Nerdy Note: Mispriced beans

hunter33

Hi
I always thought when the barcode price on the shelf replaced the stamped price on say a can of beans the goods had to sold for that amount. Or to look at this another way if the code said 4p and you were charged 24p then you have case. Tesco seem think this is human error and only offer a refund on your 24p if not happy. I would welcome any views.


Jim

Scally

I bought a coffee table from laura ashley in the sale and paid in full but wasn't allowed to take it for two weeks until after the sale. When I went to collect it they said they had made a mistake and had already sold it to someone else. They refused to give me a replacement and after months of discussions they only gave me back the money I paid. Perhaps I could have insisted they gave me another table as I had paid in full and the contract was complete. Is this the case?

seilbahn

Online retailers usually word their terms and conditions to say that a contract is not entered into until the goods are dispatched. I would not expect a retailer to demand more money after dispatch but that's what Littlewoods once did according to this BBC news report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7061767.stm
Can they really demand more money after the transaction has been completed?

Gibbo752

"Yet if a company is deliberately and systematically mispricing to unfairly attract customers, its actually a criminial offense, and should be reported to Trading Standards."

Why does this not apply to estate agents?

Infrasonic

When I worked in record retailing in the early eighties people were always trying it on by swapping sale stickers over to full priced goods (not live stock), not realising sale goods were stored separately behind the counter. It was great fun to watch someone swap, come to the counter and then tell them with a wry smile that "ooh sorry, someone must have swapped the sticker, this isn't in the sale..." Cue embarrassed exit.

A few years back I saw a great deal on Lastminute.com, five star London hotel up to 90% off!! To good to be true I thought. :rolleyes:

Eventually found some dates towards the end of the offer period for £5 per double room per night. (Normally about £300!!) Booked, paid, got confirmation email. Faxed hotel to confirm...nothing back...rang hotel to confirm..."ah well you need to speak to LM there's been a mistake..."
Coupe of days later get email from LM explaining that clause 7 of T&C (from memory) gets them out of any mis-pricing binds.
Wrote a nice letter to customer services ( I'm sure we can find mutual ground blah blah etc.) and eventually got a phone call offering compensation, which ended up being a free nights stay at the original hotel. The group the hotel belonged to had uploaded the wrong details onto LM's site.

OMR

My understanding is that a contract requires an offer & an acceptance. The pricing of goods is not classified as the offer. It's in invitation to treat. The offer is made when you say you want to purchase the goods at the ticket price (or at some other agreed price, eg, this one's damaged, can I have a discount?). When the person takes your money then that is the acceptance of the offer. Contract loop complete.
So if it's wrongly priced, there is no legal obligation to sell it to you at that price, a good firm may do the goodwill thing, but they need not.
Please tell me if I'm wrong, but this is how I've understood it for 38 years since I took GCSE Law!!!

Tennisnutz

I was amazed one day at Next Clearance in Doncaster when I took a coat priced at £39 to the till and it went through for £3. It was an obvious error but the assistant said as it had gone through the till, the amount stood! I got a fab winter school coat for my daughter for £3!

anne_marie1

This is not about beans but if somone writes to you and offers to settle a loan:money: :j and says they will settle this for full and final payment of a much lower amount and you pay that amount by the time they asked,is this legaly binding or can they then change thir mind after accepting your money ?

wendywoolgar

Funny how I reported Harrods to the Trading Standards and never heard anything again! They had packs of 4 miniature champagnes but priced them up with individual prices, i.e. if they were £40 for 4 they had put 1 £10 sticker on top of pack of 4 and one on the side so I fell for the £10 price for 4 thought it was a bit cheap but when I got to till was asked for £40, I felt this was wrong and contacted trading standards, I guess Al Fayed is bigger than them!

jicms

I am finding that most times I visit the supermarket I am overcharged for something. I recently bought four shampoos from Tesco which were advertised as half price. When I got home I discovered I'd been charged full price for them all. I complained online and they suggested I took them back and get a refund (my time and petrol again).

In the past, by the time I return to the same supermarket, remembering to visit Customer Services they say it is too late to do anything or they haven't got a history of past prices to check!

This is beginning to make me furious. I can't imagine how much they're making out of this, bearing in mind many people probably don't notice or can't be bothered with the hassle of complaining.

Should there not be stricter penalties for this behaviour.