Yet Another Misprice at STAPLES - UPS 500VA for $49

[cratervalley]

Was looking around at Staples in San Diego an hour ago comparing UPS surge backups and oddly enough an entire row of IBM 500VA UPS backups were priced at $49. I went to check out and the price came up as $105. I told the clerk the shelf showed the $49 price, and she confirmed it, a manager came over without any questions or arguments and overrode the higher price. I am not sure if all stores are like that but at that much of a discount it is well worth a look.

[Burzhui]

Hmm, i think you just got lucky, usually at a B&M they'll say something like oh well that promotions is over or that's a tag for a different product which was reshelved

[brettman]

Any time I see things mispriced like that I always get them to honor the price. They are obligated to do that from what I understand. You may have to make a scene sometimes but it usually works. It's not your fault they can't price things correctly.

[the_dude8]

cratervalley, which staples in san diego did u get your ups 500 from?

[P-Fresh]

If they make a mistake and price something incorrectly, they are not legally obligated in any way to honor that price. I have heard the opposite from several people, but I heard this from my business law professor. I am going to go with his opinion. Most stores will honor a pricing mistake though so they don't look like dicks.

[GlassHopper]

No disrespect to P-FRESH's Law professor, but depending on local retails sales laws, they may be legally obliged to sell you the item at the mis-marked price. It depends on the Consumer Protection Laws in each locality, and state.

Good find, in any event!

[Turkishstallion]

I am a store manager at Menards and we have signs at each register stating that the price that rings at the register is the correct price no matter what it is tagged for. This sign saves us from being legally accountable.

However.. If someone gets pissed off and complains to the city, they send someone to audit your pricing where they take25-30 things off the shelf and make sure they were priced correctly etc. and you get a hefty fine if you are not in compliance. We usually give it to the person if the whole shelf is mispriced or if it is our obvious fault. If only one of them is in the wrong spot or something like that, the customer is out of luck. When we do give the prices it is not because we have to legally but more for the sake of customer service.

Making a scene does help though..hehe..There are times when I do give the price and say the hell with it just to get the guy out of the store.

[cratervalley]

the_dude8, the Staples in Carmel Mountain Ranch, San Diego.

PFresh, I didn't even push to get the mismarked price, which is what surprised me. If the manager or clerk said I don't think we can do that I would have just as easily walked away. But they offered it to me without question, and I'd have to say that is excellent customer service, whether the store was obligated legally to do it or not.

[jmalm]

I work at a Staples in Pennsylvania and our policy is we always match the price tag. Lots of times our tags are out of date, and may be higher or lower than the "true" price. It's not the customers fault that we can't keep our tags up to date, so we match the tag. To my understanding all Staples must match the tag.

[RyanJL]

Interestingly enough, for the State of Michigan, the law says that if the price does not ring up as is marked, you, as the consumer, are not only entitled to the lower price, but you also are then entitled to five times the difference up to $5.00. The law was put in place after the State Attorney General found that in a majority of stores using electronic scanners, prices were not reflecting the marked sales prices and consumers were paying more than what they should have been.

And it seriously works. Buy a pack of gum that's marked at 50 cents and if the computer rings up 60 cents instead, you not only get the gum for 50 cents, but you also get the 50 cents back from the 5X penalty.

The only pain in the butt about the law is that the retailer can avoid the penalty by making the correction at the time of purchase. And of course getting the penalty return cash also means waiting on some customer service person filling out a lot of corporate paperwork. But it is a great little law when something is mismarked!!!

[Nack]

RyanJL,

Don't you just love the MI laser scanner bounty law? I was at K-mart the other day, and they had cat box litter mismarked at $1.19 when it was supposed to be $2.19. I go through the line with 5 bags, it is $2.19. Pay. Then go to the customer service counter, and get an adjustment, because they have to sell it to you at the price marked. In addition, I got the $5 bounty (you only get one bounty per "error" and it was the same error). 5 bags for about $1. :)

Nack

[ricks]

as far as my understanding in the federal law, just because an item is marked at a particular price, it does not mean the retailer is leagally obligated to honor that price. its just if the retailer wants to stay in business they better keep their customers happy.

[ILoveDogs]

Nack, what's this "bounty" you're talking about. I was just at Kmart yesterday and purchased 2 different items that rang up wrong (Kmart sucks, btw, they're the worst for that). When I went to customer service, I just got the difference refunded back to me, no "bounty." Should I have also gotten $5/item for the misrings?

[AssSqueeker]

No more lame name calling from you. Next time you do it your out of here pal!

http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=165832#post165832

http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=114570#post114570

[Megan]

When I lived in Florida, each and everytime I'd go through the grocery store checkout line something would be misrung. And they would look at me like I was the "pain in the a**" for making them change it! I think they did it on purpose, I felt so bad for the retirees who didn't catch all the errors.


Now I live in Texas, and grocery stores have almost NEVER misrung something. I can only think of once or twice, and that was at Randell's who are very curtious and will give you one of the products for FREE if it happens!

[cratervalley]

ILoveDogs, I can verify that KMart has little signs posted at checkout on the register that if the price comes up wrong and the item is under $5 you get it for free, otherwise they will discount the price by $5 for the error. Not sure if this is a storewide policy, but they do it in San Diego.

[giambona]

The store is not legally responsible for the pricing mistake if it is obvious that the item is mispriced. However, as others have already stated, most companies will honor the shelf price to avoid alienating their customers.

[smartt]

I believe in Florida it's called false advertising. If the tag on the shelf is marked at a certain price then you are advertising that the product is sold at that price. Refusal to sell at that price is false advertising. Florida has some of the toughest consumer protection laws.

[cratervalley]

Because we were talking about mispricing on this thread RITE AID Pharmacy stores have a sign posted that says anything that rings up differently than the shelf price is free (excluding milk, tobacco or alcoholic products). Single items only. No limit to the value of the product either.

[jgrepps]

It's Called FALSE ADVERTISING

[jmalm]

Or, you can get in touch with the bbb (better business beureau(sp?)), and claim it was a bait&switch.

[Grimm]

It's only false advertising if it was used to draw you into the store. If a shelf item is mismarked due to a labeling error, old price sticker, kid moving around stickers, whatever, it is an error. Most large stores will give you the lower price, some won't.
It just pays to know the laws in your area.
But it is not false advertising unless the price is used in an advertisement.

[namlook]

Different states have different laws on this so if things are done one way where you are doesn't mean they are done that way someplace else.