Halfrauds live up to the name

[Poledriver]

Today I had the misfortune to visit the Havant branch of our favourite spares shop in order to purchase some oil for my BRM
I found 4 litres of Castrol Magnatec 10W40 which was offered on sale clearly marked on the shelf as £26.99 reduced to £21.57.
I took this to the till and the girl checked the bar-code and said the price was £26.99. I pointed out that there was an offer on this and she called the manager on the phone who told her that the higher price was correct and the price I saw was an "Invitation sale" offer (none of the staff was able to explain what this phrase meant , so I will assume it is meant as a con to get people into the store to get a bargain which does not exist!).
Thinking that I may have been mistaken, I returned to the shelf to check the label. Finding that I was correct, I took the label back to the till with me and asked for the manager. He told me that this price was an offer available only before Christmas and had expired, he also said that they could not sell this oil at the price as it would mean that they would make a loss! I pointed out to him that there was nothing anywhere in the store to say that this offer was only available for the period before Christmas and that it was extremely misleading to advertise an item at a lower price than would be charged at the till. The manager, rather rudely, said that I could either buy the oil at the higher price, buy a cheaper oil or shop elsewhere. Luckily I opted to shop elsewhere as I next went to Asda who normally sell the same oil for £21.09 but had it marked down in their sale for £15.77.

[rovamota]

Under the Sale of Goods Act, if it's advertised at that price, then that's the price you pay!

Halrauds is the dearest place to buy oil. Their 20W/50 is £10 a gallon, but 20W/50 is only £3.99 at Asda.

I bought Castrol GTX for my BRM from Asda, much cheaper.

Kev.

[Adam]

Trust Halfrauds!

Thinking of which I think my old girl is due a service again.

[The Express Valeter]

The manager stated that if he sold it at the so called offer price they would make a loss! So I assume they wer making a loss on it all the time previously. I doubt if the mark up on it was only about £5 anyway.

[Poledriver]

Very interesting reply from trading standards!:-

Generally speaking, in contract law terms, a retailer doesn't have to sell an item at the marked price. For there to be a binding contract there has to be an offer which has been accepted. In the context of sale of goods, the offer is made by the customer when they present the goods at the payment point (if the customer offers to buy the goods at the marked price).

The till operator is free to accept or reject the offer. This means that if a till operator spots that goods have been mispriced, they can reject a customer's offer to buy at the incorrect price, and offer the customer the chance to buy at the correct price.

The customer may decline or accept that offer as he or she chooses. Inevitably, retailers will make the odd mistake over pricing. In certain circumstances, misleading pricing will amount to a criminal offence, and trading standards departments have the authority to investigate, and, if appropriate, prosecute.

[Stev160]

I bought 2 x 4.5l at 21.69 during mid december! Thought it was a great buy! Will go to asda next time.

Even as general courtesy/service they should have sold you the 1 oil for the price you saw it at and then they should have removed it from the shelf. Useless people there!