Changing The Price Half Way through The Transaction (Sydney Tools)

jizmo on 21/09/2024 - 10:11
Last edited 21/09/2024 - 12:55 by 1 other user

I was in a store yesterday and found steel frame screws 12mm for $9.50 a box, well that's what the shelf sticker had it at. I've picked up their last 10 boxes and checked out, the guy said $155.00, thanks.

I've shown him the shelf price sticker, he's called the manager. The manager said "best price I can do is $120.00 that's an old sticker". I've said "So you get groceries from Woolies and they change the price at checkout, and you'd be fine with that? He said "You know what I've just pulled the item from stock, you can F off".

Someone to buy that many screws must need a lot of tools, one would think, and he's going to need to come back to buy more screw setters. For the sake of $25. Sydney Tools bagged themselves quality management.

I thought legally they're bound by the list price.

General Discussion

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Comments

  • MS Paint on 21/09/2024 - 10:14
    +41

    You need to add a poll.

    My vote is for the manager.

    If a business advertises an incorrect price by mistake, they are not obliged to sell their product at that price. However, they must withdraw the product from sale until the price is corrected.

    If a customer places an order at an incorrect price, the business must inform the customer of their mistake before processing the order and give them the choice to continue with their order at the correct price, or cancel it.

    Source - consumer.vic

    • HamBoi69 on 22/09/2024 - 17:03
      +31

      Source - consumer.vic

      OP location:

      Brisbane

      Store:

      Sydney Tools

      Go figure….

    • anonymous01 on 22/09/2024 - 17:52
      +15

      I can agree with that statement, but you have to take this part into account:

      "You know what I've just pulled the item from stock, you can F off"

      This looks more like a revenge than just following protocol, unless OP is just telling us his one sided story and not the whole conversation about what led the manager to speak to him/her like that.

  • 7ekn00 on 21/09/2024 - 10:17
    +3

    Put a complaint in with the ACCC, they will set it straight (not)!

    At a tradies $100-$200 billable an hour, are you prepared to waste 3 days (24 hours) chasing the ACCC?!?

    • jizmo on 21/09/2024 - 10:19
      -2

      Yeah that's why I laughed and walked out. His funeral, and it's not like they're any cheaper than Bunnings or other tool shops.

      • HelpMeiCantSee on 22/09/2024 - 09:13
        -7

        This attitude is why all our local tool shops are gone.

        • DrScavenger on 22/09/2024 - 13:44
          +60

          Manager told him to f off. With that attitude they deserve to be gone

        • OzzyOzbourne on 22/09/2024 - 16:22
          +3

          Presume you mean the msnager's attitude

    • HeWhoKnows on 22/09/2024 - 08:00
      +1

      Price guidelines mostly apply to supermarkets as far as i know.

      The retailer does have the right to withdraw the item from sale until the price is corrected

      And OP was told the correct price BEFORE paying.

      yes, you'd be unhappy.

      Did the retailer do the wrong thing by the law?

      Not really

      The retailer did offer a better price for the lot which is more than reasonable

      • ihbh on 24/09/2024 - 15:35

        Price guidelines mostly apply to supermarkets as far as i know.

        Agreed to by some supermarkets.

  • Morien on 21/09/2024 - 10:24
    +28

    I thought legally they're bound by the list price.

    No. But it would have been good CS to honour it anyway.

    • resisting the urge on 21/09/2024 - 13:09
      +6

      Not sure good is the ideal descriptor. Least acceptable practice, perhaps…

      What the Manager did was the CS equivalent of spitting in your face, probably as he has no patience or respect as the values of the people who hired him are what he helps to roll downhill at everyone

      • Ryanek on 21/09/2024 - 13:27
        +10

        Were hearing one side of the story. You should take complaints like this with a grain of salt. OP could have chucked a Karen for all we know.

