Right price tiles 70% off sale

paddylonglegs

I have been doing a bit of research before buying our tiles and now have a gauge of what's decent and expensive, and what's cheaper and does the job. While this my first time in RPT yesterday (went in because of their sale), I couldn't believe the extortionate prices being charged before the sale, making the sale price just the same as you would in any other tile shop around.

So did they just hike up their prices before the sale to get people in and make them think they were getting a good deal? Something seems so wrong about this

brian_gall85

As long as the pre sale price was on offer for 28 days previous then there's nothing illegal about it.

kristian12

Right Price tiles frequently have sales on and then for a few days put some not all of the stock back to normal price before starting a new sale.

Another thing to be aware of if you buy to many tiles then their returns policy is cheque only sent through the post and can take up to 4 wks to be issued regardless of original method of payment.

Chris_5339762

Is that legal? I thought a refund had to be given in the same way as that money was paid. It certainly is with VISA (you cant pay by Visa and get a refund in cash... it has to go back on the VISA)

paddylonglegs

brian_gall85 wrote: »

As long as the pre sale price was on offer for 28 days previous then there's nothing illegal about it.

It would be interesting to see how they get on after their sale. They will not be in business for long if they sell at their pre-sale price

rainbowdash

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Is that legal? I thought a refund had to be given in the same way as that money was paid. It certainly is with VISA (you cant pay by Visa and get a refund in cash... it has to go back on the VISA)

They are under no obligation to offer you a refund at all, I would imagine a tile company will take back a few extra boxes as its never an exact science working out how many boxes you might need.

As regards the original post about 70% off sale, I get the impression a lot of places in this country seem to be permanently having a "sale" and the stuff is rarely at full price.

paddylonglegs

rainbowdash wrote: »

As regards the original post about 70% off sale, I get the impression a lot of places in this country seem to be permanently having a "sale" and the stuff is rarely at full price.

Yes, but the punters wouldn't be in as quick they had a 20% sale off. Why not just have 99.9% sale off and have tiles that were "originally" priced at €1,345,635 a sq yard. Wow what a saving!!!!



Sarcasm.....

xpletiv

Pretty sure the likes of Right Price Tiles live all year round with some sort of 'sale' on. Makes you wonder how long theyll last.

kristian12

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Is that legal? I thought a refund had to be given in the same way as that money was paid. It certainly is with VISA (you cant pay by Visa and get a refund in cash... it has to go back on the VISA)

I'm not sure, there is a sign up and they won't budge from cheque sent from head office. I did wonder myself as i always believed refund was supposed to be done in same way as payment.

Murt10

I was getting some tiling done a few years ago.

Bought all the tiles at a 1/2 price sale on one of these tubs and tiles / right price tiles type of shops.

Once this was decided we asked for the adhesive and grout etc. It came to nearly as much as the tiles. We were quite alarmed at the price, but went ahead with the transaction anyway.

In the course of conversation with the tiler, when he was doing the job, he asked how much everything had cost.

He nearly fell around the place laughing at the price we had paid for the other materials.

I took the unopened adhesive and grout back got a refund. I told them that the tiler had finished and that this was what he had left over. They wanted to charge me a restocking fee. I wasn't having any of it. If their salesman had overestimated the amount of material we needed, then it was their mistake and I wasn't paying for that.

I neglected to mention to them that as soon as I got the money back, that I was going across the road to buy the materials for a fraction of what they were charging, from Atlantic.

L1011

kristian12 wrote: »

I'm not sure, there is a sign up and they won't budge from cheque sent from head office. I did wonder myself as i always believed refund was supposed to be done in same way as payment.

Credit card company will likely withdraw merchant facilities from them in that case if notified, as its a severe fraud and money laundering risk.

sandin

kristian12 wrote: »

I'm not sure, there is a sign up and they won't budge from cheque sent from head office. I did wonder myself as i always believed refund was supposed to be done in same way as payment.

