Was I correct in what I said about the law?

[XmisterIS]

I have just bought a pair of sparring gloves in JJB Sports where the manager was acutely unaware of the words, "politeness", "integrity" or "decorum".

The gloves had two labels on them - the first was discounting them from £24.99 to £19.99, then second was discounting them down further to £10.99. Note that the £24.99 and £19.99 prices had been struck through with a thick black marker.

So, I took them to pay. The girl ran them through the till and said, "19.99 please".
"Whut??", said I.
She repeated herself.
"The label says 10.99!"
"Well, the till says 19.99, innit."

I asked for the manger. By now I was bristling ...

The manager appeared; a youth of no more than 23, still with a few bits of acne round the edges.

The conversation with him went as follows:
"These gloves are labelled as costing 10.99 but it would seem that they are coming up on the till as 19.99".
"Oh right, well, you gotta pay 19.99", he said brusquely, scowling at me.
"Excuse me?", said I, glaring at him as if I was about to pick up the mitts and use his head as a punch-bag.
"They're 19.99. That's what you gotta pay."
...
*clonk* (That's the sound my jaw hitting the floor at his attitude).
...

At this point I winged it, and said, "You are no doubt aware, sir, of the Trade Descriptions Act of 1968, are you not?"

"Y'wot?"

"The Trade Descriptions Act of 1968!" (carefully annunciated so as to emphasise every syllable).

"Not really".

"Well, please permit me to educate you. Under the terms of the act, you are obliged to sell me a product at the advertised price; which in this case is those gloves at 10.99".

"Oh, errr, well, I dunno".

"The law states that you must sell them to me at 10.99 or take every single pair of discounted gloves off the shelf (there was a whole rack of them). Otherwise, I will report you both to your manager and to the regional manager of JJB Sports on account of your lack of professional conduct and I will report you, personally, to the Trading Standards Institute because you are breaking the law".

"Well, just this once, as a one off, I'll make an exception".

(at this point I almost exploded!) "And I strongly suggest that you make the practice of incorrectly pricing your products an exception!!!!!".

At that he snorted, said nothing, took the amount in cash because he couldn't run it through the till, glared at me when I said, "Thank you", and he just walked off.

Not once did he say "sorry", nor did he even make an attempt to be polite!

Ok, so I'm not going to go to the trouble of writing a letter to his superiors, but was I correct in what I said about the Trade Descriptions Act? Whether I was or not, it had the desired effect!

 

[Rhythm Thief]

That does annoy me. I have no idea if your interpretation of the law is correct, but the attitude displayed by the "manager" is unforgiveable.
I went for a pint in The Imperial Hotel in Hereford last summer. Sitting in the garden with my cider, I noticed that the glass was filthy; it looked like someone had used it to kill flies with. So off I went to the bar, anticipating an apology and a fresh pint. Oh no ... the barmaid called the manager (another acne'd youth) who proceeded to argue with me about how clean the glass was. "I can guarantee that glass is 100% clean" he kept saying, without even looking at it. I walked out in the end, and I shan't be going back to The Imperial Hotel in Hereford anytime soon. I mean,. in which customer service manual does it tell these idiots to argue with the customers?

 

[Trembler49]

It doesn't matter whether you were correct or not, you achieved the desired result and convinced him you had more knowledge than him.

 

[montage]

go urinate in his cutlery drawer

 

[XmisterIS]

It doesn't matter whether you were correct or not, you achieved the desired result and convinced him you had more knowledge than him.

That's certainly true, but I'd like to know precisely what the law is, what paragraphs of the act are relevant and exactly what they say ... so that next time I meet such an ignorant, arrogant git (and they do seem to be prevalent among the early-twenty-somethings) I will be fully pre-armed and forewarned!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I think you're right that he either sells them at that price or withdraws them all from sale thou pribbling fly-bitten dewberry!

 

[Crankarm]

Covered in : Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
which essentially replaced the Trade Desrciptions Act of 1968 which came into force in May 2008 as a result of an EU directive.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft1008.pdf

I have been trying to find the statutory instrument which covers the correct marking and pricing of items by retailers in consumer contracts but can't find it at the moment. IIRC a retailer has to clearly mark the price of an item which cannot cause confusion. If such confusion arises then a retailer's higher marked price is unenforceable so the lower price is the price of the item. However they are fully within their rights to withdraw the item(s) from sale. If you feel genuinely aggrieved I would contact your local Trading Standards. Btw what are the gloves you bought as my JJB Sports might have some in Peterborough?