        • DrScavenger on 22/09/2024 - 13:45
          +8

          Calling everyone a Karen is why stores like this can get away with bad customer service

  • Tee Rex Arms on 21/09/2024 - 10:48
    -2

    He didn’t say that to you /thread

  • pegaxs on 21/09/2024 - 10:52
    +33

    At Colesworth, they would have given you the the first one for free due to pricing error and then full wack on second and subsequent items… So, it would have been $0 on the first box and $15.50 on the other 9 boxes for a total of $139.50. Pricing errors do happen, especially in a store with thousands of line items. Either you take the deal of $120, or you dont and you shop elsewhere…

    And he doesn't give a rat's ring-bit about how many tools you are maybe going to buy, because it's literally (fropanity) all compared to the tradie that just got out of his fully kitted out LandCruiser covered in Milwaukee stickers who just spent $12k on batteries alone last time he was in. He also doesn't give a (fropanity) about you crying on forums, because Brad in the LandCruiser is going to dump a months worth of target sales orders in a single transaction. Brad's order is making budget, your boxes of screws and some driver bits are not going to cut it.

    What you should have said to him was "Oh, that's good you have removed them from stock, so now you will have all the time in the world to take them out the back and shove them up your arse…" and just left.

    And who in their right mind buys from Sydeny Tools anyway? FFS.

    • loulou1 on 21/09/2024 - 15:34
      +12

      Nah, at colesworth it would be the first item free then the rest at sticker price. So first one $0, remaining 9 at $9.50 each

      • pegaxs on 21/09/2024 - 23:28
        +1

        I’m only going off my experience at Woolworths last week.

        Went to buy 6 boxes of cereal that were marked at $x.xx price, and scanned up at $y.yy Noticed it just as I was about to pay for it and called the customer service patrol over and they confirmed that it was a pricing error and said I could have the first one free, but the others would be put through at the correct price.

        I took my freebie and left the rest…

        I have just found the Coles policy online and yes, it does indeed state what you said. First one free and subsequent ones at the price listed on the shelf.

        Maybe I just got a shitty manager on the day or one that was not aware, as I didn’t know either and just assumed that she as the service rep and would know.

        Knowing this, next time I will Broden the shit out of it. I’ll see the mistake and go back and grab every single item they have in stock, get my freebie and the rest at the ticketed price.

        • KBZ on 22/09/2024 - 17:42
          +2

          Noticed it just as I was about to pay for it …

          Interesting I did the same thing and they just changed the price and told me to pay for it. When I asked wasn't I supposed to get it for free, she said you have to pay for it and claim it back at the customer service counter.
          Wasted 10mins waiting for them to confirm and to be fobbed off.

    • elgrande on 21/09/2024 - 22:50
      +5

      Yes, thats the scanning code of practice - its voluntary, and was introduced due to customer concerns of moving away from sticker prices on your can of baked beans to this new fangdangle barcode scanning system.

    • DrScavenger on 22/09/2024 - 13:48
      +1

      Overpaid tradies don't even care.

  • GordonD on 21/09/2024 - 11:07
    +6

    I thought legally they're bound by the list price

    No. They're not.

    Its the supermarket code of practice that gets you the first one free if the price on the shelf is lower than the checkout price. But even they only give you the first one at that price.

    As others have pointed out here a seller is not bound by shelf pricing errors. But they have to withdraw the item for sale and reprice it correctly before they offer it for sale again.

    They are only bound by a pricing error they make when they sell it. Once its sold at a price they can't realise then and correct the price they charged for that sale.

    • pwnd on 23/09/2024 - 05:53
      +6

      Worked at BWS as a store manager for a few years and used to get this quite a lot. Mostly for when we used to miss removing a ticket from the previous weeks sales. Usually would honour it and take the ticket down.

      Occasionally you would get a misprint that we wouldn’t catch as we were putting them up, as you are putting up literally hundreds of sales tickets each week/fortnight. Misprint would be single price but listed for a carton, so $6 for a carton of beer. Couldn’t honour that, and would get the, “but the law says”. Ok, pull it up for me. Which legislation is it.

