Company made a mistake on price and wants the balance

[johnrezz]

What is the name of your state? Colorado.

Today I purchased a Winch from a major auto parts store. I was on line to pay for a small item when I saw a sale ticket on a winch for $850.00 I asked the girl at the counter if that was correct and she said yes. We then walked over to the item and looked in the box together. I told her that it was a fantastic deal and she said she knew and joked that I should buy her one since it wsa such a good deal. There was a second employee present at the time as well. I paid for it with my credit card and left. about 6 hours later I got home and had about 10 hang up calls on my answer machine along with one message stating that they made a mistake and that thye were going to charge my credit card for the balance up to 1500.00 if I did not bring it back by close of business that day. I immediatly called the store and the manager told me I had to bring it back or pay the difference. When I told him that I bought it after asking if hte price was correct from his employee he stated that it is not his fault that his employees are incompitant and than accused me of switching the price tags. He than further added that his employee failed to check to makes sure it was the right item.... After he accused me of what I basically would consider stealing I told him I was done talking to him and that he could take me to civil court if he plesed, he said "i will and hung up". two hours later the police came to see me. he told them that I stold from his store. Obviously the police saw things differently. I have a paid for receipt and did so before I left the store. They informed him that they could not help him in any way.

What will happen if we go to court? There is a sale ticket on the item, I double checked the price with an employee and purchased it on my credit card. do I have to return the item or pay the difference. The main reason for not returning it is that after buying it I bought another 200.00 worth of parts to attach it to my truck plus about 5 hours of labor doing the work.

Thanks in advance,
John

[racer72]

What will happen if we go to court?

You will pay the difference. The police did nothing because it was a civil case, not a criminal case.

[tranquility]

Why would he pay the difference? While there could be arguments related to mistake, I don't see them as a sure fire winner. The merchant is the one with greater knowledge of the product. He has more of a duty of being informed over its value.

[las365]

I'm not a lawyer, so legal issues aside, from a practical standpoint, it seems that the manager caught the mistake pretty quickly and tried to notify the OP, but did a terrible job of customer service in dealing with the issue. Apparently he realised that he would be dead wrong to place an unauthorized additional charge on the credit card. And yeah, it is his fault if he has incompetent employees. She should have checked with the manager before selling the item at that price.

I think the timeline is important.

Did the OP attach the winch to the truck before receiving the notice that the he had been undercharged? Were the additional parts purchased at the same store? If so, it may be that the equitable solution is for him to return the winch and additional parts and receive credit plus fair market value for the cost of labor to attach and remove it and compensation to return the truck to the condition it was in before the winch was attached (I'm assuming that holes were drilled, etc.). Or, under this fact situation, if he keeps the winch, then he obviously doesn't deserve compensation for the additional parts or labor and should perhaps pay some discounted portion of the additional sales price.

If the OP received the notice and then proceeded to attach the winch, I think it would be a different story.

Bottom line to me is one of practicality and fairness. The store probably shouldn't eat a $700 loss because of a mistake. The OP shouldn't be penalized financially because he relied on the store personnel. This ought to be something that can be worked out without the time and expense of anybody suing anybody. Go up the chain of command at the store to get to someone with the authority to deal with the situation. The clerk has probably already been fired. The manager is probably afraid of getting fired, and that may happen. For either side, digging in your heels and refusing to try to work toward a fair resolution is just stubborn and creates bad karma, in my opinion.

[Zigner]

The OP is not responsible for this. The item was labeled and the OP bought the items at the labeled price.
I don't have the time to research the consumer protection laws for our OP's state, but I know that in my state, the law specifically explains that the consumer is entitled to the item at the lower price when it is mis-marked. When the manager stated that it's "not his fault" that his employees are incompetent, he was only partially correct. It may not be his "fault", but it is his responsibility.

[johnrezz]

I was orriginally intending on at least giving him cost for the product until he made horrible decisions on dealing with the situation. Not to mention he wanted 1500 dollars for the product when I can buy it direct fro mthe manufacturer for 1200. The nail in the coffin was when I asked him about a scenario that happened a few weeks ago. I bought a new battery and it turned out to be bad. When I tried to return it he told me that I could not since I did not have a receipt. Even though on the battery it stated that it had a 8 year warrenty and that I could take it back to any "x" store. He refused. I wound up calling another store 60 miles away and they told me to bring it in and they would check it out, so I drove an hour and long story short they gave me a replacement for free. When I asked him why this was he told me he couldn't help me with it. So since cost for the product he undersold me is only 950.00 I feel like we are even for the trip I had to make to right his wrong. I am not a vindictive person, but I truely did no wrong in this process. I have been looking into buying a winch for a long time but could not afford one. When I saw the sale price I pointed it out, twice and even brought a sales rep over to make sure we were talking about the same thing. Once we agreed that it was the right item made the purchase. I had the Winch on the jeep before I got the messages fro mthe company. I bought the extra parts fro manother store and I had to alter the front of the jeep in order to fit the winch. Again, I made every effort to make sure they were selling me th correct thing for the correct price and this was my deciding factor. I would never pay his retail of 1500 (what he told me he wants to compinsate) so I would have never purchased it, the extra parts, modified my jeep if it was not for the good price.

I would like to go pay him the differnce of 150.00 but at this point I think he went to far.

J

[JustAPal00]

You own the product now! You have a bill of sale from his store. He would have to prove that you switched the tags in order to prove you wrong. I used to own a restaurant. I purchased an ice machine. The seller ordered it from a supply catalog and when he did so he quoted me the wrong price. I paid and then the item was drop shipped to me. After he received the invoice from his supplier he called me and explained it to me and asked me if I would at least pay his cost. Since he had been such a good supplier, I agreed! But I didn’t have too!

[justalayman]

I don't believe it is fair to consider the previous battery situation in this at all. You trying to make it sound like the mamger got his just desserts now is the wrong attitude to have. The " I could have gotten it from the supplier for $1200 is also irrelevent". You did choose to do business at this store so you cannot use such an argument in defending this other than you simply would not have purchased it given the "correct" price.

You did all you could to assure the price was right. The employees of the store failed to remedy a misprice (although as Zigner posted, in some states, the price marked is the price is must be sold for.)

The person who is incompetant here is apparently the manager. The fact he blames his employees merely shows what kind of manager he really is. If he maintains employment of incompetant workers, then he is at fault for having incompetent workers in his store.

So, anyway, tell the guy to get lost.

If you really want to have fun with him, I would consider a sit down with an attorney to look at defamation of character since he knew you paid for the item and he still called the police. It may not get you anything but ut surely would give the guy a scare and it assuredly would get to HIS boss.

Since this is a chain store and you seem to have had multiple problems with this one manager, I would make a complaint to the stores main offices.