I took my nephew to our local Circuit City in Bainbridge Twp, Ohio on Thursday June 21st, 2007. He checked the website the night before on what he was going to get and when he went to go get the product off of the shelf the price was posted wrong on the shelf. He took it up to the register and the lady that waited on him said that will be $184.99 with $25.00 rebate.He said nope the price was marked on the shelf as $69.99 and she went to go see for herself. We both followed her to the location where he found the product and she took the price tag off of the shelf and rang it up again. I told her that since it was marked wrong that they will have to honor it and her reply was no. I asked to see the manager of the store. She paged Mr John Sima operations manager of the store to the register. He then proceeded to say no we don’t have to honor it and so on. I stood there demanding the price and he kept refusing to give it to us at the price that it was marked…
I just wanted to make sure I was right so I walked over to the Verizon Wireless counter and asked the rep there if a price is marked wrong on the shelf they have to honor it right? She said yes they do and the reason why she knew that is sometimes the cellphones they sell at their counter are sometimes marked wrong and they have to honor it. Well, I demanded after about 20 minutes just standing around in the store for the price it was marked he refused to give it to me. I then proceeded to say I’m calling the police and he told me to get the fuck out of his store.
I finally gave up and left but not without asking some questions from the cashier. I asked the young cashier in front of a customer how often does this store mark wrong prices on the shelves and she replied very often, with that in mind I got the store # and the 1-800 the-city phone number and reported the operations manager on how rude he spoke to me in front of my 14 yr old nephew. I also contact the county auditors office letting them know that they are posting false prices on products and defrauding the customers. I’ll be getting a phone call from the district manager on Friday June 22, 2007 about my problem.
-John
Good for John for standing up for his rights. Bad Circuit City for not following one of the most basic consumer protection laws in retail. We hope John gets an apologetic call back.
A small suggestion, if we may, John might have been better off not getting in what sounds like a heated argument. Instead, after seeing that the manager wouldn’t budge, he could have called the 1-800 Circuit City number right then and there in the store and tried explaining his issue. We’ve heard of other customers using this method to good effect, and employees at other retail stores have advised it as well, and it can result in HQ calling the store and straightening the problem out. — BEN POPKEN
(Photo: Boston.com)
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It would be advisable to get a picture of the item with the price for evidence.
I worked in a retail store that sold everything from chainsaws to baby outfits. And it was a rule that if an item came up as a certain price, yet the customer said the shelf marked it as a separate price, the employee was required to check the marking. More often than not, the cheaper price the customer thought was the right one was some sort of sale or membership discount, but occasionally the price advertised was simply a cheaper, although wrong, price. If that was the case, the employee was required to manually punch in the cheaper pricing, no questions asked. It’s just plain common sense; the Store screwed up, the Customer caught the mistake, make the Customer happy.
If you ask me, though, it sounds more like that store is in need of new management. Someone who can get in charge of making sure the correct prices are advertised and can also deliver quality customer service (as opposed to “get the f— out”).
Is this the case in every state?
I tried buying a graphics card marked as $1 at my local CC, and was rejected. It would be nice if someone could point to some statutes dealing with this. (I was in NC btw)
Next time, don’t threaten to call the police. Are you serious? I’m reminded of the phone call of the woman calling the police when Burger King wouldn’t make her burger the way she wanted.
Keep your cool. Otherwise, you’re just viewed as a disturbance and they won’t hesitate to kick you out.
People need to be more willing to use an attorney. I don’t understand why folks are willing to yell, threaten to call police, talk to some underpaid nit wit on the phone, and go through countless hassles when an attorney can fix your problems, often for free.
In most states, not honoring the marked price is a violation of consumer protection laws. And, in most states, the business must pay attorney fees and many states have minimum damages.
What does that mean? It means almost any attorney would be happy to take your case without a penny out of your pocket! Furthermore, the store’s attorneys will be willing to settle with you for more than minimum damages to avoid the costs of litigation.
And the store employees who don’t honor the prices… you better bet they’ll change their practices after their company is sued.
