Wrong prices in shops..can you demand the labelled price?

Question

I work in a shop that gets very busy. (wine shop). Sometimes customers move the bottles about and they end up under different price labels. Most customers are okay when we explain what has happened..but one guy was extremely rude and demanded it at the labelled price. He said it was the law. Is it? What are the exact laws on this?

Answer 1

Consumer Protection Act 1987 says:

Can't I insist that a shop sells me something at the marked price - even though they may have made a mistake?

No. This is where a lot of people get confused about their rights. Shops are not legally obliged to sell customers anything but most are happy to serve you because that's why they're in business. If they choose not to there isn't much you can do about it unless they discriminate against you because of your race, religion or s*x. That is illegal.

Answer 2

No. It is known as an invitation to treat. Not legally enforceable.

Answer 3

Sold as seen. The price shown is the price it should be sold at. If you sell at a different price to that which is shown (i.e. on the bottle or on the shelf) then you are committing fraud.

Answer 4

No, he is completely wrong. Next time ban him from the shop- see how he likes that.

Answer 5

The price upon an item is only an invitation to trade. It is not a contract in itself.

The shopkeeper is entitled to refuse to sell the item.

(That said, somebody who deliberately puts on lower prices then asks higher ones at the till could be open to prosecution under Trading Standards laws, but that is a different matter.)

In the UK you have further rights: a pub, club, restaurant or off-licence (wine shop / liquor store) also has the right to refuse somebody service and even ban them from the premises without giving a reason.

Answer 6

No the law states that this is an invitation to treat.

Basically this means that you are asking the customer to make you an offer which you can accept or refuse. A contract will only be in place when an offer has been made and acceptance has been agreed to the specific offer.

Answer 7

It depends. If you demand to buy it at the displayed price, and the shopkeeper realizes his error, he can legally refuse to sell it to you, and he 'withdraws it from sale'.

However, if the sale is complete and THEN you point out the error, he has committed the offence and you are entitled to redress. His wisest course is to refund you the difference, the only alternative open to him being prosecution.

Answer 8

coming this guy is just crazy  do not selll him the bottle

Answer 9

if it was explained to him about the obvious reason for the possibility of the bottles being moved about and not replaced

back in its right postion either by the stores staff or customer

then he should be reasonable and accept the store managers

explanation.I expect there was not much difference in the price

. The customer is always right

should not be enforced in this case

Answer 10

If most US States, that would be complete BS.

In the UK, that would be an utter load of bollocks.

It's unheard of for any "Consumer Rights" law to dictate a merchant has to supply anything at a labelled price. Especially when the wine is visibly labelled as something else!