Misleading pricing

A

arai1200

New Member
Feb 12, 2009
1
0
0
I'm a keen motorcylcist. A company's website offers bike hire and track fees for a discounted price of just £235 (Brands Hatch GP circuit which is admittedly slighty more expensive than the others). This is a great deal so called them today to book for me and two friends but was told it was £350 each as the £235 price is only valid until the of March. I assumed I'd missed this in the website and left it, but on looking again, neither me nor my friends could find anything at all suggesting it would be more expensive than £235.

The link to the website is ww w.Focused Events. c om (not allowed to post link apparently?!) and I've looked at the T&Cs and pretty much the rest of the entire site. Where do I stand legally? Do I have to suck it up and deal with it or are they obliged to honour the price they quote?

I understand that a vendor is not obliged to sell a consumer anything if they do not want to, but surely that makes a mockery of the misleading pricing issue since they can simply refuse to sell it to anyone at the artificially low price and had probably had no intention of doing so anyway?

Cheers,

Tom
 
Tony

Tony

What Consumer Founder
Apr 7, 2008
18,307
3
38
Bolton
Hi and welcome,

Seem to be getting a lot of these recently. It is a pretty devious marketing trick as I guess they know mos people once they have made up their mind will pay the extra amount.

You are right they do not have to sell it to you at the price advertised. However, they could be breaking the law and be prosecuted under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. You should report them to Trading Standards as it would be for them to take investigate and act if necessary - let us know what they say. Phone the one local to the business rather than yours.


Incorrect Pricing

Incorrect or misleading pricing information is a common cause for complaint and is covered in these regulations.
Firstly, you should be clear that shops are not legally obliged to sell you their products and reserve the right not to do so if they wish. This means that if you pick up something which is wrongly priced, you do not have a right to buy it at that price. Having said this however, it is still unlawful for shops and suppliers to display an item at a price which is different to the price requested at the point of sale. Exceptions to this are obvious mistakes where, for example, a TV is priced at £8.99 instead of £899.00. An action is also misleading if it includes the manner in which the price is calculated and whether the item is being marketed as ‘discount’ or ‘for a limited time only’ - when in fact it is not.
Click to expand...
From:Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 | Consumer Information
 
G

glider3560

New Member
Apr 9, 2009
10
0
0
This appears to be quite common with companies who advertise online but don't actually take orders over their website.
 
J

Jorumian

Facilitator
Sep 1, 2008
347
3
0
Birkenhead
It's common everywhere...

Remember the 1p airfares that turned out to be £80 when all the hidden fees are added on?

It's a very old trick, entice people in with a seemingly low price and when you have them on the line and ready to commit, hit them with the news that the price is actually considerably more, then hope they will be too embarrassed or won't feel able to put a halt to the deal, or just that they can't be bothered to go anywhere else.
 
K

kris1anne

New Member
Jan 29, 2009
138
0
0
This could actually be considered misleading advertising and whilst you dont have to advertise the product I would recommend letting the oft know about this company. It is a trick used by devious marketers but was cracked down on heavily in industries like tourism - where it was most prevalent and if they dont change their practices they will be heavily fined. They are unlikely to get more than a slapped wrist the first time round but they will be watched in future and seriously punished if they do it again.
 
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