Was I correct in what I said about the law?

[mr Mag00]

well done to you i say and i believe you were right well it was when i was in retail. off topic do you have a punchbag at home, if so which one? i fancy a different work out at home every now and then

 

[XmisterIS]

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.

Good point ... but I did start off very politely, in a pleasant tone of voice and I was responded to rudely! That pissed me right off ...

 

[Crankarm]

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!

IIRC the JJB Sports in P'boro has two burly no messing looking security guards patrolling. The few times I have been into the shop they have been radioed to chase scrotes who have shop lifted. This is the level of customer the staff are usually used to dealing with so some one like you may even have prompted the response "Is u 4 ree-al?"

I think as a consumer you always have the choice to say "No, no thank you. I think I'll pass on this occasion. Thank you anyway" .

 

[Bman]

I dont believe the OP is "spot on". But is more-or-less correct.

IIRC, it is an offence to advertise a lower price than you are going to charge for a product/service. This could incur a heafty fine from Trading Standards.

However, they can refuse to sell the item, and the rest of the stock, until the mis-labeled price is corrected.

Most shops would rather sell you the item at the lower price rather than risking a massive fine for their mistake.

 

[classic33]

Possible help here
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/lancashire/bus1item.cgi?file=*BADV087-1111.txt

 

[sheddy]

Wasn't there a big row about the mail order TVs a few years back, website had them listed for 99p or something.
When people ordered up and got nowt they complained bitterly but the online shop only had to admit the mistake

 

[thomas]

I'm sure others have said this, but you were legally wrong (i've not read the thread). The ticket price doesn't make any difference as the contract is made at the till where they say the price, no matter what it says on the product.

The law is sensible like this as some people may take a marker pen and reduce the price of products themselves....there are a number of other reasons too.

It's all to do with invitations to treat, blah blah.

I would show you the lecture notes from my business and company law module but unfortunately the lecturer doesn't do digital copies

 

[Piemaster]

Agree with Thomas. If however you had bought them for say, £5 as they had been wrongly priced and sold to you at that price, you have completed a contract by paying for them.
There is also the old 'all breakages must be paid for'. The retailer can only charge the wholesale price of the item, not the price that will make them a profit.

There was a recent late night TV program '"Don't get screwed" covering consumer rights by acting out different scenarios and then giving the legal situation on each.

 

[fossyant]

Never go to JJB - TBH...bit to 'high street'.

Any good manager, or indeed till operator, properly trained, would have sorted the situation much better.

Take Decathlon, I picked up a North Face waterproof for £35 (in the hour sale - i.e. over the tannoy) - came to the till and it rang in as £70.... the operator just said, 'ah they haven't updated the computer' and overrode it, - the ticket still said £70...absolutely no hassle. The 2 second tent I also got had been updated.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

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.

That's all fair enough, but it's a different situation to that described in the OP, in which the customer politely queried something to be met with ignorance and "attitude" from the Johnny No-Stars with "Manager" written on his badge.

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 scowled at me and said "yeah, right. It's obvious you picked up the light off the wrong shelf. It's £x more than that."

That's more like the situation in the OP.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I'm sure others have said this, but you were legally wrong (i've not read the thread). The ticket price doesn't make any difference as the contract is made at the till where they say the price, no matter what it says on the product.

The law is sensible like this as some people may take a marker pen and reduce the price of products themselves....there are a number of other reasons too.

It's all to do with invitations to treat, blah blah.

I would show you the lecture notes from my business and company law module but unfortunately the lecturer doesn't do digital copies

This may well be true, but the manager's attitude was still inexcusable. And it's not doewn to extra training or education: simple good manners would do it. Sadly, they seem to be more and more scarce these days.

 

[telesonic99]

Would you have made such a fuss if it was a pink skipping rope you were buying?

 

[Crankarm]

I'm sure others have said this, but you were legally wrong (i've not read the thread). The ticket price doesn't make any difference as the contract is made at the till where they say the price, no matter what it says on the product.

The law is sensible like this as some people may take a marker pen and reduce the price of products themselves....there are a number of other reasons too.

It's all to do with invitations to treat, blah blah.

I would show you the lecture notes from my business and company law module but unfortunately the lecturer doesn't do digital copies

It's nothing to do with contract law. There is a statutory duty on a retailer to ensure that it's prices are not misleading. I refer you to my earlier post #7.

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?

Presumably if you aren't happy with price of the item you do not complete the contract therefore there is NO contract. The issue is the retailer ambiguously marking it's products which it is offering for sale.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Any Manager worth his/her salt would not argue but would admit there had been an error in pricing of these items (assuming this is the case) but sell you the item at the lower price and then immediately remove the other wrongly marked items and get them repriced correctly.

False advertising otherwise, I would have thought.

 

[dellzeqq]

I got fed up with being charged a different (as in higher) price at B&Q. If it had happened once, then all well and good, but when it happened four of five times I called up Wandsworth Trading Standards who were happy to add it to their substantial file.

Given the attitude of the manager I'd give it a go. Shops rely on people not making a fuss.

And, I'm very sorry to say I had the same experience in John Lewis on Saturday.