Co-op - offers on shelf not discounted at till

Bogof_Babe

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

They can get into trouble for consitently displaying incorrect prices. However this doesn't affect your individual purchase. They do not have to sell it to you at that price. It's surprising how many people seem to think they do!

And yes, always check your receipts. It's amazing how often they are wrong, especially with special offer prices, where there is quite a degree for error between the till systems and the stickers on the shelves.

So do they not even have to advise you that they are charging a different price from what you would expect, given the shelf price? If this really is legal, it's about time it was changed.

If they "do not have to sell it to you at that price", why would they "get into trouble for consistently displaying incorrect prices"? It seems there is no such thing as an incorrect price, if they can charge whatever they like.

tandraig

apologies - i have just been on consumer advice site and this is what it says about incorrect pricing

Incorrect Pricing
Incorrect or misleading pricing information is a common cause for complaint and is covered in these regulations.
Firstly, you should be clear that shops are not legally obliged to sell you their products and reserve the right not to do so if they wish. This means that if you pick up something which is wrongly priced, you do not have a right to buy it at that price. Having said this however, it is still unlawful for shops and suppliers to display an item at a price which is different to the price requested at the point of sale. Exceptions to this are obvious mistakes where, for example, a TV is priced at £8.99 instead of £899.00. An action is also misleading if it includes the manner in which the price is calculated and whether the item is being marketed as ‘discount’ or ‘for a limited time only’ – when in fact it is not.

it may be the stores i worked in had a policy that the item would be sold to that customer for the price displayed - usually the front ticket would be whipped off pretty smartish!
it is clear though that they can get into serious trouble if consistently misleading the customer. i think this should be clarified by a notice (such as in pubs' the management reserve the right to refuse to serve you)

Bogof_Babe

Thanks tandraig, that makes a lot more sense. I seem to remember something about taking an item to the checkout is "an invitation to treat", i.e. not a binding agreement to sell it to you, but once they have agreed to sell it to you then I'm sure it should be at the price it was offered.

tandraig

ty bogof
i am sure i have seen reports in press when EPOS first started (years ago!) about this and can remember the court usually found in favour of customer. i noticed because i had just started work for somerfield shelf filling and management were paranoid about ticket pricing and it used to really annoy me when other staff didnt check barcodes before shelf filling!!!!!!!!!!!!