Store Charges Customers $5 'Just Looking' Fee

Local whorehouses (ahem* stripclubs) do the same.

If you dont need a membership to browse samsclub, why do they always ask for my card upon entering?
 
This might be the dumbest thing ever. The only way to actually sell stuff is to have people come into your store. This will make people not go in at all.

The best way to combat "showrooming" is to LOWER YOUR PRICES
 
A retail store "Cover Charge" ? WTF are these dumbasses thinking !
 
MavericK96 said:
I don't know about Sam's Club but Costco requires you to show your membership card to even enter the store. So technically you have to be a member to "showroom" there as well.
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In NC our Sam's Club requires you to have your membership card in hand before they will even let you in the store.
 
I would charge them a wasting my time fee, equivalent to my hourly rate + fuel and parking costs, if the product that they have on show is too expensive. Plus, if I buy, and the game was crap, I want all that for wasted game-time, plus refund.

I would also charge them a looking fee of £10, when I show my arse.:p
 
So yeah instead of getting competitive you'll eliminate any desire for me to actually enter the store. Okay.
 
There is nothing illegal about any business charging an admission fee. These people aren't a movie theater or an amusement park so I'm sure it isn't going to help their business unless their prices are killer, their staff is top notch, and they have a good return policy.

There are plenty of times I'm waiting on my wife or kid in a store and I browse stuff to kill time. Not only would a $5 admission just make me move on it would make me not come back. There are plenty of things I just don't buy off the Internet like TV sets, washer/dryer, and kitchen appliances. Some things you just have to put your hands on first and many of those same items aren't much less on the web.
 
There is a flip side for the customer. The shop could be an upper-scale type store. As a snobbish customer, I do not want to mingle with the riffraff and this keeps them away. who knows.
 
Many stores put out demo wares or have display items. This is ridiculous, but it's their store so it's their choice.


Of course, if I walk up to the door and some dude is their and asks me for 5$ to entire, I won't be shopping at that store. There is nothing they have I can't get somewhere else.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Stores aren't usually publicly owned. They can tell you to GTFO for any reason at any time.
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I fully realize this -- and that's all well and good, but being asked when you are trying to leave for $5 to cover the store owners failing business is total BS.

Let's say this idea was somehow accepted by the public -- the logistics of carrying out this plan with any sort of equity or fairness to the customer is next to impossible. They are taking the guilty until proven innocent approach - and in this case the only way to prove you are "good/innocent" is to open up your wallet and buy something that might be 25% more vs another retailer.

I would love to know how they would treat me if I walked in, and didn't find what I was looking for -- should anyone be expected to pay $5 for the store not carrying what they wanted?

How would they tell the honest people saying "you didn't have what I wanted" vs the actual lookie-loo's who window shop.
 
collegeboy69us said:
I fully realize this -- and that's all well and good, but being asked when you are trying to leave for $5 to cover the store owners failing business is total BS.

Let's say this idea was somehow accepted by the public -- the logistics of carrying out this plan with any sort of equity or fairness to the customer is next to impossible. They are taking the guilty until proven innocent approach - and in this case the only way to prove you are "good/innocent" is to open up your wallet and buy something that might be 25% more vs another retailer.

I would love to know how they would treat me if I walked in, and didn't find what I was looking for -- should anyone be expected to pay $5 for the store not carrying what they wanted?

How would they tell the honest people saying "you didn't have what I wanted" vs the actual lookie-loo's who window shop.
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I'd say it's largely unenforceable.
 
Why are you guys assuming they will try to charge you when you leave? Everything (common sense included) seems to indicate that they will charge you upon entry to the store.
 
Well they would lose my sale as I tend to be an impulse buyer and sometimes just go to a store to browse when I am bored.
 
Kueller said:
Costco ect?
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dawp said:
basically no different that Costco or Sam's Club.
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Well with Sam's Club and Costco, you buy a yearly membership, so even if you don't find what you're looking for one time, you still can go back a hundred other times for things you need. They don't charge you every time you enter their store.

I don't think it's illegal, but it's certainly unheard of outside of the nightclub scene.
 
