"Mum charged £47 for two bags of pick and mix from Cardiff Winter Wonderland"

[sunnydaytoday0]

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/mum-charged-47-two-bags-25576870

When I saw the headline I was shocked someone would pay that much for a couple of bags of sweets even at a place like winter wonderland, which like tourist traps and a lot of attractions are going to be very expensive.

However on reading the story the company isn't wrong in saying that the price per 100g was displayed, as well as a weighing scale being available, plus the mum let her child start eating the sweets before they had fully paid so couldn't put them back?

I don't think the stall has really done anything wrong? Apart from it being very expensive, but then that's why I don't buy stuff from these sorts of places.

What was he doing between telling them not to go mad and paying?

At the point the children were putting sweets into the bags

Being a befuddled Dad while the were shunting along on the queue each with a bag, each picking, up until each bag was half full? (My words.) The Wales on Line article is in the OP.

I suggest we consider having some sympathy for this family with young children, and others like them, who were not pre-armed with caution when buying from this stall, even though many here on this thread know they themselves would have not made this mistake.

“I do have my views on a family who purchase 1.6 kg of sweets for their children and then complain about the price?”

Which price do you mean? The one she was asked to pay? Or the usual price of pick and mix?

The price of the 1.6 kg of sweets their children had put in the bags whilst their parents, who were aware of the unit price, weren't doing their jobs as parents.

I have zero sympathy for them.

And then to post it on social media - again, they didn't stop and think.

Because now, whenever someone searches their name, this will come up.

I suggest we consider having some sympathy for this family with young children, and others like them, who were not pre-armed with caution when buying from this stall

No thanks, I’m saving my sympathy for the seller, who has lost money thanks to the idiocy of these two parents. The family has got a ton of free fudge and really doesn’t need any sympathy.

The price was clearly advertised. It’s no one else’s fault if they don’t understand that.

As long as the price was displayed what defence could she have. The sweets were pit in the bags, she took them to the cashier and paid. You can't whinge after the event. No sympathy whatsoever. Although the company are morally questionable for charging that much.

1.6kg of sweets is fucking loads. Of course it was going to cost a lot!

Just see this thread and am quite bemused.

Sorry the company are not morally questionable for the price, pitches at these markets are highly sought after it costs them a fortune to go, they also have to have attractive stalls otherwise will not get accepted.

The bus the company uses, has be towed from South Yorkshire with the cost of diesel in a hgv to pull it to be paid for, the trailer they live in for the duration also has to be towed there, diesel for generators, stock has to be made and these are not cheap ingredients, it is also how they earn their only income. They only have 4 or 5 big shows throughout the year and the rest are smaller ones with less lucrative takings. They also have to have all insurances in place, health and safety checks etc

And yes I do know this for a fact as I know the owners, who are lovely hardworking people who are 3rd generation showmen and certainly do not live a lavish lifestyle on the back of extorting people and would have offered a refund as they are nice people, who also would not want to jeapordise their reputation and potential loss of site pitch because some idiotic mum went to the press.

Isn't it well known those fairs charge a small fortune? The hook a duck price is enough to make me avoid them like the Plague.
Caveat Emptor as always.

So the story is Mum has greedy kids who she let's eat far too many sweets and she didn't have the parenting ability to say 'stop being little ungrateful shits. You don't need that many sweets'?

Sorry but I have absolutely zero sympathy. The kids clearly need a reality check and mum need a backbone being found to deal with her kids.

I feel sorry for the school (s) these brats attend. The kids will 100% be a ruddy nightmare to teach

Surely some could have been put back? I mean, I hope they used the tongs!

I think there's some manipulation in the story headline as well:

Mum charged £47 for 2 bags of pick and mix

OR

Mum charged £47 for 1.6 kilogrammes of pick and mix

OR

Mum charged £47 for 3 1/2 pounds of sweets

Pick the right headline to try to get the right support from your audience.

For context, the children brought sweets that weighed about 1/2 the weight of a new born baby.

They could've put some of the sweets back.. had she not allowed her child to start eating them before they realised how much it had cost.

Or health.

How can you know what 100g looks like? 100g of feathers looks different to 200g of lead. 100g of smarties vs 100g of flumps?

Morally questionable for pricing an optional item at a price that is clearly displayed??

The worst thing was when they'd finished the sweets a whole load of small orange people came out and sang a parable about what had just happened.

How can you know what 100g looks like? 100g of feathers looks different to 200g of lead. 100g of smarties vs 100g of flumps?

@SleepingStandingUp - it's not hard if you ever go to the supermarket. You buy 200g of sliced ham at the deli, or you know that haribo bags weigh 175g. Pick 'n' mix sweets are quite heavy. It would be easy to work out roughly how much you have. Or you ask the stall holder to weigh them for you.

How often do you buy 1.6kg of sweets to eat?!

You would have thought so. But the kid had started to eat them before they'd been paid for...

More fool the silly sod for paying it I’d have dropped them like a fucking hot poker; I’m damned if I’d pay that for a few pick & mix sweets; that had been in there for god knows how long should have popped into wilko on the way there she’d have saved a fortune

I wonder what the value was of the sweets the children already ate?

I'm 64 and was brought up on pounds and ounces. Even I know what 100g looks like - and anyone with kids should know (a) that it's a 10th of a kg and (b) going to rack up a huge cost if you let your kids loose picking their own.

The light cinema near us has a Candy King pick n mix (the same as in Wilkos where you fill a cup for a set price). The price per 100g is clearly displayed, but I've seen sooooo many parents let their kids fill the bags to the brim, then refuse to pay at the till when its £27 or so. Usually arguing that they thought it was a set price of £2.99 (so were encouraging the kids to get as much in as they could!). Even some that have sent the kid to the till with £3 to pay for almost a kilo of sweets!

I think that is not that generally true for younger people.

I agree - it's middle-aged folk (like me) upwards who think in terms of a quarter of sweets. That's why you only tend to get these 'nostalgic' sweet shops aimed squarely at adults that sell them by the quarter.

Surely some could have been put back? I mean, I hope they used the tongs!

That was the whole problem - they'd already used their tong(ue)s!

I’m damned if I’d pay that for a few pick & mix sweets

I think calling 1.6kg 'a few' is stretching it a bit.

Even so, the price is clearly shown, so you can hardly blame the seller if you choose to buy £X of their goods but then refuse to pay £X for them.