Ikea

savercol

Recent visit to Ikea Croydon purchased a double bed including two 70 x 200 slats. Both the same with same bar codes, numbers and all other codes, although one looked newer than the other. Going through checkout one was £12 the other £20 (should be £12 each). Checked till receipt before leaving store and noticed the error. Went to customer services who knew before we spoke (had items in hand) what the problem was. It was a known issue that one went through at the wrong price. Is it not illegal to knowingly overcharge? Had I not checked I would have paid the extra as no one stopped me and said I'd been accidentally overcharged.

Valli

The process is that stores display and item with a price but this price is not a price which stores are legally obliged to sell the item at, it's called an 'invitation to treat'.

The contract is formed when you go to the till, are then told a price and you hand over a form of payment. (Cash, card, whatever) so, at this point, if the price is altered from the one on display this is the price at which the contract is formed if you agree and pay the price being asked.

(see the sticky - Do shops have to sell at the advertised price)

So technically, you haven't been overcharged as you paid the price you were invited to pay at the till; no law has been broken.

Nevertheless as this wasn't the 'invitation' price Ikea have refunded you. They were not obliged to, however.

savercol

I own two shops so know the law regarding not having to sell at advertised price. But I would never advertise at £12 and knowingly allow something to go through a till at £20. Trading standards would close me down in days.

Money-Saving-King

savercol wrote: »

I own two shops so know the law regarding not having to sell at advertised price. But I would never advertise at £12 and knowingly allow something to go through a till at £20. Trading standards would close me down in days.

Have you ever had a trading standards visit? I have (they disagreed with the customer). You would not get closed down in days!

You can have miss prices or in other words mistake are allowed for pricing but will need to be corrected once you know but you do not need to sell at that price. As stated above it's called an 'invitation to treat'. You might need to have a read up on law as what you've said isn't quite right.

visidigi

There is also a great difference between a small business and a massive businesses capability to update a price on a system quickly.

Ikea's is centrally controlled, based on when I tried to redeem an offer which they made a mistake on.

savercol

OK over reacted. But I cant advertise at £12 knowing that the computer will put it through at £20, can I? In my case at Ikea they knew the price was wrong. When I approached the services desk with the items they knew before I spoke what the problem was. Their excuse was it was a 'computer error' and this I accept, but for how long can an 'error' be left on the computer?

Valli

savercol wrote: »

OK over reacted. But I cant advertise at £12 knowing that the computer will put it through at £20, can I? In my case at Ikea they knew the price was wrong. When I approached the services desk with the items they knew before I spoke what the problem was. Their excuse was it was a 'computer error' and this I accept, but for how long can an 'error' be left on the computer?

Or, to put it another way, they have identified there's a problem but, for whatever reason have not sorted it.

The bar code, in all likelihood, cannot be exactly the same because that's how the system picks up what's sold and the price.

And they weren't advertised - they were displayed.

savercol

But as a shopkeeper, this is one of a very few things that goes in my favor. H&S, music licences, street licence, high rates, rent increases, water and power bills all seem to be stacked against me. Suddenly I'm loving this business!

visidigi

savercol wrote: »

but for how long can an 'error' be left on the computer?

They could have been told about it 3 minutes before you walked in.

You don't know when it was incorrectly applied in the system....

savercol

According to cust services 'quite a while'. I got the feeling more than a day.

Valli

savercol wrote: »

According to cust services 'quite a while'. I got the feeling more than a day.

Ikea is what it is - it's a bit 'take it or leave it'; staff aren't overly customer-focussed. I have the feeling that adjusting the sytem would be a time consuming job; they're probably just waiting for the ones which are going through the till at the incorrect price to all leave the store.

There's a cartoon which perfectly illustrates my point...

found here

http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Actively%20Waiting