PC World don't honour posted prices

[Alan]

Have a look at this poster found in PC World.

Got to the checkout, it said £199.99 and the Manager wouldn't honour the advertised price. He has a legal right to refuse the sale but it suggests that PC World will cherry pick what they will accept and what they won't. This is clearly not a mistake by the local store, but by head office marketing who produce these fliers.

I wonder how many times the posted price has actually been higher than it should have been - and how often did they volunteer to correct it. I was buying several other items as well. As a result, I bought nothing.

I'm going to contact their head office and see how far I can get.

[Theo]

Strange how the flyer says "was £129.99", but it came out at £199.99 at the checkout. Technical fault, perhaps? Are you 150% sure that the desk at the store was the same desk as the one on the flyer?

[directhex]

things like this happen. stores are no longer allowed to produce their own signs in the evnt of gross screwups, they have to post what they're given by the incompetent and untrained people at the POS department of head office (hence £900 laser printers having a £500 price tag at ties, so prices simple not being displayed when someone notices).

they WILL pick & mix what they'll accept, because (much as they deny it to the DTI) the stores are driven only by what they can screw out of customers - managers have access to the profit margin on an item, and won't allow a sale that has negative profit (for example, they'll throw £15 usb cables in like confetti as they're £14.50 profit, in a full sale the 50p actual loss is absorbed into other items' profit)

and don't bother with head office, they'll tell you to FO

this is the same company that until a cvouple of years ago would take all non-statutory returns cases to court to show you who was boss

[Alan]

Theo, no doubt at all. Both refer to the "Ravenna" model and I've seen it in 2 different stores and taken pictures of it.

The joke is, this same store sold me Paint Shop Pro for £49.99 rather than the till price of £99.99 because it had a £49.99 sticker on it, referring to Paint Shop Pro. In both cases, it was half price (but double the cost!)

[Swafe]

trading standards -> false advertising -> sue-age

[directhex]

no, not really Swafeman

the fluffy world of "i heard of a law called x" and the real world are quite far apart

[Knoxville]

real world

pc-world money > better lawyers > lots of legal fee's to sit and watch your case get taken apart

[nichomach]

Real world, poster=invitation to treat, customer goes to checkout to buy item = offer, point of sale accepts = contract, point of sale declines = no contract, therefore no legal recourse.

[shiato storm]

real world=dad has 12-bore shotgun>me marches into PCWorld Head office>a brief respite ensues>me marches out of PCWorld 'headless-office'...

...me watches second rate lawyers cack themselves over discovering bodies of first-rate lawyers being sprawled over company owners during a final act of indignaty involving a sheep...and the aforementioned 12-bore propellant weapon...

[shiato storm]

p.s. me then orders very much cheaper goods over the internet...

[rc55]

(removed reply - i might get into trouble for what i said) :O

Hopefully those subscribed to the thread will have it in e-mail form.

Ruairi

[5lab]

not honering a displayed price is against trading standards. phone the local trading standards office up and have a chat. pc world might not honer the price to you but they can pay for f*kcing up

[directhex]

i'll come clean, i used to be a pcworld merchandiser, so i can fill in some of rc55's gaps. and 5lab, no it's not, don't be a tit & waste the time of a number of people needlessly - if you're aware of the way the mechanics of retail sales (such as the offering of a contract, etc, much as detailed by nichomach), then you'll know that they have done nothing whatsoever wrong - besides being stupid & having bad POS on the shop floor.

the Dixons Group IS a bad company, unethical in its dealings with both staff and customers. go to work for them, and half the introductory details explain how they intend to sue you for doing anything whatsoever out of line, how they don't trust you, and want you dead. You face a metal detector or pat-down search on entry and exit to the store, even just for a cigarette.

the company is entirely mismanaged (a retail store does NOT need a 1:1 ratio of managers to staff at any one time). service staff (tech support, shelf stacking, warehouse, merchandising) can face officiall complaints on their records for *gasp* selling things to people when specifically asked for help by customers. warehouse facilities are often unhealthy (e.g. the branch i worked, in the summer, had a tin roof & no air conditioning in the upstairs warehouse, leading to intollerable conditions)

rc55 is correct - prices will go up & down to reflect maximum profit (low unit costs in consumer peak time for maximum extended warranty sale, high unit cost in industry peak time for maximum per-item profit). Those at head office ARE incompetant morons (e.g. the demo on the TFT run only runs in 800x600, leaving a blurry non-native-res mess, POS is frequently wrong with "we recommend canon cartridges for this epson printer"), staff training is inadequate and relies on one thing only: making it up WITH CONFIDENCE (i.e. everyone shopping in pcworld knows 0, so make it up as you go along but sound certain whilst you do it & people will be convinced).

ooh, and I had to threaten them with court action over tax-dodging to get them to pay me what they owed me.

they're a vile company (my direct manager quit in disgust shortly after i did), but really this whole "omg they didn't sell it to me at the quoted price" thing is moot - they can refuse sale if they want, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

[5lab]

Misleading Prices - Consumer Protection Act 1987



The law does not control the amount a trader charges for goods, but you are entitled to expect the price of goods to be accurately displayed in a shop, catalogue, or advert. If goods are incorrectly priced, you cannot force the trader to supply them to you, but you should report the matter to your local Trading Standards Department for investigation.

from the trading standards website - http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/c...V0043-1011.txt

[5lab]

also..

Misleading prices

It's a criminal offence for traders to make misleading price claims. 'Was £120. Now £99.99!' is misleading if the goods were never provided at the higher price. It's also misleading if a trader fails to show 'hidden extras' or to make it clear when a price is conditional on, for example, another purchase.

from the office of fair trading website - http://www.oft.gov.uk/Consumer/Your+...out.htm#prices

[directhex]

you win. fancy your chances at sueing them, then?