My first stand-up argument in Thailand when shopping

[gennisis]

In,of all places, the Marks and Spenser store in the Festival mall.

My favorite M&S Jaffa cakes,normaly 133baht...found them in one of their compartments reduced...half price at 66 baht.

So picked up all on display....6 boxes.

Check up charged 133 baht.

I Explained they were marked down to 66 baht......cashier called someone who went to the food dept and returned shaking his head 133 baht.I went back and...of course...the reduced label had been removed.....I became a bit annoyed and repeated that the boxes I had bought were all reduced

down to 66 baht. This fellow didnt budge,,,133 baht he repeated.

Along came a manager,I repeated my claim to purchase at 66 baht.

The staff had a pow wow,I suggested that the M&S back in UK would not be pleased when I contacted them.

Finaly,I was the owner of 6 boxes of Jaffa Cakes at 66 baht each.

[philw]

Oh dear...........

[true blue]

looks like you got your cake and eat it as well. like m&s festival, got some bargins at the moment in mens gear 50% off.

[MESmith]

Might have been very small print on the reduced label with dates of offer, already expired

[Brit_Doggie]

Was this a discussion or argument lol but well done that man.

[cooper2111]

i saw the jaffa cakes reduced in M&S myself..good you stood your ground...nothing pisses me off more than being ripped off again and again!

[true blue]

digressing on that about prices,went to bed & bath airport plaza for part for my door,148bht on price tag,got to till 185bht got girl to go and check price tag come back just shrug of shoulders,till price only,bought a cheaper one 100bht,just as good.

[sharktooth]

Just as well the argument wasn't over something trivial... custard creams for example.

[dave2]

re

Just as well the argument wasn't over something trivial... custard creams for example.

or something important like mc vities milk chocolate digestives

dave2

[eyecatcher]

You know I had almost the same conversation at a checkout in Rimping river branch over a reduced bottle of olive oil.

On my occasion having bought the same product before at a reduced price they were now reducing the reduction.

I knew it was a mistake.....but I wanted to take ADVANTAGE and win for once.

As yours, the higher price checked up but the entourage of pretty management staff apologising for a genuine mistake was enough to turn me into a quivering jai dee man.

As it was only one bottle it was neither here nor there but had it been a grump like the immigration residency letter man then oil very well could have been spilled.

[manarak]

Happens all the time to me in Tesco

I always go back to the shelf myself to point at the label with the reduced price

Another idea could be to make a photo with your phone

Edited May 19, 2015 by manarak

[Chicog]

It's the deception of removing the notice that would get my blood boiling!

[Jingthing]

I wonder what the "reasoning" was in their minds for initially denying the discount. No, I don't believe the offer was expired. If that was the case, they could easily shown that printed on the card that they removed.

[cooked]

It is all down to computer F##kups, that is to say incompetence. I tried twice to buy the same product at Thatwatsadu, first time 155 Baht but computer won't accept it. Next day: 650 Baht but I won't accept it (IQ 250 Baht). I no longer get upset by this stuff, apart from when I get told 'no have' when I can see it behind the guy. Just leave it on the belt and laugh. There was a period when my local Thaiwatsadu sort of went quiet when I came in, but I have calmed down since then.

(Edit). In the UK at least, a marked price is an offer, negotiable. You can't insist on paying the price that is marked.

Edited May 19, 2015 by cooked

[steven100]

well ... think about it , it's the shops mistake ! sure .... but you don't own the shop , you don't control the pricing , you like that item but the stupid girl who stocks the shelves forgot to change the sticker.

Now, picture this ..... 6 - 8 people lined up at the cashier , the cashier speaks little to no english , you have asked to see the manager 3 times , it appears the manager is in the Hong Nam , the difference in price is say 100 baht or $3 ......... the other folk are giving you nasty looks ....

what do you do ?

[junglechef]

I have stopped shopping at M & S in Festival as the employees are always rude and unhelpful. It takes forever to ring something up, once I was the only customer in the store and asked to move to different cash registers 3 times before they finally rang me up. It's not cheap and your treated like sh#@, who needs it?

[zippydedodah]

really, you should make a commercial out of your experience...

something along the lines of : You will fight, anywhere in the world, to get your <insert name> at Marks and Spencers.

show the whole falang arguing with cashier, manager involvement, then finally getting YOUR sweets at YOUR price...

loving it.

when my wife was preggars in USA, we had everything ready, crib, clothes, all the goodies... except for the right "safe" car.

I wanted a nice Volvo... finallly found one, 2 weeks before baby was due.. we picked it up and a few hours later, wife went into labor...

wanted to make a commercial for Volvo out of that one - Volvo, so safe, you will have your baby early!

[Chiengmaijoe]

I have no sympathy because you took them all and didn't leave any for me.

I went to Rimping the other day and they had some cereal tied together with a buy 1 get 1 tape and there was a flyer on the shelf confirming the promotion. On the shelf below there was a price promotion flyer saying the same, for the same product but a different flavour, the difference being that they weren't tied together. As I suspected the two I had taken weren't on promotion. Maybe in the west I could have argued the toss, even if it was a genuine mistake, but here I suspect that the law is different. Another factor is that I left my high horse back in the UK.

[robertthebruce]

Marks and Spencer's in the UK, used to be the best.

