Marketing Miss - Target

Sadly, I have to report Target as a marketing miss. This past weekend I was shopping for draperies for my bedroom, and didn't want to spend a fortune on them. I found some at Target that were priced right for me at $19.99 a panel (yes, they were faux). I bought the drapery panels, the one I could find, at the Target near my home, and then drove to another Target about 7 miles away, where I purchased one more. I still needed 2 more drapery panels for my bedroom, so I asked for other store locations and determined that I could find the last 2 I needed at a Target approximately 8 more miles away. I was okay in knowing that inventory is often limited per store, so I was fine with making the needed trek to additional Target stores. What I was not fine with, was being told I had to pay $4 more dollars a panel at the Target 20 miles away from my home. Now, this might not sound like a big deal to you, but I was actually quite upset, especially when I asked the Target store manager to honor the price difference. (This was after producing my receipt to her, and product, reflecting the lower price at two other Target stores on the same day). The store manager admitted that it was out of her hands, and her direct quote was, "I get this same exact issue at least four times a day." She also handed me a card with a 1-800 number on it for me to call Target headquarters to share my experience. I intend to do just that, but I wanted to share this first with all of you on what I intend to say, "Dear Target, if you know direct store-to-store price discrepancies make your customers unhappy, why would you continue to infuriate them with it at least four times a day?" Obviously, this was a marketing miss on Target's part and a grand display of poor customer service. My recommendation for Target is to try and make your customer's happy to ensure repeat business, and to lessen the inevitable poor word-of-mouth that will result of not doing so.