River Island - Knicker argument

fizzgig

Hiya Folks..

Maybe someone reading this can shed some light, on an incident that took place in River Island/Crescent Limerick - just yesterday evening..

I was behind a lady who was trying to pay for a pair of lovely coloured pink knickers
After a few minutes , it appeared the lady behind the desk was explaining that even though the knickers where clearly marked as € 3.00, she would have to charge her € 6.00, as this was the price coming up when she scanned them in.
Lady customer argued her case for a while and Im not ashamed to say that i waded in with some encouragement for her.
All three River Island girls advised that because the difference was less then € 10.00, they could not offer the said knickers at the stated price of € 3.00.
Just to add this € 3.00 was clearly marked in BLACK marker - as it was a sale item.

Both myself and the other lady dropped what we where going to purchase and walked out..

Now was I right or wrong ?

Is this € 10.00 thing a river island rule - or a general one ?

Please put my mind to rest.. cheers

Oryx

A price tag is an invitation to treat. It is not absolute, the price at the checkout is, thats when you decide to purchase or not. Otherwise on sale day you could sneakily go in with a black marker and pay what you like.

Though you can see that in this case the scanning system probably wasnt updated to the new reduced price, the checkout girls are probably not allowed to make this change manually (would open the shop up to the possibility of all kinds of fraud).

Usually in a situation like this the shop will adjust the price accordingly, but they are not required to do so, and in this case seemingly werent allowed. Badly handled in their case but not illegal.

fizzgig

I see... thanks for info.

I presumed they would have to give it to her , for the marked price.

Because of this, they lost € 58.00 Euro - which would have been the jeans i was going to buy..

So i suppose its their loss in the end.

dudara

The shop assistant was perfectly correct in what she did. She did not have to sell them at the lower marked price when her till was telling her otherwise.

This is a common topic and one that appears here quite regularly - as in the recent Littlewoods debacle. Read or search for "Invitation to Treat" to learn more.

MagicMarker

lol, I'm sure they cared when you walked out.

superdog

fizzgig wrote: »

I see... thanks for info.

I presumed they would have to give it to her , for the marked price.

Because of this, they lost € 58.00 Euro - which would have been the jeans i was going to buy..

So i suppose its their loss in the end.

You were dead right to walk out. Why bother with price stickers at all when they can make up their prices at the still. Well done

dudara

superdog wrote: »

You were dead right to walk out. Why bother with price stickers at all when they can make up their prices at the still. Well done

Just to play devil's advocate here for a minute - you have to look at it from the shop's viewpoint as well. Anyone could have slapped an alternate price sticker on the item or written a new price on the tag.

And the shop wasn't 'making up' prices at the till - it was what was shown on the system. There may have been a failure to update the software with the newer sale price - but it wasn't made up.

Now I still think that the shop could have been nice about it - customer service can go a long way - but I wouldn't get disgruntled about it.

Prenderb

Some supermarkets, AFAIK, operate to a Scanning Code of Practice, which basically says that the price you see is the price you pay. I wonder do other retailers use that code?

Gummy Panda

Prenderb wrote: »

Some supermarkets, AFAIK, operate to a Scanning Code of Practice, which basically says that the price you see is the price you pay. I wonder do other retailers use that code?

Supermarkets have higher levels of wastage/write off then regular retailers so most won't follow this code.

I remember I worked in xtra vision when in college and constantly had junkies/scumbags switching price stickers on DVDs and games. They'd come to the counter, we'd say no and then they'd get into some rant about false advertising. Really annoying.

I've seen it happen in other retail sectors with people lying about receiving quotes so the law really protects the retailer from lies/fraud.

OP, imo you should kept your nose out of it if you don't know the basics of consumer law.

wmpdd3

With a clothing sale your looking at hand writing a new price on about 25,000 items over a week. Mistakes happen.

I usually change the price to the lower one, as I recognize my staffs handwriting and we all use the same markers to avoid customers doing their own mark downs.

I have had an incident where a coat was marked down to €1 rather than €100.
War ensued, but I took the item off sale for a day. The person responsible got into enough trouble over it with out it even incurring a loss to the company.

The customer caused holy war but I just explained invitation to treat to her.

Corruptedmorals

Ugh writing prices must be a nightmare, even with price guns you get people who switch red stickers onto the new full price stock delivered that morning...

Nobody on till has the power to change a price (almost always), nobody trusts checkout staff enough not to 'lower' the price for friends family etc. Some stores go even further (like mine) and won't allow you to void items without a manager key and password.

The answer here is- since it was actually marked at that price- and not just a full-price item etc. left in the sale section- they should have honoured it and changed it, most places would (and then immediately pull the rest of that item off the floor until it's changed). However, they cannot themselves do that, and with their policy there's nothing they can do. I hope to god nobody ate the face off the staff since they hardly made up the rule to piss people off. You should have asked to speak to a manager, instead of throwing your stuff and leaving. The only point you're making is you might add to the workload of staff struggling to cope with that massive sale they have..

smelltheglove

I spent years in charge of scanning in supermarkets and the rule was always the price you see is the price you pay. In previous jobs also it was basically the price you see is the price yu pay. There was one store I worked in where it was blatantly obvious if a sticker was changed, a toy shop and where there was one toy marked with 30 and the rest were 90 then the price would not be changed, if all were marked with 30 then it was a different story.

