Trouble Underfoot

We need a larger rug in our large living room.  Tiny knees and bums need a bigger area to tinker.  I want something a lot more simple that the one we currently have but something with a large-scale geometric design.  Last year I stumbled upon Jenna Sue’s blog, specifically this post about her new Rug from Rugs USA.  I had never heard of the company before but now longed for one of their amazing geometric rugs at their seemingly reasonable prices!   

This is the rug I really wanted:
 
But it was ‘out of stock’ for months and months and months.  (Except right at the moment…of course.)

So, this one made a great substitute, the Moroccan Trellis in tan:

Jenna used a Rugs USA Groupon to purchase her rug so starting last summer, I checked my Groupon email every single day like it was my job.  Finally, around Christmas, they came out with one for our area.  It took me 30 seconds flat to whip out our credit card and pay the $70 they were asking in return for a $170 credit.  That rug was going to be mine and it was going to be mine for cheap. 

So, more waiting ensued.  If you know me, you know I like sales.  I wasn’t just going to hop on over to Rugs USA and buy the rug immediately.  I was going to wait for one of their big sales – 60% off or more (Jenna got hers during a 35% off sale so I knew they had sales).  With all this waiting and watching, I realized that their rugs are almost always 50% off, meaning they always have some 50% off sale going on.  Finally, after waiting foreva and getting a little too close to our Groupon’s expiration date, Rugs USA had a 65% off sale so I went over and happily clicked and clicked and clicked until I had my cart as I wanted and was about to enter the Groupon when DUN, DUN, DUN…  Guess what?  You can’t use a Groupon AND get their sale!  I was mad.  Really mad and really annoyed (remember, I waited patiently for months and months).  They must’ve changed their policy since Jenna got hers.  Here’s their thing now:  You have to enter a coupon code from Rugs USA (spring65 for example) to get the 65% off and you can only use ONE code.  So my Groupon code + their sale code = no burrito.  Dumb.  In my opinion, if you’re an online store and you’re advertising this shirt is half off, you shouldn’t need to enter a code to get the half off.  You should either be advertising that it’s half off or “enter this code to get this shirt half off”.  Catch my drift?  Am I crazy?  Well, it doesn’t end there.

I knew from chucking that rug into my online shopping cart that fateful day I never ordered it that the original price was listed at $803 (8.5 x 11.5) making it $281.05 with 65% off.  After getting a promotional email from Rugs USA a few weeks after my conundrum, I went back and checked on the rug again and during a 50% off sale it had an original price listed at $669 ($334.50 with 50% off).  Hmmm…  I’ll admit I got a little excited because I thought “Wow, they lowered the price so maybe during another 65% off sale we could actually get it cheaper thinking $669 at 65% off is $234.15.  Not so fast.  THEN, a week later the fourth of July rolled around and I got another promo email saying they were having a 75% sale.  I danced over with excitement thinking I was going to get this rug for a steal when what did my eyes see but a $1123 original price on that baby ($280.75 with 75% off). 

In case I’m all over the place, here’s the price run-down:
-original price during 50% off sale = $669
-original price during 65% off sale = $803
-original price during 75% off sale = $1123
-original price during no sale = $400.98

Are they for shizzle???!!!  So basically they’re altering the price with every sale, raising or lowering depending on the percentage off, so that they get almost the same amount every time for the rug!  Is that a joke or what?  Maybe it’s some business scheme I’m not aware of (I asked my Bachelor’s in Business hubs and he said “I don’t think so.  That just seems a little ‘shieshy’”.

-With all of this said, I might mention that we did use the Groupon on a desk from Rugs USA.  It was listed at $182 so we paid $12 (plus the $70 for the Groupon) for it and it’s now in our guestroom.  I really like it but it’s the first and last thing I’ll be buying from that company.-

I know all of this is probably hum-drum and depressing and maybe you really don’t care but I just wanted to get it out there to inform those of you who are looking into a rug from Rugs USA.  Their rugs still are reasonably priced even with their shifty price changing but I just have a hard time supporting a company who’s a little lazy with their honesty.  Did you know that the same exact rugs are sold on Overstock.com.  Actually, during this whole commotion, we were actually accidentally shipped a couple of rugs from Rugs USA (I’ll spare you the details) which I sent back but the return address on them was from Overstock.  Weird…

Aaanyway, back to my house and our rug.  We’re still planning on upgrading and I’ve found the perfect way.  Lowe’s sells 8 x 10 carpet remnants for around $90 so my plan is to go scoop one of those up once I find one in a color I like and use this pinned rug…
 
(via)
for inspiration to paint some simple zig-zag lines on it.  I’m not sure how painting a large, semi-plush rug will take to vacuuming so that’s why I’m going to go with a super-simple design just in case.  Stay tuned.  :)

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Anyone else realized this little “thing” Rugs USA has going on?  Am I crazy for thinking it’s madness or is it just common business practice?