      My favourite one was two guys that came in the drive through. Asked for unrelated product from the fridges right by the drive through, and visible from the car. As I was grabbing their item, spotted a misprint sales ticket that was put up, which was price of single beer but for a carton. As I was doing it, made a comment of, “better take this down before somebody asks to buy a carton for the price of a bottle”
      The guy looked at me and said, “actually I will grab a carton of that”
      Me “…….. you can, but it will be for the full price”

      Him “legally you have to sell it to me for the ticket price”

      Me, more awkward silence “….. I don’t if it’s a clear misprint”

      “Don’t worry about it then” and drove off without purchasing anything

      Ok, See yah buddy.

  • Gunnar on 21/09/2024 - 11:39
    +4

    As above. The store is Not obliged to acknowledge the price BUT it’s often just good customer service that they do.

    • gromit on 22/09/2024 - 11:50
      -2

      sounds like he got a more than fair offer with a discount even though they didn't have to give anything. Store manager certainly was well within their rights and nice to see a good response once the customer becomes rude and acts entitled.

  • JIMB0 on 21/09/2024 - 12:19
    +2

    Complain to head office.

  • Protractor on 21/09/2024 - 12:33
    -7

    Tough crowd

    • Protractor on 21/09/2024 - 16:23
      -6

      Maybe with one weak negging link .

      Protractor on 21/09/2024 - 16:23 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
  • freefall101 on 21/09/2024 - 13:11
    +2

    So you get groceries from Woolies and they change the price at checkout, and you'd be fine with that?

    No, because Woolies signs up to the scanning code of practice and will give the first item free.

    It’s a voluntary code of practice though.

    • MS Paint on 21/09/2024 - 13:28
      +3

      I'm guessing the Sydney Tools manager shops at Aldi, like myself, and was triggered by the Woolworths analogy.

    • John3000 on 22/09/2024 - 10:40

      Voluntary code to opt in…must obey if chosen to opt in. 😐

  • Ryanek on 21/09/2024 - 13:31
    +7

    No one is running to the inventory system and updating the price before you get to the regsister.

    If it scanned at that price then obviously the tag is wrong. Manager literally met you half way which I think was reasonable.

    • No ONE on 23/09/2024 - 14:07
      +1

      What if you paid and then realised you are charged a different price. Won't that piss you off!
      That's misleading customers. Advertised price is the price and it is not like pricing error.

  • donkcat on 21/09/2024 - 14:03
    +18

    OP how don't you consider the mangers compromise reasonable, it scanned in at $155, you expected to pay $95 and they offered to do them for $120, you pay $25 more than expected and they discount $35 more than their pricing, seems that was actually a fair deal for all.
    Yeah they might have been unprofessional but I get their frustration at trying to find that balance and it sounds like you threw it back in their face.

    • EdenKai on 23/09/2024 - 13:35

      i was gonna say, despite the inconvenience, the manager did a reasonably good job of meeting in the middle. If anything slightly closer to OP. I dont think we needed to be snarky on both sides, either say "Okay sure, thanks for meeting me in the middle" or just say "Okay, well I wasnt prepared to spend that much, i might put these back"

  • Protractor on 21/09/2024 - 16:25
    -1

    If the price was so good, why did you not alert your fellow Ozbargainers?

    • Ughhh on 21/09/2024 - 16:27
      +1

      Silly question. No one is obligated to 'alert' any strangers on OzB, especially when they haven't' even successfully purchased it yet.

      • Protractor on 21/09/2024 - 21:37
        -4

        Yes how silly of me (1) not being read as being facetious and (B) forgetting that camaraderie is merely strangers driven by self interest.

    • Gunnar on 21/09/2024 - 20:24
      -1

      Probably getting a new blonde bob haircut

  • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 22/09/2024 - 08:08

    I thought it was only if the price was attached physically to the item itself?? Shelf sticker price could be anything and they dont have to sell it to you.

