Rant of the year.

JohnW2 · 30 Dec 2015

ban-all-sheds said:
Wrong? Absolutely. Unlawful? Possibly not

As you know full well, what I was asking was whether I was correct in my understanding that a seller is free to choose who they sell (or don't sell) to, without the need for any legislation to back up such a choice (give or take the caveat about anti-discrimination legislation).

Kind Regards, John

EFLImpudence · 30 Dec 2015

Don't some complain about the sheds selling electrical equipment to just anyone?

JohnW2 · 30 Dec 2015

EFLImpudence said:
Don't some complain about the sheds selling electrical equipment to just anyone?

They do - but, as I've said, as I understand it they are free to choose to sell 'any any electrical equipment to just about anyone' OR to only sell any electrical equipment to those who can prove that they are electricians who are members of a self-cert scheme, or anything in between those two extremes.

Kind Regards, John

333rocky333 · 30 Dec 2015

Is it not similar to what Matalan and Makro used to do, by registering and getting a card, some sort of legal loophole maybe
Rs wont serve you unless you have an account even cash sales

PBC_1966 · 31 Dec 2015

Whether you might like the policy or not, a business is free to decide who it will sell to and who it won't for whatever reason the owner sees fit, bar those specific cases which have been legislated against (race, sex, etc.). So if they want to restrict it to somebody holding their card who has, presumably, in obtaining that card been vetted to see that he meets the relevant criteria, they're perfectly free to do so.

But that said, it does seem that whoever was on duty that day should have checked that before accepting the cash and completing the transaction. And having realized his mistake, it would surely be much better for the manager to have let it go on that occasion for goodwill, as he's now no doubt lost a customer for good.

RF Lighting · 31 Dec 2015

Every time I use Selco I get asked for my trade card before they start to run my stuff through the checkout. Stax won't even let me into their warehouse without seeing my trade card. RS, CPC and farnell won't serve me at their trade counter unless I have a trade account.

I use all these companies as a cash account.

Even Screwfix won't allow you to use their dedicated trade counter unless you have a trade account with them.

PBC_1966 · 31 Dec 2015

Not electrical, but Costco here checks membership cards as you enter the warehouse (guests are allowed). But in return for the lower prices, you pay $55 per year membership for the card. It's almost worth that alone for all the free food samples you can pick up while going around the store - Enough to make up a light lunch!

Steve · 31 Dec 2015

ban all sheds said:
I really hope you didnt stand there quoting data protection act rules etc. Shop staff really hate that.

Click to expand...

They hate having the reality of laws pointed out to them, and hate being expected to comply?

LABTTD.

No but they hate smart assess who think they know it all (even if they do).

stillp · 31 Dec 2015

I wonder what percentage of those who use 'data protection' as an excuse to not do something have ever read the Data Protection Act? I bet it's a very small proportion.

SimonH2 · 9 Jan 2016

PBC_1966 said:
Whether you might like the policy or not, a business is free to decide who it will sell to and who it won't for whatever reason the owner sees fit ...

Indeed

But that said, it does seem that whoever was on duty that day should have checked that before accepting the cash and completing the transaction. And having realized his mistake, it would surely be much better for the manager to have let it go on that occasion for goodwill, as he's now no doubt lost a customer for good.

Technically they would have been in breach of contract. When they accepted the cash in payment, that concluded the formation of a contract and they had no right whatsoever to back out of it. So the OP would have been completely within their rights to leave the cash and walk out with the goods and any attempt to prevent them would probably have constituted assault.

However, it takes a fairly thick skinned person to do that - I'm generally far too polite.

I remember a program on TV a while ago. They set up a test to see what people knew of their rights, and how they would react when challenged. One of them was to accidentally price some electronics at a low price ...
Some got corrected at the till - and needless to say, some people "knew their rights" (bzzt, wrong !) and demanded that the shop sell it to them at the wrong price. At the point you pick something up and take it to the till, that's an invitation from you to purchase it - the shop isn't required to sell it at that point.
Some were sold the item, but then challenged at the door - and some knew so little of their rights that they allowed themselves to be taken back inside and given a refund

At that point, I think it was explained what was going on and the were allowed to keep it.

PBC_1966 · 9 Jan 2016

SimonH2 said:
Technically they would have been in breach of contract. When they accepted the cash in payment, that concluded the formation of a contract and they had no right whatsoever to back out of it.

Indeed, by trying to insist that the transaction had to be cancelled the manager was treading rather riskily from the legal point of view at that point - Which, apart from the whole image being portrayed issue, would have been another very good reason why even after realizing the policy mistake he should have let it go.

Some got corrected at the till - and needless to say, some people "knew their rights" (bzzt, wrong !) and demanded that the shop sell it to them at the wrong price.

I don't know how that myth ever got started, but it's amazing the number of people who seem to believe it.

DaveHerns · 9 Jan 2016

A couple of years ago there was a glitch on Argos website and there were TVs on offer at about 10% of the correct price. I bought 2 using Paypal and Argos cancelled the transaction. Wonder where that stands legally?

Adam_151 · 9 Jan 2016

DaveHerns said:
A couple of years ago there was a glitch on Argos website and there were TVs on offer at about 10% of the correct price. I bought 2 using Paypal and Argos cancelled the transaction. Wonder where that stands legally?

It depends on the wording of the confirmation email. Years ago it was argued that the confirmation email was acceptance of the contract by the retailer.... however now most places use wording along the lines of "this email is confirmation only that your order has been received by our systems, it does not indicate the acceptance of a a contract on our behalf"

Our course tact plays a role, even if the retailer is right, acusing the customers of knowing that there was a mistake and jumping at the opertunity to get a bargain that is too good, never goes down well.... theres been cases of smaller retailers blackening their name with such situations

I believe it was Kodak who ended up having to honor selling a £300 digital camera for 1/3 of the price

Some internet retailers have their sites coded so if a product gets added and the price doesn't get filled in, it will default to something stupidly high, and I have seen this happen on some online computer parts sales places, it will say something like £1,234,567.89

ban-all-sheds · 9 Jan 2016

Adam_151 said:
Our course tact plays a role, even if the retailer is right, acusing the customers of knowing that there was a mistake and jumping at the opertunity to get a bargain that is too good, never goes down well.... theres been cases of smaller retailers blackening their name with such situations

I believe it was Kodak who ended up having to honor selling a £300 digital camera for 1/3 of the price

Remember the Hoover free-flights fiasco?

amjmfareham · 9 Jan 2016

ban-all-sheds said:
Remember the Hoover free-flights fiasco?

Hi BAS,

Just found this on YouTube about the Hoover fiasco!

Have fun,

Andrew

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Rant of the year.

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