Nope, a store can do a refund in any form it wishes as with the exceotion of a few cases it is entirely up to the store whether to do a refund or not. And they can put whatever conditions they want on the refund - they can say 28 days, they can pay by cheque even if you paid cash, becasue the refund is in addition to any statutory requirement the store has.

As for MYOB saying that the credit card co would withdraw facilities because of it - totally and utterly untrue and no basis whatsoever. in fact as the credit card co would ahve to refund their commission, they would be quite pleased with the policy.

As for RPT - never believe their sales patter / advertising. The same goes for similar store including DFS (after sales price 1999, buy now at 699, in reality only worth 399!! - wtf!!) Cost Plus Sofas, and the most famous of all (now closed because Irish consumers are not as stupid as UK ones) Land of leather & Reids.

There is absolutley nothing in Irish law stating that a product has to be on sale for 28 days prior - there is a voluntary code, but its flouted by evertone (Half price wine - chilean plonk was €16.99 now 8.50!! - BS - never sold at 16.99, never will be sold at 16.99, barely worth 8.50)

Basically a consumer has to have his/her wits at all times.

sandin

MYOB wrote: »

Credit card company will likely withdraw merchant facilities from them in that case if notified, as its a severe fraud and money laundering risk.

Could even give some explanation on how this could be fraud in any way whatsoever or money laundering risk in any format at all???

Could also give a reason why a merchant service provider (credit card company) would have reason to withdraw the facility for having such a policy.

In a way it is the SAFEST and most secure way of refunding. Refunding is not a legal requirement and the store can choose whatever way it wants. A cheque payment is a written and verifiable record of the refund and has no chance of money laundering or fraud, in fact its the total opposite - it PREVENTS fraud and prevents money laundering.

L1011

sandin wrote: »

Could even give some explanation on how this could be fraud in any way whatsoever or money laundering risk in any format at all???

Could also give a reason why a merchant service provider (credit card company) would have reason to withdraw the facility for having such a policy.

In a way it is the SAFEST and most secure way of refunding. Refunding is not a legal requirement and the store can choose whatever way it wants. A cheque payment is a written and verifiable record of the refund and has no chance of money laundering or fraud, in fact its the total opposite - it PREVENTS fraud and prevents money laundering.

One example of each:

Fraud: Card is stolen, items bought, refund issued as cheque. Cheque cashed before card is reported stolen.

Money laundering: Hot money loaded on to prepaid credit card as cash, items bought and refunded, cheque lodged as a legitimate refund.

Merchant agreements absolutely require you to refund only to the same card, for fraud and profit reasons - they do not want people to be getting cash off a credit agreement at product rates, which is what a cash or cheque refund will do. They charge significantly more for cash advances.

Its absolutely not the safest way - this is why the credit card companies refuse to allow you to do it.

I suggest you read a merchant agreement before making comments along the lines of "totally and utterly untrue" as you'll be in for a surprise. Pay particular attention to your fraud protection sections, because if you're doing cash/cheque refunds for card payments, you can say byebye to those en masse.

sandin

MYOB wrote: »

One example of each:

Fraud: Card is stolen, items bought, refund issued as cheque. Cheque cashed before card is reported stolen.

Money laundering: Hot money loaded on to prepaid credit card as cash, items bought and refunded, cheque lodged as a legitimate refund.

Merchant agreements absolutely require you to refund only to the same card, for fraud and profit reasons - they do not want people to be getting cash off a credit agreement at product rates, which is what a cash or cheque refund will do. They charge significantly more for cash advances.

Its absolutely not the safest way - this is why the credit card companies refuse to allow you to do it.

I suggest you read a merchant agreement before making comments along the lines of "totally and utterly untrue" as you'll be in for a surprise. Pay particular attention to your fraud protection sections, because if you're doing cash/cheque refunds for card payments, you can say byebye to those en masse.

100% incorrect.

