Price at the till different from the price displayed?

netman

Hi folks,

Just wondering what I should have done, I was buying an ink cartridge in Sony Centre off Stephen's Green, the price displayed was 17.99, brought it down to the till, took out 18 euro and the guy tells me that'll be 22!

So the first thing that comes to my mind is - hey, it says here it's 18!
He goes over to the ink cartridges display, turns the price label over and says no no they're 22.

I tell him that it's false advertising, and he says not if it's an honest mistake. He dropped it down to 20 after that and I needed it so I paid the price.

2 euro ain't much, or 4 euro for that matter, but it could happen to me again and the difference could be hundreds of euro. Do consumers have any rights to demand the product at the price stated in the store, and what should we do?

Thanks!

Northside Punk

not really unless the product name was on the price tag, could it hve happened that the 18 was for a different product that could have been moved by mistake, even by a customer?

mikemac

Did the shop have a policy of getting the product free if the displayed price was incorrect?

I had a great scam of buying Autosport magazine in my local Tesco's every week as the price was always wrong so I could purchase it and then customer service to give me my money back

Tesco's own fault-they never corrected it despite me doing it every week.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

as far as i know - the price on display is just counted in legal terms as an "invitation to treat", and not legally binding on the store. Thus, the store doesn't have to offer you that price.

It is annoying though.

If it is a consistent policy of the store then they would be in trouble with the legal requirement for stores to display prices. But, it would have to be demonstrated that this is an actual policy of the store, and not just a once-off oversight.

Think i'm right on this, but does anyone know any better?

seamus

Roundtower2 wrote:

If it is a consistent policy of the store then they would be in trouble with the legal requirement for stores to display prices. But, it would have to be demonstrated that this is an actual policy of the store, and not just a once-off oversight.

Not necessarily. Retailers have an obligation to ensure that for every product:
1. There is a price tag on the product or in the nearest available position on the edge of the shelf. The tag should not be obscured or illegible.
2. The price on the tag must reflect the price charged at the till.

Of course, there's a certain leeway that allows for genuine mistakes - if a shop has 2000 items in the store, and prices changing every day, it's inevitable that one or two will slip through the net. This of course doesn't allow for negligence - even though it may be a genuine mistake, they'll be in trouble if a large amount of prices are wrong, or certain items are consistently priced incorrectly.
In the event that a discrepancy is spotted, it must be rectified immediately. Simply having a look and going "Oh yeah, that's not right" and walking away is clearly negligence.

netman

Northside Punk wrote:

not really unless the product name was on the price tag, could it hve happened that the 18 was for a different product that could have been moved by mistake, even by a customer?

No, the exact name of the product was on the price label, with a price of 17.99 in euro.

netman

Well folks, that was the Sony Centre just off Stephen's Green, heading towards Baggot St.

Might have been a once-off, it's not a big deal.. But if others had similar experience they might report here.

I think I'll pop down next week and see if they've updated the price, or if they're still "selling" them for 17.99

Random

invitation to treat. They don't have to sell it at the price stated once they inform you before it goes through and it's a genuine mistake.

Victor

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=79725

If the product was barcode scanned there is also an industry standard involved.

calmur

I work in a shop and the boss (owner ) told the staff that if the till price is more than the shelf price you MUST give it at the shelf price.

Random

calmur wrote:

I work in a shop and the boss (owner ) told the staff that if the till price is more than the shelf price you MUST give it at the shelf price.

Store policy.

connundrum

If I may be so bold as to bore you with another story...

In a certain electrical store, there are always special offers in the window. Sale prices if you will. We saw a digital camera on sale in the window and went in to enquire about it. The guy in the store confirmed that the camera was in stock but that it was at it's €320 original price, and not at the €220 price as advertised in the window.

We asked more about it, saying how the hell can you have a camera in the window for one price and then say that the actual price is different?! We spoke to the manager, he said that the camera was actually at that sale price the previous day, but now the sale had ended. I said how can you do that then? How can you advertise a product with the wrong price in your front window?

This is where he appeared to get technical. He said that what we had seen was indeed an advert for said product, but that the actual product (physical item) was not beside the advert. Therefore he was not obliged to sell it to us at the sale price etc.

