Law regarding sales in shops

mikemac

I'd be interested in finding out more about legislation for sales that shops hold.
Is the Consumer Information Act 1978 the main act?

I've seen three examples of abuses today but not sure if these are illegal.

1. Mens clothes shop in Dublin city centre has been having a closing down sale for as long as I can remember, probably over 18 months at this stage.
They must have a serious amount of stock :rolleyes:

2. Xtravision are selling Prison Break Series 2 at sale price €70, reduced from €80. But it was only released in Ireland last week and I think sale items have to be at the higher price for 28 days afaik.

3. Centra sell 1.5litres of Coca Cola for €1.79. Coca Cola have the bottles marked 25% extra free so in theory you should get 2 litres for the price of 1.5 litres. But Centra charge the 2 litre price anyway :mad:

Are these three examples which a lot of people see everyday illegal? And if I wanted to write a letter to someone, who would I complain to? Office of Director of Consumer Affairs?

Thanks

Our man in Havana

2. Xtravision are selling Prison Break Series 2 at sale price €70, reduced from €80. But it was only released in Ireland last week and I think sale items have to be at the higher price for 28 days afaik.

They must be at the higher price for 28 days straight in the previous 3 months.

JohnK

On a similar theme, does a shop have to sell at the advertised price? Christmas last year there was an off licence near me that had a poster outside the door and again directly on the fridge door advertising Bud at a certain price but when I got to the till he claimed the poster was wrong and tried to charge more. Thought it was a bit strange at the time since the other guy behind the counter was telling him to give it to us at the advertised price but the guy at my till wouldnt budge so I ended up just leaving it.

Jo King

A shop does not have to sell at the price indicated on an item. The price tag is an "invitation to treat". A customer cannot take advantage of a mistake by the shop, or mischief by another customer, to force a sale. that being said there is an offence of misleading advertising. Sometimes a threat of complaining about this can achieve a result.

mikemac

JohnK wrote:

On a similar theme, does a shop have to sell at the advertised price? Christmas last year there was an off licence near me that had a poster outside the door and again directly on the fridge door advertising Bud at a certain price but when I got to the till he claimed the poster was wrong and tried to charge more. Thought it was a bit strange at the time since the other guy behind the counter was telling him to give it to us at the advertised price but the guy at my till wouldnt budge so I ended up just leaving it.

Quit hijacking my thread :mad:

Victor

Jo King wrote:

A shop does not have to sell at the price indicated on an item. The price tag is an "invitation to treat". A customer cannot take advantage of a mistake by the shop, or mischief by another customer, to force a sale. that being said there is an offence of misleading advertising. Sometimes a threat of complaining about this can achieve a result.

Misleading pricing is now an offence. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=79725

Rhonda9000

micmclo wrote:

1. Mens clothes shop in Dublin city centre has been having a closing down sale for as long as I can remember, probably over 18 months at this stage.
They must have a serious amount of stock :rolleyes:

Not illegal - a sale at a shop is discretionary as is the duration, scale of reduction, subset of items selected for markdown etc.

2. Xtravision are selling Prison Break Series 2 at sale price €70, reduced from €80. But it was only released in Ireland last week and I think sale items have to be at the higher price for 28 days afaik.

As per previous poster.

3. Centra sell 1.5litres of Coca Cola for €1.79. Coca Cola have the bottles marked 25% extra free so in theory you should get 2 litres for the price of 1.5 litres. But Centra charge the 2 litre price anyway :mad:

The price of a bottle of coke is not controlled by coca cola or legislation; the retailer can charge what they like for it. Correlations between promotional sized bottles and prices of standard sized bottles might be sneaky but you are free to walk out of centra and go across to tesco and buy it there instead.

Are these three examples which a lot of people see everyday illegal?

No.

Kimbot

Also another one I would point out here and like to know if it would fall into the same thing:

Xtravision have a big sale at the minute, I noticed 99nights for the 360 at a sale price of 29.99 yet I bought it there last month at regular price for 29.99!! Is that right??