Is the "Price You See, The Price You Pay?"

SW75

Hi,

Today I went to a well known supermarket for my weekly shop.

While I was at the Newspapers/Magazines I noticed that there was a ticket/label infront of a couple of the Magazines (Economist/NewScientist) with the name of the magazine and a price.

i.e.
£1.00 Economist and then another with £2.70 NewScientist

I thought this looked a bargain, as normally the cover price of the Economist is £4.00 and NewScientist is £3.40, so I thought I'd take them and check the prices when I was done with the rest of my shopping.

At the till the magazines both went through full price at which point I asked if someone could check this as I'd seen the labels earlier, so I ended up walking along to the Newspapers/Magazines section with a member of staff.

When I pointed out the labels I was told that these were there to show the members of staff where each of the magazines went. The price was to be ignored as the price was shown on the front of the magazine.

I then mentioned that I thought that if a shop displays an item at a price, then that's what they should sell it at. However, the staff member wasn't having any of this and just mentioned that for magazines they are displayed as a cover price.

By this point a few other members of staff (these worked on the Newspapers/Magazines section) appeared and agreed with other member of staff. In the end I just said "Fine, I was only pointing this out". In the end I paid full price and left.


So, my question is... In this instance Is the "Price You See, The Price You Pay?"


Can someone else try this? I'm sure it will be like this in every store.

Esqui

Bit of a tricky area, there.

It's illegal to deliberately advertise something at a lower price in order to entice people in, then sell it at a higher price.

But, equally, mistakes are made...even customers can move price tickets...so as I believe it: the price on the shelf is an 'invitation to treat', in effect, by taking an item to the till, you are making an offer to buy it, which the retailer gives you the price and accepts or declines (or something, I'm getting confused now).

But the second has to be in line with the first - a retailer can't just put any price out and then make it up at the till when you 'offer to buy'. Equally, in most circumstances, it's good customer service to sell it at the mistaken price (unless it obviously IS a mistake, e.g. a 50" TV with a £10 price ticket).

I think, anyway.

rl290

My understanding is that they do not have to offer the price displayed: this is to allow for mistakes being made. HOWEVER, they are NOT allowed to deliberately misprice goods - it's immoral and I'm sure trading standards would have something to say about this. Once you pointed out the error, they should have removed the price. Instead, they have kept it and are now deliberately, knowingly misleading people. Write to head office or trading standards.

R

whatmichaelsays

The price label is merely an "invitation to treat" and is not an offer of contact.

By taking an item to the till, you are inviting the retailer to enter a contract at a given price. The retailer then has the option to either enter into the contract (ie, sell you the item), decline (not sell it) or offer to negotiate (ie, offer to sell it on different terms).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_Society_of_Great_Britain_v_Boots_Cash_Chemists_%28Southern%29_Ltd

People are right in that a retailer cannot deliberately mislead on pricing and in some rare cases, they are "expected" to lower a price in the eyes of Trading Standards. For example, when a price label has an accurate description of a product and where the price would not be considered as "unreasonable", the official line is that they should honour it (ie, you wouldn't get away if they priced a plasma television at £10.50 rather than £1,050). However, in reality this rarely happens as there is nothing in law to force the retailer to complete a sale - they can flat out refuse to serve you.

taxiphil

Broadly, the three posters above are correct, although making a misleading price indication is a strict liability offence so there's no deliberateness required (but there is of course a defence of due diligence).