Consumer Law Advice Please

[KingdomCome]

So I was doing my weekly shop in Waitrose.

 

They has a special offer on packs of 3 Mars bars, 50p off. Some of the packs on the shelf were also labelled as containing an extra free bar. Obviously, I picked up one of packs with 4 bars in, rather than 3.

 

Took them to the till.

 

Did Waitrose cop a strop and refuse to sell them to me, because they were "separate offers"? No of course not.

 

Makes me realise what a bunch of twunts Tesco are.

 

Tesco and Waitrose aren't exactly comparable now are they?...you get what you pay for.

[farawaysaint]

I think Tesco are more than within their rights here, it sounds like you were attempting to abuse the spirit of the offer if not the letter of it.

[Hockey_saint]

Are there any experts in consumer law out there?

 

Had a full on argument with a Tesco employee last night. In my local small "Tesco metro" in the chiller they have a shelf edge ticket offering "3 for £5" on 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen (usually £2.09 each). The bottles in the chiller are all 500ml.

 

They also have a cardboard "display" with 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen which have 50% extra free in them. On the shelf edge ticket for those it clearly states "Old Speckled Hen, 500ml bottles £2.09". So same discription and price, just bigger bottles due to the extra "Free".

 

I therefore decide to buy three bottles to take advantage of the offer, and being of sound mind, I obviously chose three of the bottles with 50% extra free in them.

 

I take them to the self-service till and scan them through and the total comes to £6.27, rather than the £5 advertised. I therefore ask one of the two spotty teenage boys working in there (no managers around a 9pm on a friday night) why the advertised offer is not working.

 

He point blank refused to allow me to purchase 3 of the 50% extra free bottles with the advertised discount.

 

His arguement had two distinct themes, as follows:

"They have different barcodes so they are different products" (despite me pointing out the fact that the shelf edge tickets describe them both identically and the only difference was one had some extra free in it, I emphasised the "Free" bit).

Tesco "know what they are doing and will not have got this wrong".

 

Despite me attempting to reason with him logically, he would just go back to saying "the bar-codes are different!"

 

Surely Tesco can't sell bottles clearly stated as having 50% extra FREE in them at a higher price than the same products without 50% extra free in them can they?

Are they not required by law to honour special offers advertised in store?

 

Again, it's an "invitation to shop"; even if it's written on signage, there is no legal obligation to sell at that particular price. I work part time in a retail store with a student para-legal and he informs me there is no legal obligation whatsoever, it's just good practise and with these days of online shopping, retail is dying a slow death, they tend to desperately agree to these customer suggestions. but don't ever think that they HAVE to sell it at the price you see as this is folly.

 

Remember, shops once used to charge for entry but as my friend above says "those who shout "I know my rights" in a retail sense, really don't". For example, the store I work in had an "up to 80%" sale on and, as you know, this can be anything UP TO 80% and I had a woman moan the other day that there were a few items on a nearby shelf at only 50%, now, I know the shop doesn't have any legal requirement to change this, but I removed the items....until she left and then put them back later.

 

Just don't think, as a customer you have any real rights to buy something at a particular price written in signage, it's just good practise.

[Weston Super Saint]

Hockey, unfortunately you are quoting two separate issues!

 

There is a legal obligation to price correctly - I believe each individual item that is priced incorrectly can be subject to a fine of up to £5000 - note the phrase 'up to' as this implies that the fine can be lower, which hopefully clarifies your second example

 

I have a feeling your student para legal friend is going to take a while to pass if he is studying UK consumer Law

[Hockey_saint]

Hockey, unfortunately you are quoting two separate issues!

 

There is a legal obligation to price correctly - I believe each individual item that is priced incorrectly can be subject to a fine of up to £5000 - note the phrase 'up to' as this implies that the fine can be lower, which hopefully clarifies your second example

 

I have a feeling your student para legal friend is going to take a while to pass if he is studying UK consumer Law

 

Yeah, he's more specialised in employment law but again, a shop can simply refuse to sell the particular item if it is priced incorrectly. It IS an invitation to shop. For example, according to the Citizens advice website:

 

"If there are two separate prices on the same item, you can offer to pay the lower price and see if the trader accepts this. They might do, but they don’t have to. If you don’t want to pay the higher price and thetrader won’t accept the lower price, you could see if they will accept an offer at a price in between. Whatever offer you make, thetrader has to agree to it before there is a binding contract."

 

ALSO, concerning this particular case, they say:

 

"If the trader makes a genuine mistake when pricing something, they won’t have committed an offence. ,The trader doesn’t have to sell you the goods at that price. If you find out the price is higher than you want to pay you can change your mind about buying it."

 

There are new laws concerning consumer rights coming out all the time though as well; but I'd still say the law is slightly more weighted towards the retailer than the shopper.

Edited 13 October, 2014 by Hockey_saint