Why it Pays to Double Check Prices.

[WaituiRob]

Towards the end of our recent trip the regulator on our Coleman stove malfunctioned and as BCF was the nearest camping store we went to get one. The salesperson was very helpful, offering to sell us one off a stove in stock as they didn`t have any others, for the princely sum of $56.95. As we had only paid $99.00 (on special) for our stove at Downunder Camping 18 months previously we declined the offer.

On returning home we checked with Downunder Camping, not only do they sell the regulators for $16.95 but Michelle who I spoke to informed me that it would be replaced free of charge as there is a 5 year warranty on Coleman products. Michelle said to always keep your receipt with your camping gear and no matter where you are, any store in Australia that sells Coleman products is supposed to honor the warranty.

There was no mention of this at BCF and we could have looked up the receipt easy enough, so thumbs down to BCF and  and  to Downunder Camping.

Robyn.

[bullfrog]

Good to hear there are still some decent people about Robyn, although I am starting to think they are getting harder to find sadly.

[bluedogman]

Sounds like BCF might need to invest in some more product training

[Heiny]

I went to the local camping/fishing shop in Gawler the other day looking for a couple of the olive water jerry cans, when inspecting them I noticed that two of them were labled $29.99, the other dozen or so were identical and labeled $39.99. I quickly grabbed the cheaper versions and proceded to the counter, when the guy scanned them a puzzled look came over his face and he asked me where I found them, I told him that they were on the floor (the others were up on a shelf) why he says this is the wrong price, this is the price for the clear water containers and the young lad who worked there had accidently mis labelled the olive jerry cans but we thought that we had found them all (whilst this is happeing other customers are lining up behind me) I said "well it appears that you didnt find them all and I would like to purchase them at the lower price" and guy says I cant because its the wrong price, Im beginning to get  so I turn around to the half dozen customers waiting and say "dont worry about the price tag on your stuff, these guys increase it when you try and pay for it" the guy now has backup as three other shop attendants surround him. so I grab my phone and take pics of the price tag on the container just as the manager turns up and says "look just give them to him at that price" so I hand over the $$$ and exit the shop a very happy customer

[Manjimike]

the manager turns up and says "look just give them to him at that price"

I thought that was the law.
Maybe only folk lore 
 

[medion]

So thumbs down to BCF? Did you take your broken stove in with your reciept and ask them to fix it under warranty?

While I am sure there is more to the conversation you had with BCF than what you have posted here, from what you have posted you went to the store, and enquired about buying a stove. They showed you what they had and gave you a price. What else would you expect from a retail store? Did you ask them if they had a regulator on stock or if one could be ordered? It is not up to the store to ask you if you have a faulty one that could be under warranty, that is up to you.

I would hope that if you had known about the 5 year national warranty, and you went into the store with your reciept they would have honoured it. From what you have posted, you didn't give them the chance, but still gave them a thumbs down. 

Towards the end of our recent trip the regulator on our Coleman stove malfunctioned and as BCF was the nearest camping store we went to get one. The salesperson was very helpful, offering to sell us one off a stove in stock as they didn`t have any others, for the princely sum of $56.95. As we had only paid $99.00 (on special) for our stove at Downunder Camping 18 months previously we declined the offer.

On returning home we checked with Downunder Camping, not only do they sell the regulators for $16.95 but Michelle who I spoke to informed me that it would be replaced free of charge as there is a 5 year warranty on Coleman products. Michelle said to always keep your receipt with your camping gear and no matter where you are, any store in Australia that sells Coleman products is supposed to honor the warranty.

There was no mention of this at BCF and we could have looked up the receipt easy enough, so thumbs down to BCF and  and  to Downunder Camping.

Robyn.

[Alloy C/T]

Consumer laws are very specific in that the lower price marked on an item is the price the shop has to sell you the goods at and if there is a shelf 'talker' that being a price tag on the shelf for that item and it is lower than the price sticker on the item the lower price is the price the shop has to sell you the item at.

[Manjimike]

Consumer laws are very specific in that the lower price marked on an item is the price the shop has to sell you the goods at and if there is a shelf 'talker' that being a price tag on the shelf for that item and it is lower than the price sticker on the item the lower price is the price the shop has to sell you the item at.

That is what I thought
 

[WaituiRob]

Medion,

Sorry if I didn`t make myself clear, I never said we went to buy a stove at BCF. Our intention was to purchase a   new regulator not realising it was under warranty, so therefore did not mention it. My complaint is with the price of the regulator as there is a big difference between $56.95 and $16.95 and I`m sure most people would agree with me, that is why I gave BCF the thumbs down.

It wasn`t a case of not giving BCF a chance to honour the warranty as we didn`t know about it until it was mentioned by Downunder Camping, but we did tell the salesperson the stove was 18 months old.

Robyn.              

[cdustbehindme]

always pays to be carefull, I used to work in an outdoors store and theres so many different productlines and manufacturers and everything else to learn    Just have to find the experienced staff member where ever you are....  doesnt mean they wont try and rip you off, but at least they will have a good idea about most of the stuff......  Commonly most staff members will have an interest in one thing or the other and not know much about the rest unless they have worked there for a long time....  I was in kathmandu yesterday, good thing there was the girl that served me referred me to the manager for my query as she had only been working there for 4 months and wasnt sure, personally i think thats great service   

[Crosslander]

Consumer laws are very specific in that the lower price marked on an item is the price the shop has to sell you the goods at and if there is a shelf 'talker' that being a price tag on the shelf for that item and it is lower than the price sticker on the item the lower price is the price the shop has to sell you the item at.