Stolen card is the bank's issue, not the retailer's if pin number has been used.
If pin number was not used, the retailer takes 100% of the hit - automatically.


Prepaid credit card can only be loaded with 2k before you have to give ID and a record of the amount is registered. Again, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the retailer. The cheque is referenced against a purchase, if that was paid for by cash or card or cheque, there is a paper trail. No possibility of money laundering (tiles don't cost tens of thousands).

I'm in retail 30 years this year. I've had merchant agreements for thirty years. I know the terms inside out as I do read them.

You cannot issue cash or cheque against a payment made by credit card - e.g. Johnny can't come to me and say take 2k off my card and give it to me by cheque.

If johnny buy a product in the normal way and returns a small part of that, I as someone who is offering a refund which I am not leagally obliged to do, can offer that refund in nay manner I wish as technically I am purchasing that product off johnny. - This is how the revenue see it, and I can assure you, I will go with the revenue interpretation on refunds.

L1011

Read your agreements again. Revenue do not control your merchant account

You're also acting as if fraud against a bank doesn't matter and they wouldn't act to prevent it.

sandin

I rang my account manager in aibms just to double check (it doesn't apply to me in any case) however she confirmed that I am 100% correct that a refund does not have to be made by card even if it was paid by card.

What is not permitted is for you to give someone cash or other form of payment in exchange fir a card payment on its own. However its not illegal but its just not permitted under your merchant service agreement and you would need to be doing it on a regular basis for it to be noticed. They would initially give you a warning and then they would give you notice of termination.

If you are in anyway unsure about this, feel free to call aib merchant services or any card processor such as elavon or streamline.

L1011

I have a card processor merchant agreement in front of me, seeing as I do actually have to sell the damn things occasionally; as well as the upstream Visa and Mastercard agreements. I trust my reading of them more than I trust a phone operator. All require card-to-card refunds, in all circumstances.

Your belief that cheques are in any way secure downright scares me, as does your inability to realise the huge fraud potential for issuing refunds to anything other than the original card. I await the day someone gets a cash refund off you then disputes the card payment.

sandin

Not a phone operator, a senior account manager who has dealt with me for over three years and who gave me a precise answer. The agreement does not cover non obligatory refinds in any manner whatsoever.

A store offering a refund as an additional item of customer service can offer that refund in any manner they wish as it is ENTIRELY at their own discretion/policy to offer that refund and therefore they can attach any conditions they wish to that refund - if they wanted to pay you in one cent pieces, they can do that as long as they nitify you of that. It rather simple contract law that covers it.

L1011

You appear to be getting unrelated external factors confused with your merchant agreement again. Contract law has nothing to do with this.

If you give cash refunds for a card transaction you are going to get scammed at some point or another; and the card processor isn't going to do anything to help you.

sandin

The card processor does not run my business nor any other retailer's business. It is none of their business how the business is operated. Once payments are taken in the normal manner, they are not interested in anyway whatever.

Btw, I think I know where your confusion lies. It is not permitted to make a refund to a credit card where the payment was not made by credit card. This certainly would end an agreement and would be open to fraud and money laundering. Methinks you got things quite opposite and quite wrong - in fact I'll lay money that I am 100% correct if you wish. Name the amount!

Soundman

How would the wager be paid up though?

Cash?
Cheque?
Credit Card?

L1011

There's zero confusion.

I'm astounded that you still fail to see the massive fraud potential of what you're defending.

The only way of proving you wrong would be to defraud you or your payment processor, neither of which I can safely do considering what I work at.

sandin

Soundman wrote: »

How would the wager be paid up though?

Cash?
Cheque?
Credit Card?

Cheque if course - crossed so that there is a paper trail

ofcork

xpletiv wrote: »

Pretty sure the likes of Right Price Tiles live all year round with some sort of 'sale' on. Makes you wonder how long theyll last.

Got tiles in their cork shop a few years ago and the boss had a new merc sl55amg at the time so must have been doing ok.