Batteries Plus Bulbs

The battery of my father’s old prepaid feature-​phone died. While I ordered a replacement from
, we thought we’d stop at Batteries Plus of Alabaster in hopes of having the phone running sooner.
Now the grey-​bearded salesman there was friendly enough; for that, I’m giving Batteries Plus two stars and not merely one.
But when my father asked the battery’s price while the salesman removed it from the package, he sort of hem-​hawed around and mumbled something about not remembering. *Only* after getting our contact information for the warranty and installing the battery was he suddenly able to determine the price…
…Over $ 40, after tax… for a battery belonging to a phone that cost only $ 18 to begin with. Now that the battery was installed, the salesman’s expectant demeanor as he quoted the price suggested that he considered it a done deal: We weren’t going to back out now, were we?
Yes, we were, and out of the phone and back on the shelf went the battery.
As for the cost of the battery we ordered from
: Less than $ 4, and we didn’t even pay shipping in this instance.
And yes, the battery still works after four months of occasional use, even though the salesman warned us that we’d need to stock up on batteries if we were going the online route. But even if that battery does prove to have a shorter life than the one Batteries Plus offered, it looks like we’ll still come out ahead even if we have to buy a new one every few months (although considering the battery from Amazon has a 4.1 star rating over the course of more than five hundred reviews, I’m optimistic it’s going to last).
Now I realize that bricks-​and-​mortar businesses have suffered from competition on the web. But waiting until the last possible moment to inform us of that the price was more than double what the entire phone cost in the first place is *not* how bricks-​and-​mortar stores can compete with those online.
Additionally, we’ve been in this store on one previous occasion, only to find they didn’t have what we needed in stock, which negates one of the main advantages of bricks-​and-​mortar over the web.
In conclusion, I have some sympathy for the salesman, who *was* friendly, and no doubt feels pressure from competitors on the web. But if Batteries Plus can’t offer a better value, it’s going to have to survive without our patronage.