Wrong Billboard Price

KetchupKid

I passed a shop yesterday that had a large Billboard up with an item and a price. Because of that price I entered the shop to buy the item, but I noticed the item was priced more than the price on the sign outside. I asked the shop keeper about the sale price and he said the sale was over. I then indicated there was a massive sign outside with the cheaper price and he said the sale was over and said the expiration date was on the sign. I didn't ask to get the item at the lower price, I simply returned the item to the shelf and started to walk out and I just casually mentioned the sign should be taken down and he went into a psycho tirade that the sign doesn't have to be removed because it has a date on it and said if I read the sign I would see it's no longer valid. When I looked at the sign it did have a date on it, but the date was in very small print and the sale price was about 20 times the size of the expiration date. The sale price was visible from the road, the date wasn't.

Because of the attitude of the shop keeper, I'll never walk in that shop again and I didn't need to buy the item in question, but what are the laws about Inviting customers into a shop with a very misleading sign?

monkeysnapper

As I've always said, do your talking with your feet and wallet . Tell all your friends

the groutch

you can make a complaint to the ASAI about it if you want, but at the end of the day he has no legal obligation to sell at that price.

dan1895

How was the sign misleading if it had an expiry date on it? Its up to you to read the small print.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

dan1895

Melendez wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

No but the store is covered from a legal point of view.

gugleguy

Similar thing happened to me at a well known Petrol Station. Well, I was there to look at the magazines, but saw an offer for chocolate buiscuits. Selected a packet and went to the cashier, and she was going to charge me the full price. When I pointed out the offer to her, she snapped to me that this offer was now expired. I returned the goods to their place on the shelf.
Won't go in to that Petrol Station again, even if it is the nearest one to me.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

monkeysnapper

dan1895 wrote: »

How was the sign misleading if it had an expiry date on it? Its up to you to read the small print.

Aggggh come on !!! Are you serious?

KetchupKid

dan1895 wrote: »

How was the sign misleading if it had an expiry date on it? Its up to you to read the small print.

The point is, the sign had the sale price in HUGE letters and then at the bottom in very small print was an expiration date. I spotted the sign from the road as I drove by (no one but Superman would be able to read the small print from the road).

Finally, I never asked them to honour the price, I didn't even ask them to take the sign down (although I think I would have the right to), after he mentioned the expiration date, I just put the item back and very pleasantly commented if it's expired, the sign shouldn't be up and yer many went bonkers and acted as if I was a criminal. I didn't say anymore and as I walking out he said "the sale is over, you don't have to buy it if you don't want to" and I replied, I'm not, that's why I'm leaving and I'll never come in here again" and then he replied something like - don't, I don't want you in here, almost as if he was banning me as if I did something wrong, but in reality he did 2 things wrong, had a misleading sign and went mental over a comment and once again I never asked to get it at the "old" sale price!

the groutch

KetchupKid wrote: »

The point is, the sign had the sale price in HUGE letters and then at the bottom in very small print was an expiration date. I spotted the sign from the road as I drove by (no one but Superman would be able to read the small print from the road).

Finally, I never asked them to honour the price, I didn't even ask them to take the sign down (although I think I would have the right to), after he mentioned the expiration date, I just put the item back and very pleasantly commented if it's expired, the sign shouldn't be up and yer many went bonkers and acted as if I was a criminal. I didn't say anymore and as I walking out he said "the sale is over, you don't have to buy it if you don't want to" and I replied, I'm not, that's why I'm leaving and I'll never come in here again" and then he replied something like - don't, I don't want you in here, almost as if he was banning me as if I did something wrong, but in reality he did 2 things wrong, had a misleading sign and went mental over a comment and once again I never asked to get it at the "old" sale price!

firstly I didnt know there was a law that all of the Ts & Cs need to be legible from the road (guessing that's approx 100m away).
I expect the expiry date is fully legible on entering the shop, even if it's only 1/20th of the size of the price that could be seen from the road.

secondly, regardless of the tone you used, it'd very easy for someone to take it as being told how to do their job by a customer.

KetchupKid

Hi Groutch,

Yes, if you walk straight up to the billboard and look real close you can see the expiration date, but how many people really do that. I was driving by, saw the sign, so I stopped. Incredibly misleading. Even though the date is there, it's very small print, with a sign intentionally facing the road to bring in as many customers as possible.

I wasn't groutchie at all to him. I just said the sign was wrong and i wasn't telling him how to do his job, although someone should since he's not doing it right, by misleading customers and being psychotic!

doublej

I think that the OP is getting an undeserved hard time.
1. The sign IS misleading; it is advertising an offer to prospective customers that will not be honoured.
2. The offered price is different from the till price.
3. There are rules regarding the prominence given to exclusionary clauses for certain styles of communication; basically, if something is done with the effect of misleading a consumer, it's a breach of Consumer law.

4. The ASAI have nothing to do with this matter, it is the NCA, National Consumer Agency.

5. If you make a complaint to the NCA, they will in the first instance write to the trader to get their side of the story.
The NCA will most certainly be of the opinion that what the OP claimed to have encountered was an Unfair and Misleading Practice.

6. If the trader denies that the sign was outside or that it was outside but did not contain incorrect information the NCA will visit the store and conduct their own survey not merely for evidence of the original sin but also evidence of any other breaches of Consumer Law.

7. The NCA can impose on the spot fines or they may bring the matter to District Court. The traders name is placed on the NCA website in perpetuity if convicted.

wmpdd3

A far as I know the NCA only cover pricing near the product, not outside. This comes under the asai.

doublej

wmpdd3 wrote: »

A far as I know the NCA only cover pricing near the product, not outside. This comes under the asai.

Not correct , ring NCA

rubadub

dan1895 wrote: »

How was the sign misleading if it had an expiry date on it? Its up to you to read the small print.

If you really can't figure out why its described as misleading then I think reading the small print is the least of your worries. Watch out for magic bean & bridge salesmen.

If you google the opposite of misleading its "honest" and "honourable". Do you really think the shop is honourable? what do you think the purpose of this sign is?

In the US shops have gone to court over it
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/10/11/2-investigators-walgreens-posts-expired-sales-tags-charges-full-price/

In all, we found 46 expired sales tags in just one section......

In all, we were overcharged $50.95 for the items we bought that appeared to be on sale.

It’s not just a problem in the Chicago area. CBS investigators across the country found similar issues with sales stickers.

Walgreens has settled pricing lawsuits in California and Wisconsin and is facing a new lawsuit from the attorney general in Missouri for deceptive pricing practices.

“This level of consumer deception is inexcusable from a corporation as sophisticated as Walgreens,” Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster says.

And what we found here disturbed Walgreens customer Virginia Harding.

“If you’re buying something intentionally because you think you’re getting a deal, it shouldn’t be like a bait and switch,” she says.