The Beauty Channel and Trading Standards

[Dame Fondacox]

I tried to order the Verbena shower due at a few pence less than the anniversary price but the added appeal was that it was on two easy pays with free P&P which Ali Young was waxing on about. The operator gave me the easy pays but my first payment had the P&P added to it. When I questioned this I was told that The Beauty Channel is a repeat and not all of the items shown can be sold at the advertised price. Of course I cancelled my order but is this method of selling legal under UK Trading Standard's rules?

 

[Loveinamist]

How rubbish is that? Does that go for Q normal channel after 2am repeats? If it's allowed and ordered on Qcut without listening to order summary you wouldn't be aware until order received.

 

[boffy]

hard times

i have noticed that if its on the beauty channel/repeat that the offer on the time of the repeat stands. normally qvc are good with customer services and would rather give you the p&p rather than lose the sale. but times are hard and maybe thaey are not being so generous.
had a similar issue and they refused to compromise which is unusual. sign of the times.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

Maybe I should have asked to speak to a supervisor. I just cancelled the order so they lost the sale and have created a bad impression, which will no doubt inform my future shopping habits with them, and all for the sake of P&P. I just wonder how they can advertise something as being free, even if the show is a repeat.

 

[amn]

i think its ****** scandalous. If what they're saying is true then basically all the info for price / easy pays / p&p on the beauty channel should be ignored then? If this is the case then there should be some on screen disclaimer to point it out - otherwise surely it's false advertising or mis-selling or something? Just because they can't be arsed to give correct info.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

That's why I'm wondering whether they're contravening Trading Standards rules. It wouldn't be the first time an operator has given me mis-information. I was told I had to send a faulty cleanser which came in a TSV back to Elemis, not QVC. When I queried it with CS I got the full price of the TSV refunded and another complimentary one sent to me. I think I'll take it up with CS.

 

[Daisygirl]

There should be a notice on the screen - something like "this is a repeat, please see website/phone customer services for current prices", at least that's giving you a warning that the price you're seeing might not be the current one. Pretty bad isn't it.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

I've submitted a complaint so we'll see what happens.

 

[AJL-C]

I've always wondered about this to! I'm sure I was once told if you go into a store and somethings marked up at a price they have to honor it, may not be 100% true or the case on the TV but it's so wrong an unprofessional I think, QVC earn enough profit to employ someone to edit out items that aren't current surely! the QVC beauty channel is tedious so many repeats, it needs a complete overhaul IMO.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

That's true about the shops. Some supermarkets have a habit of putting non-reduced, similar items, on the empty shelves when the offers have sold out but they don't have to honour the reduced price because the label states the offer is for another product. However, if they have something marked down and it's advertised as such, they have to honour the price.

I wonder if this would also apply to the night time repeats. They seem to only show items that are in stock as is the case with TBC so surely some editing goes on. I only tend to use them for L'Occitane sets these days as you can't get it cheaper on-line the way you can a lot of other products. Just got a fiver off a £50 Decleor order at cheapsmells.com by using the xmasfiver code. The same items would have cost just on £90, with the P&P, from QVC.

 

[donna255]

No actually it is not true. If something is mispriced it is up to the shop whether they will honour it or not. They do not have to. I know on st.com last year some site had items at a certain price, loads ordered. Then they had their orders cancelled as the retail would not honour the price. Left a bad taste in the mouth of many.

 

[LADY TIA]

I'm sure that a shop doesn't have to sell anyone anything at a certain price even if advertised as such. I think its a myth that if something is a certain price it should be honoured, i think years ago that did happen, some places will do it but they are under no obligation. Someone more knowledgable than me might come along

 

[Dame Fondacox]

I've always had the advertised price honoured, even when the label states it ends on a date that has passed but they have forgotten to remove it. However, I don't know whether that's because the shop is showing goodwill or if they're legally obliged to do so. I did phone Trading Standards once after picking up my dry cleaning, expecting to pay £10 for three garments as advertised and was told that offer had expired, even though the poster was still in the window. They told me the shop were obliged to honour the price and they would contact them about the poster in the window. A few months later there was a 'under new management' poster in the window.

 

[amn]

I also didn't think shops are legally obliged to sell things at a certain price if they're marked up wrong, but I do think there's a difference between an item being marked up wrong by accident for instance, and QVC purposely choosing a clip of a presentation knowing full well that it has the wrong details, without doing anything to put up a disclaimer. They're putting those clips on the telly to attract sales and if the customers are attracted by incorrect prices or payment options then whether it's legal or not, to me it seems pret-ty dodgy.

 

[Ilovelulu]

In a shop if a price is wrongly marked as long as this is corrected straight away when first spotted then no, the shop does not need to honour the price, its is classed as human error. As long as they item isn't still showing at the wrong price if you where to go in again then thats a different matter and they would have to honour the price.

 

[ArtDeco]

I posted the following on a previous thread which ran along the same lines...hope it helps clarify things...

When a retailer offers a product for sale the law considers this as an 'invitation to treat', i.e. an invitation to the customer to make an offer. The retailer is not bound to accept that offer at an advertised or indeed at any other price - at this stage there is no contract. In individual instances the courts may choose to view the contract as having been formed when the retailer electronically accepts an offer, but generally this is when you are charged for an item, as you have the right to expect the arrival of goods and fulfilment of the contract for which you have paid monies etc. (I notice that increasingly on the email confirmations I get from online retailers they clearly state that items ordered are subject to availability and that they do not consider a contract to be formed unless and until they take payment from your card.)

Consumer Protection legislation criminalises misleading pricing. However the courts may also declare a contract void if the retailer can prove they made a genuine error in their original pricing. The issue here is due diligence - the retailer has to prove that they took all steps that were reasonably available to them to prevent this mis-pricing from happening, and that they have reliable systems to prevent a recurrence. I would have said the rub of the issue lies here ie. whether QVC are doing this repeatedly without making efforts to stop it. If they are regularly refusing to honour prices/deals aired then I would have thought they'd be on quite a sticky wicket in terms of their own defence to court (should someone take action against them.) Part of the problem of course is that QVC's CS is so random (in my experience) that we have no idea how often they are refusing to sell at a price/offer as advertised and how often they are graciously honouring it.

PS: Just so you know, I'm only Civilly Partnered with a lawyer and not an actual literal one myself, I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong impression and think I have *no* personality [logs out quickly before OH sees laptop]

 

[Dame Fondacox]

I've now had an email saying I was incorrectly advised by the representative and to contact their customer careline for the easy pay option and free P&P.

 

[Beaver]

They have to advertise the correct details under Advertising standards