Can shops charge you different than advertised prices?

Sherdog

Hi all, can someone help me please, in the last couple of weeks i have had two frustrating shopping experiences, both relating to the price of products, firstly, i went to buy a lamp which which was priced at £30 but when i took it to the till, the check-out girl queried it saying she thought it should be more, called her supervisor over who said yes it should be £40 and someone had probably swapped the tags over. As there was no price on the shelf, only on the lamp, i argued the point but she said i could have it for £40 or they'd simply refuse to sell it to me! Needless to say i let them keep it! and today, whilst shopping in my local Boots, there was a 2 for 3 offer label on the shelf but when i got to the till, lo and behold it didn't register, they called the manager over who said the offer was out of date and i again i argued the point as there was no date exclusion on the offer label, he agreed but said he knew the offer was out of date, removed the label from the shelf and said if wanted 3 i'd have to pay for 3! Once again i left empty handed!!! Can someone please enlighten me as to what my consumer rights are in instances such as these, or point me in the direction of a website that can help. Thank you very much, and if you got to the bottom of this lengthy text without falling asleep, well done

Nile

Hello Sherdog.........some posts make me feel drowsy but not this one.

Fran will probably know the facts but until she comments, I believe it's something along the lines of..........the vendor invites you to buy but doesn't have to sell you the product.

Midas

A shop can refuse to sell anything to anyone - you don't have a 'right' to shop there, so if its just a genuine error/the result of some naughty customer swapping price tags then there's not a lot you can do.

On the other hand if you could show that it was false advertising then they would probably have a case to answer. Funny attitude in Boots though - shops often let you have the offer if its there mistake as it was in this case (by not removing out of date labels), but I don't think they have to.

Talon_Karrde

this is true, i work in retail....
If the product is advertised at a price then raised mor lowered you can report them to trading standards for False advertising. However, it is also true that the retailer is under no obligation to sell you the product.
So, you can't force them to sell at the advertised priced, but you can try and make sure they damn well don't do it again!
Of course, you could threaten trading standards at the time and see if that got you anywhere with buying it for the advertised price?

Justin_Credit

These instances involve the law of contract. I did study it a little many years ago as part of another college course.

From what I remember there are three elements to a contract
1 An offer by one party

2 Acceptance of the offer by the other party

3 The consideration, usually the sum of £££

When an item is priced up and on the shelf this is not an offer but is called an 'invitation to treat.' The contract is actually made at the till when the price is agreed and you make the payment. So, the instance with the lamp is perfectly ok as I see it, they were within their rights to refuse to sell it at the lower price.

I'm not sure about the Boots instance though, if they are guilty of false or misleading advertising then other consumer laws may apply.

I hope this is of some help but I'm no lawyer this is just my opinion.

JC

skiddy2k

Justin_Credit, your correct, with the 'contract', theory. studied it aswell,
however, for a large company like Boots, they should have given it to you as a 'goodwill gesture.

Glad

twice in Boots this week I've pointed out misleading banners/offers,

one was 'buy two get one free on all easter chocolates & confectionery on this stand'
so I chose 3 items to be told at till that the box of chocs I'd picked didn't count as it was leftover valentine chocs, I said but the banner says 'on this stand' and they said it means easter chocs and easter confectionery on this stand.
However they did give me the offer as a goodwill gesture before removing the banner. The other time was something similar and they honoured that too, so it must be at the managers discretion.

Justin_Credit

I agree with you skiddy2k.

Boots have possibly lost a good customer who may have been a regular spender, all for the sake of a few pence.

JC

Sherdog

Ok, thanks very much, think that clears it up nicely! Didn't want to push a bad point if i was wrong. Clearly the gesture of goodwill towards an (ahem) expired offer is discretionary, perhaps i just caught her on a bad day? Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

steady__eddie

A long time ago when I studied contract the price advertised was only "a general level at which the retailer would enter into a contract". If something was on sale for £2 but the retailer would only accept £2 and 5 shillings (does this give my age away ?), then it was lawful but if he would accept nothing less than a fiver then the full weight of Trading Standards could be bought against him. How long is a piece of string being the legal maxim ! I would imagine that things must have changed nowadays though ?