I very rarely go shopping but as OH’s allotment is close to Bell Green we have popped in a couple of times recently.and twice now in Sainsbury’s I have been refused service on items that were in the reduced section.
Basically it was a case of “computer says no” both times. The item was not on the system so they said they couldn’t sell it to me. I made a bit of fuss and said that while I respected the cashiers position I didn’t really care about the awfulness of the epos system. Three people turned up and they were all equally unhelpful and basically walked away with my lamb mince!
Then it happened again. I have complained but you don;t get much of a response from corporate complaints.
Is this legal or can they just refuse to sell you something that is clearly marked…
Legality of refusing to sell items clearly marked
Retail law was different across the UK st one time and in some parts any goods marked at a certain price had to be sold to the customer who accepted the price.
I think it has been regularised now that whilst goods can be marked st a price the retailer is not compelled to sell the goods to you.
Good customer relations would dictate that they do but you have been treated badly.
Obviously retailers cannot boost sales by saying they have a discounted price but deceiving customers by consistently selling at a higher price. In those cases Trading Standards should be advised.
Thanks…
Even more galling though is both times the cashiers have stated clearly that “it happens all the time” so there is\was a systematic issue…
Back to corporate complaints I go - maybe the threat of trading standards will produce more of a response.
If you tweet them about it you’ll likely get a gift card for a couple of quid. But it won’t do anything to fix the system.
The price offered by shops is legally an invitation to treat (i.e not an offer of such that a purchaser can accept forming a legally binding contract) and it is the purchaser that makes the “offer” to purchase on the terms of the invitation to treat that the shop then may accept forming the basis of the contract. Sounds a strange way to do it but it does avoid a number of potential theoretical and practical issues such as the example above. Common sense should have prevailed though.
I have previously contacted Sainsbury’s customer service online about a misleading label on a product. I got a reply thanking me and saying the relevant people would be informed. No change to the product. Another email. No change; the product still has the misleading label.
Does Lewisham have a functioning Trading Standards team?
Expect even less accountability from Sainsbury’s when they merge with Asda.
BTW I reckon you’d get a more friendly reasonable pragmatic response at our Sainsbury’s in Forest Hill. They seem to be a very lively helpful bunch, maybe partly because the old-fashioned high street shop is a shop - more pleasant to work in - unlike the dreary corporate warehouse at Bell Green.
Had the same story a couple of times.
I used to work in retail, not sure about the rules now, but the rules were any wrongly priced items on display do not have to be sold automatically to a customer, the shop has a right to withdraw ALL incorrectly priced stock from sale, off the floor for 24 hrs. So if all items are incorrectly priced, they have to go to stock rooms for 24 hrs. A lot of retailers, to avoid loosing sales, sell wrongly priced items to a customer, correct prices and carry on. Sainsbury’s are particularly tight lot and preffer to argue with customers than to let items go. They are a mega company and dont care to loose a tiny bit of footfall.
My understanding is the same rule apples to priced items not on EPOS system. They just have to take the whole lot back to the warehouse.
Funny, but I was there this evening and, joining a queue to a till then being told it was closing, my glum look didn’t stop a friendly assistant taking me straight to another till to process my shopping (faster than if I’d stayed where I’d been). To add a touch of joy to a happy encounter, the single onion that had accidentally not been ‘scanned’ before payment was handed to me gratis.
It felt a bit like the old days.)
The law of contract provides that the retailers aren’t bound to sell anything to you. Technically, they aren’t offering the items - you make the offer when you present them at the till, and it’s up to them to accept it.