“He checked the website the night before on what he was going to get and when he went to go get the product off of the shelf the price was posted wrong on the shelf.”
Wrong too high, or wrong too low?
“I then proceeded to say I’m calling the police and he told me to get the fuck out of his store.”
You’re kidding right? Did you direct dial the local precinct or use 911? What crime were you reporting?
“John might have been better off not getting in what sounds like a heated argument.”
QFT and seconded. How dare you even consider bothering the local PD with your temper tantrum. It sounds like you may have left quite a bit of your attitude out, and I suspect that’s what got you the rejection, and the impolite request to leave.
Edit: Wrong too high, or wrong too low? Was the price the cashier gave you the same as your nephew saw online?
I’m pretty sure if I was the manager and you threatened to call the police to report me correcting a price, I’d kick you out just for being stupid. While the store is obligated to sell at the advertised price (assuming it was clear that the price was for that item, and the item was not simply in the wrong place), it is not a matter for the police. I agree that he should have simply called the 1-800 number while in front of the manager, and reported the issue while on the phone. I’m sure the last thing that manager wants is corporate calling him and telling him he f*cked up.
I haven’t been in a circuit city for awhile, so I don’t recall if they list the item name and SKU on the shelf tag. I’d be curious to know if they do, and what the price tag at issue said. We may not be getting the whole store. I can see it going like this. “The price on the shelf says this Golden Widget is $69.99. You have to sell it to me for that”. After pulling the tag “Sir, this tag clearly says it is for a bushel of apples , not a plasma TV. The TV was simply on the the wrong shelf, everything else on that shelf was apples, and it was in the produce section, not the TV section” “That doesn’t matter, thats where the TV was and I don’t care how clearly misplaced it was, I want it for $69.99 or I’m calling the police”. “Ok sir, based on that last comment, I’m not sure you’re smart enough to walk and breath at the same time, and we can’t have that kind of liability in the store. I’m going to have to ask you to leave”.
I could be wrong, but it does seem like there is something missing from this story.
someone going to cite the OH law on this?
I used to work in retail support for a very large manufacturer and in one of the legal courses I had to take someone brought this up. It turns out that they do NOT have to honor the price marked on the shelf. If it was marked in error (try proving that it wasn’t) then it is absolutely NOT false advertising.
False advertising is purposely creating an ad piece- and here’s the important part- that brings someone into the store and then not honoring that advertisement.
Of course, the other important part of that is ‘purposely.’ Retailers are allowed to print retractions and corrections to mistaken ads and don’t have to honor mistakes. False advertising is very difficult to prove.
That being said- fuck ups like this that don’t get honored really don’t help a company’s image.
@homerjay: Whether or not they are legally obligated to honor the price depends on what state you live in. Here in Michigan, they are required to honor the marked price. Plus, if the price scans as one thing, and is marked as another, then they have to refund you the difference, plus up to 10X the difference, up to $5.
@ manager who dropped the F-bomb…that dude is soo going to get fired.
If I read this right, the $184.99 + $25 rebate was the correct cost. If you knew the proper cost, I don’t see why you’d act surprised at their attempts to deny your demand. Much less act as if you were owed it, I can’t stand that kind of attitude.
Not to get off the subject, but too often do I see people eat at a sit-down restaurant like Damon’s Grill and complain their way to a free meal because it was 1 minute longer than their ’10 minutes or less guarantee’. Then to top it off, prove their shady way one notch higher by stiffing the wait staff, real classy.
Right now, I’ve categorized you with those types [see above]. I love to save money too, but there’s better ways to get what you want without putting someone’s job on the line [the cashier, not f-bomb guy] or making a public spectacle of yourself.
Seeing as how I’m currently a cashier at a very busy sporting goods store (national chain, not Dick’s), I see this happen more often than I can count. The protocol is ALWAYS to walk back with the customer, check the price, and either a)tell them we’ll honor the price because it was marked incorrectly or b)show them the product that was actually on sale or the one that that particular shelf tags belong to.
