Hom Furniture Responds

Although it took awhile, Jerry Underwood from HOM Furniture replied to my post - original link here where I questioned some of their sales tactics. He commented to the blog post that he had been trying to find an email address - hmm - right in the sidebar...

I have placed Mr. Underwood's letter in italics and have inserted my comments in bold, not italicized and bullets.

Michael,

Thank you for your business and thank you for the blog explaining your experience and observations. I consider your approach to be level headed and your examples allows me to better explain how we failed on our price card execution causing confusion.

• Note one: Although you are attempting to take a positive spin on your response - whether or not you find my post to be level-headed does not matter to me at all.

Let me explain our pricing methods and policies in hopes you understand HOM Furniture takes great strides to prevent any deceptive pricing practices. Whenever a question of ethics arises, you should know we work with and comply to any/all Better Business Guidelines or direction(s) for our advertising when any practice is questioned.

• Note two: Although you do not state that you are members of the Better Business Bureau, by placing the words "Better Business Practices" in capital letters, most people would assume that you are members. Since I checked - and you are not members of the Better Business Bureau, one must ask why not? And, in view of that fact, who forms your guidelines and directions to avoid advertising practices which appear to be less than above board?

Our pricing is established in three primary categories as Regular Prices, Everyday Low Prices and Sale Prices. Depending on vendor or manufacturers participation or incentives, promotional pricing may vary from these primary categories. An example would be the event you had shopped, whereby Regular Prices were discounted 5-10-15-20-and some cases 30%. A discount of this size is typically below any sale price and in this case was dependent on the manufacturer participating in the discount.

REGULAR PRICE VS. SALE PRICE:
HOM Furniture establishes regular pricing for all of our products. This is not inflated pricing, rather it is pricing usually below Manufacturers suggested retail pricing. HOM offers product for sale at regular price during selected periods throughout the month. We also have a SALE PRICE at which time the product is reduced in price for a limited time. This price is reflected on a Price Card attached to the furniture piece.

PROMOTIONAL PRICES:
During a given promotional period, we offer different pricing structures. Regular Price = established regular price, % discount OFF Regular price = Example (17% OFF Regular Price), Sale Price = a price discounted from regular price, and a % discount OFF Sale Price = Example (Take an additional 5% OFF Sale Prices). During the 75 Million Dollar Manufactures SELL-OFF, price savings was based off of regular price while various manufacturers extended discounts to HOM of which we passed on to customers. During this event, some of our prices were discounted more than others depending on manufacturers participation.

CHANGING PRICES:
As a practical course of business, regular prices will change from time to time due to price increases and when available, price decreases. HOM Furniture does not inflate regular prices only to discount them for the benefit of a big sale. When we are running a promotion using Regular Price as the basis for a discount, our store staffs will remove SALE Pricing to reflect REGULAR Prices, then discount them storewide by 15%, 17%, 20%, etc. However, we will not take a regularly priced sofa (as an example) that is priced $899 Regular and $799 Sale price to a "new tag" of $999 only to discount it from the inflated higher price. We would not conduct this deceptive act.

• Note three: My day job as Controller of a firm which maintains a complex pricing matrix allows me to understand much more than that for which you give me credit. In response to your explanation, I can only state: "Blah, blah, blah." You have written a lot of words and said nothing - although I do appreciate the time it took to do so.

YOUR PRICING OBSERVATION:
It appears we errored in our execution of removing the Sale Price Cards in the showroom you shopped during the event. You were correct in your comments stating we should have removed the "sale" signs from our floors.Since we didn't, our policy is to extend the better (or lesser) pricing of the two: our current offer or the pricing we left out on display in error.

• Note four: I disagree that this was an error. This was a calculated procedure that only exhibits laziness on the part of your employees. The lower priced placards were to become the price again as soon as the 'sale' was over. This became obvious the moment that we looked at the placards behind the price of the sofa and the price of the love seat - only to find that these prices matched the 'deal' your associate was able to give us on these pieces. And stating that your policy is to offer the better (or lesser) price means nothing. Any reputable business will offer the lower price when there is an error of this nature.

The buffet and hutch you site is a good example. We were in error by not removing the old "sale" price card of $2199. In addition, when we executed a price increase on this set a couple months ago, we failed to execute the adjustment of the sale price to $2,499 (this is where the confusion surfaced) The new price would have moved regular price to $2,999 and Sale Price to $2,499. Had we adjusted pricing correctly you wouldn't have had the pricing experience you had and your sale price would have been 20% OFF the $2,999 regular price or $2,399 as stated on our website.

• Note five: The buffet was not the issue, although it was certainly a noted problem. And it was not "confusion " - Our problem began with the older priced placard of the table showing a sale price of $1799 while the current sale price was $1839. The problem is that you left the old placards where they could be seen by your customers, treating your customers as if they are too stupid to "do the math." HOM furniture had every intention of returning to the older placard as soon as the "sale" was over. This is further validated by the information which I pulled from your website today here. Just in case HOM Furniture decides to change this page, the pictures are posted below and date/timestamped on my computer to provide proof if necessary.

• This current web posting (06/06/10) shows the table returned to the prior price of $1799 - thereby validating my assertion.

In reviewing your information, I believe I also noticed our store staff had used the incorrect sign type as well. In short, we missed price changes in the collection you were interested in and for our errors I truly apologize for any confusion we caused. All of the employees of HOM Furniture work hard to insure your shopping experience is the best in our industry and your trust is important to each of us. You deserve the best price and we will continue to bring the best value we can to you on every product we find.

• Note six: The "missed price changes" were all over the store, we checked a number of dining sets, living room sets and other items - each showing a lower priced placard behind the "sale" price.

• Note seven: Your explanation is far from satisfactory and I do not have difficulty "following the math." Although my background in accounting might make it easier for me to understand your pricing, I imagine most people could figure it out when they find the placards just like we did. And, again, as I stated in my first blog post, I don't care if you make a profit - just don't act like I'm too stupid to know when you are trying to pull a fast one. If in fact, you were not trying to be deceptive, perhaps your employees should be trained to pull the appropriate price placards.

• Note eight: Surely you jest. Nope, won't buy another item from you. We bought the living room sofa, love seat, sofa table, end table, coffee table and it ends there. We will no longer shop at any HOM Furniture store.

Sincerely,

Underwood
Executive Director of Marketing
HOM Furniture Brands
Address/Number redacted

Respectfully,

Michael L Joshua

Author - Michael Lee Joshua
Page Title - Hom Furniture Responds - or Not
Site Title - My Inspirational Sayings