Can sainsburys do this?

liz_uk

I went in to sainsburys yesterday afternoon with my boyfriend and we went to look at the toys with my daughter.

We saw a Baby born doll which had a sticker on saying £5.

I thought it was to good to be try, as the shelf label said £32.00.

We went to the checkout after shopping and were referred with doll, to customer services desk.

The `matronly like` customer services woman took the doll, and began peeling off the sticker before we had even opened out mouths !!

We then went on to say that the doll had a £5 sticker on it and pointed out that we HAD NOT put it on there and wondered what the situation was with selling us the doll at £5.

She said

`we will not sell it to you at £5, so you can forget that!`

Boyfriend pointed out that if an item is marked up, then by law the retailer is supposed to sell it to the customer at that price. Not sure if this is actually true, but tried bluffing it !!

Said Customer services woman said that she studied law before working in Sainsburys (I know.......... sainsburys is a great place to practise law! LoL) and said that there were loopholes and we would not be getting the doll for £5!!

We then asked for the manager. She said that he would say the same and would haggle a price with us if we wanted it, but not to expect to get it for £5.

My boyfriend backed down (although I was still fired up) and we left the store.

I`m furious at the stupid woman. I`ve had problems with her before over a leappad book which I bought from there for £3 which she wouldn`t exchange as I didn`t have the reciept, even though I was about to do my weekly shop !!

Should I bother complaining to sainsburys about this.

I did take a picture of the item with the £5 sticker on on my camera phone, as lesson learnt in tescos !!

netdumdum

Under law, a retailer is entitled to decide the price he wants to charge for his goods.



The price on display is simply what the law calls an ‘invitation to treat’. In the same way you don't have to buy goods from anyone, a retailer is under no obligation to sell you anything.



You cannot insist that a shop sells you anything at a marked price, whether or not they have made a mistake.



The law does not allow prices to be fixed and, contrary to common belief, goods are not subject to price controls.

However the customer service you were given was very bad and they should have handled it differently!

Wig

Were all the dolls marked up at 5 pounds?

In addition to what the poster above says, a retailer is also required not to mislead customers in their pricing, and whilst this may not be a statutory right for the consumer to obtain the goods at the lower price, it is something for which the retailer can be prosecuted by trading standards.

If all the dolls were marked at 5 pounds, the case is stronger, if all the dols in all the stores are marked 5 pounds, the case is stronger still. If your camera phone has more than one doll pictured at 5 pounds, go back and take a few more pics of the other dolls mispriced and send the info to your local trading standards.

jezza1O1

Im often amused by this kind of thing, as asked above, was it just one doll priced at that amount? If so then it was clearly a mistake - any degree of common sense should tell you that. Soz but imo you are just being a bit greedy and I think Sainsburys have every right to do what they did. It sounds like they didnt accuse you of trying to con them so they didnt do anything wrong, other than be a bit grumpy - but then Id be grumpy if I had that job !

I always find it wierd that people actually seem to get upset when these things turn out to be mistakes, I mean, is it really worth the stress. I guess its a sign of the times with everyone being wrapped up in themselves and not even interested in thinking that if a company was actually held to the 59p widescreen TV advertised on a website it would probably cost someone their job... .

I guess it probably means a lot because the store made you feel insignificant and the thing that we all hold dearest is our feeling of importance. Id try and rise above these basic social pressures and forget it. Start a thread on cheapest doll on the internet and Im sure someone will find a real bargin for you !

hjb123

I think you should get in touch with Sainsburys and trading standards. If the doll had that price on you should have been able to buy it at that price

When I worked in WHS if something was marked up at less than the ticket we were told we had to sell it at that price

Goodluck!

H

sarahg1969

That must have been WHS's own company policy. It's certainly not the law.

Unlucky, but they were well within their rights to sell you the doll.

Sarah

hjb123

Yeah it was WHS own company policy but I think it was one of the only good things or 'right' things that they do!

IvanOpinion

You played a game and you lost ... what is there to complain about? If anything I find it strange that someone would take a picture unless they were really 'trying it on'.

Boyfriend pointed out that if an item is marked up, then by law the retailer is supposed to sell it to the customer at that price. Not sure if this is actually true, but tried bluffing it !!

What happens at this point is that the CS person, who will probably KNOW the law, realises that they are now dealing with an opportunist because the statement is so OBVIOUSLY wrong - she will probably be having a laugh at your boyfriends expense later on in the staffroom. A shop does not HAVE to sell you anything and as others have pointed out the contract is made at the checkout not at the shelves ... you retain the option to walk away at any stage up until you have paid for it (think about it if it had been any other way then by lifting something of the shelf you would be agreeing to buy it) ????

A couple of examples as to why Sainsburys is 100% correct on this - taken from when I used to work for a supermarket.

1. parents send children in to switch prices then parents take goods to checkout and claim innocence. Sometimes people do it themselves but it looks worse if they get caught - get your kiddies to do it and you can say 'oh the little minx's'
2. parents send children to pick something up and cart it out of the shop while parents remain in car at door outside. If children do not get caught then they get a free item, if children do get caught then parents claim they were waiting for children and they were going to run in to pay for it. Yea right!

Ivan

ManAtHome

I don't find it strange that somebody in Sainsbury CS studied law - when I did some systems work for a FTSE 100 call centre, around a quarter of the advisors had law degrees (obviously difficult to get into a practice). Never had a problem with Sainsbury CS people, just whoever puts the prices into the tills.... had it been Tesco however, would have been more inclined to agree.

liz_uk

Both dolls were marked up at £5, sorry forgot to mention there were two. I thought it was to good to be true but seen as there were two, I thought It`d be worth checking.

I took a photo, as previous posters on the tesco thread, said that occasionally supermarket staff will say that they are going to check, then remove the prices and deny knowledge of it ever being at that price. I didn`t take a photo because I was desperate or out to con anyone.

Zziggi

liz_uk wrote:

We then asked for the manager. She said that he would say the same and would haggle a price with us if we wanted it, but not to expect to get it for £5.
My boyfriend backed down (although I was still fired up) and we left the store.

When i hear them say that, then i just insist on the manager coming to speak to me. How dare a CS woman assume she knows what a manager will say. Most often the manager will just let you have it for a fiver as they can;t be bothered to go all the way down to customer services for a small complaint. So they just telephone back to let the customer have the cheap item (i speak as someone married to an ex-sainsburys group manager). Then even if they do come down to customer services, they'll often explain why it is a mistake but 'as a gesture of goodwill' let you have it for a fiver anyway.

You tried it on, good on you! Shame you lost, but worth a try anyway....