Price on Tag was less than price charged

STUBBORNGIRL

hi All,

I bought a Pj's in La Senza yesterday and the price on the tag said £18 or €25. when i went to the counter i was charged €29. When i questioned this the lady replied that it was an error on the tag when converting the sterling to Euro rate. Now at the moment the Sterling is weak to the Euro so it should have been cheaper and not dearer. Anyway that aside am i right in thinking that the price displayed should have been the price i paid?

I have the tag and the receipt - can anyone suggest what i can do? its not the money that is bothering me it is the principle of the act and i would like to highlight this to the company.

Thanks

Random

The shop assistant probably doesn't care and just gave you whatever excuse sprung to mind. Can't blame him/her really.

You went to the counter, you were told the price, you accepted (by paying).

Look up "invitation to treat".

If you want go back to the shop and go to customer service. They may or may not refund you the difference. They don't have to

Euro_Kraut

Not sure about the legality of charging a price different to the one on the tag. I have it in my head from an incident before that legally it is okay - but does represent lousy customer relations. A few places have a policy of always charging the displayed price even if it is an error.

As regards the Sterling excuse offered by the casheir; its a load of BS. £19 Steling = e22.50 at todays exchange rate. Check out www.xe.com for up-to-date rates.

I really think you should follow this up. Very poor behaviour from the firm in question.

Sam Vimes

it's perfectly legal, as random says it's an invitation to treat. As long as you're told the actual price at the point of sale and accept that price, they've done nothing illegal.

but you're right in that some shops have a price you see is the price you pay policy but it's just a policy and not law

STUBBORNGIRL

Sam Vimes wrote: »

it's perfectly legal, as random says it's an invitation to treat. As long as you're told the actual price at the point of sale and accept that price, they've done nothing illegal.

but you're right in that some shops have a price you see is the price you pay policy but it's just a policy and not law

thank you all for your replies.

I questioned it after i had paid and went back to the rack to check that the price had said €25 - therefore it was not brought to my attention at the point of sale.

I know what invitation to treat is but i cannot see how shops get away with displaying a different price to the one charged. This is false and misleading!

Sam Vimes

STUBBORNGIRL wrote: »

thank you all for your replies.

I questioned it after i had paid and went back to the rack to check that the price had said €25 - therefore it was not brought to my attention at the point of sale.

I know what invitation to treat is but i cannot see how shops get away with displaying a different price to the one charged. This is false and misleading!

the point of sale is the till, not the rack. as long as you were given the correct price before walking out of the shop they haven't broken the law

STUBBORNGIRL

Sam Vimes wrote: »

the point of sale is the till, not the rack. as long as you were given the correct price before walking out of the shop they haven't broken the law

And what is to stop me saying that i wasnt given the correct price before walking out of the shop. Ament i now in the same position as someone who didnt know. Have they now broken the law? to be honest i dont see what difference it makes as they werent going to bring it to my attention until i brought it to theirs - and even then they were stupid enough to still leave the wrong price on the tag which i have with the receipt that says a diff price!

Im going to send to head office to make a point of their ripping consumers off but as i say i dont care about the money involved it is the principle! Surely everywhere would be displaying the incorrect price and over charging if there wasnt something to stop them! just seems so wrong

Del2005

STUBBORNGIRL wrote: »

And what is to stop me saying that i wasnt given the correct price before walking out of the shop. Ament i now in the same position as someone who didnt know. Have they now broken the law? to be honest i dont see what difference it makes as they werent going to bring it to my attention until i brought it to theirs - and even then they were stupid enough to still leave the wrong price on the tag which i have with the receipt that says a diff price!

Im going to send to head office to make a point of their ripping consumers off but as i say i dont care about the money involved it is the principle! Surely everywhere would be displaying the incorrect price and over charging if there wasnt something to stop them! just seems so wrong

Well you paid them money or put your PIN in for Laser or CC, therefore they told you the correct price. As others have said it doesn't matter what's on the tag it's the price that comes up on the till that is the price, the tag/price on shelf is only for guidence.

Send a letter to head office and they may refund the difference out of goodwill but they don't have to.

Sam Vimes

STUBBORNGIRL wrote: »

And what is to stop me saying that i wasnt given the correct price before walking out of the shop

first of all, you'd be lying. there's nothing stopping you saying you tripped and fell in the shop so you can make a claim against them, other than you'd be lying

secondly, the correct price is €29, it was mislabelled at €25. you were told the correct price when the assistant asked you for the money and this correct price is now printed on your receipt. you accepted this price by either handing over the money or entering your pin and so they've done nothing illegal. they are required to inform you of the correct price, which they did. they are not required to point out any pricing errors that may or may not be on display throughout the store

in reality they should try to avoid putting the wrong prices on goods but these things happen and they shouldn't have to put up with letters to head office accusing them of breaking the law every time it does

shops can be fined for displaying incorrect prices but there's some leeway given because it can easily happen in a large store

STUBBORNGIRL

Thanks all for your replies

I just find it hard to believe that they can get away with displaying one price and then charging another! And yes ye are completely right i did accept to pay the price but it was just afterwards i was thinking how wrong it was.

I dont want the €4 back but i just wanted to know if they were allowed to do this. Thanks for clearing this up for me

seamus

There are certain regulations in regards to pricing, which require the pricing to be accurate.

I had always thought that while it's not strictly illegal, the shop had two choices; They could sell it at the lower price or withdraw it from sale.
I didn't think they could simply say, "Actually that costs X" and then ask you if that's OK.

So many others have said it now though that obviously I'm doubting myself
Google awaits...

Sam Vimes

seamus wrote: »

There are certain regulations in regards to pricing, which require the pricing to be accurate.

I had always thought that while it's not strictly illegal, the shop had two choices; They could sell it at the lower price or withdraw it from sale.
I didn't think they could simply say, "Actually that costs X" and then ask you if that's OK.

So many others have said it now though that obviously I'm doubting myself
Google awaits...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat

A shop owner displaying their goods for sale is generally making an invitation to treat (Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists [1953] 1 QB 401). They are not obliged to sell the good to anyone who is willing to pay for them, even if additional signage such as "special offer" accompanies the display of the good. (But see bait and switch.) This distinction was legally relevant in Fisher v Bell [1961] 1 QB 394, where it was held that displaying a flicknife for sale in a shop did not contravene legislation which prohibited offering for sale such a weapon. The distinction also means that if a shop mistakenly displays a good for sale at a very low price it is not obliged to sell it for that amount [1].

Euro_Kraut

The National Consumer Agency would appear to back up the OP:
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Get_Your_Rights/Prices/Misleading%20prices/

Shops do have an obliagation not to mislead consumers.

Corruptedmorals

This happens a good bit in the shop I work in. Either I notice or the customer notices and I get a manager to price-override it to the correct price, usually because someone whose job it was to mark down the prices on Garment X didn't get all of them, or else something that's supposed to be on sale still scans in at half price.

Sam Vimes

Euro_Kraut wrote: »

The National Consumer Agency would appear to back up the OP:
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Get_Your_Rights/Prices/Misleading%20prices/

Shops do have an obliagation not to mislead consumers.

they do and as i said, they can be fined for displaying prices incorrectly but leeway is given because mistakes can so easily happen.

also, it says that the NCA have the power to prosecute offenders but it doesn't say they have to sell it to you at the lower price

A Dub in Glasgo

Once the pricing error has been identified to the shop, they should put measures in place to fix the error. In other words, they should be relabelling all the stock with the correct price