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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Apparently the customer is not always right!

148 replies

crispykreme · 19/06/2020 08:00

I was shopping the other day and my ds spotted a LEGO pack. A little bag with a Disney character in. As he's been really well behaved and never usually asks for anything I said he could get it.

The price on the shelf ticket said ' Disney blind bag £1.20' .

He spend the rest of the time I shopped looking at the bag and feeling to see if he could guess what one it was. He was so excited.

Got to the till, scanned LEGO bag and it comes up at £4.50!

I knew LEGO can be expensive but there was no way I could pay that much as we are low on money at the moment.

I asked the cashier if she could get someone to double check the price as I was sure it was £1.20.

Someone came back with the ticked that said Disney blind bag £1.20. Apparently as it was still scanning at £4.50 that is the price it was.

Now usually if that happened the shop would sell to me at the ticketed price. Customer always right ?

I had to refuse the item and leave poor ds near to tears. I promised I would get him one for his birthday or at least when our money situation is better.

Aibu to have expected it for the price clearly stated on the ticket?

OP posts:

EnglishGirlApproximately · 19/06/2020 08:03

Well of course the customer isn't always right, anyone who's worked with the general public knows this In this instance the shop could have chosen to sell it to you at the lower price but they aren't obliged to if the pricing issue is a mistake and really depends on their policy.

snowybean · 19/06/2020 08:04

If the ticket and item correspond then yes, you should have gotten it for £1.20.

snowybean · 19/06/2020 08:05

But no, the customer is not always right! Having worked in a shop for seven years I can definitely confirm this.

Original poster

crispykreme · 19/06/2020 08:05

@snowybean yes it did

OP posts:

Unprecedentedusername · 19/06/2020 08:06

In these circumstances the retailer has the right to withdraw the item from sale.

SouthWestmom · 19/06/2020 08:07

They often do it as goodwill but I don't think they have to if it's an honest mistake.

Ragwort · 19/06/2020 08:08

That is not correct snowy - if it priced wrongly it does NOT have to be sold at the marked price. I work in retail. I think the phrase is 'invitation to treat' and legally you do not actually have to sell anything in your shop. (Which rather defeats the object of running a shop ).

However, the vast majority of retailers would sell the item at the marked price for the sake of customer goodwill.

ImInYourMindFuzz · 19/06/2020 08:08

Nope. Sorry, the shop absolutely does not have to sell it to you at the listed price.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/if-something-is-advertised-at-the-wrong-price/

My experience of working in customer service is the customer always thinks they’re right, but they’re not. And wherever that saying comes from it needs to go back for the sanity of all cs staff!

Mumoblue · 19/06/2020 08:08

As someone who works in retail, the customer is almost never right. Usually when they change the price they only do it to stop people kicking up a fuss.

Personally I would have changed it, but they dont have to.

SadSisters · 19/06/2020 08:09

I don’t think they are obliged to honour an inaccurate ticket price, but I’m sorry they didn’t in this circumstance - it would have been decent of them to do so and then fix the ticket for the next person.

Thingsthatgo · 19/06/2020 08:11

The shop isn’t obliged to sell it at the ticket price. If it is marked incorrectly they can choose to withdraw it from sale instead. (I also work in retail).

snowybean · 19/06/2020 08:15

I meant that the shop should have sold you it for that price, not that they have to.

Ponoka7 · 19/06/2020 08:18

If it's Tesco and you take a picture and Email customer services, they will usually send you a voucher to cover it.

They used to have a policy that would give you it for half the price of their mistake. I think that went. But the voucher good will, costs them less than people reducing what they buy from them, because they're pissed off.

It's not about 'the customer is always right', but about honouring the ticket price and being transparent with their prices.

dayswithaY · 19/06/2020 08:24

They don't have to honour it and that employee may have got into trouble for marking down an
Item and had to explain it to their manager, all because someone forgot or wasn't told to change the price banner. If something is reduced or on offer then the barcode will reflect this. In a stressful day it is easier to say no to you.

Ragwort · 19/06/2020 08:25

Many customers take great delight in finding wrongly priced items, or even switching the price tickets themselves and then making a fuss to 'demand' that the retailer honours the 'wrong' price.

Roselilly36 · 19/06/2020 08:30

Personally I think they should have sold it to you for the advertised price and then changed it on the shelf, as a gesture of goodwill. Really sorry your DS was disappointed.

EithneBlue · 19/06/2020 08:30

No, they don't have to. But when I worked in customer service I would only play the rules to the letter if the customer was rude, entitled or demanding... honestly any customer that told me they were "always right" was usually in this category.
OP if that wasn't you, and you were genuinely polite and reasonable, then they were being harsh (but not wrong so you don't really have much comeback, sorry). If you told them they were wrong and/or tried to use your own child as a means to guilt trip them into giving you what you want (both of which you've done in your post) then no, you were not right, and you need to reconsider how you treat people as well as the example you set for your child.

rosamacrose · 19/06/2020 08:33

Sorry for you and your son.
It hurts to have to disappoint them.
Hope things get better for you soon.

Covidkate · 19/06/2020 08:36

Its a common myth that people think you have to sell it at that price. My brand of store used to if it was a couple of pence but people would definately try and take advantage/move things/deliberately hunt for them which put a stop to that.

Where i used to work theres no way i would have been able to make price reductions as a cashier or customer service (especially at around 75% of its price) like that anyway if its a chain store

PrincessPain · 19/06/2020 08:40

I used to work for tesco, they used to honour it as long as the product matched the description.
If you had already purchased the item and took it to customer service, their policy was double the difference back, so if something was marked up as £3 but cost you £5, the difference was £2 and they'd double it to £4 and refund you that amount.
It was still the policy last year, when as a customer the prices were wrong on the moisturiser. I've worked for aldi till and there's no overall policy, it would just depend on the manager and what mood they are in.
And while I understand why you are upset, no, the customer is not always right 😅

rwalker · 19/06/2020 08:47

used to work in retail went on course run be trading standards as a few have said they don't have to sell it to you at price on ticket .
They can /should withdraw it form sale
If it was other way round and scanned less than ticket would you of insisted on paying more .

Sparklingbrook · 19/06/2020 08:53

Where little bags of kids toys are concerned I would imagine a lot are picked up and shoved back in the wrong bit on the shelf by kids looking through.

But if the ticket and item barcode definitely corresponded that's a bit strange they didn't honour it.

NekoShiro · 19/06/2020 08:57

At my store however much it scans for, that's how much you pay, I've had people come up with £15 shoes that when scanned turned out to be £3, though we do make exceptions for employee mistakes, say that £15 pair of shoes came from a stand containing all of those shoes that we had and before it has housed shoes on sale for £3 and we left the sale signage up around the stand then yes we would honour the £3 and immediately remove the wrong signage, but I work for a huge store.

Also just a heads up all lego minifigures tend to be £4ish, I buy some for my cousin every birthday and Christmas as he collects them, are you sure the bar codes on the price and on the bag matched up as the blind bag should of been under LEGO blind bag, not disney blind bag as the brand is LEGO not disney. Might be why you were refused.

RufustheRowlingReindeer · 19/06/2020 08:58

@Ragwort

However, the vast majority of retailers would sell the item at the marked price for the sake of customer goodwill.

The customer isn’t always right

But a lot of shops in my experience would have reduced the price in the interest of customer service

So sorry he was disappointed

Beautiful3 · 19/06/2020 08:58

I think they should have honoured it. Maybe that particular member of staff didn't know how to override the price, so needed a manager to do it. If you said I'm not happy, please ask your manager if he ll honour it, then they could have done it.

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