    • Speckled Jim on 22/09/2024 - 09:14

      Yeah, that's why there's a product description with SKU, not just a dollar figure.

  • HelpMeiCantSee on 22/09/2024 - 09:09
    +4

    Nah man, you’re squarely the AH.

    Woolies has its own misprinted policy- it is not law, it is goodwill for customer.

    Tools are a different world. None have policy that favours customer on mis-prices/wrong tags. The manager thought ok, dude wants heaps of screws, sweet I can help him out. You get crusty about $25, this upsets manager who was trying to help you out. Manager tells you to go away. Totally fair.

    Sounds like you feel ST is a huge conglomerate who can afford to take a hit for your benefit.

    • smartazz104 on 23/09/2024 - 07:35

      Sounds like you feel ST is a huge conglomerate who can afford to take a hit for your benefit.

      Big enough that they can't even keep track of mispriced items…

      • HelpMeiCantSee on 29/09/2024 - 14:36

        They’re individual franchise stores- which carry a huge number of items. It’s not mispriced “at the checkout”, the label on the shelf is outdated. Managing inventory is freaken hard, and they really try to have the critical items in stock over making sure price labels in shelves are up to date.

        It’s also a different demographic going to ST- their target is not Woolies shoppers who will buy a competitors product if its cents cheaper- they are targeting tradies who need a specific product and are not concerned with individual micro pricing, but overall cost.

        Completely different marketing, completely different systems, and completely different business. Plus, not a supermarket so the thought of supermarket voluntarily code of conduct would have never crossed their minds.

        OP complaint is exactly why many room shops simply do not have prices I. Any of their products.

  • Protractor on 22/09/2024 - 09:38
    +1

    Whole new slant on 'screw the customer'.

  • 82norm on 22/09/2024 - 09:46
    +2

    Crap customer service, should have honoured the deal.

  • burns13 on 22/09/2024 - 13:25

    While I think it's in our interest collectively (as consumers) to kick up a fuss about it. I dont believe you're entitled to price errors like that. it's practically a freebie you're trying to enforce.

    • smartazz104 on 23/09/2024 - 07:34

      I dont believe you're entitled to price errors like that.

      This entire site thrives on pricing errors and losses their collective minds when they can't get an item for an unrealistic price.

      • burns13 on 23/09/2024 - 16:39

        Yeah good on you if you can get away with it but the whole site probably doesn't think they're entitled to it though

  • kev98 on 22/09/2024 - 13:47
    +8

    Welcome to Sydney Tools. This is why I only shop at Total Tools.

    • jackspratt on 22/09/2024 - 20:56
      +2

      Sounds like Sydney Tools are total tools.

    • AustriaBargain on 22/09/2024 - 21:42
      +1

      Yes, I know.

    • Protractor on 22/09/2024 - 22:58
      -2

      ?? The hacked security amateurs?

  • hasher22 on 22/09/2024 - 14:09
    +1

    IMO they should have honoured it as it was a previous sale price, it's not like it a major stuff up like $1 per box. But, consumers are not legally entitled to price errors

    I went to Bing Lee online and the day before the Samsung sound bar was on sale for $125 but there was no T&Cs when it would end and it wasn't a special day like black friday. So I thought it would still be on the next day, went instore and it went back up to $220 or something like that. I said it was $125 and apparently it was like a 1 day random sale…… the sales rep looked at the price history and saw I wasn't lying and decided to honour the sale @ $125. I don't know if I was lucky or the sales rep could do that in their policies.

    • OzBarAnon on 22/09/2024 - 15:30

      It was $6 difference per box (from $15.50 to $9.50) which is almost 40% off

  • ninjadefuse on 22/09/2024 - 14:43
    +19

    I tried to price match something at Sydney Tools Silverwater.

