am being unreasonable, I've posted in AIBU before where I thought I was completely right and told i was wrong. So here is my dilemma.

On Friday (Black Friday) I decided to do some of my xmas shopping. I received a promotional email from UB (registered customer with them) advertising their black Friday deals.I had my eye on a lovely eye shadow palette on sale on the Urban decay website I noticed that had been reduced from £39.99 to £31.60 but not only that, to my delight there was a "Cyber" discount of 25% extra if you bought more than 2 products.

Excited, i quickly ordered 2 palettes online, but then noticed when i applied the 25% discount code instead of the total coming to what i thought, it only showed a reduction by about £2 (can't remember exact amount) but between a £1 and £2 discount. convinced something was wrong i called Urban decay and explained the situation.

The lady i spoke to said there is a problem with their configuration on the promotional code and that i should go ahead and checkout with my purchase and it will show the correct 25% discount when i pay. she also sent me an email to show i had called up as and discussed this matter as evidence.

Happy with this, i proceeded with my order. I usually pay with Paypal, but by the time i got my paypal page, it was still showing only the £1ish discount. So i called back again. This time i got a different lady. I was told the first information i got was incorrect. That infact a 20% discount has already been applied to their products which is why it has gone from £39.99 to £31.60 and that if i buy more that 2 products the promotion is that i will get an extra 5% off and not 25% Confused. So the promotion is buy 2 get 5% off.

I pointed out that this is not at all what their website is showing and that it is very misleading to customers. I also told the woman that the previous lady had assured my they would honour 25%. she asked for the call number that relates to the email, went away came back and didn't say anything further about it. Just kept saying there is not such discount. I challenged her again about the wrong information on their website and her reply was, "We are working on it". with that the call ended. I was very disappointed and ended up purchasing something much cheaper from their site.

But what has annoyed me more since Friday is that this promotion is still up on their website! 25% if you order 2 or more! what is going on???? can i complain about this and how. I've put screen shots up for you to see.

AIBU or is Urban Decay?
AIBU or is Urban Decay?
OP posts:
Hedgehoginthefog · 26/11/2018 12:59

The picture you attach clearly says 20% off or 25% when you buy two or more. And the discounted prices are those shown on the website. Seems clear to me but I don't know how it fits with promo rules and regs.

paranoiamumma · 26/11/2018 13:00

I would of thought from the advert u posted that if I bought 1 item I would receive 20% off or I bought two items I would get 25% off ,

hammeringinmyhead · 26/11/2018 13:01

Yep. "or". Right there on the image.

Original poster
MandyBanana · 26/11/2018 13:05

Would you not think that if you bought 2 or those palettes you would get 25% off?

OP posts:
EmpressJewel · 26/11/2018 13:07

The way I have read the promotion is 20% off everything, by if you buy 2 items, it's 25% off, which is an extra 5%.

sirmione16 · 26/11/2018 13:10

My issue here would be an employee telling me information in writing encouraging me to pay money then it being wrong. That's misleading and if incorrect then basically coercing you into spending money. That's the issue I would raise, especially as you have emails for proof.

RebootYourEngine · 26/11/2018 13:10

As others have said it says 20 % off or 25% off if you buy two.

hammeringinmyhead · 26/11/2018 13:12

No, not an additional 25% off when the prices it's an "or" option of are already applied.

Original poster
MandyBanana · 26/11/2018 13:12

So why not just say an extra 5% if you order 2 or more products, why say get an extra 25% off? Even the discount code is CYBER25 and why did both ladies i spoke to admit there was configuration error???

OP posts:
ThanksForAllTheFish · 26/11/2018 13:12

20% off one product or 25% of when you buy 2 or more products- not 20% then another 25% as that would be 45%.

The only slight issue I can see is they have applied the discount to the item and not at checkout but a quick calculation would show you the price in the purple is the 20% off price the additional 5% added at checkout would only be a few pounds. I don’t see why you would expect to get a double discount to be honest.