There’s something missing from this story, though, as no cashier in their right mind would say ‘no’ unless the price tag genuinely did not belong to the item. Also, I do think that the store would have grounds to say that they would not honor the price, because $69.99 down from $184.99 is a huge drop (more than 50%), which could drop it below cost. No store is under obligation to honor a price that is that far below regular price, unless they can find that a price that low has occurred in the past. (meaning that the store would not be losing as much money, since they’ve run sales like that before)
Sounds like John is a hothead, and needs to take a deep breath and think rationally. Working retail is bad enough without maniacs like him arguing with you about a silly thing.
@ Bourque77
But what if you are buying a camera???
At common law, states aren’t required to follow the prices quoted in ads. However, there may be statutes that overturn that principle. Apparently that’s the case in Michigan.
Though, it’s generally good customer service to sell at a given price.
make that stores, not states
As someone that has worked for compusa for about a year, just because a tag says one thing a store does not have to honor that price. In my store we would have to change tags and move product all the time, sometimes the completely wrong tag will end in front of an item. There will always be human error. That does not mean you deserve 100 dollars off. To be honest all you did was get the merchandising manager in trouble, or closer to being fired. This just makes things harder in a store. If you like shopping somewhere and it seems like you knew what to expect when you went in the store, don’t be that customer. There’s no reason to scream about a tag in the wrong spot. And im sure if it was a small difference they would have had no problem giving it to you at a lower price. Sometimes retail chains aren’t trying to screw you, sometimes they just screw up. It clearly was not a bait and switch tactic.
Having just left retail management let me share my insight…
Most often times it is simply the wrong item in the wrong place. Assuming that this is the case there is no recourse. Anyone could have put the item in the wrong spot so there is no way to prove any type of negligence or liability.
Second, as to the Manager using the “f-bomb”…HR will treat that as a he-said-she-said and will not take any action.
And lets not forget…in most cases you are on private property and the business can refuse to provide service (so long as it is not discrimination).
According to the Ohio State Bar association, CC seem to violate Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practice Act.
There is a good site explaining this very thing at:
[www.ohiobar.org]
When I used to work at Sears, the policy for incorrectly marked prices went as follows:
- If the item was $5 or less, then the customer got it for free.
- If the item was $100 or less, they got $5 off.
- If the item was more than $100, then they got 5% off.
Keep in mind this was only done if the customer was actually charged the incorrect price and had to come back and dispute it. If they caught it when ringing the item up, then we just changed the price to the incorrect one and took the incorrect sign down. However, if the customer came back and complained, then the above rules were applied. Note that the $5 off and the 5% off were taken from the incorrect price, not the one that the register came up with. All in all, it was a pretty good deal for customers. I don’t know if this is still the policy or not. I know when I was working there they were talking about phasing out some of the other good policies like the price match plus. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got rid of this policy too. They’re becoming somewhat evil.
In California, call the county Bureau of Weights and Measures. Offer to report them right there in the store.
As for calling corporate in a store, sometimes it works. I had to twice regarding trying to get the free tire rotation that came with the tires I bought from my local Wal-Mart. Long story short, don’t hesitate to call them, especially in front of the store managers.
It’s too bad they do things like this. I am a manager for a Hy-Vee in Waterloo IA. We have a scan guarantee policy where if a product is scanned at a incorrect price, its free as long as we can legally give it away. I have no problem using this policy it makes us a more honest store. Booze and the wacky tobacky (cigarettes) fall under u just get it at the listed price sorry.
@markedward: This has been my experience at Best Buy, where I once bought a $50 item for $22 because it was marked incorrectly. They went through the same process as you described. I would imagine it’s standard procedure for most stores.
I told her that since it was marked wrong that they will have to honor it…
I stood there demanding the price…
Well, I demanded after about 20 minutes just standing around in the store for the price it was marked
God, even to hear the OP say it in his own words, it sounds like he was a real asshole in the store. If he is by law entitled to get the item at the lower price, then fine. But he started everything off with an adversarial tone. If I’d been the manager, I would have been tempted to tell him to go fuck himself.
Oh, and way to teach his nephew that throwing a tantrum in a store and bullying employees is the way to get what you want.