I challenged again saying that the actual advert actually carries a picture of the product, as well as the model number. He kept insisting that he was right and that there was nothing we could do.

Now it may have been that a staff member had actually forgotten to take down the window advert on the day that the sale ended, but I had driven out to that store especially for this camera as someone had rang me saying that they had seen the ad in the bleedin window.

Severely pissed off.

Wishbone Ash

Has anyone else noticed that the displayed price of food products in filling stations is frequently different from that actually charged.

I am a bit suspicious that they do this deliberately. Many customers don't appear to notice the extra 20c overcharged on a doughnut if they are buying several different high value products such as petrol, cigarettes, telephone credit etc. Perhaps it is worth the risk because much of their trade is 'passing'.

I had to point it out to filling station staff on three occasions recently. The Irish staff were generally apologetic and corrected the mistake but non-national staff do not appear to understand the nature of the mistake and tend to get irate, insisting that the till displayed amount is due.

gerrycollins

another story

I was in boots and similar to connundrum a product (kodak photo all in 1 printer)was advertised at half price.

as they were expensive enough at the time the wife and i decided to get it as it was at half price,when we got to the till it was actually at full price and the offer had finished the previous sunday

the staff member i spoke to said sorry nothing i can do and walked off now that pissed me off

as i work in a grocery store i know the rules and how they work but the staff member and his lack of customer service pissed me off so i asked for the most senior manager on that day

eventually after no argument from the manager ( i didnt let him speak) i got the printer at the half price and a few free accesories

it is not the rule (there are many loops and if's and but's about the actual rules) that you get it at the "price displayed" but it is good customer service and an act of good faith to sell it to the customer at that price

sillysocks

Have a situation something silimar to this and wondering if anyone can help....

I am looking at booking a hotel online and I think that the price for one of the nights might be incorrect, probablyjust due to a typo on the website. If I go ahead and book online they only take a 10% deposit and the rest is paid on check-out. I'm just wondering if I book at this lower price what would my rights be if they then realise and try to charge the higher price on check out?

Victor

Is the 10% the 28 euros that they are charging for the Saturday night? That is 100% = 280 euros

sillysocks

Victor wrote:

Is the 10% the 28 euros that they are charging for the Saturday night? That is 100% = 280 euros

No sorry, its only 10eur that you have to pay as a booking deposit. The total for the two nights is showing on the website as 258 (cause Sunday night is slightly cheaper), however on every other weekend this seems to 560 for a Sat and Sun night. I definitely think its just a typo and just want to know if they ccould still charge the full rate on check out if I have booked at a lower rate?

antoinolachtnai

The prices of all barcoded products must be shown correctly on the shelf.

http://oasis.gov.ie/consumer_affairs/pricing/pricing_of_goods_and_services.html

There is an EU regulation on it.

If there is a consistent problem, complain to the director of consumer affairs (who do follow these things up in my experience).

Sonnenblumen

antoinolachtnai wrote:

The prices of all barcoded products must be shown correctly on the shelf.

http://oasis.gov.ie/consumer_affairs/pricing/pricing_of_goods_and_services.html

There is an EU regulation on it.

If there is a consistent problem, complain to the director of consumer affairs (who do follow these things up in my experience).

You mean they don't just sit around, pick noses and dream about crusaders?

chuckles30

I bought an item in homebase last year and when I got home I realised I was charged about a tenner more than I should have been for one item. I had quiet a few items, so didn't notice it at the till. Anyway I phoned them the next day and they said to call in. So in I go a few days later and my item is still on special offer!! So I went to customer service and explain my story - after much searching on the computer and re-scanning the item, they say 'no it's not on special offer'. And I say - they're still on special offer according to the display & off we go and I show her exactly what I'm talking about. She takes down all the special offer signs immediately and gives me back the difference without any further questions, so I had no hassle really. But ever since I always check my receipts to make sure the 'special offer's' are actually put through on the receipt, no matter where I shop - even with my groceries.

Random

@chuckles30
In this case the actual price of the product was not made clear to you before the sale was complete, and so you're entitled to a refund (or in this case they've just given you it at the lower price).