Usually, you can get a discount on merchandise that has served as a floor model. Furniture, bicycles, appliances: being out among the general public wears an item out, or at least gives it a few extra scuffs that it wouldn’t have right out of the box. Of course, there are always exceptions. Sometimes the exceptions make no sense. Like when Brian bought a kids’ bike from Toys ‘R’ Us, which was only available pre-assembled and for a fee. He couldn’t assemble it himself, because the only one left was the floor model. He effectively paid $10 extra for the privilege of bringing home a used bike.

TRU is having a “Bike Trade In” promotion right now. Both my kids were to big for the bikes they had so we traded them in at TRU for a % off coupon off a new bike.

We looked at what bikes they had to offer, and each bike had they regular price and an “assembled” price (which was always $10 more than the regular price). We found a bike for my daughter and we opted to get it in the box and assemble it ourselves.

My son then picked out the bike he wanted and it had a sign on it that read, “This bike only comes assembled”. I asked the guy running the Bike section about this and he said it was the last one they had in stock; the “display” unit. I asked if I would get it at the regular price or the assembled price. He said since it was already assembled I would have to pay the assembled price. I explained that I would have gladly taken the one in the box if they had it, and I didn’t really have a choice as my son wanted this bike. He said that was policy.

When I rang out, I asked the cashier the same question (about which price I would have to pay). She got on the walkie talkie to the manager and he said I would have to pay the assembled price. I asked if he could come to the front to explain the policy to me.

The manager came up front and told me “we (TRU) had to pay for someone to assemble it for the floor so we need recoup that.” I told him that shouldn’t be my problem. It was the bike my son wanted and TRU didn’t happen to have any “in box” stock, so why am I now stuck paying an extra $10 now because TRU paid someone to put that bike together? He just said that’s the way it is and didn’t offer any recourse.

That’s a pretty crappy policy if you ask me. Most stores give you a discount on display units and I end up paying MORE because it’s a display unit.

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