The problem with calling Circuit City’s 1-800 number in the store is that the Cool Line is basically powerless. When you call, they (in their heavy accents…not to sound xenophobic or racist, but if you’re going to outsource, find people you can understand on the phone) ask you about your problem then call the store, talk to a manager, ask them if they can rectify it – and have NO POWER to make them. Only a DM or RVP can directly tell a store director or manager what to do, and you don’t get those when you call the Cool Line. I’ve heard (and been on during my management training) Cool Line calls with unreasonable customers where we’ve been connected with the customer (three-way call: us, the customer, and Cool Line rep) where the rep has asked us to do what the customer wants, we say “no,” and the rep verbally shrugs his or her shoulders since the rep has absolutely no power over the store.
That all said, CC price tags clearly have the BRAND/MODEL (three letter abbrev. for the brand followed by a 12 letter or less word for the model) on all price tags along with the description of the product and, on occasion, a expiration date. If the tag by the item had the same BRAND/MODEL as the item then he most certainly should have been given the correct price – and every manager I worked with there would have given it to him. (Of course none of those are there anymore since the company is circling the drain, but that’s another story.) If it were a different BRAND/MODEL, I would have probably split the difference with him since it’s not his fault the wrong tag was there – even if the tag did advertise a different product. The manager in this story should be shown the door like so many better ones have been over the last several months.
Hot off a Lexis search. Ohio defines an advertisement as: “Advertisement” means any electronic, written, visual, or oral communication made to a consumer by means of personal representation, newspaper, magazine, circular, billboard, direct mailing, sign, radio, television, telephone or otherwise, which identifies or represents the terms of any item of goods, service, franchise, or intangible which may be transferred in a consumer transaction. The last part would probably mean that a price marked on a shelf would qualify as an advertisement.
The Ohio Administrative Code goes further to state that “Bait advertising It shall be a deceptive and unfair act or practice for a supplier to make an offer of sale of any goods or services when such offer is not a bona fide effort to sell such goods or services. An offer is not bona fide if:
(a) The refusal to show, demonstrate or sell the offered goods or services in accordance with the terms of the offer;”
This would appear to qualify as a failure under OAC Ann. 109:4-3-03.
However, this is administrative law and calling the police trying to invoke criminal proceedings is inappropriate in this case. I haven’t researched thoroughly but threatening to call the police is sort of an asshole thing to do.
File a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General.
I spent 18 years in Ohio working retail and while I cannot recite the specific laws, stores have to honor the price that is “marked”. Here were some of the classic examples and how we followed them.
1. Price tag on shelf matches item but the price is lower than what rung up. Customer always, always, always won — except for alcohol, tobacco and other price controlled items.
2. Price tag on shelf does NOT match the item and price is different. Customer almost NEVER won this case and stores were not required to honor it because people can easily move tags around.
3. Ad sign left over from previous weeks, but still hanging in front of product. Customer always won. Same as a price tag.
4. AD circular was incorrect. Stores have to make a honest attempt to replace the ads, if it was too late, we had to post signs indicating the error. If the deal was a huge misprint, it was usually posted on the front door, at registers, near the items, everywhere.
In Ohio, it doesn’t matter if the tag misprints, the computer barfed or someone hacked the system. If the price tag on the shelve matches the item and it is incorrectly marked, the store has to honor it. Other wise it’s another form of bait and switch.
Here’s a good bait-and-switch explainer.
In no way am I defending Circuit City, but I know that as a supervisor, if anyone threatens with either police or legal action, the first thing we’re supposed to say is “Then I can no longer talk to you, please leave the store”.
Obviously this a different situation, but I’m just throwing that out there.
“Instead, after seeing that the manager wouldn’t budge, he could have called the 1-800 Circuit City number right then and there in the store and tried explaining his issue. We’ve heard of other customers using this method to good effect, and employees at other retail stores have advised it as well, and it can result in HQ calling the store and straightening the problem out.”
