Monday, May 19, 2014

The Teavana Incident

My daughter and I had a rare free Saturday so we decided to drive up to Ann Arbor (home of University of Michigan--Go Blue!!) for some shopping. I scored a sundress from the clearance rack in the first store, and we continued our quest, stopping for free samples at Teavana.




I've never walked into a Teavana store before, but when workers start handing out tiny cups with tea, I'm in! We tried four or five teas, oohed-and-ahhed over the adorable teapots and cups--okay, I was the one oohing over them--and shuffled to the back to buy some loose tea.

We'd tried these little tea balls that blossom into flowers when you brew them. Flowers unfurling with hot water? Oh yeah! They were adorable!

I asked about the prices. The little peach flowering balls were $18.98 for the minimum purchase of two ounces. I'm "frugal" (aka, cheap!), so there was no way I was spending twenty bucks for roughly eight tea balls. We really enjoyed some spicy Oprah tea. The clerk held a canister that said $6.98. I could do that. We ordered the minimum and searched for disposable tea bags.

Five minutes later we were checking out. The price seemed higher than I expected, but I had a stroller bumping into my leg, so I signed for it and accepted my receipt.

$14.98 for the tea? What??

I asked about the price and didn't understand the explanation. We took our teensy-tiny bag of tea and left. My daughter and I immediately went into sleuth mode, trying to figure out how seven dollars worth of tea became fifteen. She's urging me to return it, I'm telling her no, but I WILL complain about it for a good five years. Maybe more!

We laughed and complained about that stupid tea the rest of the day. When store after store yielded only high-waisted short-shorts and tribal shirts, we both got discouraged. I declared it our Teavana Attitude.

I'm still shaking my head at spending a small fortune on tea, but it gave us some good laughs.

Have you ever paid a much higher price for something than you planned? Did you get over it?

Have a fabulous day!


6 comments:

  1. Haha that is some pricey tea! And yes, I've paid more for something than planned many a time, actually. I can think of times when I thought a shirt was on sale...and nope, it was just on the wrong rack. Or when my own terrible-ness at math got the better of me and what I thought was a huge discount really wasn't. However, I think most of the time, I wanted what I bought enough not to go back and return it. LOL!

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    1. I've been there too! Wrong rack, misjudged discount--the worst!!

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  2. All the time, Jill! Not for tea (I stick with Lipton...I know, not 'real' tea but I love it), usually for shoes because I just can't resist them. Even when the tag appears to read $20 and I get to the checkout and they're $75 (or more).

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    1. Shoes!! I know!! Once we're committed to cute shoes, there's no going back!

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  3. Is that tea laced with gold? What's worse than paying more? Finding a triple mark down Izod LaCoste jacket (some 30 years ago) and then leaving it in the ladies' room of the Denver airport. Still bothers me? You, bet (-;

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    1. Gold or crack cocaine! Ha! I'd be angry about that jacket still too. I lost prescription sunglasses about four years ago. I haven't gotten over it. :) Congrats to your youngest for graduating college!!

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