Same retailer - diff price in shop vs website

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GaryK26

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Gary
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My 10 year odlson bought an RC plane today from ModelZone in Milton Keynes for £81.99.
When I checked their website this evening for spare batteries, I saw that the online price is reduced to £49.99.
That's more than £30 difference!

OK, so the shop assistant was very helpful in advising us on selecting that right model and general hints & tips - something that you don't get from their website. But £30 premium for what must have been a 10-15 chat is rather excessive.

Is there anything that I can do? The box has been opened, plane battery discharged and now recharging and the AA batteries have been fitted in the controller. However the plane has not been assembled or flown.

I have emailed ModelZone and will also be phoning the shop tomorrow, but was wondering if have any rights such as returning the plane for a refund and ordering online.

Thanks
Gary
 
Sony_SoFar said:
Buy one online and return it to the shop.
Click to expand...

Should I buy another one online and then return that one to the shop and keep the one that I bought today?
If so, then that makes sense as the online one would be unopened - the batteries would still be in their plastic wrapping and the plane battery would be untouched.
 
Unless the item is faulty, the shop does not have to accept it back.

I would have a chat with the shop and see what they can do for you. I could be an error online or just a price change between when you bought it and when you checked online.
 
I bought a denon cd player/dab radio from a local hi-fi store, thought i,d keep my cash local and all that, looked on the website, unit itself £199.99, went to the shop, bought that, a pair of speakers, cable and a few bits n bobs, tottal came to £430, a bit steep i thought but i was in a hurry and didnt check the price of the bits n bobs.
When i got home i checked my paperwork, id been charged £230 for the player, i phoned them straight away wherer i was told that i had been in the shop for a demonstration and that was why the price was different, even trade and standards cudnt do anything !.
Just goes to show that doing the right thing and keeping my money local was the wrong thing to do, i could have bought the same stuff on-line for £350,
p*sser eh,
Dave
 
swb landy said:
I bought a denon cd player/dab radio from a local hi-fi store, thought i,d keep my cash local and all that, looked on the website, unit itself £199.99, went to the shop, bought that, a pair of speakers, cable and a few bits n bobs, tottal came to £430, a bit steep i thought but i was in a hurry and didnt check the price of the bits n bobs.
When i got home i checked my paperwork, id been charged £230 for the player, i phoned them straight away wherer i was told that i had been in the shop for a demonstration and that was why the price was different, even trade and standards cudnt do anything !.
Just goes to show that doing the right thing and keeping my money local was the wrong thing to do, i could have bought the same stuff on-line for £350,
p*sser eh,
Dave
Click to expand...

And yet retailers wonder why the high street is going out of business. Yes, in many cases cheaper prices can be found on the internet, but when it's the same company, then it becomes an issue.

The sales assistant did say any problems, just bring it back as long as it wasn't in 2 pieces after a crash.

I'll see what happens in the morning when I call the shop.

At the end of the day, my son has been going on about wanting an RC plane for a couple of months and had saved up his Christmas & birthday money to buy this. To him, I doubt that the £30 difference matters much - all he cares about is going out and flying it tomorrow - he's so excited.

Whilst me & the wife will get great pleasure watching him enjoy his new toy (and no doubt me enjoying "demonstrating" it to him ;)), I am a bit of a tight git and will have a slight sour taste if ModelZone refuse to help resolve the issue.
 
£30 is £30 mate, better in your ( or your sons ) pocket than anywhere else,,
and it wil go towards the bits you manage to break off during your " flight training ",
only kidding,
Dave
 
If you buy one online your covered by distance selling laws . This gives you the option to return it within 7 days for a refund .
Edit , just realised you'd only get back the lower price .
I need to go to bed lol .
 
Err, you bought it at £81.99, you (well, your son) were obviously happy to pay that and thought the product was worth that, otherwise you wouldn't have purchased it. Keep the item.

Also, buying another one online then returning to store could be considered fraud, also, they may well take note of serial numbers.


swb landy said:
I bought a denon cd player/dab radio from a local hi-fi store, thought i,d keep my cash local and all that, looked on the website, unit itself £199.99, went to the shop, bought that, a pair of speakers, cable and a few bits n bobs, tottal came to £430, a bit steep i thought but i was in a hurry and didnt check the price of the bits n bobs.
When i got home i checked my paperwork, id been charged £230 for the player, i phoned them straight away wherer i was told that i had been in the shop for a demonstration and that was why the price was different, even trade and standards cudnt do anything !.
Click to expand...