The problem is that Circuit City’s Cool Line has no power. They’ll call the store to ask them to do something, but only a DM or RVP can order a store director or manager to act – and the Cool Line won’t hook you up with one of those folk. I’ve been on three-way Cool Line calls between the corporate rep, the store and a customer where the CL rep tells the manager to do something, the store refuses, and the rep gives a verbal shrug since he or she knows they have no power. (In all the cases I’ve been involved in this was not a bad thing since the customer was unreasonable, but that’s because we had good managers. They’re all gone now since the company is circling the drain.)
As for the price tags, they have the Brand/Model (three letter abbrev. for the brand, then an eight-to-twelve letter series for the model) on all price tags along with a brief product description and, occasionally, an expiration date. In my experience, if the Brand/Model matched the item and the price was wrong, you get the price on the tag. If it’s not the right product on the tag, and the tag or product was in the wrong place, your demeanor determined whether the manager gave you a break, but often they would split the difference with you. The expiration date also helped determined whether you got money off, but usually we’d give you the price even if it was expired since it’s not your fault and customers shouldn’t be expected to check those things.
(Hopefully this isn’t a double post – I typed earlier – my first comment ever – and nothing showed up. I hope I am not the stupid.)
They really should’ve honored it, assuming a caveat:
Was the label on the shelf for the product in question? Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but if my local Circuit City is any indication, shit’s just tossed back on the shelf randomly by customers, so what’s under the product may not be for what’s actually above it on the rack.
The first thing I do before storming off the CS desk to have them honor the price is to make sure the SKUs line up. More often than not, they don’t. :/
He checked the website the night before on what he was going to get and when he went to go get the product off of the shelf the price was posted wrong on the shelf.
So your smartass nephew already knew this was a price error?
Shame on you for being such jerks about it.
@dicus: This is an item pricing issue, not an advertisement. The section you cited doesn’t apply. It’s also not a bait and switch.
The point here is that the customer should only have to pay the price marked on the shelf. I don’t know about Ohio, but many states (MA included) have made this policy decision. Reading the description, it appears that the cashier confirmed the price on the shelf was 69.99 and tried to ring it up as such, but the register showed the other price.
Please don’t bash this guy for getting angry. None of us were there. Although I’m sure he got pretty heated as the matter escalated (frankly, it sounds like he was running around the store). The escalation was the manager’s fault b/c he could have defused it by honoring the price. Still, I think calling the 800 number right then and there is probably the most effective approach.
I’ve worked retail in Michigan: The law here is pretty similar to what calacak described for Ohio, with an extra kicker: If a store overcharges a customer and the customer complains, the store has to refund an amount equal to ten times the overcharge, up to a maximum of five dollars. It helps keep the grocery stores in line.
By the way,the part about threatening to call the police reminded me: When I worked for Ritz Camera in Arizona, a customer once called 911 on us because my manager wouldn’t give her free double prints. And she did it using a cell phone she borrowed from a store employee.
I think the 911 operator actually hung up on the customer. (The employee who loaned the phone to the customer was worried that the police would come after him for the frivilous 911 call, but it apparently wasn’t even worth their time to do that.) After some back-and-forth, the store mananger gave the woman her negatives back, asked her to leave, and then called the other Ritz stores in the area to warn them about the crazy customer who might be coming their way.
@MercuryPDX: “Was the price the cashier gave you the same as your nephew saw online?”
The online price is irrelevant to the store price. Besides, Circuit City and other electronics stores often have different prices at their online stores and their brick and mortar stores, not to mention that the two types of stores are often separate corporate entities.
Cannuck laws are nice. Canadian law reads that if an out of date price is posted, even if the sign has an “effective until” stipulation, if that sign isn’t removed from the shelf, it must be honored for however long it sits there. Add in Alberta’s own law that if an item comes up with a different price in the computer than what was on the shelf, ya get $10 off (free if under ten bucks). Suckit Circuit City!
@LionelEHutz: The question was more in the spirit of how gmark2000 described it above.
