Price Matching - The Real Deal or Marketing Wheeze?

In the current economic climate it's no surprise that every company is looking for an edge over the competition.  Weddings are one of the most important and expensive events in your life and with the current average cost varying between £16,000 and £24,000 (depending on who's doing the survey) it's no wonder that canny couples are looking for the best deals.

Recently we've seen a number of websites offering 'price matching'. This goes something along the lines of 'if you see this product cheaper elsewhere within 7 days we'll refund the difference'.  Sounds good when you first read it but after sitting down (with a nice cup of coffee) and mulling over the small print we asked ourselves whether it's really the deal it's made out to be?

Firstly, you've already purchased and received your wedding favours.  You probably spent a while browsing, discussing and choosing the right ones at a price you could afford so are you really likely to further spend large quantities of valuable time searching the internet for someone who sells them for less and then putting in a claim to your original supplier?  The company know this is highly unlikely and there are any amount of wriggle clauses that have to be overcome before you get your money back.  Was the item in stock?  Was the item identical?  Was the item on sale? etc., etc., etc.

Secondly, they are offering a price MATCH only; they're not offering to beat the cheapest price you find.  Pricing varies depending on the item and the supplier but most Wedding Favours are within a few pence of each other because Favours are by nature, small value items, often costing less than a decent Capaccino at Starbucks.  There isn't a lot of room for manoevre so huge discounts are unlikely - oh, sorry I forgot - discounts are one of those wriggle clauses.

As with a lot of marketing, the proof is in the pudding so next time you see a Price Matching offer, ask the company how many times they've had to refund money to a customer as a direct result of their price match campaign.  Personally, if I find a company that sells exactly the same item for less, I'm going to buy from that company, why waste time with price matching?