Kmart has also been guilty of something similar, the difference being Kmart had things in adds that didn't exist.

And because of it I no longer shop at Kmart...

Some person who works for Target with a degree in marketing probably spent 15 minutes on the phone getting items to include in the ad. They'd already sold the idea for the ad to upper management, but didn't have confirmed items. After all, it's not marketing's job to be practical. They are IDEA people. Someone else can handle the hard stuff.

I don't know anything about the ball, but I will say that the Red Card is worthless. You spend $1000 just to get a 10% off coupon for one day, the discount for which is capped at $250. Worst rewards card I've ever had.

I believe I bought this ball for around $12. They have many gym balls packaged with DVD's that are more expensive, but I went for the bare minimum. It worked well - until my kitten popped it.

Just ask for the 55cm Pro Spirit Fitness Ball... it's the $11.88 item.

@jurisenpai: How good was your exercise ball if a kitten popped it? I'm not trying to be critical, I'm just wondering how good the ball could be if it could be popped by a kitten...heaven forbid it should go near table corners.

@jurisenpai:

Awwww

Geez, I can't imagine why anyone would bother with online ordering from this chain. They are bad enough when you go into one of their stores, but to try and deal with them with some phone or online order is just asking for trouble. Maybe someone will open a blog like Target.com Sucks?

A new Target complaint site is available for use at: [pub44.bravenet.com] or you can look at the Target Sucks blog at: [targetfiling.blogspot.com]

Excuse me Consumerist, it's $11.88 not $11.98 ;)

@Felix the Cat: I have to say that I unabashedly love Target, and have always had good experiences at their stores and online. I honestly think the experiences of a few are the exception, not the rule.

@ pecan 3.14159265: it was popped by the sheer might of the kitten's cuteness. :3

@me and the sysop: Does that mean kittens were responsible for Hindenburg?

@jurisenpai: I also got it for this price about a year ago (in store), so this is their regular price, I think.

Oh man, I too have read internet jokes. Cats are hilarious! If they combined Dane Cook, cats, and pedobear, I'd have an INTERNET EXPLOSION OF LAUGHTER.

@opticnrv: This post is the best post.

It was so good that I was willing to refresh the page 12 times just to be able to post this comment.

@Tambar: Wow, that really is one of the worst "rewards" cards that I've ever heard of unless you're some suburbanite mom/urban dweller who does nothing but shop at Target. 3.5k to save 250, and to save the 250 you must spend 2500 in one day. Nooooooooo thanks.

that whole red card thing is because some of the stores have implimented a system where if you don't get so many applications in so much time, and if they don't they get put on probation and then final warning. it's how they're thinning their ranks

I dont know what Target you people shop at but they are oddities. I work for Target and have for quite a while but make no mistake, I'm not biased and if there's an issue id be up front about it.

The last few weeks has had quite a few Target stories and some of them were funny, some stupid but none of them are a good reflection on the company as a whole and I think consumerist is just posting any sort of Target story they get.

The issue in this story is something that happens EVERYWHERE.

First of all Target sells quite a few exercise balls so without the number they are asking for it can be hard to find. Chances are if you were talking to someone at Guest Service they dont know the exact name of the item so text search wont help them much as it doesnt really support wildcards. You cant really blame them for that.

Next up the people on the phone for Target.com are STUPID. Target doesnt run its own website, amazon does. The problem is Amazon outsources the support for that site.

You should have called a store directly cause the web support people havent got a clue and due to the contract Target signed years ago with Amazon there isnt much they can do about it.

I was able to find the clippers as advertised at $14.99:

[www.target.com]

However the tent at the end of the commercial, the closest thing I could find was:

[www.target.com]

$87.99 instead of the advertised $70.49 :X

@opticnrv: you are correct. that is something I am learning today, the hard way.

@Felix the Cat: I went to Target recently because I was interested in the set of walking sticks they advertised in their Sunday circular for $20. When I got there (which was admittedly the next week), they were still on for $20, but there were only 2 sets left and the packaging on both had been opened. There was only an instruction booklet in one package and the other had a cracked (in several places) instructional DVD. I figured they might let me have a set for a further discount since items were missing, but I was too lazy to check and just decided not to buy them.

