Argos Price Con

morganb

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=20001&langId=-1&catalogId=10701&productId=720058

Check out the same item at Homebase (who are part of the same group as Argos) - the mower is £109.99 (down from £129.99) but :

This item is ONLY available to purchase ONLINE and is NOT available IN STORE

Unfortunately :

Currently out of stock for home delivery

barvid

> I believe that when you go to a shop, you make an offer to buy something when you go to the counter with your money. The shopkeeper can decide whether or not to accept your offer and isn't obliged to let you have the item for a particular price.

Indeed - there's nothing to stop you from making an offer for anything in any shop. You'll probably only succeed in an independent shop where the prices aren't controlled by a larger company (i.e. outside the manager's discretion), but you can certainly ask.

> the shop could be in trouble for advertising something at a price that it won't honour.

Yes. The shop doesn't have to honour incorrect pricing, but if it did it too much then it could be an offence under (I think) the Consumer Credit Act, or other consumer protection legislation. It would be something that Trading Standards might become interested in, too.

Stockie

Firstly the manager (or not as I’m thinking) is a complete A**

Secondly Argos in store price should match their online prices, i think i've only seen two occasions in the past 5 years I’ve worked for them where they haven't - usually due to price files not downloading from HO correctly to the store.
However if you reserve something on the night a sale ends and then the price goes back up to the normal price when you go into store the next day then it will bring up the current price on the till. However managers were given discretionally control over charging the price it was reserved at in Jan although most did that before it was official.

A lot of people are bring up comments on the fact it could be a "invitation to treat" which i could see however it's countered by The Consumer Protection Act of 1987 which makes it a criminal offence to give consumers a misleading price indication. I’ll leave that one for overpaid lawyers to argue over though…

My advice - If you haven't used it take it back with the receipt between Wed 2nd and Mon 7th May and get it refunded for what you paid, then buy it back for <bank holiday mega deals spoiler ahead> £99.99. </bank holiday mega deals spoiler> (and rub that in the managers face if you so desire!)

Stockie.

p.s. let us know which branch it was unless that compromises you in some way.

PurpleDuck

this happened to me with a bench cover. Online price was £3 cheaper than store price. I printed out the webpage and my local store honoured the webprice. If the manager is willing they can match the price.

TomsMom

Something similar also happened to me when I wanted to buy a printer. I reserved it online at £49.99, printed out the details. Next day we drove 60 miles (the nearest Argos, we were doing other shopping as well!) and hubby paid with credit card but didn't check amount before signing.

On reaching the car something made me ask him if it was actually £49.99 on the receipt. No - it was actually £99.99. Went back into Argos and showed them the print out from the previous evening at £49.99 and they said that the price went up at midnight.

Mrs Gobby (me) went into action about we had reserved it the previous evening at £49.99, drove 60 miles to pick it up and now they've increased their price by £50 and they were conning their customers, etc., etc.

Of course, he refused to refund the £50 so we said in that case to take it back and refund the lot!

yeslek

you say that it was showing as 'CURRENTLY unavailble for home delivery'

this implies that it will be again. so the store price IS legal as they are not saying you can only buy it at store price, if you wait for it to come back in stock for home delivery then you can have it at the lower price.
obviously you couldnt be bothered to wait and so had to pay an extra £20

i dont think (i cant believe i'm saying this) that argos did anything wrong in this case.
they couldnt supply an item at the lower price so offered for you to pick it up from store at a higher price.

granted there are a few glitches ie you should have been made aware of the store price on the same day ie with reservation confirmation maybe but i believe the manager was well within their right to refuse you the lower price (though ideally they would have allowed it as a good will gesture but some are a little meaner i guess)

barvid

> A lot of people are bring up comments on the fact it could be a "invitation to treat"

ALL prices, whether online or a label fixed to a shelf in a shop, or even a second-hand ad in the paper, are an invitation to treat. None can ever be considered to be an offer in the legal, contractual sense.

laura_24601

This happened to me last year, I reserved a mobile phone online, went to the store to pay for it & pick it up but the price was about £40 more than the price online. My Dad was just gonna pay the extra money but I wouldnt let him. They're a complete rip off.

Tommy_C_2

yeslek wrote: »

you say that it was showing as 'CURRENTLY unavailble for home delivery'

this implies that it will be again. so the store price IS legal as they are not saying you can only buy it at store price, if you wait for it to come back in stock for home delivery then you can have it at the lower price.
obviously you couldnt be bothered to wait and so had to pay an extra £20

i dont think (i cant believe i'm saying this) that argos did anything wrong in this case.
they couldnt supply an item at the lower price so offered for you to pick it up from store at a higher price.

granted there are a few glitches ie you should have been made aware of the store price on the same day ie with reservation confirmation maybe but i believe the manager was well within their right to refuse you the lower price (though ideally they would have allowed it as a good will gesture but some are a little meaner i guess)

Argos infer a certain price until AFTER you have actually reserved the product for collection and they have given you a reservation number for your order.

Even then, in the small print, you don't even know the 'real price' until you collect your reserved order.

The store manager agreed that you can't actually order the product (either online or collect from the store) for the advertised Argos price.

The manager said that the product was deliberately classed as out of stock online so that people will visit the store. Of course, you then visit the store to collect your reserved product (there is no other way of ordering the product) only to be asked for extra money.

It's a con/method to get people into the Argos stores.