B&Q Advice (Reduced items)

BaileyB

Hi, was wondering if someone can help me. Yesterday i was in b&q and went to the reduced asile and found a few goodies, 2 of which were

Greenhouse shading - Just had a reduced sticker of £3 on it (I had no idea of the proper rrp but thought it was ok for £3.

Fabric Pegs - Again reduced to 50p

So went to the till and the greenhouse shading came up as £17.99 so the lady of the phone called someone on gardering and told them it was a mistake and i could not have it for £3.

I said you have have to sell it to me for £3 as that is the price advertised, called over the sercruity guy and off he went to check and came back saying it was not on the reduced stocked list so could bot have it.

Also the fabric pegs were £4.99 and again not on the reduced list so could not have it. She said someone had reduced it by mistake.

Now does anyone know the law here as there were about 20 baskets full of stuff reduced things. Do they have to sell it to you for that price?

Any advice would be great

loopy-loo73

don't know the legalities of it but i always understood that if it was advertised at a certain price then they had to sell it at that price.
i hope you didnt buy then & gave them a piece of you mind instead ... i would have!
Lou.

Germeze

I would ask trading standards their views. I am tired of confusing pricing or some cases no prices on display (Tesco's). Shops should get their acts together :mad:

Bossyboots

No they do not have to sell it to you at that price. There is a site that sets it out but I don't have time just now to find it. If no-one beats me to it, I will have a look tonight.

Epiphone

The price on the item is an "invitation to treat". The shop is not obliged to sell you it at that price.

viktory

As per other posters B&Q did not have to sell to you at that price. Found this:

UK and US lawyers break down the process of contract formation into three stages: an invitation to treat, an offer and an acceptance. The distinction between the three stages is not always immediately obvious. When you see an item for sale in a shop window, you may think that the shopkeeper is offering to sell it to you. However, in legal terms the display of an object is not usually an offer to sell that object, rather it is an "invitation to treat". An invitation to treat comes before the offer in the contractual process, and is an indication by the seller that they may be prepared to enter into a contract. The second stage – the "offer" – only takes place when you go into the shop and say that you'd like to buy the item in the window. Your statement is an offer to purchase the item and, in the normal course, the shopkeeper "accepts" that offer by taking your money and handing you the item in question. However, the shopkeeper could refuse to sell it to you for any reason whatsoever. This distinction is important: if the item in the window was considered an offer, which the buyer accepts, then the shopkeeper would be bound to the contract as soon as the buyer asks to buy the item.

JasonLVC

Just to concur with previous posts. A price is an "invitiation to treat" - think like you were bartering with a real person at a market, they offer x, you offer y and you agree upon a price that you are both happy with. At any stage, either party can withdraw until 'contracts are signed', that is payment taken/accepted. It's exactly the same process, just no words are spoken.

You could complain to trading standards as B&Q are certainly mis-representing/mis-advertising items - you could argue to tempt you into buying it at a reduced price and then increasing the price at last minute - but again, you can always simply refuse to accept the higher price, just like they can not accept the lower price.

In defence of B&Q (???!), a customer could have moved the items onto the discount tray and stuck reduced labels on just as a wind-up or to try and aquire the goods at a lower price. I guess if one got hold of a load of reduced stickers from a shop worker who's carelessly left the roll of stickers laying about - one could, if they wanted, go about reducing everything to suit their needs and buy stuff cheaply.

Sorry about the negative response but the law is quite clear on this

hjb123

Yeah the price on the goods or shelf label is an invitation for you to buy - the shop doesnt have to sell it at that price but often shops display good custoemr service and will let you have it at that price - but not always!

If there are several instances of this or if you are really teeed off then notify your local Trading Standards.

hollydays

This is annoying for the OP ,but there are some naughty customers who swop prices.I recall 2 customers taking a £99 rug to a store till once with a badly applied sticker for about £3.49..They hadnt been seen to do it,so the Police could do nothing but the store " withdrew it from sale" ,which they are legally entitled to do.

fergies_army

hollydays wrote:

This is annoying for the OP ,but there are some naughty customers who swop prices.I recall 2 customers taking a £99 rug to a store till once with a badly applied sticker for about £3.49..They hadnt been seen to do it,so the Police could do nothing but the store " withdrew it from sale" ,which they are legally entitled to do.

Ahhhh obtaining goods by deception ... Magistrates favourate

BaileyB

Thanks everyone. I spoke to my friend and he also saw this last week sometime and it had the £3 sticker on it. This is the 3rd time B&Q have done this to me so might call Trading standards and tell them to kick B&Q's behind for mis-representing/mis-advertising items. That'll teach them.

The sticker was stuck to plastic so it could not have been swapped as you could easy tell.

Nevermind it's not like i really needed it but it's the point.

Thanks Anyway