Perhaps Target should try to be a little less vague. They might as well have made the commercial say "Item in sporting goods $11.88." Even Walmart* makes it easy for you to find things in their commercials by giving you a brand for the product. Then again, I guess part of that is that Walmart*'s newest campaigns have been emphasizing name brands for less.

@pecan 3.14159265: You see, cats have these really sharp claws on their paws, and when they are kittens they are especially sharp as they haven't been worn down from normal cat use. When the kitten uses the claws, most likely thinking it could climb up the ball, it put a tiny puncture hole in the gym ball causing it to deflate.

Table corners, while also sharp, can be too large to puncture the same object unless enough force is applied as it is not as sharp as a kittens claws.

/attempt at being funny that turned out to me probably sounding like a too-sarcastic-dickhead. Well, nobody is perfect.

Devil's Advocate: It's also very possible the ad was made some months ago and the prices of the products have changed or the product at the prices featured in the ad are no longer carried by Target.

@pecan 3.14159265: I had it for about 9 months before my kitten popped it. Said kitten is quite evil and capable of damaging many otherwise solid things such as our aquarium, window blinds, dinner plates, etc.

It's a good thing she's cute!

I can see being a bit displeased at the first two people but they did actually find you the product for 25% less than the advertised price, no?

Hah. I don't know why, but this brings back memories of the Nike shoe ad debacle, where the Kenyan tribesman says "give me big shoes" which the Nike marketing department geniuses decided to subtitle as "just do it" not realizing there may be at least 1 Kenyan in the US who spoke the language.

[www.snopes.com]

I would have gone to an actual Target store right off the bat for something like this. I've had terrible times with the websites of chain stores like Walmart or Target, it's much easier to just go into a store and ask for what you're looking for.

Unless, of course, you don't live near a Target.

@Tambar:

You forget to mention that they also donate 1% back to the school of your choice. Over $200 million so far. If you're a frequent shopper of Target and you pay off your card every month, it's well worth it to have a Target Card.

[sites.target.com]

Target, like every other retailer, will price to compete. If you have a Target close to a Walmart or a K-Mart, their prices will be cheaper. If it's in the middle of a field, 30 miles from nowhere, you're hosed on the prices.

As for seeing something on TV that's not available in your area... there's 2 comments:

1: Try telling that to Jack in the Box or Sonic. I have NEITHER within a 500 mile radius but yet they advertise like there's one on ever f'ing block! Really annoying when you're up late with the munchies and get the idea of one of their foods stuck in your head only to not be able to get it.

2: Each store carries different products. It sucks but it's the truth. There are regional, and local differences between each store. And what one store may have for $5 may be $4 on clearance because they can't move enough of them so they're discontinuing the product at that store.

@Tambar: The pharmacy rewards kick butt though. You get the 10% off card after filling 10 prescriptions, even the $4 ones, even the super cheap after insurance $4 ones that end up being $1.60. I found out you can use the 10% off cards on prescriptions too.

I looked at their actual cards (not the pharmacy rewards card) and they didn't look like a great deal.

@pecan 3.14159265: I bought the more expensive Gaiam brand ball they sell for about $20. It is much thicker material than the others they sell and thicker than the last two balls I have purchased that developed small leaks after a few months.

There was something posted here recently about some of the cheaper balls exploding.

@pecan 3.14159265: Target stores vary widely based on either location or store management.

The one where I live is always clean, well stocked and most of the staff actually have brains and try to do a good job.

The one in downtown Minneapolis? Shudder. I went there once and won't ever again. It was sort of a dump and the employees were really clueless, lazy and rude. Asking where something is will get you a pile of attitude for bothering them.

@Blinky987: ...you do realize Dane Cook's not funny... or is he the explosion part?

If you had ordered this online, can you imagine how gigantic the box would have to be? I'd go into the store for this.

