[grandcider]

For a change of scenery, I drove to the Belchers to do my groceries a while back, remembering that they advertise free parking if you spend >$100. I bought a lot of groceries and showed my receipt at the Shroff, but was told that I needed to go to the ground floor of the mall to validate my parking. Since I was running late, I just paid the fee. Then on Sunday, I returned again, spent $190 and brought my receipt to the customer service desk to validate my parking. The clerk tells me that in fact purchases from Wellcome must be over $250 to qualify and suggests that I spend $100 at another shop. This is certainly not communicated (in legible print at least) on their posters.

Last night, for lack of anything better to do, I went to the Cyberport Cinema with my girlfriend to take advantage of their Monday night 2-for-1 offer. When we buy our tickets for The Guardian (a lousy movie by the way), the agent points to a placard on his counter stating that The Guardian does not qualify for the promotion. If it doesn't qualify, they shouldn't be screening the damn movie on a Monday night!

These are just two recent examples of being arbitrarily let down by advertised deals. The worst part is that there are never any managers around at these establishments to receive complaints. My advice is to beware of free parking, discounted movie and other offers in Hong Kong.

[PDLM]

Indeed - I have come to the conclusion that there is almost always sufficient get-outs in these so-called special deals to mean that they really aren't very special.

I am still trying to work out what the catch is on the deal that PCCW has just offered to its No.1 Club members whereby you can, effectively, get 1 AsiaMile per HK$ spent on PCCW services or at PCCW shops in the next few weeks. Since I am in the process of deciding which big LCD TV to buy (which means HK$35-45K) that's quite a significant discount (about HK$5-7K, ~15%, when PCCW is generally only 3-5% more expensive than other shops).

[grandcider]

There is also the Standard Chartered American Express credit card I have, with some attractive % cash back advertised. It turns out after reading the small print with a magnifying glass that there is a ceiling on the cash back of about HK$1000 a year. Not very exciting at all.

[PDLM]

Yup - Citibank has just spent a load of money offering cashback if you pay your tax bill using their card.

Capped at HK$500.

[discobay]

On a much smaller scale but Broadway Circuit cinemas offer a 10% discount with booking fee waived for cinema tickets purchased over the internet. I found that their system was still charging me the full price and a telephone call confirmed that the offer did not apply to early showings or other special prices. No mention of that in their advertising. Oh and it was Broadway who gave me this answer as Citibank couldn't.

[grandcider]

I thought they levied a $5 Charge on tickets purchased online? I can't understand why the customer is charged extra fees to use a system that saves the cinema money.

I bought the Broadway Cinemas VIP card ($100 a year). It's supposed to entitle me to 20% off Cinematheque movies, 10% off at other Broadway cinemas and 10% off at the concession (must admit I haven't read all the small print). So far I have presented on 3 purchases:

- At the Cinematheque, I was told that the movie I wanted to see (a weekday matinee) did not qualify for the discount.

- When buying popcorn, I was told that the discount only applied to combos.

- At the Cyberport, the guy wrote down the number on my card but didn't give me any discount.

[discobay]

Boy you have it bad!

[larac]

So with you on parking at the Belchers. 3 barriers & 2 tickets to get in and another 3 to get out - thats overkill for a start. Got my groceries - spent $700 and didn't have the right stamp for the free parking - totally mad but having just spent 10 minutes waiting for the tiny lifts I just paid and left. Next time I carefully got the checkout girl to give me all the stamps, waited again for the lift and got to the counter to find I only had 4 of the required 5 stamps - bloody hell - never going back again that place it ridiculous.