i went to blockbuster today and saw the special edition of west side story for only 12.99. i picked it up and when they scanned it it came out 29.99. i tried to get them to give it to me for 12.99 but they wouldnt. is there something i couldve done to get it at the sticker price? isnt that like misleading the customer or false advertising or something?

The price that is on the sticker is the price you should have gotten it at. That is the "universal rule."

my mom wouldve probably put up a hell of an argument but im not much for arguing so it just piss me off i couldnt get it at that price. i made up crap that maybe its on sale and they hadnt put into their system yet or something but they wouldnt budge. hopefully then dont change all the stickers and i'll head back tomorrow.

I know in michigan if its stickered on the product they have to honor that price if it is the lower price versus scanning. Its called the scanner law. you should have put up a fuss. Id call the BBB on em.

That is true. The better stores will not try and scam you either. The first time I ever heard of this was when I was in college. I had bought something at Meijer and realized after I had paid that I was over charged. I went to the return counter to get refunded the difference. They gave me an extra 5% or 10% (I don't remember what it was for sure) which is how the law is stated, and I then told them they gave me too much money back.

Massachusettes has the same law.

This should be in the Store forum... but personally, its not something i'd complain about. Mistakes happen. Of course, working at Target i always just change the price for the customer to avoid hassles.

yea most stores will honor the stickered price. When I bought 2 used dvds at the wherehouse here on the west coast, they scanned maybe 5-6 dollars higher, and the employee working the registered realized that, then changed the price for me.

They have a law in Michigan that says if someone puts a sticker price of $9.99 on something that costs $999.99 they have to honor it because it's less than the scanned UPC?

I can't believe that's true. Those laws usually regulate outright lying or deceptive advertising.

I think Bill's closer to the truth in that in a case like this it will almost universally be honored, but I'd be shocked to hear that they are legally bound to do that.

My neighborhood Blockbuster honored a misprice with no hassle - about a year ago I got the Criterion Seven Samurai for $17.95.

No, misrepresenting the price would be retail fraud which is a crime. If the item is priced one thiing and rings up another then you get the sticker price + and additional 5% or up to an certain amount of money (whichever is greater).

I secretly put stickers on DVDs that are lower than the scanned price.

Be shocked: http://www.michiganconsumer.org/New/tipsmipl.htm

Stupid. Mistakes happen. I work for retail, and when the price is different, I will usually give it to them if its within a short amount. However, if the item is $50 and tagged $5, too bad for them. Ill give them a little bit off, but cmon...its too good to be true. How do I know they didn't switch the price themselves (and people do, trust me. Ive seen people take an expensive used videogame ((marked at $39.99)) and put a $4.99 tag on it.)

West Side Story was actually $12.99 a few months back for a period of a week or two. It sounds like the store just missed a reprice. They should definitely have given it to you for $12.99, or at least a substantial discount.

I believe most stores (at least here in California) have a posted policy that they reserve the right to not honor any pricing errors. Otherwise, it seems too easy for someone to switch price stickers on an item then demand the store honor the lower price. How do Massachusetts and other states handle this type of situation?

Most stores have their inventory computerized, so generating price tags that indicate the product they apply to is not particularly difficult. For stores that are too small to be able to afford that minimum level of automation, it is likely the physical store will be small enough that the clerk can reasonbly watch out for people trying to switch tags and catch them in the act.

That law applies to a scanner improperly reading a correct price, not someone incorrectly labelling something.

Think about the ramifications of what you're describing. Anyway, this is getting boring already. If anybody want to see the actual law and do more digging they can look here:

http://www.michiganlegislature.org/m...692&highlight=

An excerpt:

445.354 Charging more or less than price indicated; evidence of violation.
Sec. 4.

(1) A person shall not knowingly charge or attempt to charge for a consumer item a retail sale price exceeding the price required to be indicated pursuant to section 3. It shall not be construed to be a violation of this act to charge for a consumer item a total price less than the price required to be indicated pursuant to section 3.

Store forum all the way on this one.

And it provides no provision for the price that's necessarily placed on the product to be incorrect. If a product has a price label on it to indicate that it may be purchased for $5.00, it cannot be sold for a price (before "taxes and deposit fees") of more than $5.00.

I've had 2 instances at Best Buy where the scanned price was slightly more than the sticker price. One I caught and they entered the correct price. The other I never noticed because I was buying 5 or 6 DVDs at once. It was only a $4 difference for me but if you multiply that by hundreds or thousands of "mistakes"... that can add up.

I live in MA and the pricing laws here would say that the item is priced marked for less than 1/2 the actual retail price, which would constitute a "gross error". The retailer does not have to sell that item for the marked price. Other state laws may vary, but I have dealt with this with consumers in my state in the past.

Sounds like a lot of amateur lawyering going on here (including me).

Until someone sites a statute that makes it clear that if some high school kid working in my store makes a mistake using a price gun I have to honor it I'll go with common sense.

I can't speak for the law, but about 2 years ago I was shopping for a cable modem at Best Buy. On the shelf were a couple of
Linksys models that were clearly marked $29.99 even though they should have been $129.99. Believe it or not, the manager honored the price (although he was a little irritated, not at me though.) To be fair, I only bought the one I needed and took the others off the shelf and gave them to the manager. And as if it wasn't sweet enough, it even had a $20 rebate that I still qualified for!

The couple of times this has happened, I have put up the biggest freaking fight until I get my way. Basically I refuse to back down, demanding to speak with everyone and their mother and just being an overall dick. At some point the management will just bend in order to shut me out.

By the way, this has happened to me a couple of times at Best Buy, and they usually don't even argue about it. They just give me the marked price.

I agree that the best way to go is to put up a stink (within reason).

Most places would cave unless the difference is too crazy. I think the OP probably could have gotten his way if he pushed hard enough.

Whether it's worth doing is up to the individual.