    I called, the person on the phone agreed to the price match, generated an invoice, emailed it to me, and asked me to come in.

    After driving there, the manager in the store refused to honour the price match and told me to buy it at the store I was trying to price match with. I drove to that store and bought it there instead.

    Never setting foot in any Sydney Tools again. The staff were arrogant. They definitely got the name of the business right, describes both the product and the staff.

  • Deals For Days on 22/09/2024 - 20:57

    Managers response is all I need to know. Manage your stock take better if you’re going to swear at customers lol

  • AustriaBargain on 22/09/2024 - 21:42
    +4

    He should have told you to screw yourself, that would have funnier.

  • Saver Scott on 23/09/2024 - 03:57
    -2

    They are legally bound. Woolies did the same thing to me (but didn’t literally tell me to (profanity) off). I contacted Qld Fair Trading and despite them knowing the legalities, Qld Fair Trading went, “Oh well. Too bad.”

    • Randolph Duke on 23/09/2024 - 07:06
      +1

      They are legally bound

      Citation needed.

  • Dagwood-Dog on 23/09/2024 - 09:22
    -1

    You must be fun at parties.

  • Roman Sandstorm on 23/09/2024 - 15:52

    I'm largely with the OP on this one.

    It is simply horrendous customer service from the store manager, and he fully deserves not to gain the OP's patronage in future.

    The manager's comment: "… that's an old sticker" implies that the items previously sold for the cost on that sticker, viz, $9.95. Presumably the store wasn't selling the screws at a loss, even at that lower price. (From past experience with Bunnings pricing, I understand that most screws, bolts, etc have enormous markups and profit margins. A $15.50 pack may cost the store wholesale only 20% of that or less.)

    So it is not like there was going to be a substantial loss by selling to the OP at their mistaken price. Rather, there would be a small 'lack of extra profit'. They would still make money.

    And yes, I know, of course the store can change the price, or refuse to sell anything, anytime if they wish. (It would be interesting if a store decided to do that to every item in their entire shop; displaying incorrect 'mistakes' for their whole stock, such that every customer received a sticker shock at checkout. I wonder if idealised free market libertarians would support such a practice?)

    I guess Mr Sydney Tool Manager gets his cumuppance when the OP goes to Friendly Tools to buy his $4000 flux capacitor (or whatever the hell it is that one buys at a tool shop - I dunno).

    • Garry044 on 23/09/2024 - 16:18

      I suggest the difference being Bunnings are selling own-brand products, where ST in are more likely selling third party products. Hence the mark-up is unlikely to be sitting with the store/franchisor - it'll be with the manufacturer or supply chain.

      Agree that it sounds like horrendous customer service, but as others have said - there's two sides to every coin. Personally, I've never been told to f*&k off by a store manager, so I've either not met this one, or never pushed one far enough.

  • Hangryuman on 23/09/2024 - 18:23
    -2

    'I thought legally they're bound by the list price'

    wrong - learning contracts law at uni I was told the price you see is an 'invitation to deal' - the deal is only completed on exchange of money for goods - and if you instead turn nasty and insult them, they are fully within their rights on private property (most shops) to ask you to leave, and if you don't then leave immediately they can call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.

    • justwii on 24/09/2024 - 11:28

      Would a misleading or plainly wrong invitation falls into false advertising in your study?

    • greatlamp on 24/09/2024 - 14:33

      What most seem to have misunderstood from their BLAW 101 class is that can't just do whatever you like and claim it's just an invitation to treat.

      The Australian Consumer Law supersedes 'invitation to treat', for example by describing misleading and deceptive advertising.

  • Kiro on 23/09/2024 - 18:34

    Sydney tools and other similar companies that sell direct to tradies will tend to have a colorful way of saying, thank you and have a nice day.

  • apple2016 on 23/09/2024 - 20:14

    I thought legally they're bound by the list price.

