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Modelzone rip off
- Thread starter bsillett
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RailUK Forums
Unfortunately they were completly correct in what they did. I remember watching something on this not so long ago actually. ONLY if they have already sold you the item and money has been exchanged, then they say they have made a mistake can they not do anything. It was a mistake, they noticed the mistake and corrected it. The only outcome is that you would now be "that annoying guy that came in today". Trading Standards would do nothing, Head Office would just laugh. Find a cheaper deal on the internet.
starrymarkb
Established Member
If they did it online they are also covered even if you buy it. If the mistake could reasonably be assumed to be a mistake that the customer took advantage of the company can cancel the order. However if the mistaken price looks reasonable then the company have to honour the deal.
ie: £300 TV marked as £2.99 - obvious mistake as price is unbelievable
£200 camera marked as £100 - company has to honour as £100 is a reasonable price for a camera to be sold at.
I can't remember the exact cases that set the precident. Plus the business law module I did at college was about 10 years ago!
ie: £300 TV marked as £2.99 - obvious mistake as price is unbelievable
£200 camera marked as £100 - company has to honour as £100 is a reasonable price for a camera to be sold at.
I can't remember the exact cases that set the precident. Plus the business law module I did at college was about 10 years ago!
Oracle
Established Member
A shop window display is 'an invitation to treat' in contract law, and not 'an offer'. To become a binding contract you have to have an 'offer', which must be 'accepted', then there must be 'consideration' paid, and an 'intention to create legal relations'. The contract must also be valid in law. An invitation to treat is not in law an offer, and amounts to an invitation for a prospective buyer to make an offer, which the seller can accept or reject.
DaveNewcastle
Established Member
What a depressing story (and I don't just refer to being in a huge shopping mall, which I would find depressing anyway!).
Someone makes a mistake and so what do we do? Helpfully point out the error to them with a supportive smile? Have a quiet chuckle and wonder how long the mistake will stay there before someone corrects it? Take a picture and post it on the internet for the amusement of others? Just quietly and kindly correct it for them?
No. We are so pre-occupied with ourselves that we only think of our rights, making a complaint and accusing the poor person who made the mistake of a "rip-off" when we don't get what we want.
I haven't read such a sad story on here for a while. We all make mistakes, frequently. That's all part of life, while it lasts.
Someone makes a mistake and so what do we do? Helpfully point out the error to them with a supportive smile? Have a quiet chuckle and wonder how long the mistake will stay there before someone corrects it? Take a picture and post it on the internet for the amusement of others? Just quietly and kindly correct it for them?
No. We are so pre-occupied with ourselves that we only think of our rights, making a complaint and accusing the poor person who made the mistake of a "rip-off" when we don't get what we want.
I haven't read such a sad story on here for a while. We all make mistakes, frequently. That's all part of life, while it lasts.
ralphchadkirk
Established Member
The shop are in the right, as explained by detail above. Trading Standards and Head Office will do nothing.
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
I quite agree.
I think I'd have laughed, then pointed it out. I have done in Tesco before, where something was labelled as "1 for 2" by accident!
causton
Established Member
That's an obvious error and unfortunately the shop did the right thing. We get customers complaining all the time that we 'have to sell it at that price' - it's wrong, check MoneySavingExpert. Especially as it was such a blatant error. At the store I work at, if the difference is a couple of quid like £15 instead of £18.99 we'll probably honour the 'wrong' price - if the customer gets angry or starts quoting laws that don't exist we take it off sale for 24 hours and make sure the price is fixed -- not sure if that last bit is the law or just my boss' policy...
EM2
Established Member
Oracle's post is perfectly correct, but I will add that the store should remove the item from display and not return it there, until it is labelled with a price that they are willing to accept.
PUFFINGBILLY
Member
- Joined
- 2 Sep 2011
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Well observed and well said.
Nice to know there are superior smug selfish oiks ready to take advantage isn't it?
Working long hours in retail for peanuts AND being regarded by most of the public as beneath contempt because you are in sales and having to serve is bad enough. Just be glad you don't have to.
K9-70
Member
But, is it not the case that the customer is always right.
The shop in question was wrong to promote the set at a lower price, but still should have honoured the price shown on display.
The shop in question was wrong to promote the set at a lower price, but still should have honoured the price shown on display.
ralphchadkirk
Established Member
That is only a saying. It has no meaning in law. In law, the shop do not have to honour the price advertised as that is only an invitation to treat, not a contract.
IanPooleTrains
Established Member
Having worked in a retail environment before, I had to agree with the guys, some of them reluctantly, on this one.
