Hi, I am an employee at a retail store and I had a bit of a predicament today and would like to hear your opinions. I would just like to state beforehand that my manager was not physically present at that exact moment as we are currently undergoing some administrative issues so I could not consult my manager regarding this issue at that exact moment. I wont further comment on the lack of an authoritative figure representing the store but these were the circumstances I had to work under at the time.
To start off, a customer brought two of the same products to the till and I scanned and processed the sale as normal. After the price was rung up, the customer immediately stated a much lower price. I was completely certain that this product was never sold at such a price because it would be sold at 10% of the original price if I processed it. As our store isn't particularly big, I walked the customer over to the products so they could point at the price. Once I saw it, I realised someone had knocked down a price ticket of a different, much cheaper item and placed it over the item in question. Kudos to the random passer by for even bothering to put the ticket back but they created a lot more trouble by not reading the ticket and just putting it over any random item. Once I saw this, I apologised to the customer and pointed out the error. I highlighted that the ticket describes a completely different product, different brand and different price and referred them to the correct product that the ticket refers to. There were also 3 other hooks full of stock of the exact same item in question right next to the one with the wrong ticket, with the correct ticket, product description and pricing.
I apologised and stated that it was unfortunate that the ticket was knocked down and placed at the wrong place and stated that I could not honour that price. I believe the incorrect ticket would have been placed there for no more then two hours at that point as I had done check through of the store earlier and this was the first customer to notice. In regards to the sale, it was only two items but it would have been a 90% markdown.
This is where the real confrontation starts, the customer looks quite displeased by now and refers to consumer law saying that I must honour pricing errors. I am already completely familiar with issues regarding pricing errors as the store has had a few issues with typing in the wrong price onto a ticket for an item that was on sale and we had to honour them but immediately fixed it afterwards. There were also issues where we have had items with the same brand placed onto the wrong hook and we decided to honour it as the price difference wasn't too extraordinary. But in terms of honouring items with completely different brands and product descriptions due to misplaced stock, either by a different customer accidentally or deliberately or a store employee due to negligence, my manager very rarely does this by highlighting the differences of the product in question and the description on the ticket. There are cases where my manager honours it anyway due to the customer throwing a tantrum and just to get them out of his hair.
In my case, for selling an item at 10% of its original cost, I refused to process the sale at that price and as I commented earlier, I could not consult my manager at the time. The customer then starts rambling on about contacting the ACCC and comments on my ineptitude as an employee. He writes down my name and takes pictures of the product ticket and its placement and states that he'll be reporting my name to my store headquarters and this whole ordeal to the ACCC. As a closing statement, my manager was not present for the rest of the day and I had no opportunity to consult them regarding this issue.
I would just like to hear out your opinions in regards to this and if I acted in the wrong. Anyone with experience with consumer law that can comment would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
TL;DR, There was a wrong ticket on a hook that had a completely different product, brand, price and description on it then the product in question. A customer threatened to report me to hq and the incident to ACCC after I refused to honour it. My manager was not present at the time and I was the only store representative that dealt with the issue at the time.
dont let the customer bully you
threatening accc over what a simple pricing error
you can also refer customers to the clause that states pricing errors dont have to be honored under terms and conditions however you went above and beyond offering a 10% off amount off retail price
i dont see his case standing up in any form with the accc when
you offered to take 10% off
just another scumbag trying to rip off the little guy
id say you did the right thing
you said sorry you offered a discount
end of story
what were the items in question btw as this isnt in your OP