Blick Art Materials

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/10/07) */
Contact Name and Title: Jason *** Dir.RtMkt
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: ***@dickblick.com
I am sorry for the negative experience with our Preferred Customer Web Match Rebate benefit
At check out, our register
is automatically comparing your total to what you would have paid onlineIf your order total would have cost you less online with shipping, then you will automatically receive a rebate at the register for the differenceThis is your instant Web Match Rebate!
If this did not happen, please email me a scanned copy of your receipt and I'd be happy to look into this for you
Here are the key points about Web Match Rebate:
- Prices listed in our stores are before Web Match Rebate, therefore customers have an opportunity to save even more
- Web Match Rebate doesn't automatically give a web price on every item (it is not an item-to-item match)
- Web Match Rebate provides the best total price after comparing web plus shipping and in-store price
I apologize for any inconvenience this experience may have caused youPlease email me with any further concerns
For full terms and conditions learn more here:
http://www.dickblick.com/stores/PreferredCustomers/
Jason *** ***
Director of Retail Marketing

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2016/08/16) */
We have had numerous conversations with Mr*** over the last few daysHis indication this morning was that he had resolved this complaint with Revdex.com, and had decided to keep the easel
Mr*** has requested someone from the Revdex.com
give him a call at XXX-XXX-XXXXHe does not have a computer to reply, his brother has handled this for him
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 9, 2016/08/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Issue has been resolved, Thank you

*** ***,As previously stated on my phone message to you, online remarketing is an industry standard for online retailersIt is done by very large online retailers and small ones as wellWe worked with *** for remarketing, which is a reputable companyWe do not collect any
personally identifiable informationWe do state in our privacy policy our practice and give you a means to opt out of ***We do explain about Cookies, how we use them and further information on managing Cookies. *** ***VP of Marketing Blick Art Materials

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/05/27) */
Thank you for sharing with us your experience with our clearance emailPlease be assured there was no ulterior motive or 'bait and switch' tacticFor our customer's convenience, we do list the accessories on the main product pageThe
clearance was only for the bulbs for the ***Trace Light Table, not the table itself
We do reserve the right to correct typographical errors like this oneWe are unable to sell a $1000+ table for $

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/20) */
Dear Ms. [redacted],
Please accept our sincere apology for the markers and less than satisfactory service. We have been in business since 1911, and have the same 100% satisfaction guarantee since the beginning. Our guarantee is if you are not...

satisfied with the product, and we ask that you let us know within 365 days then you are entitled to a full replacement or refund. Since it sounds like the markers may be defective, we will be sending you a prepaid label for the return. Please check your email inbox for an email from FedEx. It will provide the labels and instructions. A full refund will be issued with the return.
The brush markers that you have ordered are very new to us, and the reviews that our customers have provided are all positive with a 5 star rating. We are concerned that there may be a manufacturing issue, so we would ask for your assistance. The packing list that should have been enclosed has return information on the back side. Since several sets were ordered, please let us know if the issue was a few markers from some of the sets, or if it was every marker. We have a quality control team that will check the return and advise the manufacturer if issues are identified. We want to insure that our customers receive the quality product they are expecting.
Again, our apologies, we will resolve this for you shortly.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/01/22) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Thank you for your response. It was the marker pack that I opened that was very hit or miss with pigmentation. I did not open the rest of the packs but still wish to return them since. Thank you again.

Review: Blick routinely offers 50-70% off of the price of their canvas. In small print it says "OFF LIST". This is on THEIR own brand and the "LIST" price given at the time of the sale is some price much higher than they have EVER sold the canvas to anyone. It is a made up arbitrary number. There has never been a single canvas sold at that supposed "LIST" price nor has it ever been offered at that price. They only use it to mark the price way up in order to mark it down for their sale. It is fraud. At best it is very deceptive advertising. By definition, "LIST" price is supposed to be the price at which a product is usually sold to the public not a number nearly twice as high as their every day price to everybody.Desired Settlement: Stop their deceptive advertising. When they are only offering a 10% discount off of their every day price it should not say 70% off. Pass this on to the Federal Trade Commission or whoever regulates truth in advertising here in the USA.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted]:

I received your Revdex.com complaint today. We will also respond directly to the Revdex.com. The document attached explains our pricing policy regarding “List” price as well as other questions about pricing that we receive from customers. Ideally, this would have been explained to you by store staff prior to the complaint. The key confusion is that you take “List” to be a). our regular price, and b). arbitrary. It is neither. “List” price in our industry means the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) as established by the vendor. It should be the same for all of our competition. Our everyday price for most products is lower than the established manufacturer’s list price. Our sale prices deepen the discount against List.

Discount off list/MSRP is the best way for us to communicate our value story versus our competition. So long as everyone is honest (i.e., uses the published list price from the manufacturer), a higher discount off of list is a better price. Blick does not inflate the list price supplied by vendors.

For private label product, as noted in the FAQ, we use the closest corresponding brand’s MSRP to set our List price. While not perfect, it is not fair to describe it as fully arbitrary either. Your particular subject, stretched canvas, is an extreme example because the product’s cost has come down so much over the past decade as the result of production shifting from the U.S. to Asia and Mexico. Yet, the primary brands have not lowered their MSRP’s. This has resulted in really deep everyday low discounts off of the list price. It does look silly, but won’t change until the manufacturers reduce their MSRP’s back to a realistic level. We have from time-to-time discussed lowering the MSRP’s on our private label unilaterally, but it would mean that a customer could not compare our product’s value against the branded competition as easily and would make canvas inconsistent with how we will continue to handle the rest of our private label lines.

Also note that in some ways our existing approach makes the sale look less dramatic than it actually is. You believed, for example, that we are only discounting the product about 10% based on our everyday price. In fact, it is actually over 20%. Going from 50% off to 60% or 70% off is not 10% or 20% off the regular price as you suggest, it’s actually 20% off to 40% off ($1.00 list less 50% = $0.50. $1.00 list less 60% = $0.40, $0.40 is 20% less than $0.50, etc.). Believe me, we see it in our margins when we put Canvas on one of its big sale programs. There is a real reason for why we have some professional artists coming to our stores to load up at pick-up-truck quantities. It’s a good deal.

Finally, there are plenty of retailers that sell product (especially paint, less so canvas) at MSRP or even higher. Therefore, the discounts that you get at Blick, Utrecht (which is now part of Blick) or our other discount competitors is truly much lower than the market selling price.

I hope that helps. We are not trying to defraud anyone.

Sincerely,

Chief Executive

Blick Art Materials

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.