@gamble: That’s not how I remember it. As I was trained, it didn’t matter if the customer had paid the wrong price and then came back. If a customer had to say “the item is cheaper on the shelf” the markdown was applied. Now, if I was working with a customer, saw the lower price on the shelf, then quietly adjusted the price, I’d not apply the markdown – I’d simply charge the correct (shelf) price. The Sears markdown was meant to be a tangible apology for the honest mistake of an overcharge, and at the same time, it was meant to reinforce consumer confidence in our integrity.
When I worked for Highland Superstores a million years ago, we were assigned areas in our department. It was our responsibility to make sure that the signage with the prices were kept up to date. (I should note that this was before everything was scanned.)
However, it would make sense for a store to honor the price stated on the shelf if for no other reason than good PR. Whether an item has to be sold at the price stated on the signage would be a matter of a local ordinance. To the best of my knowledge there is no such law where I live. If this individual had called the police due to the matter, they would have told him that it was a civil matter.
The problem is that consumers wanted cheap prices rather than knowledgable employees which is why when you go into a store like Circuit City or Best Buy, you are most likely going to be buying from somebody who is not really concerned about anything other than what they are going to do after their shift ends.
And as long as the lemmings keep flocking to Circuit City and Best Buy, the stock holders of these companies will be laughing at their customers all the way to the bank.
Ironically I had a similar problem in Circuit City, but at the Verizon kiosk. I asked the CC manager and he said CC has to honor their price mistakes (but he had no control over the Verizon kiosk). Also, I did call the police and they came. The cop they sent was no help though. He was busy giving out traffic tickets near the mall. He was quite rude at being interrupted at that.
One of my friends overheard the CC employees saying, “what an asshole, this is why I hate working retail”. That was quite amusing.
This was about the verizon “manager” at the store though, not the CC employees. He refused to do what was right and got a good scare out of it. Verizon refused to budge, I would have pursued it further, but I was extremely busy at the time and didn’t have time to argue over 60 bucks on a phone.
The add on the phone showed the discount and had no expiration date, but when he went to ring up the phone it was a higher price and told me “it was an old add”. It was apparently something that was 3 months old.
Wow, I am amazed ad the stupidity of people. When it comes to a PRICE. A price is a suggestion. It is simple business law. You suggest I pay $10 for Item A. I agree and enter into a contract for Item A for $10. However, if Item B is in a bin for Item A that is marked $10, but Item B is say $50, the store does not have to accept my offer of $10. It is not fals advertising. It is simply a denial of a contract. Basic business law that any student in any high school could tell you. The laws vary a little bit from state to state, but any store has the option of denying any offer for any good or service, especially if the good or service is underpriced.
If the price was indeed represented on the shelf-regardless of legality, Shame on Circuit City and the manager for being stubborn. The blog creates a wealth of great publicity for Circuit City now doesn’t it??
You know, there’s this myth that mis-marked items fall under consumer protection laws, but it’s absolutely untrue.
Consumer protection laws are not meant to force retailers to sell products at a low price if they’re mis-marked; they’re meant to prevent retailers from advertising a product at one price and then selling it at a higher price when they get the consumer in the door. And even in those circumstances, calling the police does you no good, because the police cannot enforce the rule since violating it is not a criminal offense. Rather, it opens the retailer up to a civil case where, if the consumer can prove wrongdoing, the retailer will have to pay damages.
If an item is accidentally mis-marked (due to, say, a new associate or someone not paying attention), the retailer is not required by law to honor the price, and if they can prove that it was simple human error and not intentional, they’re not vulnerable legally.
Most corporations have a standing policy that if an item is mis-marked, that price should be honored and then immediately corrected for any standing product. But along the same lines, most retail chains also require the manager to use discretion in handling situations where the difference is greater than a certain dollar amount or percentage; they SHOULD take care of the customer, but they are not REQUIRED to if it’s over a certain amount.
In this situation, I’m guessing that the customer mistook one item for a similar (and more expensive) item and the manager was simply doing his job to use discretion. Getting angry, threatening to call the police, and behaving badly probably only strengthened the manager’s resolve.
And the customer’s talking to the Verizon rep about policies is a false analogy because Verizon is a different company that operates within Circuit City, but is not part of Circuit City. They have different policies because they have much greater margins on their phones + contracts than Circuit City has on simple retail items.