The only way that you would have gotten a cheaper price, from my recall of my days in retail, would have been if you said to them that you found the item in question cheaper elsewhere and they might, in my opinion, have dropped the price down to beat that. They might have easily turned around and told you to go and buy that item elsewhere as well but the £300 is correct and it is just unfortunate that you spotted this error and have fallen foul of it
The only way that you would have gotten a cheaper price, from my recall of my days in retail, would have been if you said to them that you found the item in question cheaper elsewhere and they might, in my opinion, have dropped the price down to beat that. They might have easily turned around and told you to go and buy that item elsewhere as well but the £300 is correct and it is just unfortunate that you spotted this error and have fallen foul of it
90019
Established Member
No, it isn't.
It's a phrase generally used by customers who are in the wrong, but want everything their way.
EM2
Established Member
Absolutely not.
A shop can adjust a price shown in error right up until the point a contract is made, I.e payment made. They also have a right to reject entering a contract with anyone they choose not to, especially those demanding something for an incorrect price.
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Oracle
Established Member
Because the shop issue an invitation to treat, it is the prospective purchaser that makes the offer: "Will you sell me that item at £... please". The shop then have the opportunity to accept or decline the offer.
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
That is absolutely right, except when the customer is mistaken, ill-informed, factually incorrect, trying to pull a fast one, etc.
PUFFINGBILLY
Member
- Joined
- 2 Sep 2011
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- 83
rubbish !
krus_aragon
Established Member
Mistakes happen. (They certainly do happen in my corner of retail, now and again.) The law takes this into account. If a product's got a wrong price on it, the shop need to correct it as soon as they become aware of it.
The price could be wrong because of:
- a member of staff putting the wrong sticker on
- a sign in the shop window slipping in front of a different item
- customers switching labels (Yes, it happens. Even in charity shops!)
If the shop becomes aware of the mistake and does nothing, then they are intentionally showing a misleading price, and in danger of facing charges of false advertising.
truckman060473
Member
What is the difference between these two scenarios then - Firstly, what the OP has described happened, and secondly, a wrong price on an item in a supermarket where you will have bought the item alongside many other items and not immediately realise you have been "overcharged" until after you have made payment, and possibly seeing the receipt on arriving home? There is a process called price integrity where items are checked constantly to make sure the price is correct. The supermarket can be at risk of being in hot water by overcharging. So along those lines, what if the OP had gone into Modelzone with £2000 to spend there on a large layout and discovered on arriving home that he had been overcharged for the train pack he "thought" was on a special offer? Could that possibly be a trading standards matter?
ralphchadkirk
Established Member
If the price is wrong by being too high, they have seen it and handed over the money and the shop have sold it to them, then the customer has accepted the contract and nothing more can be done. I can't buy a packet of biscuits for £1 in Tescos, and then run off to Trading Standards because they were £.50 in Asda.
truckman060473
Member
What I'm describing is the shelf label saying 58p and dicovering on your receipt that the item came up as 79p for example. There is something you can do - you take it back to the store and some supermarkets are happy to refund twice the difference to keep the customer happy.
krus_aragon
Established Member
I'm speaking slightly beyond my personal knowledge and following my own reasoning now, but I'd expect that the two situations are more or less 'legally' equivalent. The customer should expect to be allowed to return the mispriced item for a full refund.
The company may, given that they've already gone through the process of selling it, be more willing to 'refund it down' to the expected price that if the discrepancy had been discovered at the tills. That's no guarantee that they would, though, this is still in customer goodwill as opposed to statutory rights in my book.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
As I had been typing out: a goodwill measure. It's not worth risking fobbing a customer of over such a small thing and risking them making it a big issue with their friends, or even the newspapers. Bad press is not good news.
There are an infinite number of responses I have for this, but I'll just settle for:
Ha ha. Ha. Ha ha ha ha.
Ha!
More often or not, it's the customer who is wrong by displaying sheer ignorance.
causton
Established Member
The customer is always right, especially the one that claims we hide our returns and exchanges policy (bearing in mind, at this point in time, they literally have their hand on it, there are also 2 more copies right behind my head where they are glaring)
There's only so much a shop can do to please customers. For example, my local co-op had some crisps at £1 on special offer - the price got changed back early on the computer system and I was asked for £1.70 for them. I handed them the price label for the crisps, they thanked me for removing the incorrect price and so gave me them for £1. Likewise at my store we had a load of socks go up from £2 to £3. Some had come in from another store and hadn't been repriced, so the customers get confused when they are £3. I get a manager to knock the £1 off and make sure all the rest are correctly priced.
The knocking the quid or so off is a goodwill gesture, the changing of the price labels is to keep trading standards happy. Unfortunately for the difference in the OP there aren't many stores in the country that would take a goodwill gesture that far!
I work in a shop (unfortunately), and I agree there are many times where the customer is right. I can also tell you that there are a number of times when the customer is wrong. Eg. they've misread the price tag, not listened to the seller about return policies (I have to tell customers when buying perfume/aftershave that it's unreturnable) or (as we get often) not bothering to read notices on certain products (maximum number allowed to be bought etc.)
EM2
Established Member
If in any doubt that the 'customer is always right', have a read of http://www.notalwaysright.com 
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