I Love Petsmart!

[chrisdoesntmiss]

Any advertised price on any goods is down to the institution that is selling it. The advertised price is what they should be sold for and if they were marked incorrectly the customer is rightfully entitled to purchase at that price.

If the shop made a cock-up then it is down to them anyway. They may still have sold the guppy to someone unknowing at the same price, just because krib could tell the difference does not mean that he is wrong to do so.

 

[Underwurlde]

^ Absolutely correct. That is the LAW (in the UK anyway). If something is advertised at a given price AND that item is sold, then that must be the price paid (you are in fact entering into a contractural agreement).... However the shop does not HAVE to actually sell you those goods at that price if they don't want to because they spot a mistake or whatever (but like I said, if they do actually sell it then it must be at that price shown).

Hell, if I saw a mistake like that I would take advantage of it... I would not be breaking the law. I would not be stealing.

Andy

 

[stiffler69]

If i went to work and didnt know my job or the correct price for things then i would be sacked whats the difference here and why should a general member of the public tell someone there job thats what forums and the likes off are for i would always want to know at least the basics of my job otherwise i would feel like a idiot.

Just cause this person knows whats he looking for and the shop made a general mistake what also was advertising them at the price displayed i dont see what he has done wrong

The general rule is whatever the displayed price is the price the item is for sale for there is no way past this so even if he had have pointed it out he would of still payed the same price then it would be upto the shop to appriotelly remark the price's

You cant go around doing peoples jobs for them as you would constantly be doing something for someone else your whole life.

Give the guy a break he got a deal be happy for him.

I was a little slow looks like someone beat me to the point lol never mind

 

[andywg]

Any advertised price on any goods is down to the institution that is selling it. The advertised price is what they should be sold for and if they were marked incorrectly the customer is rightfully entitled to purchase at that price.

Not in the UK. If the advertised price is an honest mistake in marking up then it does not have to be sold for that price. The placing of something for sale is an invitation to treat; this gives you the ability to offer a price at which you would like to purchase (in most people's case it will be the price stated). The vendor is perfectly entitled to refuse to sell the item to you at that price.

However, once the vendor has accepted the offer to buy then you have a legal contract and the vendor cannot take any action against you individually over the transaction, though as bignose has pointed out, the larger companies will not just accept losses and will make cuts in service/wages or raise prices in order to make sure their margins are met.

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

The instant that an item has been picked/chosen at the advertised set price the contract has been made.

Its the same with catalogues, the advertised price is what you pay. Same meat different gravy.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Petsmarts fault entirely- If they cant educate their staff or employ knowledgable staff the floor manager is at fault and not the customer. Fair dues guy......

 

[morgan]

If I profit from a shop's mistake then that's tough on them! If it is a small shop I do tell them so I have some odd moral values but it seems fair to me.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks!!!!!!!! He has certantly colored up, i wonderd what petsmart did to him!

 

[Azaezl]

I too have taken advantage of pets at home's mistakes. I've purchased panda corys at the price of bronze, although it is slightly different as they had no label for the pandas so the guy just marked it down as corys.

Another common incident is at my local garden centre, they have a system that is just stupid and quite often you get freebies.

Basically what happens is the fish dept puts a barcode on a pet health gurantee for whatever you've picked out, then writes next to it in big black marker pen(that you can't really miss) the amount you have in the bag, you take it to the tills at the other end of the shop and they are supposed to type in x amount and then scan the barcode, but if you get someone who isn't paying attention / doesn't care then they just scan it. Last time this happened was when I was getting 3 dwarf frogs, 3 WCMM & 6 otos, I only got charged for 1 of each, I didn't actually realise until I was walking away and looked at my receipt(paid by credit card) that they hadn't charged me correctly. Their loss simple.