I used to think that too but incorrect (at least in NSW)

We were at a tile shop that were having a big sale..... found some tiles that we really liked and  we thought (apperently quite rightly so) were extremely cheap at around $12m2. Went to order several metres of them we were told the price tag was incorrect and the price was per tile. We argued - they rang head office who had the sale tags printed (franchise). They said it was a genuine error and that by law they didnt have to sell at that price. i said they did blah blah - got my camera out and took several pictures of the tile and price tag and promptly headed to our office of fair trading as i had (threatened to do) accusing them of bait advertising.

Long story short the office of fair trading agreed with the shop saying that they didnt have to sell at that price - however now that the error had been discovered they had to change all ticketing etc within 24 hours. Went back in the next day and the price had been changed.

[Pipeliner]

The main retail supermarket chains (Woolworth, Coles, etc) have a voluntary Code of Practice whereby if the price an item scans at is different from the price marked on the shelf, you get the item for free.  There is no legislated position regarding pricing errors, and only the supermarkets use this code.

It basically comes under the law of contract:  the retailer offers goods for sale, the customer agrees to buy, and the price is determined between them.  At any time up to the completion of the contract (the exchange of the goods for money) either party is free to opt out of the contract.  You don't have to buy it at his price, he doesn't have to sell it at your price.  Price tags are an indication, not a legally binding offer - otherwise how could you ever negotiate a good discount?.

[MDS69]

The main retail supermarket chains (Woolworth, Coles, etc) have a voluntary Code of Practice whereby if the price an item scans at is different from the price marked on the shelf, you get the item for free.  There is no legislated position regarding pricing errors, and only the supermarkets use this code.

It basically comes under the law of contract:  the retailer offers goods for sale, the customer agrees to buy, and the price is determined between them.  At any time up to the completion of the contract (the exchange of the goods for money) either party is free to opt out of the contract.  You don't have to buy it at his price, he doesn't have to sell it at your price.  Price tags are an indication, not a legally binding offer - otherwise how could you ever negotiate a good discount?.

I wonder how you would go with a trolley load of groceries that scanned at $200.00 and you say "I'll give you $180.00".

[bluedogman]

good luck with that one lol

[WaituiRob]

I agree about warranty issues, it is up to the consumer and I`ve never had a problem with one. It was a price issue as I said before and as the salesperson went out of her way to be helpful there was no animosity there.

For the benefit of Medion who is “sure there is more to the conversation than what I posted” I don`t know why you would think this, so this is how it went down.

We took our regulator to BCF and looked on the shelf but were unable to find one.
Went to front desk for help and a lovely saleswoman came and checked and as there were none in stock, offered to order one for us. On learning that we were on holidays she said we could buy one off a stove in stock and she would order a replacement, which we appreciated.

When she told us $59.95 my immediate remark was “that`s more than half the stove cost”
And she agreed it did seem expensive as there are other stoves available at that price or lower. Frank told her he`d like to think about it as he was undecided whether to purchase another stove as the regulators are a bit of a nuisance.

We both thanked her for her time, spent a few more minutes discussing where we were from and where we`d been camping and went on our way.

At no time did the subject of warranty come up, I was only saying in my post that it pays to check on prices and letting people know about Colemans 5 year warranty.

Robyn

[Pipeliner]

I wonder how you would go with a trolley load of groceries that scanned at $200.00 and you say "I'll give you $180.00".

At Woolies or Coles, no chance as there is no-one around with the authority to do it.  At an independent, where the manager is often also the owner, maybe but doubtful.

Depends on the discount you are asking for.  I've often pulled the change out of my pocket to pay for something, found I didn't have quite enough (by anything from a few cents to around 50c), and said "Will you accept $xx or would you rather change a $50 ($100) note?" and had them accept the lower offer because they prefer the change to the exact amount.  Only works if the person at the till has the authority though.

[RebsWA]

Back to why it pays to double check prices... I was at a well known hardware store where they advertise lower prices all the time, after half a dozen hacksaw blades among other things. At $4.65 each for quality English and Swedish blades I decided to try elsewhere. The local independent tool shop had the Swedish blades for $2.95 each and the English ones were $1.95 from memory. For such a big difference on such a small ticket item it pays to shop around.

[albany_nomads]

Nothing to do with camping gear but still to do with checking prices.
I thought its about time to replace the spark plugs in the V6 Rodeo and thought i would stick in some of these NGK irridium spark plugs..since Im just in the process of adding LPG to the vehicle.
Checked Ebay $10.00 each with delivery from UK or US of A..but was willing to pay a little more from Australia....as such phoned up Repco and asked whats the very best price you could do 6 NGK Irridium plugs for the V6 for..he replied $31.00 each...thats $21.00 per plug more or $126.00 more for a set of 6.
Now I believe in buying local but at a $126.00  mark up  ,  Im sorry to say my money on this occasion wil be going overseas

after a bit more searching I found some one in the Eastern states that could do them for $14.00 each...thats still better than $31.00 each from repco