I recently bought some items from a major home goods retailer. Because I couldn’t fit them in my car, I asked that they be delivered. I was happy to pay. The assistant said they couldn’t be delivered as they were “cash and carry” items. This hadn’t been made clear on any of the advertising and I can’t understand why any store these days wouldn’t be happy to deliver goods for a price. Can you explain?
In order to keep sales simple and therefore low-cost, some major stores consider most of their smaller goods to be “cash and carry”. That means you have to take them away yourself and pay for them in full when you do so. The stores that do this tend to be those selling at the cheapest possible price and surviving on very narrow profit margins. So, it’s part of the price you pay to save a buck. It’s a policy that can be confusing for the customer because often a store will consider some of its goods “cash and carry” and others not. It is usually not made clear, either in store or on the advertising, which goods are cash and carry. But commonsense seems to prevail and large goods such as tables, beds or couches are seldom placed in that category. My experience with “cash and carry” stores is that they are happy to hold goods until it is convenient for you to pick them up. Of course, you can also arrange a courier to pick them up. Something else to watch out for with cash and carry goods – the items you get often require a small amount of home assembly.
Do you have a consumer question for Kevin? Email [[email protected]](mailto: [email protected]), or post to Weekly Consumer, PO Box 90119, Victoria St West, Auckland 1142.