There are laws afaik that everything has to be priced and to be honest the fact that it doesnt need to be priced correctly is a bit pathetic, this is something that should be changed.

Guy:Incognito

smelltheglove wrote: »

the fact that it doesnt need to be priced correctly is a bit pathetic, this is something that should be changed.

So there should be no room for human error when dealing with humans?

smelltheglove

Everyone can accept a little human error but the acceptance should be on the side of the company that made the error, the human being a representative of that company. As a consumer you should be able to look at a price and know that is the price you need to pay.

Blue_Wolf

It's an invitation to treat but bad customer service not to reduce the price down to the one shown. I'm a store manager myself and I would reduce the price down to the one advertised if it was only 20euro or so. If it was something ridiculous like 150euro price difference I wouldn't. It's really a case by case situation or in this case price by price margin of difference :pac:

axer

smelltheglove wrote: »

There are laws afaik that everything has to be priced and to be honest the fact that it doesnt need to be priced correctly is a bit pathetic, this is something that should be changed.

You should read up on contract law.

There is an legal obligation on shops to price correctly (Consumer Protection Act) but mistakes do happen and under contract law (which has been tested in the courts) the price marked on something is only inviting you to make an offer on it which can be then refused by the shop.

axer

smelltheglove wrote: »

Everyone can accept a little human error but the acceptance should be on the side of the company that made the error, the human being a representative of that company.

Why should the company take the brunt? The consumer is not being injured here since the correct price is given to the consumer before they pay thus they have the choice to not make an offer on the item if the price is higher at the checkout.

If it were that businesses had to sell items at the prices that were displayed by law then you would have everyone scamming businesses by switching prices etc.

smelltheglove

What I am saying is if the error was on part of the store, i.e. a sales assitant changed the price on floor and not on scanning then the shop should reduce it, not if a scammer changes the price.

I am well aware the price is an invitation to treat hence my comment saying it is a bit pathetic and should be changed, the price displayed should be the price charged.

My experience in scanning does mean I know a thing or two about it and as said before anywhere I worked before reduced the price to what was shown on shelf unless it was a sticker price which was obviously changed by a scammer.

I can see that this irritates you slightly but come on how would you feel if you decided on a nice pair of shoes or a shirt or whatever and had enough to pay for them only to go to checkout and find out they are outside your budget, it's not a nice feeling, it can be embarrassing for consumers to have to turn around and say no I cant afford it hence it should not happen. human error is acceptable to a poi8nt but if I picked up a dress from a sale rail and the dress was not meant to be there I would accept that someone else put it there but if the tag said 40 and the till said 80 I would not be a happy person tbh.

axer

smelltheglove wrote: »

I am well aware the price is an invitation to treat hence my comment saying it is a bit pathetic and should be changed, the price displayed should be the price charged.

This is where the problem lies. You say the price that is displayed is the price that is charged - so are you saying if someone swaps the tags etc then they should pay that price? What if there is a mistake and items are priced incorrectly - even though no legally binding contract has been made, you believe the seller should be liable for the price displayed.

smelltheglove wrote: »

I can see that this irritates you slightly but come on how would you feel if you decided on a nice pair of shoes or a shirt or whatever and had enough to pay for them only to go to checkout and find out they are outside your budget, it's not a nice feeling, it can be embarrassing for consumers to have to turn around and say no I cant afford it hence it should not happen. human error is acceptable to a poi8nt but if I picked up a dress from a sale rail and the dress was not meant to be there I would accept that someone else put it there but if the tag said 40 and the till said 80 I would not be a happy person tbh.

It is against the law to display the wrong price BUT they do not have to sell it to you at the lower price. Even if you realise afterwards that the tag said a lower price than you actually paid - you still legally have no legal recourse.

rubadub

fizzgig wrote: »

Because of this, they lost € 58.00 Euro - which would have been the jeans i was going to buy..

So i suppose its their loss in the end.

It is also your loss though, you spent time & effort travelling to the shop, you spent time and found jeans you obviously wanted, and now you lost out on the chance of buying them. If you had come in 2 mins later you would now have your jeans and not have to spend more time looking elsewhere.

smelltheglove

axer wrote: »

This is where the problem lies. You say the price that is displayed is the price that is charged - so are you saying if someone swaps the tags etc then they should pay that price? What if there is a mistake and items are priced incorrectly - even though no legally binding contract has been made, you believe the seller should be liable for the price displayed.

Before you quote me next time maybe you should read the posts thoroughly.

I have already stated that if it was mispriced due to staff failure then it should be sold at that price. With a vast amount of experience in the area I can say the majority of the time an items price is changed by a scammer it is highly noticeable.

