questionable pricing

whatado

Just found something online for £16.99, next day delivery to local store £5.99.

thought id have a run down to see if they had one, they did for £29.99

If I order this online; surley I cannot be charged the £5.99 for delivery if i know its in store or be expected to pay the £29.99 if I buy it in the store.

Unfortunately store staff looked like I asked them to explain quantum theroy in japenese while maintaing a smile. I gave them paracetomol, then left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanx

wealdroam

whatado wrote: »

Just found something online for £16.99, next day delivery to local store £5.99.

thought id have a run down to see if they had one, they did for £29.99

If I order this online; surley I cannot be charged the £5.99 for delivery if i know its in store or be expected to pay the £29.99 if I buy it in the store.

Unfortunately store staff looked like I asked them to explain quantum theroy in japenese while maintaing a smile. I gave them paracetomol, then left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanx

Not really too sure what your question is, but welcome to the forums.

It is perfectly acceptable for stores to charge different prices online and in store.

Some stores even charge different prices in different branches of the same store.

I would expect that the one you ordered for next day delivery to the store will not just be taken off the shelf in that local store.
But even if that were the case, you would still be expected to pay the delivery charge that you had agreed at the time of purchase.

daytona0

The staff don't care mate...

You are offered to make the purchase online for X amount and you are offered to make the purchase in store for Y amount. You need to choose one or the other. The staff;

1. Have no control/discretion in regards to this price difference

2. Expect customers to just go ahead and make the purchase by either of the proposed methods instead of bringing it up as an issue

3. Don't care much about their minimum wage grind and so possibly couldn't be bothered with this query

4. Probably don't have a clue about online prices by virtue of it being a completely different part of the company. They aren't necessarily aware of online prices/offers

frugal_mike

Just purchase it online and view it as a discount rather than feeling ripped off over the delivery portion. Alternatively, don't select next day delivery and see if they tell you to just go and collect one from the store anyway.

InsideInsurance

It can also depend on how companies are set up, are stores franchises or company owned? Even if they are company owned some do almost operate a franchise style model.

I know with Jessops the store managers had free choice of what they stocked but had to buy their stock from the warehouse, got bulk order discounts and had to pay for delivery etc with each store having its own P&L/ balance sheet etc.

The website was effectively a store in its own right and didnt operate a "click and collect" because you were buying from the online "company" so they were getting the money, their stock pricing was based on their higher volume of sales and at times the price they were selling items at was below that which the physical stores had to pay for their stock.

Occasionally if you were on good terms with the store manager you could get them to give you an in stock item on the promise that they get to keep the one thats being delivered to them for you but generally they wouldnt as evidently its a big risk for them that you dont cancel the order and then they've lost their stock and not been paid.

As others have said, if you dont like the express delivery fee, dont get express delivery

hollydays

A companies online arm may be running a sale. They may be a completely different set up to the shop itself.

meer53

Order it online and collect it from the store. They can charge what they like.

giantmutantbroccoli

whatado wrote: »

Unfortunately store staff looked like I asked them to explain quantum theroy in japenese while maintaing a smile. I gave them paracetomol, then left.

Pretty sure I've worn that look myself a few times in similar situations! I'm going to guess that the reason they looked bewildered is because you asked them to explain something that is pretty much self-explanatory. They can, legally, charge completely different prices online and in-store, and they're not obligated to explain their pricing structure to you. I would guess that the reason it's cheaper online than it is in store is because running a website with a warehouse and distribution network etc is cheaper than running a physical store, but it could be for any reason at all.