@bohemian, Felix the Cat: Cats = sharp, evil. Got it.

Er, not to Felix the Cat. To jurisenpai actually. We need an edit button!

@superhumanben: See, I'm thinking Point the First might just be some kind of crazed marketing genius. Think about it... if you're constantly taunted by ads for a chain that's nowhere near you, when you find yourself in the presence of, say, a Sonic, aren't you going to really, really want to go? They must be crazy do advertise like that.

Crazy like a fox...

@bohemian: lololololol.

@BluePlastic:

Target.com does suck - I did a sample wedding registry there and ended up checking it in the store, and found it had added all of the things I had pointedly told it NO to. I don't need a bottle opener/corkscrew as I am not into wine and it makes my fiance itchy.

On a side note, though, confusing the site with their customer service may be a little wrong. Guest services aren't outsourced by Amazon. They may be buggy, though. I haven't tried them. :)

@pecan 3.14159265: I've always loved Target too. ^_^

Plus, now that I've been living on the cheap (Yay college!), it's... it's so much more hygienic and friendly than Wal*Mart. The customers that frequent my local WM make me want to scream, even if I'm just there for a midnight pint of ice cream.

The few cents of savings are worth the no-headache.

@pecan 3.14159265: Which is why it's now illegal to bring kittens onto zeppelins. 100% fact.

@bohemian: I'll agree Target stores to vary with location, as does Walmart. The store here is clean and staff is polite. But I only go on the weekend, and only check the endcap's for clearance. Otherwise, Walmart is always a better bargain in my area.

The bike will last for a few months.

@pecan 3.14159265: Red Lobster used to do this all the time, when I was a kid. Pissed me off cause there wasn't a Red Lobster for like 600 miles (no Red Lobsters in Maine). Doubly pissed me off cause I hate seafood, and don't really even like to see it, not that it grosses me out or anything. And finally it triply (sp?) pissed me off b/c my folks would always complain about how they wanted to try Red lobster but they'd have to go to like NY at the time, or some ridiculous complaint, I was always like "We live in Maine! We can get lobster rolls even at McDonald's, or any other restaurant, why would you want to go to Red Lobster?!?"

The OP didn't find the ball on Target.com b/c nearly all companies carry different prices online than in-store. TV ads almost always refer to in-store prices, afterall most people are going to find out about online sales vis a vis online sources. This is due to market economics. Target runs a website service that is independent of it's stores (ie. warehousing is different, storage concerns affect overhead, etc.) bottomline is that Target.com sets it's prices based on what it's managers feel they need to move, samae as the in-store. The difference is that you might have to move one product in-store that you didn't have to move online due to storage concerns. Anyone who has spent enough time in retail will realize that there are times when you have to sale product to make room for incoming inventory, the stores and online are basically just dealing with different inventory situations. No big deal.

A $7.50 exercise ball

@Tambar: I worked for Target, and yes, their rewards program is a rip off if you're not paying off right away and not accruing interest. Of course it's fine if you're paying it off right away, but not many people do that. You do get some coupons, though.

I also worked at Macy's, and their card program was much better. Depending on how much money you spent annually, you got bonus perks like free gift wrapping, tailoring, shipping, etc. And a lot of card holders came in with coupons. And almost every other weekend, we had one of those sales where cardholders saved extra.

@Jbjohn942: I believe those are 2 different cards. The rewards card that gives you 10% is different from the card that donates 1% to schools. I am 90% sure. We never asked people which one they wanted specifically, but in the brochures they were different I thought.

@UrIt: That's how all the stores are SUPPOSED to work, unless it's a high volume store that doesn't have that kind of problem. Management paid attention to rankings/# of cards at both stores where I worked. It sucked, because at my first store at home I hardly cashiered so I sucked at it, but then at my second store out near college I got a lot. It was probably the most annoying part of my job.

@FigNinja: OP has a right to complain. What if they HADN'T found her the item for the advertised price or less? And what if she had really liked the one she saw on TV, knew the brand, and wanted that one @ 11.88? They need to get some people to confirm these things on their commercials.