Bargaining Basement Update

So I guess my husband got a call back from the furniture store.  They are now ready to wheel-and-deal!

This is their offer.  And it’s kind of weird:

We pay full price for the bookcases.  Then they will reimburse us for $500.00 worth of groceries.  As in, we go grocery shopping, take our receipts into the furniture store, and the furniture store will reimburse us up to $500.00.

A+ for originality.  But I don’t think we’ll take them up on it.  I’m pretty certain I can do better with some more shopping around, on both the bookcase front and the grocery front. I’m sure they’re gambling that we won’t bother to go back to get reimbursed for the groceries either (you know, like all those times I didn’t send in all those rebates because I was too lazy). I also think this might be the case because otherwise they would go ahead and drop $500.00 all at once on a Visa gift card that I could use at any grocery store.  By doing it this way, though, there’s a chance that they would never have to come up with all or part of that $500.00.

Plus, where would the line be drawn?  Sometimes when I go grocery shopping I buy things other than groceries along with my groceries.  Especially at places like Super Walmart, Sam’s Club, and SuperTarget.  I think they would be really picky about that, because after all, it’s their $500.00 on the line.

Also, what if we take our grocery receipts into the furniture store, confidently expecting reimbursement, and the cashier looks at us like we’re nuts.  I could see this as a real possibility, because it seems a little nuts to me.  The process could really end up being a big pain if we decided to take them up on it.

At least it’s something, though.  So I guess it just goes to show that it doesn’t hurt to try a little negotiating.  You just never know what you might get out of it.