Another very recent example is at maidenhead aquatics in peterborough(an excellent shop), I purchased 3 panda corys and asked for some bloodwomrs, the guy got it out the fridge thing for me and put it in the bag, at the time I was chatting to my toddler so I didn't pay much attention, only later on when I posted on here and me an timmystood were chatting about who it was who served me did I see on the receipt(again another credit card job) that he hadn't charged me for the bloodworms. Again the shop(well employees) mistake not mine, it happens in very good shops not just the dodgy ones.I do not consider this stealing either.

Any advertised price on any goods is down to the institution that is selling it. The advertised price is what they should be sold for and if they were marked incorrectly the customer is rightfully entitled to purchase at that price.

If the shop made a cock-up then it is down to them anyway. They may still have sold the guppy to someone unknowing at the same price, just because krib could tell the difference does not mean that he is wrong to do so.

I completely agree with this. If fish aren't priced up / identified correctly, then that is the shops fault not the customer, the only reason it comes to light is that because we know about fish and we know what they should be labelled / priced at, a complete novice wouldn't know any difference so would they be stealing too?

Also consider this, if you saw a zebra plec(for example) for sale in pets at home, petsmart or somewhere similar for the same price as a common plec, can you honestly say you would notify the shop that the price was wrong and pay full price for it?

 

[Bignose]

In my mind, it was a question of intent here. The OP knew what fish the employee was putting into the bag, and the OP knew that the employee was new/ignorant. I just felt that the OP owed the employee and the store to point out exactly what fish he was buying. If the employee/store didn't care, then that settles it. But, to sit there silently while the employee mislabels something and to take advantage of that ignorance is just a hair above stealing. You can't do it anymore with the proliferation of UPCs, but back when everything had a price tag on it, shoplifters/thieves would commonly lift the tag off a cheaper item and then place that tag on a more expensive item. What the OP did was exactly the same. The OP knew exactly what was happening, and said nothing, knowing that he would be able to pay less than what was the fair price.

Look, I am not arguing against accidents. Accidentally forgetting to ring up bloodworms, that happens. But, if the employee forgot to ring up bloodworms, and you knew about it but didn't say anything. Then you are stealing. It is as simple as that. You owe the store the money it is due for the product you received. Just like you are owed the money for your time and labor if you work for someone. Look at it from that point of view and I think that a lot of your attitudes will change.

If it was your store and that was happening, I guarantee you wouldn't be happy. And you'd have to raise prices or cut employee salaries or go out of business. If it was your paycheck, and your company just kept forgetting to pay you for Fridays, you wouldn't just say "oh well, accidents happen" You'd either make sure you got the money you were owed, or get another job somewhere else, or have to get an additional job or something.

It is a matter of intent and knowledge. If you know something is being rung up wrong and you don't say anything, then you are in the wrong. If you didn't know that something was being rung up wrong, and then found out later, then it is an accident and that just happens. It is no different that if a cashier gives you change for a $20 when you know you paid with a $10. If you know that they made the wrong change, then you cannot accept that extra $10 and be morally right. If you had given them a $20, and they made change for a $10, I am sure that you'd want that other $10 back, wouldn't you?

 

[Bignose]

Also consider this, if you saw a zebra plec(for example) for sale in pets at home, petsmart or somewhere similar for the same price as a common plec, can you honestly say you would notify the shop that the price was wrong and pay full price for it?

Would you or not is your own personal decision. But, the right thing to do would be to point out the mistake and make sure that the price listed is the price the store wants for that fish. That is the only fair solution to all parties involved.

 

[Azaezl]

In my mind, it was a question of intent here. The OP knew what fish the employee was putting into the bag, and the OP knew that the employee was new/ignorant. I just felt that the OP owed the employee and the store to point out exactly what fish he was buying. If the employee/store didn't care, then that settles it. But, to sit there silently while the employee mislabels something and to take advantage of that ignorance is just a hair above stealing.

Well I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, you may class it as a hair above stealing I certainly don't. If I were in the same situation then I wouldn't have said anything either.

You can't do it anymore with the proliferation of UPCs, but back when everything had a price tag on it, shoplifters/thieves would commonly lift the tag off a cheaper item and then place that tag on a more expensive item.

