The Good, the Grey and the Unlawful

emeldc

I thought this forum would be a good place to post this as it answers a few questions that come up here continuously. Mods, feel free to move if necessary.

From the IRISH TIMES the other day:
<SNIP> please post a link to the article. Boards does not allow the posting of full text from articles


Here it is;

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/signs-in-shops-the-good-the-grey-and-the-unlawful-1.1604411

rubadub

hmm I wish they referenced the actual laws. Some sounded dubious to me

A sign that screams “special offer” at you is breaking the rules, because it does not make it clear what is so special about the offer. At the very least it must tell you what the price is now, what the price will be when the deal ends, and when the deal will end.

I don't think I can ever recall seeing a sign saying what the price will be when the offer ends. In tesco the yellow labels often say what the price was before the offer, it very often does not increase back to that value when finished though.

e.g. they might have ice cream at €3.50, increase to €5 for the required time, then proclaim it to be half price, €2.50, then offer ends and it goes to €3.50.

It is also rare to see finish times on offers, I can only think of tesco who do this, I would have paid attention if others did it as I often plan my shopping based on when they end, e.g. empty my freezer and hold off buying until near the offer end date.

Also many "special offer" signs are put on by the manufacturer, often they make it look like the shop did it themselves. So in a recent thread people were moaning about shops charging a lot where it was the manufacturers label stating "100% free", not the shop. So reading this guys claim if a manufacturer puts "special offer" on a item the shop has to go listing when this ends? even if its not an offer at all, and never ever going to end.

There is a chicken company who routinely tape together 2 packs to make it look like the supermarket did it. This works well, I see loads of people automatically go for them.

Despite the rules, problems persist. In the weeks after Christmas, one of the most frequent signs that will appear in Irish shops will be “No refunds on sale items” or “Credit notes only on returned sale stock”. While it is understandable that retailers – anxious to be shot of old products – would rather you didn’t return goods, signs of this nature are in breach of the law.
When you buy something – and it doesn’t matter if you pay full price or get 98 per cent off – you have a right to expect it to be of an acceptable standard, fit for its intended purpose and as advertised. If your hard-won sale item does not comply with any of these three rules, you are entitled to get the product repaired or replaced, or to get a refund. No matter what the sign says.

They should really give an example of when a shop can have a sign up where you cannot return the item, I am pretty sure they can do this, like selling seconds or damaged stock. All they say is "as advertised" which could cover this, but some might consider this to be "sign of this nature" that he described earlier.