Nothisispatrick · 26/11/2018 13:13

It does say ‘or’. I mean it would be an amazing deal to get 20% off then another 25% for buying two items, a little too good to be true in fact.

llangennith · 26/11/2018 13:14

The clue is in the word OR between the two offers.

RibbonAurora · 26/11/2018 13:15

It's very weaselly worded, I agree, to make you think you'll get an extra 25% off the already 20% discounted price, so in effect that would be 45% in total. What they're actually saying is buy one its 20% off, buy two it's 25% off. Very misleading but they're technically right.

MsHopey · 26/11/2018 13:15

I totally see the promotion.
20% off everything OR 25% off 2 items.
Meaning if you buy 2 you get an extra 5% off, not 20% and then a further 25%.
No sale is that good. If it's seems too good to be true, it probably is. In this case you got confused. But the first person you phoned was a shite customer services rep.

Stefoscope · 26/11/2018 13:17

I don't think the advert is misleading. I've seen quite a few sales campaigns worded that way before. Just depends what the customer service rep told you really. Did she say you'll pay x amount (which would be the total with a 20% discount and then a further 25% off that). If so you have a strong case to complain. What you've posted sounds like you weren't wrongly advised though. 'The lady i spoke to said there is a problem with their configuration on the promotional code and that i should go ahead and checkout with my purchase and it will show the correct 25% discount when i pay'. You got a 25% discount from the original pre sales RRP, no?

Original poster
MandyBanana · 26/11/2018 13:18

Thanks - I think you have nailed the problem. In that the discount of 20% has already been applied instead of at checkout, so in my mind i thought the first discount was something they had done before BF and the 25% was for BF, afterall its all about getting crazy discounts.

I still don't understand why both staff then admited there was a configuration error problem with their promotional code because that goes against the idea that they haven't done anything wrong. But i'll accept i've misread this somehow and leave it be.

Thank you Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
MandyBanana · 26/11/2018 13:19

Even their own staff are confused about it, it would seem.

OP posts:
ShotsFired · 26/11/2018 13:24

I still don't understand why both staff then admited there was a configuration error problem with their promotional code because that goes against the idea that they haven't done anything wrong.

Because it gives them a way to end the call quicker than having to admit they don't understand/CBA to find out/CBA to explain it to you on a busy shopping day.

newrubylane · 26/11/2018 13:26

I don't think the front page advert is misleading – the 'or' is definitely clear – but I do think the wording on the product page itself is.

Quartz2208 · 26/11/2018 13:26

Its clear from that that every product has 20% off and then its a further 5% if you buy more than one. You should have paid around 59.99 for them both

I think its more a people not understanding percentages rather than the deal itself! The staff member probably didnt understand

flowery · 26/11/2018 13:29

”why say get an extra 25% off?”

It doesn’t say that though. It says 20% off everything or 25% if you buy two. It doesn’t say an extra 25% anywhere.

MeredithGrey1 · 26/11/2018 13:33

I think the wording on the advert is clear, but on the product itself where it says the reduced price, then says “order two for 25% off”, I think this is a bit misleading.

Blanchedupetitpois · 26/11/2018 13:35

I think the promo code is pretty clear. Don’t know why the employees told you it was configured wrong.

ACatsNoHelpWithThat · 26/11/2018 13:36

I have worked in numerous call centres and like any other work place there are good and bad staff - unfortunately it's pot luck as to who you get on the end of the phone. Sometimes you're speaking to someone literally still at school. Plus the often ridiculous call targets mean some call centre workers will tell you any old guff to get you off the phone as quickly as possible (including that classic tactic "you'll need to put that in writing.") Annoying, but that's the way it is.

None of this excuses poor customer service of course but at the end of the day UD have a slightly misleadingly worded offer to suck you in and they don't have to honour your misinterpretation of it.

BertBox · 26/11/2018 13:38

To be fair to OP, the second picture she’s posted does make it seem like there’s 25% off the discounted price.