Sancerrely Yours
I have two tales for this topic, but I may not get around to them both.

A good few years ago I was mooching around my local Asda (unfortunately the only store near enough to home to make shopping there worthwhile) when I spotted a boner feedy bargain - bottles of Sancerre for under a fiver. Partial as I then was to a spot of white, and having recently discovered this particular grape (whilst knowing fuck-all about wine in general), I took all the remaining seven bottles off the shelf and gleefully put them in the trolley.

At the checkout all went smoothly until I saw the price of the wine was almost twelve quid a bottle. I pointed out the error to the cashier, but she was having none of it. "That's not what it says here" etc, etc.

So naturally, I asked if she could call the manager. She didn't, but brought over her till supervisor, who again tried to insist that the wine was correctly priced. Now I'm not big on trading standards, but one thing I do know is that if a shop displays goods as being at a certain price, then they have to be sold at that price. We went over to the shelf, I showed her the ticket that said a fiver a bottle. She saw it, noted it, still insisted their price was right.

Anyway, I stuck to my guns - to the extent that I flatly refused to move from the till until I got that wine for the price stated. I warned people not to form a queue behind me, since I could be some time. They went through the store hierarchy one by one, even brought over the head of the wine department (a snotty, rat-faced turd who insisted that Asda would "never" sell wine of this quality at such a price.) who all insisted the till price was correct. I kept telling them that this was against the law and asking for the manager. My g/f (patient, long-suffering and now my wife) was, as she kept telling me, mortified by the carry-on, muttering through gritted teeth "Just leave it, just leave it". Bollocks I would just leave it. This had gone way past the point of no return.

Eventually the manager arrived and (as I knew he would) heard a brief summary and simply said "Give it to him for a fiver." What else could he do?

So I got eighty-four quid's worth of wine for thirty-five pounds. I marched out of that store to the sound of trumpets ringing in my ears. A triumph for the common man, I thought. Victory for the oppressed Sancerre-swilling masses, I thought. A blow to the pockets of a grasping bastion of capitalism, I thought. The last laugh was mine.

Until I opened the first bottle and found it tasted like cat's piss. "Serves you fucking right," said the other half. I know - I should have taken it back, but the moment had gone and I couldn't be arsed. Oh, well...
(zebideedoodah likes florence but prefers venice, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 0:26, 6 replies)

hold on tight
someone's going to bore you to tears on this one and you won't be able to hear the expression "invitation to treat" without gritting your teeth...
(pounana Slept well, and dreamed of large women, on, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 0:51, closed)

wrong
Under the sale of goods act if a product is wrongly priced, the retailer does not have to sell it at that price. The retailer is under no obligation to sell you anything, so they can simply say the item is no longer for sale.
If you think about it, it makes sense. otherwise every little fucker would be moving the lables around.

however, if a store has the wrong prce on a shelf they can be done by trading standards IIRC £2k per wrongly priced item. it fucks the store, but doesn't help you.
(BigAndyBee, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 0:55, closed)

Tru dat...
...but nine times out of ten, if you stick to your guns, someone with real authority would rather let it go in the interest of good customer relations. And I think what also helped was that none of this was argumentative on my part. I don't generally believe in giving shop staff a hard time - they have a shit enough job as it is.
(zebideedoodah likes florence but prefers venice, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 1:19, closed)

Cat's pee is correct
One of the classic flavors of Sancerre (and sauvignon blanc in general) along with goosberries, etc.

Also, "invitation to treat", as above, but I'm surprised the till supervisor couldn't discount it for you.
( Ghoti Fingers, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 8:37, closed)

Finally looked up...
... the expression "invitation to treat" and am not sure how it figures. As for the supervisor, it was a case of wouldn't, rather than couldn't.

All this probably makes me sound like some irritating and sanctimonious git. I'm not (well, unless you ask my wife) but I'm just sick of having to take sub-standard service from organisations that rake it in and treat the customer as a semi-irrelevance. They get my goodwill when I spend my money there, so they can show the same by sticking to an advertised price, whether they're compelled to by law or not.
(zebideedoodah likes florence but prefers venice, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 9:03, closed)

But
it was Asda...
(Bernardate, Thu 9 Sep 2010, 0:46, closed)