Leigh made the most of her idle time while waiting in line to buy a dishwasher at Sears. On a lark, she pulled up the product she was going to buy at a nearby kiosk and found it was listed $145 cheaper online than she was about to pay. She confronted the salesman, who was stunned by the price difference but gave her the lower price.

She writes:

My five-year-old dishwasher died the weekend before Thanksgiving, and was going to cost about $500 to repair (needed a new motor AND a new heating element). Although it was less than fun to prepare dinner for twelve with no working dishwasher, I decided to wait until Black Friday to replace it.

Having had good service at Sears in the past and knowing they had all appliances 15% off that day, I went straight there on Friday morning to make my purchase. The salesman was really helpful, and I ended up choosing a Frigidaire model priced at $424.99, down from a regular price of $499.99.

After paying for it, my husband and I went upstairs to look at some other things. While waiting for him I idly clicked around on one of their computer kiosks and found the dishwasher I’d just bought. I was shocked to see that the online price was $279.99–$145 less than I’d just paid! I headed back downstairs, found my sales guy, and asked him to check the online price. He seemed as surprised as I was, but gladly gave me my refund. His suggestion was that it was a doorbuster special that had not been changed online yet, but I just looked at it (two days later) and the price is the same.

So, lesson learned: always double-check large purchases online and in the store to make sure you’re paying the lowest price.

Way to go, Leigh!

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