Doesn't the Ferrari dealership inside the Bellagio (or Caesar's, I can't remember which) charge something like $25 just to go in and look?
 
derek533 said:
Doesn't the Ferrari dealership inside the Bellagio (or Caesar's, I can't remember which) charge something like $25 just to go in and look?
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Probably so they don't get a bunch of mouth-breathers pawing all the expensive, shiny toys. :D

But seriously, in that case I can see the logic behind it, given the merchandise and intended consumer. In this instance, though, it's a "specialty food store"...not exactly tailored toward the ultra-wealthy, I'm guessing.
 
derek533 said:
Doesn't the Ferrari dealership inside the Bellagio (or Caesar's, I can't remember which) charge something like $25 just to go in and look?
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It's a friggin Ferrari store. They probably also have guards standing by you with rubber bullets to make sure you're not putting your grubby fingers on their cars unless you are prepared to buy it.
 
Here's a better idea. I buy something at walmart.com, that is also at my local walmart store, and then I go to the store and just pick it up. Why TF can't I do that yet. I don't understand whey I have to "site to store" something that is already in the store.
 
I wish Sams would charge me a fee to get into there warehouse it would be cheaper then there 80.00 a year card for as much as I shop there they could charge me 10.00 a visit and I would still make out lol
 
I find this comical that this thread has made it out to 4 pages :)

It's just that it's such a farce.
 
Yeah I'm pretty sure this is a joke, no one is that retarded.
 
ServerKing said:
I wish Sams would charge me a fee to get into there warehouse it would be cheaper then there 80.00 a year card for as much as I shop there they could charge me 10.00 a visit and I would still make out lol
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$80 a year? Where do you live? It's $45 a year for me.
 
King of like in Germany, where some places charge for parking at a store, unless you buy something, then the parking is free.
 
This store is run by and idiot or a genius, the idiot would do this because he thinks it really works. But seriously anyone who knows business knows the hardest thing is just to get people to walk into your store or look at your website. Second his sign has to be a lie, no way people would walk in and look then buy elsewhere if the prices really were close.

He is a genius if he planned on this making its rounds on the internet and him generating way more interest then his shop ever would have in 100 years other wise. Might even be making bank on all the people willing to pay $5 just to see if they can get a glimpse of the type of person who runs such a horrible business.
 
This is just the thought process of B&M retailers in Australia (probably other countries as well), there have been talks about this sort of thing for ages.

People go into a shop, find the right size or whatever then go online and get it half the price and get better service.
 
Azhar said:
It's a friggin Ferrari store. They probably also have guards standing by you with rubber bullets to make sure you're not putting your grubby fingers on their cars unless you are prepared to buy it.
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The Bentley Gold Coast downtown has everything from an M5 to the Veyron and Anyone who comes in there can touch the cars, sit in them, and take pictures. Also their service is amazing; unless you're acting like a douchebag they will actually treat you like a serious buyer.
 
Nicterys said:
The Bentley Gold Coast downtown has everything from an M5 to the Veyron and Anyone who comes in there can touch the cars, sit in them, and take pictures. Also their service is amazing; unless you're acting like a douchebag they will actually treat you like a serious buyer.
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I know, I work 8 blocks from there. I love browsing Gold Coast. Still, I cringe when I see commoner hands sliding against these cars.
 
Spend $5 to go to store, buy TV get $5 back

Get home, find out TV has no cables for HDMI

Go back to store because you need HDMI cables, spend another $5 admission fee, find out they only sell really expensive, gold plated, "low noise", <insert whatever other bullshit sell statement> cables that cost $120 for one.

Get pissed, never shop at that store again
 
flatrock said:
It may vary from state to state, but in Michigan Sam's can't require a membership to purchase alcohol. You also don't need a membership to use the pharmacy. Tell the person at the entrance you are there for one of those purposes and they will wave you right through without a membership card. You still need a membership card to purchase anything but alcohol or pharmacy items, and possibly items at their in house cell phone stores.
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It's the same with the Costco here in California. You just need a membership card to purchase at the register.
 
Pretty sure you can buy items at Costco and Sams Club without a membership at either stores. You will have to pay a 10% markup at both because you're not a member. It can depend greatly on what you buy. Oftentimes it's a lot cheaper to buy a membership than to deal with the 10% markup if you visit the stores often to make purchases there.
 
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