 

[gbb]

I think you're right that he either sells them at that price or withdraws them all from sale thou pribbling fly-bitten dewberry!

Huh...

I think your interpretation is correct though. They can refuse to sell them at the lower price, even if the label is clear. This is their perogative....
I was talking about this some time ago about another shop, another product...i thought they were obliged to sell them at the power price, but was told, i assume correctly, they are not obliged to do so by law.

 

[beanzontoast]

My understanding (IANAL but I've read about this before) is that you can't force a shop to sell you goods at all, let alone at a particular price - what happens is you make an offer to buy at the price you see displayed, and the shop can accept or decline that offer.

However,by effectively having two 'active' prices for the goods, they may well be in the wrong and I think you can report this to Trading Standards to see what they think.

 

[Bollo]

I thought it was a myth and found a link here (scroll down to myth 3)

http://www.lovemoney.com/news/shopping/three-consumer-rights-myths-exploded-3815.aspx

 

[ttcycle]

you were spot on with the law

 

[ASC1951]

My understanding (IANAL but I've read about this before) is that you can't force a shop to sell you goods at all, let alone at a particular price - what happens is you make an offer to buy at the price you see displayed, and the shop can accept or decline that offer.

Spot on. Strictly speaking the display is an 'invitation to treat' and you make the offer to buy when you present the goods to the cashier*.

Of course in this case you are offering to buy at one price and they are offering to sell at another, so there is actually no contract until you say that you will accept the higher price.

*This isn't just a bit of legal mumbo jumbo. If the display is an offer which you accept (subject to having the money) when you present the goods to the cashier, that would make the goods at your risk on the way to the cashier i.e. you still have to pay for them if you drop them. The law says, no, they are still the shop's goods until you have done the deal at the checkout.

 

[Crankarm]

Ok bottom line is the shop withdraw them from sale after you have kindly pointed out their error which I suspect is something you would prefer not to happen? I feel it is fairly easy to outwit the average shop asistant.asst manager with tact and gentle persuasion which I presume was how you conducted yourself. Was the issue that the items had been incorrectly charged at the till so a flaw in the computer system that had not been amended or an issue you had with the staff being obviously young and inexperienced in customer service or both? I suspect the "manager" couldn't help being spotty because of his age . TBH I don't think he cared whether you paid full price or 1p as most of their customers probably just nick the goods anyway. He probably just didn't know how to deal with some one like you. Some times you have to help people like this to help yourself. Get my drift? At least you got the gloves at the price you wanted and as marked. They should also make visible the original price rather than trying to conceal or disguise it.

 

[XmisterIS]

You're quite correct, Crankarm, I think he just didn't know how to handle the situation.

Had he been polite and well-informed (which a couple of days' training would sort out), then I would have probably left without the gloves and in a good mood!

 

[661-Pete]

Whatever your rights, and whether or not you succeeded in saving yourself £9 or not, you won't have won any friends with your confrontational approach. Indeed, if I'd been the person patiently waiting in the checkout queue behind you, you wouldn't have won me as a friend... Sorry.

OK so maybe you wrung a concession out of the shop. Let me describe my experience of a similar occasion. At Halfords. Yes! I do buy stuff at Halfords, not all of it is bad! Anyway I picked up an item (I think it was a rear lamp) which had been stocked on the wrong shelf, therefore with the wrong price tag on the shelf. The till rang up a higher price than I expected. I queried this, saying "excuse me, I think that item was priced £xx.xx on the shelf". The checkout assistant duly called a supervisor who went back to check. The answer was, I had picked up a very similar but higher-priced lamp, yes it was on the wrong shelf, apologies all round, etc. etc., would I prefer to buy this one at the till price, or swap it for the lower-priced one? I thought this was fair enough - and I didn't see why I should screw Halfords because of a simple mistake. I can't remember which I opted for, but the point is, it was all smiles as I left the shop.