Managing expectations through authentic marketing

I'm a very big book person.  I read a lot and spend a ridiculous amount of money on new books even though I live about 30 seconds away from a library (I'm the type of person that likes to make notes and highlights as I go...libraries tend to frown on that).  The closest large bookstore to me is a Borders so, of course, I'm in their rewards program.  So I get this email from them today that just threw me for a loop: 

So you mean the old Borders.com wasn't a real bookstore online?  And what about Amazon.com? Plus I was a bit annoyed at their email person for using an all image email, typically a no-no.  I've got them set to download images automatically, but what if I didn't?  I would have seen nothing of value when I opened this message.  

But still, the promise of a valuable coupon was offered and I took the bait.  Here's the website I was sent to: 

Ok, so 30% off is kind of ehhh...I get at least 20% off coupons from them on a weekly basis so that didn't totally wow me.  Free shipping...pretty typical of online bookstores.  Plus I'm still not any closer to finding what what makes the new borders.com a REAL bookstore.  So I click the button to take the tour: 

Alright, now I'm getting annoyed.  I still haven't seen the new bloody borders.com, nor have I been entered in any sweepstakes.  Plus on this page, there are things that LOOK like links that you can't actually click, which made it more confusing.  But I've come this far and decide to press on.

So I click the tour option and FINALLY find out what the new borders.com means: 

Apparently being a REAL online bookstore means that your books are displayed on a shelf that you can move up and down and side to side. Not in an easy-to-use grid format, but a "magic shelf" (yes, that's actually what they call it).  Maybe if I could take the book down off the shelf and flip through it like at an ACTUAL bookstore, that would have been something but alas it's just not nearly that cool.  I think I'll stick to going into the real store, thank you very much!

So what is my point with all this: Don't market something as finally being the "real" thing when its just a lame let down.Someone at Borders should have raised their hands and said "are we overselling this a bit too much?"  Colleges do this ALL THE TIME when they try to make their school look like the perfect place for every possible student out there.  It's not.  No school is.  Authentic marketing will help you to zone in on the students that are right for YOUR SCHOOL, which will help retention rates down the road.  Just because you say it on the web or in email does not give you free license to make stuff up!  People are going to find out eventually and they are going to be annoyed at best.  Sell them a false dream and they'll leave and go somewhere else, plain and simple.