    Nope

  • BartholemewH on 23/09/2024 - 20:24
    +2

    The sticker price is an invitation to treat. You took the item to the counter and offered the price, they declined.

  • MelbEng on 23/09/2024 - 22:02
    +1

    The legal principle is called invitation to treat. One important aspect of this, is that it covers pricing errors.

    • TightAl on 24/09/2024 - 12:21

      BLAW101

  • justwii on 24/09/2024 - 11:25

    Am I strange to think that whoever is responsible and missed removing the wrong price tag should own the price difference?

    Customers did nothing wrong and never should be the victims of someone's mistake. Unlike act of god, this is human error, so someone is responsible. Not arguing law and regulations stuff, just saying what my mind thinks right.

    • Save 50 Cent on 24/09/2024 - 11:39

      Oh great.. would be good to know if you agree with yourself if you worked there and it was your job to change the tag.
      Mistakes happen. OP didn’t suffer anything and nobody is a ‘victim’ in that situation.
      Short answer is yes, very strange.

      • justwii on 24/09/2024 - 12:00
        +1

        Mistakes happen for sure. Let them happen, just remember to take responsibility to the consequences.

        I can think of a lot of scenarios that customers are always being punished by shop errors. I once drove an hour to a shop to get something, checked their trading hours over the phone, reached there before their closing time, but they were already closed 15mins before it.

        Not a direct comparison, but just to show you customers do bear some cost when buying from shop: travelling time, fuel, effort, risk of sold out, forfeited options to shop from others, etc.

        Of course online shopping helps eliminate many of those, but then you also have price errors, how many own up to their mistake and suck up the loss?

        • Garry044 on 24/09/2024 - 13:32

          Out of curiousity, what's the limitation of liability under your theory justwii?

          If you move out and forget to disconnect the power, should you be liable until whatever time you get around to telling the power company you don't live there any more? Or do you expect them to stop billing from the date you prove you didn't live there anymore?

          Genuinely interested - I'm a big fan of people taking accountability for their actions, but that should also encompass where we have unrealistic expectations or demands on a situation too

          • Save 50 Cent on 24/09/2024 - 14:07

            @Garry044: No limitations apparently.. if someone on a minimum wage forgets a zero on a price tag and has the weekend off, they’ll come on Monday to find out they lost their house.

            • justwii on 24/09/2024 - 14:53

              @Save 50 Cent: I guess same can be said when some minimum wage person, driving without 3rd party insurance hit someone. The medical bill to look after that poor guy to recover is nothing cheap but luckily it's been taken care of.

              • Save 50 Cent on 24/09/2024 - 15:30

                @justwii: Not sure how that is relevant. But compulsory insurance which is paid with rego covers that anyway.
                Back to the original scenario, op did not suffer any loss at all besides the time it took them to walk to the cashier and realise the price error. Don’t blow things out of proportion.

                • justwii on 24/09/2024 - 16:09

                  @Save 50 Cent: There. If you accept that drivers are responsible to pay for CTP instead of simply "mistakes happen" then we are on the same page. And you asked for limitations, insurance is your answer.

                  My principal is the same in all scenarios. But I guess you can't assume OP didn't loss more than what you think, may be he took a half day off to get the trading materials he needs? May be he couldn't complete a job on time because of this?

                  That remains me of the many times I took a day off at home waiting for a tradie or NBN tech to come and got ghosted. Why customers always have to suffer from business mistakes?

          • justwii on 24/09/2024 - 14:46

            @Garry044: Unless I miss something, that situation is pretty clear to me its up to the point I notify them and I should pay for any charges before that.

            May be things are less muddled when AI takes over one day🤖

    • JIMB0 on 25/09/2024 - 11:52

      Maybe OP removed the tag months ago and put it back to try getting them cheaper.

  • t_c on 24/09/2024 - 14:42

    Did the manager actually say F off, or F### off?

  • prodrome on 24/09/2024 - 16:54

    Typical Sydney tools

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