Ah, another customer service story.
I’ve had a Tassimo drinks machine for more than a year now, and I love it. This is the gadget that makes drinks like lattes and tea and whatever by using little pre-measured discs.
Now, while this is far more economical than a Starbucks coffee — about $3 cheaper, at least — I recently noticed a change that kind of pisses me off.
The discs used to come in packages of 10. Thus, a latte package would have 10 espressos and 10 milk discs, for a total of 10 drinks, for $8.99.
Sometime in the last month, Tassimo changed their packaging. Now, packages only have 8 discs. That’s a 20% reduction… and the price has stayed the same.
At Bed, Bath & Beyond, where I usually get them, the price hasn’t changed.
At Best Buy, the discs are actually $1 more expensive (everything at Best Buy, despite their name, is more expensive than elsewhere).
On the Tassimo website, the price is still $8.99.
And what did the Tassimo customer service line tell me? They say that they have lowered their price, and that retailers can charge what they like. I pointed out that their own website was still charging the same price, but she argued with me and said that they used to be more expensive. I wish I had kept my receipts, then.
This kind of price silliness is just like the White House putting out huge, overestimated deficit forecasts, then when the actual figures come in celebrating and claiming that their policies were a success.
Tassimo can claim that prices have gone down with their smaller packages, and although I am still paying the same amount at the store, they can claim it’s the retailer’s fault.
