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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think they should have honoured the shelf price.

37 replies

martini84 · 25/07/2013 16:13

Out shopping with dc. They each choose a treat. One of them was priced x on the shelf but was rung up at a higher price. About 15% dearer but not a huge amount as less than a pound.
When I questioned it I was basically told tne price was wrong and did I want it or not at a dearer price.
If I had not been with dc I would have and brought nothing onn principal.
Yeet dd would have been upset so I felt oblidged to pay.
Aibu to be annoyed about this. I appreciate there is no obligation to sell to me at all nut surely this is really bad customer service.
It was a chain btw. (Probably franchise.)

OP posts:
glastocat · 25/07/2013 16:15

It would have been nice customer service, but they were within their rights to say no, a price is just an invitation to treat and not legally binding if I remember the little bit of law I studied.

chickensaladagain · 25/07/2013 16:16

Where I work we would have sold it at the price on the shelf and then gone and changed the shelf price

We would have also recorded it to prove due diligence should trading standards come knocking

Very bad customer service and I would have been very annoyed in your shoes

Justforlaughs · 25/07/2013 16:17

Very bad customer service, and until recently would have been illegal. however, I believe that the law now states that providing you are told BEFORE you pay for the item, that the price differs then they are in the clear. Angry You could complain in writing to head office, nothing to lose.

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 25/07/2013 16:34

They are under no obligation to honour the displayed price. In effect a contract has not been made until goods/money has been exchanged. I don't think the law on that has changed. If the shop is deliberately advertising the wrong price then that is against the law though.

Most shops would give the reduced price, as it is good customer service, but you shouldn't expect it. I remember getting a set of Emma Bridgewater cake tine from Waitrose for a third of the cost it should have been and they were absolutely fine, but I wouldn't have been that bothered if they'd said no it was a mistake.

Crinkle77 · 25/07/2013 16:35

Agree with the others that it was very poor customer service but they are not obliged to sell it at the lower rate. Still frustrating though

Original poster
martini84 · 25/07/2013 16:36

I guess I was surprised because I have never not had the price honoured anywhere before. Asda often gives a gift card as an aplogy too.

OP posts:
pianodoodle · 25/07/2013 16:40

For an inexpensive item I'd have thought they might give you shelf price as a goodwill gesture.

My understanding is that they aren't legally obliged to though :(

I'd have been annoyed if I hadn't had the change on me though and had to swap it for something else especially if the child had picked it!

lborolass · 25/07/2013 16:50

Was there a price on the item itself? Where I used to work we would honour a lower price if there was a mistake on the item for small stuff but I don't think we would have done if it was a lot of money.

I've often left something at the till if it's been put in the wrong place and I haven't checked the shelf label properly.

MrsGSR · 25/07/2013 16:59

What they did is legal, which I didn't find out until I went to a law lecture in 2008 (so it's been legal for a while)

BUT where I used to work we would have given it to you at the lower price. In some stores the cashiers aren't authorised to do so and would have had to call a manager or have gone to customer services but they should have told you if that is the case.

lborolass · 25/07/2013 17:05

I haven't checked MrsGSR but I think the original case was decided in the 1920s

MrsGSR · 25/07/2013 17:10

I had a feeling it had been legal for a long time, someone upthread said it was a recent change and I began to doubt myself!

Original poster
martini84 · 25/07/2013 17:53

The price wasn't on the product but it was on the shelf and the product was correctly labelled. Never mind. It just means I will think twice about shopping there again. So custom lost for the sake of 10p!

OP posts:
FredFredGeorge · 25/07/2013 18:54

The main invitation to treat case law was actually much later than the 20's I thought and was to do with Boots (because certain things had to be sold under supervision of a pharmacist) Sometime in the 50's I thought.

However while there is no requirement to honour a price, there are laws against misleading pricing - e.g. Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 - which may apply, trading standards would be the people to talk to, in something that is so obviously targeted at children (where the ease of reversing the purchase decision when you get the "right" price is more difficult) it's possibly they'd care more.

However if it's an obvious mistake - a Nintendo DS for 5p - then it won't go anywhere.

MurderOfGoths · 25/07/2013 18:58

It's not bad service to do what they are legally entitled to do. It would have been good customer service if they had, obviously, but it's not bad customer service to do something they are allowed to do.

Justforlaughs · 25/07/2013 19:04

I once threatened to leave a entire trolley full of shopping at the checkout (after it had been scanned through) after being told that an offer had expired. in my defence, it was the day that the store opened (so why was there an out of date offer advertised in the first place), the cashier told me that I was the 4th person to be told on her till that the offer had expired (so why hadn't it been removed) and the only reason I did my shopping there was to get this offer in the first place. Result, I didn't only get the offer - I got the item for nothing Grin

ChocHobNob · 25/07/2013 19:04

Out of interest what would have happened if the OP had paid for it and then noticed she was charged more than the advertised price. Would they have to give her the difference back or could they have just offered her a refund if she had refused to pay the higher amount?

MarmaladeTwatkins · 25/07/2013 19:07

" So custom lost for the sake of 10p!"

Really?! You're still stewing over this?

Time for a wine/tea/whatever.

MrsGSR · 25/07/2013 19:10

I might be wrong, but this is how it was explained to me.
The price tag isn't the start of the contract, when you take it to the till your saying you want to buy it, the cashier telling you the price is the start of the contract and you paying is you agreeing to the conditions.

On those terms you would be entitled to return the item, not realising the price would equate to not reading the t&cs on a normal contact. But most shops will refund the difference in good will.

MurderOfGoths · 25/07/2013 19:10

Choc From what I remember they wouldn't have to give a refund.

Cashiers have to say the amount the customer owes, then if the customer pays they've agreed to it and are obliged to pay it.

Then add in that a change of mind is not enough for a retailer to have to refund.

IME most places would refund, just for the sake of keeping customers happy. But they don't have to.

HappyGoLuckyGirl · 25/07/2013 19:21

The way it works is the store advertises something for sale. You pick up said item, take it to the til and offer to pay £x for the item. The store is under no obligation to accept your offer (regardless of the price they advertised) and can counter offer with an adjusted price. It's up to you if you choose to accept their counter offer and enter into a contract.

But no, YANBU as it's just plain annoying.

FredFredGeorge · 25/07/2013 20:11

If a shop charges you a higher amount to the price they advertised on the shelf then they may well be committing an offence, which means they will normally honour the advertised price to avoid that. They are indeed under no obligation to accept your offer (or to serve you at all, although there are other risks against doing that if you could demonstrate their reasons were in some way discriminatory) but if they mislead you in their pricing then they are committing an offence.

Just saying the total for all the goods is not sufficient a get out for that just as it wouldn't be if the customer had hidden some other goods in the basket.

TiredFeet · 25/07/2013 21:19

completely legal, for the reasons others have already explained.

but pretty bad customer service I think, so yanbu to be annoyed!

WidowWadman · 25/07/2013 21:45

fredfred - what offence are they committing? I've just done a module on contract law and can't recall anything like that?

Piffpaffpoff · 25/07/2013 21:55

I learned about 'invitation to treat' in the '80s. It is one of the few bits of my insurance exams that I remember!

LittleMissGerardButlerfan · 25/07/2013 22:01

It is annoying and in the shop I work in (national chain) we always honour the shelf/ticket price as that is a nice thing to do.

We were in another national chain once and something was marked up a lot cheaper than it was so we complained and they gave us it at the cheaper price :o if not I would have just walked away, it's the principle rather than the amount of money! Easier said than done though when kids really want something!

So YANBU but it sounds like legally they weren't obliged.