Retail display Law - Boxed item different to display.

Smitho3 · 14 May 2009 at 16:06

Hi Guys,

I went to a well know super market a week ago and bought what i believed was a 26" TV and DVD combo system for £199.97. I took it home and 3 days later opened it to hang it on my wall. The TV that i bought did not have the DVD player attached to it.

I went back to the Store in question and checked the display where i bought the TV. The display was a centre isle stack of boxes with one TV powered up ontop of the stack playing a movie. All the boxed TV's were now the same as the one powered up, however when i purchased the tv all the boxes were for a different television (Which i did not check at the time as one would asume that the TV you buy would be the same as the one they are advertising).

In short i bought a TV from a display where the display model was different to that which was in the box. Where do i stand on this? As you can imagine i was supremely ticked off when the woman i spoke to said "we havent broken any law so you cannot have the TV with the DVD player on for the same price" (£50 difference).

Have they broken any law? Or are they just sacrificing customer service for the sake of £50.

Adam · 14 May 2009 at 16:07

Surely your error for not checking?

neil3k · 14 May 2009 at 16:08

you're screwed

Azagoth · 14 May 2009 at 16:09

Got the receipt? If so, get a refund.

Mr Jack · 14 May 2009 at 16:09

Sounds to me like you should pay the £50 for the TV you wanted. Your mistake.

Gilly · 14 May 2009 at 16:20

Azagoth said:
Got the receipt? If so, get a refund.

Agreed.

Smitho3 · 14 May 2009 at 16:24

Mr Jack said:
Sounds to me like you should pay the £50 for the TV you wanted. Your mistake.

Adam said:
Surely your error for not checking?

I Dont understand how it was my error if they admitted that the wrong TV was put on display ontop of the boxes? The boxes are literally identical apart from an extra line in the product description stating it has a dvd player.

I have already paid for the TV i wanted rather begrudgingly. I just wonder how many other people they skrewed over before they realised their mistake. Does anyone know the specific law on this kind of issue?

v0n · 14 May 2009 at 16:30

You were sold wrong item by deception. It might have been genuine mistake on their part but wrong item in box is wrong item in box. If you opened the box and found food mixer or a brick there wouldn't be any confusion as to the action that needs to be taken, so I don't understand why it's confusing the store now. If they advertised TV with DVD for a given price and what you found inside was different item/model then a TV with DVD you should get. And it should come with genuine apology and good will gesture from manager or you have every right to report it as attempt of fraud.
Or was it correct item in correct box and you thought you were buying something else?

something daft already!! · 14 May 2009 at 16:30

Get a refund, tbh it sound like it would be rubbish quality anyway.

Wicksta · 14 May 2009 at 16:30

Are they refusing you a refund or are you trying to get the other TV for the same price?

Sirrel Squirrel · 14 May 2009 at 16:31

Haven't got a leg to stand on I'm afraid otherwise anyone could go into a shop and swap the price tags around and then expect the shop to honour the display price.

Just take it back for a refund.

edit/ if the box says says TV with DVD player and it is actually the wrong item in the box then that's different

Bry · 14 May 2009 at 16:32

Indeed they havent broke the law, just get a refund

Smitho3 · 14 May 2009 at 16:42

v0n said:
You were sold wrong item by deception. It might have been genuine mistake on their part but wrong item in box is wrong item in box. If you opened the box and found food mixer or a brick there wouldn't be any confusion as to the action that needs to be taken, so I don't understand why it's confusing the store now. If they advertised TV with DVD for a given price and what you found inside was different item/model then a TV with DVD you should get. And it should come with genuine apology and good will gesture from manager or you have every right to report it as attempt of fraud.
Or was it correct item in correct box and you thought you were buying something else?

The item in the box was what was intended to be in the box. However the display TV ontop of the boxes was the wrong one. I was almost certain that the law would be on the stores side, Just looks like good customer service has been forgoten over the years. Pretty rubbish for a company that posted profits of 2.8bn last year

nikebee · 14 May 2009 at 16:47

Adam said:
Surely your error for not checking?

This is what I'd say myself really.

Obviously TV's can be confusing at times, but you'd hardly bought a SEGA Mega Drive thinking you've got a PS3.

Azagoth said:
Got the receipt? If so, get a refund.

Always the best bet, don't forget you have a right to return goods within x-days of purchase and all that malarky.

You'll have to excuse me as I can't remember how many days it is

Berserker · 14 May 2009 at 16:49

Take it back, plead ignorance, and hope for a gesture of goodwill (unless of course the shop has a returns policy - in which case do that).

Assuming the box said on it what was inside, you should have checked. You didn't. The only case you might have for misselling would be if you had no way to know without opening the box.

Caveat emptor

WalesOwl · 14 May 2009 at 16:50

This is the kind of situation where violence solves everything.
Remember kids: You will get further with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone.

Sirrel Squirrel · 14 May 2009 at 16:50

Smitho3 said:
The item in the box was what was intended to be in the box. However the display TV ontop of the boxes was the wrong one. I was almost certain that the law would be on the stores side, Just looks like good customer service has been forgoten over the years. Pretty rubbish for a company that posted profits of 2.8bn last year

If they gave everyone 50 quid off a TV for not checking the box they wouldn't have 2.8bn profit!

nikebee · 14 May 2009 at 16:51

v0n said:
You were sold wrong item by deception. It might have been genuine mistake on their part but wrong item in box is wrong item in box. If you opened the box and found food mixer or a brick there wouldn't be any confusion as to the action that needs to be taken, so I don't understand why it's confusing the store now. If they advertised TV with DVD for a given price and what you found inside was different item/model then a TV with DVD you should get. And it should come with genuine apology and good will gesture from manager or you have every right to report it as attempt of fraud.
Or was it correct item in correct box and you thought you were buying something else?

It's not as plain cut as that from what I can tell.

He's looked at a demonstration stand and seen X-Branded TV.
He's picked up a box from the stand which was for Y-Branded TV.
He's then purchased the Y-Branded TV by mistake, thinking he had picked up the X-Branded TV.

The Y-Branded Box contained the Y-Branded TV.... he just thought he picked up the X-Branded TV.

As said though, if you still have your receipt you should be able to go back in and just explain what has happened - the store obviously noticed something wrong themselves as you said they have now changed the display and boxes to show the correct TV's.

Tefal · 14 May 2009 at 16:51

WalesOwl said:
This is the kind of situation where violence solves everything.
Remember kids: You will get further with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone.

yeah if you count the morgue with a police bullet in your chest "further".

alexakasloth · 14 May 2009 at 17:02

Adam said:
Surely your error for not checking?

I would say this, the TV on display may appear as a display model but if what is on the box of what you pick up is different, then you don't have any ground to stand on. Unfortunate situation.