what would you do ?
 

i was out today looking around for some stuff for my tank .i when to a very large chain store here in calgary because i had a credit to use .i saw a nice golden heart trigger they had and asked for price .person came back to me and said it was only 100.00 so i said sold.as she was bagging fish i when and picked up a new light/hospital tank and few other things.when to till to pay for all my stuff and did .just after paying for everthing i was told price on trigger was wrong and they wanted 350 for it or i return it to them .i refused to pay and after they called police to charge me with stealing i ended up returning everthing i had bought .

pretty hard to charge you with stealing when you have a recipt for the fish. its not your fault the employees at that shop have no idea what they are doing.

EDIT: We all know what shop your talking about.....

I believe that under Federal Legislation the Competition Act prohibits business from advertising one price and then charging you another. However you've already returned everything so I'd just boycott the store if you're really unhappy with them.

post exact details of what happened and the name of the store warning others of their friendly attitude, if they cant hire people to do the job right they should pay for it not the consumer and im pretty sure if you have a receipt your in the right in the eyes of the law:)

Personally wouldn't do anything. Call me strange, if I go to a store and find I'm undercharged I usually say something. Sort of a Karma thing.

Side to this, bought a camera and couple of memory cards, camera was crap went to return the camera only, store wanted to refund full amount. After explaining the error to two different people that couldn't get that I was keeping the cards, happily pocketed the extra $80 bucks.

the only reson i gave them everthing back was i was with my 4 year old daughter and she started to cry because of the yelling so i just wanted out of the store .btw they had some of the biggest carpet anenomies i have ever seen .to bad no one in store could tell me how much

Actually,

Don't quote me if I'm wrong, but if you have a discrepency in the tag and the till, you pay the lower. As long as it was not a outdated "sale" price, even if it is, most stores will honor the "sale" price if they find the tag on the shelf (they will remove it immediately although). Same goes with gas stations, if the till and pump prices don't match you pay the pump price. I think it is a federal law, you will notice it at some stores where they have a "barcode compliance" notice when you enter it.

In this case, they accepted the transaction, even if it was a higher ticket price. Someone labeled the "bag" with the selling price that had the authority to do so (as long as you did not change the price), so that sales person is responsible for the sale. Just like getting a discount at other stores.

You legally completed the transaction, and they couldn't do anything to prosecute you after the fact.

If you had claimed that the charge on you credit card was fraudulent after the fact, then they can do something about it (We had someone do that to us).

This is just my own personal opinion.

If this had happened at my store we would honor the price as it was our mistake.

Ken - BWA

i agree there, even if it was a higher marked fish sold for less the final sale should have been honored , sometimes business's just need to cut their losses and learn from mistakes to better improve their business .the lesson here for the lfs is maybe better hiring standards or possibly informing the customer better of his/her purchases, i think there should be a pic and a brief bio for every fish sold at a lfs with the price next to it then theres no confusion

I agree with blue world also on a side note the police would not be able to do anything once the transaction in completed it would become a civil matter at best and to that end the employee who has the authority to give the price would be found at fault. If it's a big box chain I say name them as a warning to others then send the stores head office an email about your experience with a link to the thread. :biggrin: Then ask the head office if the thread should end with how well they took care of you in the end? But really support your local store with local owners.

+1 couldnt agree with you more!

i dont think this store cares about anyones concerns from what ive heard, read and experienced :)

^ what a generalization you've made there.

this isnt the first compaint like this regarding this store... (price changing at the till)

hmm, after reading all posts i still have no figure out what store :-(.

Happened to me too. Purchased some dry goods, paid, then someone comes running to say they've undercharged me. I said then I'll return the items because I don't want to pay the newly extra inflated price. Then they tried to refuse the return and demanded I pay up. I put my bags down, gave the cashier my best "try it" look, and she refunded my card on the spot.

If you paid for the item and are holding the reciept as long as you didnt tamper with the price at all you OWN the items.

I would have said have a nice day and walked out. If they said they are calling the police I would have said they can come to my house.

This one takes the cake though....call the police !? Please do. Then the media can get a hold of the story and expose that operation for the joke that it is.

