Something I'd never heard before - no automatic right to change?

Naf

So out with some friends on Saturday evening, and consumer rights came up: one friend had ordered a bag online, received it, then received another. She contacted the retailer who never responded, so she kept it. This sparked near outrage from another member of the group insisting she should have gone out of her way (and been out of pocket) to return it. We agreed to disagree; then the friend who had received the bags brought up with some confidence the misconception about shops' pricing (as in the sticky on this board) and just wouldn't be dissuaded by my argument until the other friend (a retail manager) explained it in basically the same terms as the sticky.
However, he then went on to suggest that if you take an item to the till and hand over £20, then technically you're making an offer of £20 for the item, even if the marked price is much less, and the retailer can technically accept that and not give any change?

bod1467

Technically this is correct. (This exact topic has been discussed here within the last few months).

By the same token, the purchaser is under no compunction to accept this status and can cancel the contract if the price has changed.

browneyedbazzi

How often do you hand an item and a note to the shop staff?

Usually people will wait for the item to be scanned/the price to be keyed into the till then once the price has come up you hand over the cash. Once the price has registered on the till and/or the retailer has asked you for a specific amount of money for the item that forms part of the contract - if you hand over more money then you would be entitled to the change.

Naf

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

How often do you hand an item and a note to the shop staff?

Usually people will wait for the item to be scanned/the price to be keyed into the till then once the price has come up you hand over the cash. Once the price has registered on the till and/or the retailer has asked you for a specific amount of money for the item that forms part of the contract - if you hand over more money then you would be entitled to the change.

Yeah, that's what I thought. But I have seen many instances where people hand over a small item & a £5 with it, even if its just a Mars bar.

Cycrow

It does happen, when i worked in retail it happened quite alot.
it was actually quite annoying, as you cant really do much with the money until you've put the item through

browneyedbazzi

Naf wrote: »

Yeah, that's what I thought. But I have seen many instances where people hand over a small item & a £5 with it, even if its just a Mars bar.

I bet they'd stop if a retailer just kept the £5!

bod1467

I didn't say it would happen, just that technically it can and still be legal.

unholyangel

From Royal Mint site:

Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender. It does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to take place in legal tender or only within the amount denominated by the legislation. Both parties are free to agree to accept any form of payment whether legal tender or otherwise according to their wishes. In order to comply with the very strict rules governing an actual legal tender it is necessary, for example, actually to offer the exact amount due because no change can be demanded.

Anselm

If I promise you £5 for your mars bar, then that is my consideration. If you agree, acceptance, then we have both agreed to be bound by those terms and conditions. So, I'm not entitled to change, because we haven't incorporated that term in to the contract.

Edit: please see post #12

bris

I disagree if you hand over a mars bar with a £5 note and dont say anything it would be assumed you are offering the ticket price for this mars bar so technically you have not entered into a contract for £5.

To make your case valid you would have to say to the cashier, I offer you £5 for this mars bar, so no, I don't believe you would have to accept the position of not being legally entitled to change.

Fosterdog

I disagree with that, if I hand you a mars bar and a £5 note without saying anything then you would be right to assume I was making an offer to buy at £5.

Although in that scenario I'm thinking of a small local shop that doesn't have the total displayed on the till screen/visible to the customer. In somewhere like a supermarket where the price is on the screen in front of both cashier and customer it would be different.