Store Offering Expired Free Gift

Fosterdog

cheekymole wrote: »

So basically under the SoGA stores can offer what they want to get a sale then get away with it? :O

Not at all, the sale has to conform to contract or you are entitled to be put back in the position you were in before the contract was formed. In this case the item was not as described by not having the free gift.

The shop offering you a refund is putting you back in your original position of having the money but not the item.

If you really want the item you can choose to forget about the free gift and keep it or get your refund and buy elsewhere, but the free gift offer will still be expired so you will still be left with just the item.

JimmyTheWig

cheekymole wrote: »

So basically under the SoGA stores can offer what they want to get a sale then get away with it? :O

So some extent, yes. To a great extent, no.
Yes they get away with it in as much as they aren't punished for it.
No they don't get away with it because the law says you can take it back. They're not allowed to hide behind store policies, or whatever, and say that you cannot take the item back if it was mis-described. Without the SoGA they could do that.

The question is "what should have happened?"
What should have happened is that the store should have been more on the ball. They should have checked and found that the offer was no longer valid. They could then have removed the promotional label or informed you at the time that it was no longer valid.
Your choice when you first went in to the shop should have been whether to buy the item at this price from this store knowing that you won't get the free item or whether to not buy it here.

By offering a full refund, that's exactly the choice that you end up with.


There is a slight adendum to this, in that if the store are found to be deliberately offering things that aren't available then this would be seen as false advertising. They can get punished for this. You, as an individual consumer hit by the problem, would see no personal benefit from this happening. The punishment would be a slap on the wrists, a fine, etc - not an instruction to honour what they promised.
From what has been said there is nothing to suggest that the store in question was deliberately misleading the public. Sounds like an honest mistake to me.


One further note.
The store isn't limited by the law. If they want to give you a better service than the law dictates they are allowed to. They just can't fall below the minimum standard of the SoGA.
So if you ask nicely, if you demonstrate that you are a good customer, that they are risking your future custom by not honouring this deal then you may be able to get something out of them as a goodwill gesture.

[Cross-posted with various similar, but much more succinct, replies!]

cheekymole

Thank you ALL for your replies, a little frustrating as I bought the item knowing I would get the free gift but obviously not

Thanks again, you've all been extremely helpful