Seems they never mark prices on livestock which leads me to believe that they size you up and pitch a price at you and see if you swing. It'd be interesting to get 3 or 4 people to ask the price of a fish to different staffers over a day or 2 and see how many different numbers you get.

As far as Calgary is concerned, there are a number of good marine-centric shops that actually know what they're talking about.
Maybe you should report them to the BBB.

I will and always will go to the "smaller guy" because they are usualy more knowledgable, and know what they're selling most of the time. I haven't had any good experiences at some of the bigger stores. Nothing like going into a sport check and talking to some 16 year old kid who doesn't give a **** about customer support, as long as he is getting paid!

I've already gone this route on a different business and the BBB did absolutely nothing but waste my time. I wouldn't recommend going this route unless you feel like getting yourself even more frustrated.

and that is why Ken you have a great rep there in the City....

that's unfortunate. you know, not all 16 year old's are completely incompetent. and not all large, chain fish stores are completely terrible either. we have tons of people that come in and leave happy.

im not saying all big chain stores are bad, i have had some good experiences at Big al's but i perfer a more personable experience when im buying a product.

I can honestly say, some 16yo's can be more knowledageble than most.

Taylor at my store is only 16, and anyone that has dealt with him knows he is a very impressive teenager. Very knowlageble, willing to learn, and not afraid to ask or admit he doesn't know.

I can understand the box/chain stores are not as diligent as the smaller ones. We have a limited supply of livestock and inventory. They have to deal with whatever is thrown at them, not everyone knows everything about every product. I can honestly say I wouldn't want to be a manager at one of those places.

As for refunds, we cannot refuse anyone a refund unless it is posted "final sale" or have a "refund for store credit" policy.

But know the policy of your store, as they can set it to whatever they want. This is quoted from a govenment website;

"Stores are free to set their own refund policies with some common options including a money back guarantee. Stores which offer money back guarantees usually apply certain restrictions such as proof of purchase, time limits and returning the item in the original packaging. Other common options offered by stores may include an exchange or credit note. In addition, some stores, in particular specialty shops, may have a "no refund" policy. These are all options that consumers should become familiar with in case they are not satisfied with the product.
Consumers should also keep in mind that gifts purchased at full price which are later discounted may only be refunded at the discount price, if the consumer no longer has a receipt. As well, consumers should be aware of any signage in the store which indicates that sales may be final."

To sum it up, buyer beware.

BTW, the BBB is a waste of time, being on both sides of fence with them. Also being an abritrator in a few cases in the past, I found it was a joke. After we dropped our BBB affiliation with my other business, we found that the BBB was almost as bad as telemarketers trying to get us to resign.

Ken - BWA

As an employer myself, I find this situation bizarre.
What would compel an employee to chase down a customer in order to get them to pay more money?
I cannot legally make an employee reimburse me for losses, so why do this?
Is it an employee behind the till, or could it be an owner?
An employee would have to suffer huge embarrassment and a reprisal from the boss for making the store look bad.
Is there a store policy to do this? If so, a call to a head office or a request to speak to a manager/owner would be in order.
If this is a small business, this shop is going to get a bad reputation which will hurt business.
If this a part of a large franchise, the whole point of a franchise system is to have systems in place in order to make the franchise owner successful. Perhaps the head office is not aware of this practice.
It doesn't matter who the store is - this is bad business.
Very strange.

Mitch

I go to this store often to check out their selection and their prices. One particular fish was $60 for a couple weeks, they changed his tank and then all of a sudden he was $29. No reason, just that the person who was looking up his price couldn't find it and just spouted out a price. If I paid for the fish and then they tried to get me to pay more, i'd be laughing in their faces. I know my rights...just let them try it. ;)

I have been fortunate with stores in edmonton in regards to reefing, everyone i have talked to know a fair amount of information, which is nice when you are starting out in the hobby with little to no knowledge. all in all im very satisfied with our LFS. A hobby such as this takes alot of learning in order to help out a customer like me who once didn't know jack.

keep up the good work guys, as for the topic its just bad business on the stores part. I know in my industry the customer is always right, even when they are dead wrong.