Has anyone ever insisted they get an item for the marked price in a shop after being told it was wrong? Can the shop refuse ?

I seem to be very fortunate in these instances where an item has been priced incorrectly, I have always brought this to the attetion of a floor supervisor and debated the cost prior to going to the check out. The checkout assistant has no authority to over-ride the price as detailed on the barcode. However, if you appeal to the better nature of the supervisor and invariably they have the authority to over-ride the price, then you can get a bargain.

I feel it is the legal duty of the shop to price things accurately and where they fail to do this then they should be honour bound to accept their liability for misleading the consumer. To date, I have never been refused when I have offered the explanation.

In one instance, some years ago, I was in Sainsbury's and they were selling off a hair product. I noticed a discrepency in the pricing structure of these and took 8 of the items to the checkout. The discounted price would show that I was to be credited with money by 'buying' these items. True enough, at the checkout the operator was bemused by the till showing that for each item I purchased I was credited with 48p and received the item for free. On that particular day, I may have made retail history by being paid legally to take items from the shop!

The legal requirement is that the contract to purchase between the customer and the retailer only takes place at the till where the price of the item is displayed and you agree to pay that price for the item. However, this can equally work in your favour if you buy a higher priced item and the till price is less.

Here's what moneysavingexpert says on this...

"If goods are mispriced - can I force them to sell it to me at that price?

No sorry, that's an urban myth. Quite simply shops don't have to sell anything to you if they don't want to, regardless of price. Yet deliberately misleading you is criminal.First let's look at a genuine mistake, for instance a £50 jacket racked up in a long line of other coats all at £500, you have to accept the shop's error. Though if it does accept money and later says that was in error, the contract's made and it's yours (this isn't quite the same for internet purchases though).So if you spot a mis-priced mistake, don't be afraid to try and haggle. Although it doesn't have to, the retailer may sell it to you knock down price as a gesture of goodwill.However, if it turns out to be intentionally misleading, such as a price promotion promising lots of goods at dirt-cheap prices that fail to emerge, or you complain and it puts the goods back on the shelf at the same price, then it's a potential criminal offence and Trading Standards officers can send in their heavies to investigate."

I've always challenged this and always got at least a discount - it's well worth doing. However, if the price on the barcode is not what you thought it was you don't really have a right to argue with that, but I always do!

Hi,

Thanks to our quaint legal system, the prices displayed in stores don't constitute a binding contract - they're what's called an 'invitation to treat' i.e. an opening price you can haggle over with the store keeper. Yep, that's right - the laws around item pricing have their origins in the days of medieval markets in the town square!

Parchester's correct that no contract is formed until you reach the till, because it is only then that you agree a price (or 'consideration') for the goods you've been invited to treat over.

In practice I find most stores will sell for the lower of the marked price and the till register price - though I've not encountered a big mis-match for big ticket items, where I think they'd enforce the higher price!

My late mother always used to champion this cause, often to embarrassing heights in the shops concerned. MY understand through the years, as others have endorsed, is that a price is only 'an invitation to buy' and a wrong price may be as ineffectual as a typo on a script and as such has no legal bearing. Occasionally I get charged more at the till than the marked price states and I have never had a problem having that reduced as a matter of goodwill, if nothing else. But these are always minor differences and easy to deal with. And to be honest, I have been surprised to be charged somewhat less at the till than the marked price states, whether by ticket or by price on the stand.

The trouble is that personal error creeps in everywhere and this could apply to anything .... car repairs, council tax, tax demands, metered utility bills ... and we would tend to accept the error in good faith. So, apart from items being priced up incorrectly, I have seen people change labels on items just to get it cheaper. Okay, that's criminal but the shop would have to stand by their mandate on correct pricing should that be discovered, even if it wasn't proven.

SO the motto is complain when you are apparently overcharged and simply see what happens. And when you are undercharged, just escape and think about it later!