There is a big diffference though between it being the shop / employee who puts the wrong price on an item to you actually changing the price / saying it's a different item.

It is no different that if a cashier gives you change for a $20 when you know you paid with a $10. If you know that they made the wrong change, then you cannot accept that extra $10 and be morally right. If you had given them a $20, and they made change for a $10, I am sure that you'd want that other $10 back, wouldn't you?

Well I don't know about anyone else but if I was given change for a 20 when I only gave a 10 I'd be out of that shop very fast with a smile on my face if that makes me a bad person so be it, but I'll be a slightly richer bad person I guess we just have very different morals, but that's life, everyone is entitled to their opinion

 

[Underwurlde]

What you're saying in essence is correct BN. You could say this boils down to a question of concience. But... what you're saying is quite naive really... Laws are there to protect both the shop and the customer. This is no way the same as swapping price tags - that is stealing, this scenario is nothing of the sort. The shop screwed up & someone took advantage of that. It's akin to spotting bargains or misdescribed goods on ebay - seller beware, its a cut throat world.

Also, is it relly the customers responsibilty to know the price of something: It's up to you, you either buy it or you don't. On the flip side, if you were in the same shop and saw someone paying way over the odds for a fish, would you say something? If you did you'd probably be asked to mind your own business! Is this stealing by the shop? Again, no it is not.

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

If the shop is advertising an item at a price you are entitiled to pay that price. If a business decides to charge a lower than average price that is there choice. without going into depth with the manager of the store if that is the price and you think your getting something even better than you expect, then good for you.

Male Guppys are sold to my LFS at 38 pence and are then retailed at £2.00. Out of this they pay wages, rates and other bills.

Common with livestock some of them die, which can be the case when transporting fish, the losses are written off by the company.

In fact with this discussion petsmarts trade has probably increased as we are giving free advertising for them and people are going to be visiting their stores looking for bargains and purhcasing other things whilst they are there.

Therefore with the loss of a few pence with the guppies they are going to gain more custom, and a lot more profit.

Chris

 

[madgap]

I'm gonna play a little devil's advocate here, because I think what you did here was wrong. Since you knew better, you should have told the guy which ones were the males and the females and how to tell them apart. First and foremost, this is the kind of knowledge a new employee needs. You could and should have done this guy a great service by teaching him what proper fishkeeping is. You could have told him how important keeping the correct sex ratios are. You could have told him so that next time when he sells fish to people, he could them tell them, and then those customers can keep their fish healthier and happier. Your knowledge could have gone a long way towards helping a lot of his future customers keep healthier fish.

But, secondly, because you knew better, you basically have stolen goods from a store. You knew what the fish really were, you knew what the prices were supposed to be. You may not have done this physically, but basically what you did here was take the price tag off of a cheaper item and place it over the price tag of a costlier item, so that you get the costlier item at a cheaper price. In a word, this is stealing. People make mistakes, and if you didn't know any better, and then got home and found this out, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But, from your story, you knew exactly what was happening, and I think it was dishonest of you to pay the wrong price. If you couldn't afford the fish you wanted, either don't buy them or buy something else. Preying on the ignorance of an employee is the same as stealing.

Finally, Petsmart isn't just going to take this loss, small though it is. They will just raise prices on their other fish or products to make up for this loss. That loss will be accounted for somewhere else. So, everyone, next time you think to yourself "why are fish and equipment so expensive?", you just have to remember this little story by krib. You should have paid what was a fair price.

I don't think that this is something to be proud of krib. I think that it is something to be ashamed of. I hope you don't think of this as a lecture, because that is not how I intend this to sound; but I'd hope that this has inspired you to look at this from a different point of view than just your own personal gain. If you had found a good fish that was on sale, or Petsmart had it listed at a price cheaper than their competitors, that would be a good find, in my book. But, like I said above, in my opinion, because you knew exactly what the employee was doing and didn't tell him, it amounts to theft.

I am very interested to read what other people think.

My thoughts exactly.
A rather imature situation.