Sar21

I work in a retail shop... what I would have done in that situation as a cashier,
Go out to the shop floor where the customer got the knickers, if there was another pair marked the same, i would give them to her for the marked price, if not im obliged to charge the price scanned in.
As someone said.. it is quite easy to swap prices in a retail shop, expecially duing sale.

Xenomorph

Taken from: Click http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Guides-to-Consumer-Law/Prices/

There are various rules about how shops and service providers display their prices so that consumers can make price comparisons and informed choices.
In general, the price of all goods must be displayed in a shop. There are also specific rules for certain sectors about how they display their prices. For example pubs, restaurants, service stations and hairdressers must all display their prices in such a way that the consumer can check and compare the prices without having to enter the premises.
As a consumer you have the right to clear indications of the prices of goods and where charges for services are displayed, these must be accurate.
Legal obligations

Shops have legal obligations to display truthful actual prices, previous prices and recommended prices of their goods and services.
But if a shop makes an honest mistake - for example, some labels are wrong and the marked price is lower than what the price should be - you don't have an automatic right to buy the goods at the marked price.
All these laws are about protecting your rights as a consumer, and about helping you to compare prices and make informed choices.

I.J.

This kind of thing happens to me quite often in shops, usually supermarkets. While legally the shop is correct, just ask for the manager and explain the issue and usually the customer will win, if the manager is fair minded and interested in keeping a customer.

fizzgig wrote: »

Hiya Folks..

Maybe someone reading this can shed some light, on an incident that took place in River Island/Crescent Limerick - just yesterday evening..

I was behind a lady who was trying to pay for a pair of lovely coloured pink knickers
After a few minutes , it appeared the lady behind the desk was explaining that even though the knickers where clearly marked as € 3.00, she would have to charge her € 6.00, as this was the price coming up when she scanned them in.
Lady customer argued her case for a while and Im not ashamed to say that i waded in with some encouragement for her.
All three River Island girls advised that because the difference was less then € 10.00, they could not offer the said knickers at the stated price of € 3.00.
Just to add this € 3.00 was clearly marked in BLACK marker - as it was a sale item.

Both myself and the other lady dropped what we where going to purchase and walked out..

Now was I right or wrong ?

Is this € 10.00 thing a river island rule - or a general one ?

Please put my mind to rest.. cheers

axer

smelltheglove wrote: »

I have already stated that if it was mispriced due to staff failure then it should be sold at that price.

No they shouldn't be forced to sell it at that price. The customer is not out of pocket because of the mistake and no legally binding contract has been formed. Who is to say what is a mistake, a scam or otherwise.

A seller is NEVER forced to sell anything unless there is a legally binding contract and why should they? End of.

fizzgig

rubadub wrote: »

It is also your loss though, you spent time & effort travelling to the shop, you spent time and found jeans you obviously wanted, and now you lost out on the chance of buying them. If you had come in 2 mins later you would now have your jeans and not have to spend more time looking elsewhere.

Not true.
I live acoss the road from the shopping centre and after the river island thing, i went up the way and bought jeans in A Wear - for 30 bucks.

Interested in all the replies. I honestly thought they should have given her the price that was marked on the item.
Some people here said i shouldnt have opened my mouth at all, but i really thought they would honour the price... it was a sale item.
What if her scan machine was at fault and they hadnt bothered updating the price.. this happens to me all the time in Supervalue.

MunsterCycling

Nope the not bothering to update prices is a Supervalu policy almost at this stage.

Rev. Kitchen

fizzgig wrote: »

Not true.
I live acoss the road from the shopping centre and after the river island thing, i went up the way and bought jeans in A Wear - for 30 bucks.

Interested in all the replies. I honestly thought they should have given her the price that was marked on the item.
Some people here said i shouldnt have opened my mouth at all, but i really thought they would honour the price... it was a sale item.
What if her scan machine was at fault and they hadnt bothered updating the price.. this happens to me all the time in Supervalue.

Did you stop to think that this poor girl ye gave all the grief to has no power to reduce items and when i worked in a similar line of work if i had given you the discount it would have come out of my wages while thats "only" 3 euro to the customer thats nearly 40% of their wages for that hour.

Staff work very hard in those shops and mistakes happen.

Red Alert

The girl should've asked the manager, or whoever had the power to lower it. No point screaming at her, but if she wouldn't do it then talk to someone who can.

rubadub

fizzgig wrote: »

Not true.
I live acoss the road from the shopping centre and after the river island thing, i went up the way and bought jeans in A Wear - for 30 bucks.

I don't get what is "not true", you have confirmed exactly what I was talking about, you wasted time & effort due to your principles which were based on a false assumption.

Yes, you got jeans cheaper elsewhere, you can almost always get stuff cheaper elsewhere, but it seems you had already decidied you wanted the other ones and ended up missing out.

If the €30 jeans were better then at least you learned another lesson, to shop around...

unwyse

when i heard all knickers are down in river island i dashed over,only to find myself utterly dissapointed!:D:D:D