Price not as advertised in store

simon_turner

Today we went to a major electrical outlet (not sure if im allowed to say who on here?) to buy a new kettle.
We saw a very nice one and the price on the shelf for it was £24.99, fantastic!
Happy with our choice we then make our way to the check out and the till operater scanned it in and the price came up at £39.99.
I challenged this saying that it was £24.99 and not £39.99, I went and double checked the ticket on the shelf and made sure I hadnt misread the wrong ticket, but no, I was correct in my assumption that the price was indeed £24.99.
This was then referred to the store manager who informed me that the price was £39.99 and that he wasnt obliged to sell it to me at the marked up price on the shelf.

Now, correct me if im wrong but I thought that if an item was marked up at a specific price the store has to sell it to me at that price? The store manager said he would withdraw the item from the shelf for 24 hours before re selling it at £39.99 (He did remove it as I went back about 10 minutes later and checked)

Needless to say the kettle stayed where it was as I felt I was being ripped off and we went to the store next door and purchased a kettle from there.

I phoned trading standards and they put me through to some consumer direct company who informed me that the manager of the store was correct that he didnt have to sell it to me but a report to trading standards would be put through for false advertising.

Surely stores cannot be allowed to do this?
Was I entitled to the kettle at the marked price or not?
either way with the store managers appaling attitude I will not be shopping at that store again, their loss as im about to make some major item purchases and they were my first choice.

NCISROCKS

simon_turner wrote: »

Today we went to a major electrical outlet (not sure if im allowed to say who on here?) to buy a new kettle.
We saw a very nice one and the price on the shelf for it was £24.99, fantastic!
Happy with our choice we then make our way to the check out and the till operater scanned it in and the price came up at £39.99.
I challenged this saying that it was £24.99 and not £39.99, I went and double checked the ticket on the shelf and made sure I hadnt misread the wrong ticket, but no, I was correct in my assumption that the price was indeed £24.99.
This was then referred to the store manager who informed me that the price was £39.99 and that he wasnt obliged to sell it to me at the marked up price on the shelf.

Now, correct me if im wrong but I thought that if an item was marked up at a specific price the store has to sell it to me at that price? The store manager said he would withdraw the item from the shelf for 24 hours before re selling it at £39.99 (He did remove it as I went back about 10 minutes later and checked)

Needless to say the kettle stayed where it was as I felt I was being ripped off and we went to the store next door and purchased a kettle from there.

I phoned trading standards and they put me through to some consumer direct company who informed me that the manager of the store was correct that he didnt have to sell it to me but a report to trading standards would be put through for false advertising.

Surely stores cannot be allowed to do this?
Was I entitled to the kettle at the marked price or not?
either way with the store managers appaling attitude I will not be shopping at that store again, their loss as im about to make some major item purchases and they were my first choice.

You are not entitled to the kettle at the marked price. The Manager and everyone else (except yourself) are correct. It sounds like an accidental misprice on the shelf and it's now been corrected.

DCFC79

Read this sticky, not sure how you missed it.

simon_turner

Thanks for that, it kind of makes sense but what I dont get is why a store of that size would mark an item at £24.99 when the price is actually £39.99 and I DONT beleive it was a mistake given the amount of items on sale of that brand. I also dont beleive it was a mistake given the store managers attitude towards me and my wife.

Its hardly good customer service is it, ok im one small customer thats taken his business elsewhere but the store will hardly be affected by this, I just cant help but wonder how many times this stores customers have bought an item beleiving it was X amount and bought the item at xx amount because they werent paying much attention, ie hand the card over and enter pin and get out of the store etc.

Certainly given the managers poor attitude I will be writing a letter of complaint to their head office.

bod1467

Whilst it may not have been handled very well, possibly because I'd suggest you weren't the picture of serene calm yourself , the store were correct. The item was presented for sale, you offered to pay the displayed price, they offered to sell at a different price, no sales contract was made.

The only issue here is one of potential false advertising. Since you reported this to Consumer Direct they will have forwarded this to Trading Standards for info. If there have been lots of reports about this store doing this then TS may take action.

Was this Comet or Currys?

DCFC79

simon_turner wrote: »

Its hardly good customer service is it, ok im one small customer thats taken his business elsewhere but the store will hardly be affected by this, I just cant help but wonder how many times this stores customers have bought an item beleiving it was X amount and bought the item at xx amount because they werent paying much attention, ie hand the card over and enter pin and get out of the store etc.

its up to the customer to say "are you sure thats right as the shelf said £XX.XX and not £xx.xx", if the customer isnt paying attention when paying then its not the stores fault is it.

Who ever was meant to remove that ticket didnt do they're job properly as the store has lost a sale.

simon_turner

bod1467 wrote: »

Whilst it may not have been handled very well, possibly because I'd suggest you weren't the picture of serene calm yourself , the store were correct. The item was presented for sale, you offered to pay the displayed price, they offered to sell at a different price, no sales contract was made.

The only issue here is one of potential false advertising. Since you reported this to Consumer Direct they will have forwarded this to Trading Standards for info. If there have been lots of reports about this store doing this then TS may take action.

Was this Comet or Currys?

I always remain calm in situations which require dealing with store managers, to lose your temper is to lose control of the situation.
We are talking about Comet.

DCFC79 wrote: »

its up to the customer to say "are you sure thats right as the shelf said £XX.XX and not £xx.xx", if the customer isnt paying attention when paying then its not the stores fault is it.

Who ever was meant to remove that ticket didnt do they're job properly as the store has lost a sale.

I agree its up to the customer to challenge the price but alot of people dont and unwittingly pay over the odds.
Ive just checked price of the kettle in question on their online website, still advertised at £24.99

Axled

It is sometimes worth ordering online to collect in store. This has worked for me in the past at other places. You can even do it in the shop via smart phone if you don't mind waiting around for a bit.

sunflower_2

i would bet this is comet.
never had good service from them.

bod1467

sunflower wrote: »

i would bet this is comet.

The force is strong in you, young Padawan. Albeit with a 34 minute delay from the OP confirming this.

pinkshoes

I had the same in Debenhams with a bottle of perfume, as the price on the till came up £10 more expensive than the shelf price ticket. Debenhams sold it to me at the cheaper price

I guess it's up to the shop and how much they value their customers!