Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya.

After seeing a Facebook advertisement for one of the paint manufacturers in Sri Lanka, I called their head office to see if I, as a walk-in customer, could also claim the same discount offered to online buyers.

I was refused, but on my insistence, I was connected to their sales department, and a young lady executive picked up to reiterate that the offer is only for online purchases with free delivery, as stated in the advertisement.

My rationale was that since it is a walk-in deal, the delivery portion of online shopping goes away, so the company benefits in the end.

Knowing that these frontline sales staffs have little authority in taking decisions, I asked her, without offending her, to check with the senior sales team and give an update on the request.

Surprisingly, after a few hours, she returned the call to inform me that the offer was only valid for online purchases, and it was confirmed by her senior management. 

I thanked her profusely only because giving an update by calling is not in our culture and it was a rarity. 

Now I am trying to see what I missed there.

Unless they entice customers with hefty discounts and pass off their rejected and/or inferior-quality products to unsuspecting online shoppers, otherwise it does not make any sense to me. 

Can someone enlighten me, please?

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya.