Complaint Review: Kohl's

I just spent several hours on Kohls.com shopping in the pots and pans section.   With a 20% discount code in hand and a sale going on I wanted to purchase a mid range stock pot.  I settled on a 10 quart Rachel Ray anodized stock pot with orange handles, product #82547/   Kohl's has this as an online only exclusive.    The retail is listed at $139.99 with a sale price of $83.99.   My 20% off coupon would bring it down to just over $67.00.   

Doing my due diligence I did an internet search which led me to various sites offering this item and other identical items from the Rachel Ray collection, but none listed the retail over $70.69, including rachelray.com which showed  the retail price for this stock pot as being $69.95.   I checked all of the product codes to be sure.

This was very disconcerting to learn that the retail had been doubled on Kohls.com, before any sales price and discounts given, giving the illusion of a 100% discount!   I did more checking and found that this was practiced across the board and not just with the Rachel Ray line but rather with every one of the online exclusives that I checked.    If this isn't a rip off I don't know what is.  I've always thought that the common practice was that the actual vendor/supplier dictated the retail  prices, in this example, Rachel Ray.  That Kohl's is simply doubling the retails to create a false sale and false discount seems to be an egregious business practice at best.    Suffice it to say I did not purchase a stock pot at kohls.com today.