You wait all week for the savings bonanza promised by the Sunday grocery circulars. You find some great deals (a 1-lb. box of spaghetti for 50 cents! A case of bottled water for $3.99!) and rush to the supermarket only to find… nothing. The shelves are bare, and the manager informs you that the shipment hasn’t arrived yet. Or maybe you’re told that the store doesn’t even carry the advertised product.

Can They Do That?

The situation is frustrating — and it’s also against the rules. Namely, the Federal Trade Commission’s Unavailability Rule. This regulation, first issued in 1971, helps protect shoppers from stores that advertise great deals to lure customers, but then fail to have the sale items in stock.

“If it’s done deliberately, then the store is obviously trying to get the consumer in the store to buy other products,” says Walter Gross, a staff attorney for the FTC, who worked on amending the Unavailability Rule in 1989. Under the rule, the store must have the items advertised in its circular “in stock and readily available to customers during the effective period of the advertisement.”

Getting the Goods

But “sometimes the situation is unavoidable and, for that reason, there are defenses to the rule,” says Gross. Check the ad. If the circular clearly states that “quantities are limited” or that the product is only available in certain stores, there’s no violation. Nor will the store be held accountable if it can prove it ordered enough of the item to meet the anticipated demand.

When you find empty sale shelves, the store should offer alternatives such as a “rain check” that will allow you to buy the item later at the sale price. Or you may be offered a substitute product of comparable value. Do ask for a rain check or other compensation if a substitute isn’t automatically offered.

If your grocery store is routinely running out of its advertised specials, and doesn’t offer you any alter­natives, report the problem to the FTC by logging on to its Web site at ftc.gov.