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AIBU?

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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:
Itisbetter · 19/06/2020 08:59

At Tesco they sell it to you at the displayed price. Well they did when it happened to us for a MUCH more expensive item.

Zaphodsotherhead · 19/06/2020 09:00

I would have reduced the item so you were paying the price you thought it was. But then the ticket would have been removed (it's usually out of date sales offers where the ticket hasn't been changed, where this happens). Yes, customers often don't read the tickets properly and get all disappointed when they've picked up the 200g jar of something and the price ticket (clearly labelled) applies to the 100g jar. Sigh.

HappydaysArehere · 19/06/2020 09:01

That is an upsetting story, especially at a time like this when children need to be distracted. My reaction is that mislabelling has upset your child and any decent shop assistant would have queried the manager about the situation. In which case you would expect him/her to consider the store’s reputation, the human situation and your future shopping choice. Shame on them.

RufustheRowlingReindeer · 19/06/2020 09:02

I had a saturday job in halfords when i was 17 (over 30 years ago)

I remember vividly a customer coming to the till with a book with the wrong price sticker on it and demanding to buy the book at that price

The manager wasn’t having any of it...it was a highlight of my day

RufustheRowlingReindeer · 19/06/2020 09:02

But i should say the man was very rude and the sticker was obviously wrong

Not the case with the OP

PleasantVille · 19/06/2020 09:03

How refreshing to read that everyone knows the retailer doesn't have to sell it to you.

I usually get frustrated on these type of threads when shopfloor legal experts come on and insist you have a right to buy something for the wrong price.

And having worked in retail I know as I'm sure everyone else does that of course the customer isn't always right and there's nothing wrong with applying the law.

Legal rights and customer service are not always the same thing.

thatsnotgoingtowork · 19/06/2020 09:05

Ethically and from the point of view of customer service they should have sold it at the marked price, despite the fact they legally didn't have to sell it at all.

"Should" surely refers to the ethical/ usual/ expected due to convention side of questions, not the law which is a must not a should.

Should customers say please and thank you and generally be polite to retail staff?

Of course!

Are they legally obligated to?

Obviously not!

PleasantVille · 19/06/2020 09:05

@HappydaysArehere

That is an upsetting story, especially at a time like this when children need to be distracted. My reaction is that mislabelling has upset your child and any decent shop assistant would have queried the manager about the situation. In which case you would expect him/her to consider the store’s reputation, the human situation and your future shopping choice. Shame on them.
Haha, that's a sure fire recipe for every chance in the land to go around changing price tickets Smile

You'd be better to use it as a learning experience for resilience and pop to the £shop for a treat

Toddlerteaplease · 19/06/2020 09:06

Legally they have to sell at the price advertised
. So the one on the ticket.

JaniceWebster · 19/06/2020 09:06

The legislation should be changed about that. A reasonable price advertised should be legally binding for the retailer! It does work in other countries, I don't know why we try to con customers here.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 19/06/2020 09:07

That Tesco offer was great! I bought a top and trousers for baby dd two years ago, both marked at £1 each in the sale. In amongst other stuff I hadn't realised they'd scanned at their full price.

As I was checking my receipt on leaving I noticed. Popped to customer service who told me of the Double the Difference refund- I got £16 back!

RufustheRowlingReindeer · 19/06/2020 09:08

Legally they have to sell at the price advertised

No they don’t

bumblebeefairy · 19/06/2020 09:08

I don't think you were unreasonable. I don't think technically they have to respect the price on the ticket but it certainly would have been a reasonable goodwill gesture given it was their error.

I feel sorry for your DS in the situation too. Hope he's able to get some new Lego soon.

Saladd0dger · 19/06/2020 09:09

Tesco do still honour incorrect prices. Was it Tesco op? If so I would of paid then gone over to the customer service desk and query it. You would of double back.

WowLucky · 19/06/2020 09:12

I think it's clear that the bag was in the wrong box, rather than that the advertised price was wrong. This wasn't one of the mystery figures.

As others have said, they don't have to sell anything to you and I expect this is a fairly well used "trick" where people attempt to get something at a reduced price.

It's a shame they didn't do it for the sake of customer service, but they weren't wrong .

OoohTheStatsDontLie · 19/06/2020 09:17

Legally they dont have to sell it for he advertised price- the advertised price is an invitation to start trading or negotiating etc, hence they always confirm the price before you pay. But some retailers choose to reduce their price in this situation to keep the customer happy, and in my opinion they should have done for the sake of a few quid and upsetting a child

DadDadDad · 19/06/2020 09:18

The Wikipedia article nicely explains where the "customer is always right" idea came from, and what it does and doesn't mean.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_always_right

StarUtopia · 19/06/2020 09:21

As others have said, they don't have to. MOST will as goodwill and then immediately discard/replace the incorrect ticket.

If it's a big chain, write to them, exactly how you've described here. Guarantee they will send you a £5 voucher. ( I worked in senior retail for over 15 years, couple of big name companies)

Disappointing of them not to have done it on the day to be honest!

emilybrontescorsett · 19/06/2020 09:22

I think they should have sold it to you for the marked price.
What is the point in having prices if the shop refuse to stick to them?
Yes mistakes do happen but that it not the customers fault.
I remember years ago having this same problem with ToysRUs and it was on a large purchase so a very significant amount of money.
The goods were clearly marked as price x, my mum was with me and we both checked, and nothing gets past my mum. Get to the till with quite a few items and the scanner is facing away from the customer so I could not see the amount it scanned through at. Come to pay and realise I have not been charged the publicised price.
Long story short, I had to then queue at customer services with 2 young dc, one of whom was crying by now, to give them the ins and outs of a cats arsehole to get my money back for their mistake.
I never shopped in their again, especially after discovering that the shop were fined regularly by trading standards over this very issue.
Apparently the money they scammed out of people was worth the fine.

emilybrontescorsett · 19/06/2020 09:24

Also there is a difference in someone switching tags and something labelled by the shop as e.g. "All Disney toys half price".

Sparklingbrook · 19/06/2020 09:26

Customers do put stuff back in the wrong place all the time.

HenSolo · 19/06/2020 09:27

Aw your poor ds he wouldn’t understand why he couldn’t have it bless him

I worked in retail for a loooong time and as a manager I would use my discretion especially if the difference wasn’t very much, however I stopped doing this as unfortunately you can’t tell the chancers from the genuine people. Cashiers also run the risk of getting in trouble for undercharging which is not fair to them. I think people who have never worked in customer services don’t realise this...

The customer is always right is a ridiculous expression as it assumes that all customers are above board/not idiots which I’m afraid is not true (not meaning you op)

vanillandhoney · 19/06/2020 09:28

When I was in retail, we generally sold it at the marked price, even if it was a mistake. However, only within reason!

So in your situation - for the sake of £3 or so, yes, we'd happily override the price, but if it was £50 or so out then no, we probably wouldn't as we do have to make money at the end of the day, and also Head Office could see all the overrides we did and would question why we were giving people £50 discounts!

Redcrow · 19/06/2020 09:29

I cant believe people still use the phrase "the customer is always right". They're usually wrong

Yobringbackthe90s · 19/06/2020 09:30

It was marked on the label at £1.20 so yes it should have been that price dispite the till coming up with something else, it isnt your fault that the label was wrong.. the shop is out of order and if it was me id be annoyed and shop else where for a while and tell them so. Always had the marked labeled price. 4.50 is a rip off, little tiny minature toys you can hardly see cost a fortune these days its just wrong

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