b.kocik

Sometimes you run across someone so profoundly dumb you do a mental double-take before realizing that, yes, they really did just do something that stupid.

Case in point: Today I was browsing around doing a little research on a Bluetooth headset I’ve had my eye on when I stumbled across a site belonging to a company called Bluetooth Imports. Like so many online retailers, Bluetooth Imports purports to bring you and me “the best products at the lowest prices possible”. I love a good deal as much as anyone, so I thought I’d check their price on the particular device I’m interested in.

According to their site, they do offer a pretty good deal on the Aliph Jawbone I’m pondering. According to their site, they’ve knocked $30 off the regular price of $169.95, and will part with it for a paltry $139.95.

That is, according to their site. And I say “according to their site” because according to reality, that unit retails for $119.99, and can be had for significantly less than that all over the web.

Also according to their site, they offer the $169.99 Plantronics Discovery 665 for a mere $149.95. What a bargain! Except . . . the Discovery 665 is not regularly $169.99, it’s $149.95 at full retail, and can also be found for a lot less than that at dozens of sites around the web. Puzzled why a site that boasts “the lowest prices possible” would be so ridiculously overpriced, I wrote them a note. Unfortunately I used their web form to send the note, so I don’t have what I sent to them verbatim, but I recall pointing out these pricing disrepancies and asking the question, “Why are online sites that say they offer the lowest prices always the most expensive?”

They had an answer. They wrote me back, using a subject line of “Becuase” (their spelling, not mine), and this pubic relations pearl as the entire body of the message - save for their boiler-plate signature:

“We are online stores trying to make money please get over it and choose the cheapest.”

There you have it, folks. If you’re an online store trying to make money, it’s okay to mislead the public into thinking you’re giving them a discounted price on merchandise you’re actually charging full retail - or more - for. Bluetooth Imports said so. The thing that I love most about this response is that, essentially I asked them why they are among the most expensive merchandisers on the web for the products they’re selling, and they actually provided a reason. They didn’t refute it, they explained it. Oh, sure, they explained it with all the tact and language skills of a 7th grade drop-out, but the point is they explained it. They agree that they are amongst the most expensive out there; they have a reason for being so.

Yes, they really did just do something that stupid.