So just out of interest who gets the item here?

[redhat]

This is now resolved but just out of interest...

Shop has a large and high value item on a marked down price due to it being ex display.

Customer 1 goes over to the till to ask about it. Dithers for a bit. Doesn't place the order. Goes back over to have a look to help her decide whether to go for it or not.

In the meantime customer 2 comes to a different till and asks to purchase the item. Till operator 2 goes to get the bar code from the item.

Customer 1 then goes to the first till and says yes Ive decided I will go for it please. Till operator 1 also then walks over to get the bar code and meets Till operator 2 coming back with it.

Who gets the item customer 1 because she asked about it first or customer 2 because she actually confirmed that she wanted to purchase first?

Place your bets.

Jonquil, absolutely would of told the person who gave you them what they were estimated at since they probably thought it wouldn't amount to much. They may well say thanks for your honesty and keep them or they may of known they were real anyway and been grateful still.

To add to the "dilemma" we had actually been in to see the treadmill earlier this morning and had then gone away and had lunch to think about it. So if you take that to it's natural conclusion we were first anyway!

I have emailed. Lets see what they say...

You confirmed you were going to buy. What if c1 walked out of the shop and came back ten minutes later do they still get it?!

I think that c.2 should have been allowed to buy it, too, as she was ready to pay and c.1 was still at the dithering stage, shall I/shan't I.

The pearls. Clearly donated with a pile of paste rubbish and some of those poppit plastic beads (remember them?) etc., in a scrubby plastic sandwich bag, when we asked for bric a brac for our stall. The donor clearly had no idea of their worth.

The Big Shots of our local branch of this international charity, refused to give them back,, said that they'd been clearly donated for us to sell. Think I might have called them a lot of unethical shits, or words to that effect. Actually, no, I'm pretty sure I used those exact words.

I no longer do anything for the charity.

I'm not a lawyer, but in law a contract requires both an offer and an acceptance. With shops the "offer" comes from the customer and the "acceptance" comes from the store. Then you have a contract to purchase. So even if you were first to 'offer' it isn't yours until the store 'accepts'. In this case it looks like you had the prior contract with the store as the sales assistant had accepted your offer to buy and was getting the bar code. Customer 1 made an OFFER after you (even though they made an enquiry - it wasn't an offer to purchase) which was accepted AFTER your offer had been accepted. I'd write a snotty letter or email to Argos.

ceoemail.com should help you find out who is the Chief Exec of Argos (I haven't tested if that info is listed in that link) and I would write to her or him with a complaint. They have technically broken the law.

You should definitely have got the item, really hope that you get a positive outcome to your complaint.

Yep deffo 2

The Manager could have just declined to sell it to either of you, which is perfectly legal, and therefore would avoid any subsequent backlash.

This sort of happened to me. I asked to buy a display item and was told I couldn't until the sale ended. I continued to browse and then noticed that the display item was being sold to someone else. When I asked the manager why that was I got a brand new item for the ex display price, so well worth a letter to Argos OP.

Hi redhat, have sent you a pm