Our microwave died yesterday. First of all I thought it was just my baby brain in operation, and perhaps I’d forgotten to set it cooking, but after my third go at cooking the cabbage for lunch, when I had checked that I had selected high power for 4 minutes and pressed the “go” button and still got cold, raw cabbage out, I was pretty sure it wasn’t me at fault!

So we headed out to our local retail park to check out the electrical stores and grab a new microwave. We found one that we liked in Comet, priced up at £129.99. As I always do before buying anything in a shop I got my iPhone out and did a quick Google on the model number to see what I could buy it for online. Interestingly, one of the top results was Comet online, selling it for £99.99.

Now I expect to pay a small premium in order to walk into a store and walk out with an item, as opposed to ordering it online and waiting a few days for it to be delivered. but £30 on a £100 item was a bit much for me. We asked the staff at the till if they would price match to their online store, and they said no, they would only price match other stores within a certain radius. So we walked out with no microwave.

There’s a decent food shop at our retail park, so we wandered in there to buy something nice for tea. And whilst we wandered around, I decided that I’d get my online order placed before I forgot the model number. So again I got out my iPhone, and ordered the microwave. I chose the “collect from store” delivery option, and was amazed when I was told that the item was in stock in my local store, and could be collected 30 minutes after the order was placed.

THIRTY MINUTES?! Not a few days, not even hours, but minutes?!

So we finished our food shopping, and then went back to Comet where the same till staff sold us the same microwave for £30 less. And all I had to do was use my iPhone and wait 30 minutes.

So, don’t let yourself get ripped off! Check out your online purchasing options, because they may allow you to make significant savings in your local stores.

Oh, and by the way, if you go through Quidco, you also get 3% cashback from your online purchase at Comet. Even more savings 🙂