One final note: if you see something advertised on the Circuit City website, you can elect for in-store pickup and get it for that price. Any reasonable person would have done this. It sounds to me like the customer came in preparing to spend the $185, thought he was going to get a deal due to a pricing error, and then got mad when they wouldn’t budge on it.
(I don’t work for Circuit City or even think highly of them. But I was a retail manager for several years and hated dealing with customers who felt they were entitled to things they had no right to expect. Sorry for the lengthy post.)
@ToddMU03:
I am more amazed at your ignorance. As far as we know that’s not the case here. Using your analogy, “Item B” had a price tag out for $10 – a price tag FOR “Item B”, not for any other item. The store is “offering” to sell “Item B” for $10 by having that sign out.
@Secularsage: Uuuhh, actually the laws in several states (including Ohio), DO in fact cover mis-marked items. If the tag on the shelf is for the item in question and the price is wrong, the retailer has to honor the price on the tag. They can (and do) of course, try to argue their way out of it, but it IS the law.
This has happened to me also in Florida, at both BB and Staples, with tags left over from a previous sale. They removed the tags, but I was charged the lower price for the items.
It’s just common sense, better to lose a few bucks than a customer IMHO.
this happened to me once at wal-mart. I needed a car battery jumper and i picked the nicest one they had for a reasonable price. 49.99. Then I went up to the from and it rang up 85.98 or something and i promptly went back there, took a picture of the price tag with my camera phone and asked for a manager who then said, well sorry it was just mismarked. I wrote down his name and all of that jazz and asked him for the wal-mart customer complaint number, and then he said, “well i’m not suppose to do this but I guess I’ll just honor the price.”
I thought, hmm thanks for doing me a favor by honoring the price listed. Here’s the thing that made me so angry. He said oh well it’s just in the wrong place, we have several made by black and decker. Well thats really not my fault since he should hire people who can actually stock things correctly. The dude in the back who helped me find the thing was like, wow thats a good price, I think I’ll get one for myself. Now if he didn’t know it was wrong and he worked there how was I suppose to know?!?!?
that pretty much got off topic but I get so ill when i think people are trying to purposefully pull one over.
If you think about it, most people purchase alot of items on a trip to wal-mart so if you are buying $200 worth of items you probably wouln’t notice that extra amount tacked on unless you were paying attention at the counter. They probably get away with that all of the time.
@ToddMU03: Todd, you’re an idiot. You just argued that retailers can change the prices of merchandise to anything they want when the customer gets to the checkout line. Do you have any idea how stupid you sound?
Please take a hint from those of us who live in the real world: Accurate-pricing laws exists all over the United States. Here’s some links I found in a one-minute Google search:
Arizona
California
Pennsylvania
I won’t bother looking up Michigan’s law for you — if want proof of that, come and look at the signs posted in all the grocery stores.
As someone who also works retail, I can safely advise that they do not have to honor the price on the sign. The only price a merchant has to honor is the one the salesperson quotes you. We don’t have to honor the sign for the reason that someone could have easily switched the signs. It has happened before. Not saying this fellow did, but legally merchants are not compelled to do so. And besides that, it’s entirely possible a customer picked up this item and decided they didn’t want it and left it wherever they decided against it. I’ve seen it a thousand times.
This has happened a few times to me at my local JCPenney’s. Each time, the price difference is around ten dollars or less and is usually due to signs from a weekend sale not being taken down after the sale was over. Each time (it has been 3 times) the sales associate has honored the better deal with a smile and thanked me for bringing it to their attention. This makes me shop JCPenney first and recommend it to my friends. The store I am referring to is the JCPenney in Golden Triangle Mall in Denton, Texas. They really have a great store staff.
I am not sure where I stand on this. On one hand, I think items should be priced properly. But if you get rung up, and they tell you the price is different, no one is forcing you to buy it.
I am a big advocate of truth in advertising, but I also own a small retail Audio/Video store. I would hate to have to take a big loss on a product because I accidentally tagged something the wrong price.