But Waitrose has over took them by far....

If I am ever in the UK I nhave very even bother going to Marks And Spencer's, always make a B line for,"Waitrose"....

[arunsakda]

I once returned a piece of cheese to Rimping. No problem of course.

A professional management team in retail anticipates customer needs and reacts positively in any instance of

deficiency. So much can not be said for others here. The sugarcane does not come out of the Elephants'

mouth once swallowed , or whatever.

"La di Dah".

Edited May 19, 2015 by arunsakda

[Berkshire]

I really should check marked prices against actual more often when I go shopping, but I honestly can't be bothered. I saw a news piece years ago about retailers in the USA and random check of marked prices against actual price rung up at the reg revealed huge discrepancies. I don't recall exactly, but it was something like 20-30% incorrect (always higher, of course). I do check occasionally when something is marked down significantly and it's almost always correct. But I confess that I'm not nearly as vigilant as the OP.

[cocopops]

I wonder what the "reasoning" was in their minds for initially denying the discount. No, I don't believe the offer was expired. If that was the case, they could easily shown that printed on the card that they removed.

Why would there be an expiry date on it?

Surely someone just forgot to remove the half-price sign from the shelf the night before, no?

[Jingthing]

I wonder what the "reasoning" was in their minds for initially denying the discount. No, I don't believe the offer was expired. If that was the case, they could easily shown that printed on the card that they removed.

Why would there be an expiry date on it?

Surely someone just forgot to remove the half-price sign from the shelf the night before, no?

No.

[samsensam]

It is all down to computer F##kups, that is to say incompetence. I tried twice to buy the same product at Thatwatsadu, first time 155 Baht but computer won't accept it. Next day: 650 Baht but I won't accept it (IQ 250 Baht). I no longer get upset by this stuff, apart from when I get told 'no have' when I can see it behind the guy. Just leave it on the belt and laugh. There was a period when my local Thaiwatsadu sort of went quiet when I came in, but I have calmed down since then.

(Edit). In the UK at least, a marked price is an offer, negotiable. You can't insist on paying the price that is marked.

correct. 'invitation to treat'

The classic example of an invitation to treat is when a shop owner puts a very low price on a product in the shop window. If you take the item to the counter the shopkeeper does not have to sell it to you. In strict legal terms it is you that makes the offer by offering to buy the product with your money. A shopkeeper who has mistakenly priced a product too cheaply is therefore not obliged to sell at that price.

An invitation to treat is a tool to get negotiations going and show the terms which one party may be willing to accept, as opposed to an offer in which one party is prepared to be legally bound by upon acceptance.

[FolkGuitar]

Every now and then a seller pretends he's a songtaew driver and tries to overcharge the Farang buyer. Happens every evening at the Night Bazaar and often happens in the various wet markets around town. When a vendor tried to tell me that a 20-baht bag of Nam Prik Noom cost 50-baht, I smiled at her, said 'mai aew, khrup,' and bought from the vender in the next stall for 20 baht. Problem solved with no drama. Obviously this won't work in the M&S setting, but are they really the only ones to sell these cakes... or are these cakes really so important in the overall scheme of things that they are worth fighting for? (I admit... US-made 'RingDings' and 'Twinkies' actually are. )

Edited May 20, 2015 by FolkGuitar

[Naam]

well ... think about it , it's the shops mistake ! sure .... but you don't own the shop , you don't control the pricing , you like that item but the stupid girl who stocks the shelves forgot to change the sticker.

Now, picture this ..... 6 - 8 people lined up at the cashier , the cashier speaks little to no english , you have asked to see the manager 3 times , it appears the manager is in the Hong Nam , the difference in price is say 100 baht or $3 ......... the other folk are giving you nasty looks ....

what do you do ?

you say with a friendly smile "UP YOURS!" and leave (still smiling) the shop.

[kaorop]

Crapco and Lotass do that ALL the time, some of the worst retail practices I've experienced. I avoid them where ever I can.

Same as the op many times, marked down, take it to the check out, full price.......cue 15 minutes of staff blundering, red faced idiot managers.

They also mark things as being discounted but are actually the same or higher price than normal.

IMO it's deliberate bait and switch.

Edited May 20, 2015 by kaorop

[Konini]

I have no sympathy because you took them all and didn't leave any for me.

I went to Rimping the other day and they had some cereal tied together with a buy 1 get 1 tape and there was a flyer on the shelf confirming the promotion. On the shelf below there was a price promotion flyer saying the same, for the same product but a different flavour, the difference being that they weren't tied together. As I suspected the two I had taken weren't on promotion. Maybe in the west I could have argued the toss, even if it was a genuine mistake, but here I suspect that the law is different. Another factor is that I left my high horse back in the UK.

I think at Rimping most if not all 2 for the price of 1 taped together are for products approaching their sell by date, the rest of the stock isn't so therefore is not offered as a special.

But Jaffa Cakes......

[nontabury]

Don't blame the the shop or company, blame the lacsidasical staff and also the manager for not instructing and insisting that his staff do the job they are paid to do.

[Johnny S]

looks like you got your cake and eat it as well. like m&s festival, got some bargins at the moment in mens gear 50% off.

Isn´t clothe always at least 30-70% off in those boring malls in Thailand, seems like they have a sale all year around