PC World don't honour posted prices

[Shorty]

It'l never happen.

[5lab]

your best option imo is to phone thier head office and threaten to report them to the press and trading standards, if they dont give you a free desk. they might be scared enough to do it, if not they will more than likely honour the advert... i dont think you can sue them yourself thou.

[Allen]

Why are all (well, nearly all) companies out there ruled by blood sucking leeches nowadays?? What happened to honest traders??

I know for sure I'd rather earn £2 profit on an item and have a good customer service and be well known for having fair prices and knowledgable staff than make £20 profit and run a company that stinks and everyone who knows anything about computers hates...

[Moby-Dick]

However , I'm sure that somewhere will be the universal Caveat of E&OE

Errors and Omissions Excepted

This is the loophole that most retailers use to get round the whole misleading prices issue ie when Argos prices a bunch of TV's at a Fiver - It can just be claimed as a mistake that noone saw.

I dont think you'll have a leg to stand on tbh.

[Rythmic]

They are within their rights to refuse the sale to you - but they're legally oblidged to take down the notice - not really worth going to trading standards over. You could certainly try phoning central office - or going to another store - not going to lose anything are you?

The DSG (Dixons Sales Group - PC World, Dixons, Currys, etc...) are a pain in the arse for everyone to deal with. Ever wonder why all their products are on different shelves with seemingly no order, and why some things make it into locked cabinets not based on price/nickability? Thats because manufacturers have to pay for shelf space - they get charged more for a higher shelf, more for an endcap, more for the glass cabinets... Manufacturers also have to agree to 'price protection' - If the DSG reduce their prices, manufacturers have to give them money back so they keep the same profit margin.

And if manufacturers don't agree, they don't carry their products... A lot of the uninformed public shop there, so thats a lot of lost sales.

[Allen]

That flyer doesn't have E&OE written on it though.....

As far as I'm concerned that's the price it should be. Go in there, speak to a manager, kick up a fuss in front of other customers and they might give in. If not, threaten contacting Trading Standards.

It's a shame you have to do this to actually get it though. Bastards!

[Nick]

The outcome will be a stroppy manager taking down the poster and refusing the sale to you. He might apologise for the mistake, but other than that you have no legal recourse. All you can do is force them to take down the poster... they have informed you of the price difference at the time of sale, which is an inconvinience, but unless you handed over your credit card expecting a £99 bill, walked out of the shop and then realised you had paid £199, you haven't got any a leg to stand on.

Yes, they have mislead you, but other than a brief argument at the checkout, you haven't actually lost anything. Their answer will be that it was accidental and they'll take down the poster. That's all Trading Standards could make them do too. It would be a whole different kettle of fish if you had actually bought the desk, but as you haven't there isn't much that can be done... nothing, in fact.

Carppy way to trade, but that's the way it is.

[Allen]

Carppy way to trade, but that's the way it is.

I thought that's what Trading Standards were there for, to stop crappy trading going on.....

[5lab]

actually, if its a criminal offence, which it is, then someone can be arrested for it.

Code of Practice for Traders on Price Indications which is currently
being updated by the Department of Trade and Industry. The Code gives
practical guidance on complying with the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (CPA)
and the update will cover sales to consumers on the internet. The Code is
not binding, but under the CPA there is criminal liability for giving
misleading pricing information and the penalty can be a fine of up to five
thousand pounds.

more than likely the manager who refused to honor it was having a bad day, honestly phone up their head office and they will probably send you one for free - customer relation departments for large companies will normally do anything to save a companies name, and a £100 desk isnt much to them at all. my mum brought an out-of-date loaf of bread from a supermarket, phoned up the central office and got £75 vouchers..

incidentally, to those members who are making claims counter to the fine/criminal action, if i were you i'd check my facts before posting like this in future.

[5lab]

also.. try printing this out, or refering to it if you phone them. if you live near by take a camera in and photo some evidence of the misleading prices - this could come in handy if you choose to try and force them into giving you the goods at the price..

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/gu...adingprice.pdf

[Moby-Dick]

incidentally, to those members who are making claims counter to the fine/criminal action, if i were you i'd check my facts before posting like this in future.

and you passed your LLB when ?

you are in No position to quote with "authority"

[Stringent]

All this to get a desk which you could probably find even cheaper on the Internet anyway.

It is wrong, I hate going to PC World, just go to look at products which one really can't do on the 'net, get scared at the prices, £150 for an 80GB hard disk, I mean come ON! Its sad that people are SO wrapped up in them, but to be honest, what/who else is there that can compete? All the local stores cannot compete with PC World and have to close.

[5lab]

and you passed your LLB when ?

you are in No position to quote with "authority"

ok, so taking a direct quote from a government authority website is as likely to be misleading as saying

He might apologise for the mistake, but other than that you have no legal recourse. All you can do is force them to take down the poster...

which is a direct lie?

[TomWilko]

Seems pretty sound the law, I would report them and contact Watchdog - company's hate Watchdog

[nichomach]

ok, so taking a direct quote from a government authority website is as likely to be misleading as saying

which is a direct lie?

OK, I'll put my hands up; I DID get my LLB Hons (lo these many years ago ), and I'd point out the following:

Misleading price claims are not the same as wrongly advertised prices; there has to be an intention to deceive, as in the example given of false "previously offered at..." pricing labelling. It's there to cover situations where you are delibarately misled into thinking you are being offered a bargain when you're not, or where hidden extras are not indicated when they should be. In this instance, the customer was not misled - the poster said one thing, this was incorrect and the customer was advised of that at point of sale. The customer did not hand any money over, and suffered no loss.

The CPA draws a clear distinction between delibarately misleading pricing information and merely incorrectly advertised pricing, and advises that Trading Standards be contacted in the latter case, which is wht Alan's situation pretty clearly is.

People talking blithely about sueing should just step back and take a deep breath. Civil actions are there to compensate people for direct or reasonably proximate loss in the event of a civil wrong (tort) being perpetrated upon them, or a breach of a contract by someone with whom they had such a contract.. Even if an incorrect poster were a civil wrong (it isn't) Alan would get bupkiss, nada, zero, gornischt, not a sou, nothing because he suffered no loss - he paid no money, therefore has not lost anything, therefore there is nothing for which to compensate him.

Also, as noted above, there is no contract, therefore no breach, and no loss on that count either.

By all means advise Trading Standards - don't just use the threat as a bargaining chip, actually do it. It may not get you anything this time around, but they may be more careful next time, and that may benefit not only you, but other customers as well.

[Stoo]

Well, it might be worth a phone call to the head office, the worst they can do is say no, so you've not really lost anything.

Watchdog is good also