Of course trading standards couldn't do anything, they didn't do anything wrong! You purchased an item at an agreed price, that's the deal done.
 
GaryK26 said:
And yet retailers wonder why the high street is going out of business. Yes, in many cases cheaper prices can be found on the internet, but when it's the same company, then it becomes an issue.
Click to expand...

look at it this way..

internet = warehouse with minimum wage bob and bobettes picking it off the shelf + a couple of computers and printers + ecommerce platform. but most of the time these days the company will already have this infrastructure in place anyway.

shop = shop staff (manager/supervisors/grunts) + tills + credit card machines + rent (varies hugely depending on location, plus with years tied in) + heating/electric/gas + maintenance/cleaning + staff at HQ to merchandise and manage stock + computer(s)/internet/networking... etc etc

THATS why the high street is going out of business. its MUCH cheaper to run a website than a bricks and mortar store.
 
As far as I am aware they have a 28 day, no quibble, money back guarantee in their shops

Take it back, get a refund, then buy again online at reduced price
 
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A couple of years ago P C World wouldn't match their website price. I stood in front of assistant, ordered on-line for click and collect in store, showed him the reference number and he went and collected it for me. Doesn't make sense.

Kwickfit have their act together, showed them the price on-line, no problems sir and matched the price.
 
Thanks for all your input guys - at this stage I guess it's all speculation as to will they / wont they.

Let's see what happens in the morning - I'll post an update.
 
Keith W said:
As far as I am aware they have a 28 day, no quibble, money back guarantee in their shops

Take it back, get a refund, then buy again online at reduced price
Click to expand...

It sounds practical to us boring old farts but does mean his lad is then without his new toy while waiting for the new one to arrive. Its his toy now, does he really want to do that or would he rather keep the one he's got and can go out and fly, now?

I suspect the latter.
 
DorsetDude said:
It sounds practical to us boring old farts but does mean his lad is then without his new toy while waiting for the new one to arrive. Its his toy now, does he really want to do that or would he rather keep the one he's got and can go out and fly, now?

I suspect the latter.
Click to expand...

I have no idea and it is not for me to answer or decide upon

I just simply answered the question the OP asked
 
£30 difference - someone is having a laugh!
 
joesmith said:
Err, you bought it at £81.99, you (well, your son) were obviously happy to pay that and thought the product was worth that, otherwise you wouldn't have purchased it. Keep the item.

Also, buying another one online then returning to store could be considered fraud, also, they may well take note of serial numbers.




Of course trading standards couldn't do anything, they didn't do anything wrong! You purchased an item at an agreed price, that's the deal done.
Click to expand...

If i had known that it was £30 cheaper to buy online i would have bought it online, i saw the advert on the website and assumed that was the price , online OR in the shop, you dont see a car advertised in the paper then get charged more to buy it because you have "test drove it " do you :wacky:
 
Got an email back from MZ customer services saying that if I send them a copy of the receipt, then they should be able to refund the difference :clap:

We took the plane out this morning with varying success and a few minor crashes. Patched up with packing tape and went out again this afternoon. Had a great time and really started to get the hang of it until we were about to finish for the day and I accidentally crashed into a tree :thumbsdown:
Wing snapped and not sure if I can patch it up. Spare wings aren't that expensive, so will be ordering a few!

Oh, and I did all the flying as my son was too nervous of breaking it as there was a bit of a breeze. So he let me break it instead :bonk: However, he's not at all upset and thoroughly enjoyed it today.
 
swb landy said:
If i had known that it was £30 cheaper to buy online i would have bought it online, i saw the advert on the website and assumed that was the price , online OR in the shop, you dont see a car advertised in the paper then get charged more to buy it because you have "test drove it " do you :wacky:
Click to expand...

You were charged the price that the store charges, that's your fault if you don't check the price.
A lot of stores have a different in store price compared to online price. See neil_g's post as to why.

The analogy you gave is silly - the price online wasn't an advertisement, it's the price you pay if you buy it online. In store price is different. A car advertisement in the paper is the price for the car to pick up, where you agree on the final price when you see the car.

By handing over the cash or putting in your pin, you are agreeing on a price, you need to know this price in order to hand the cash or the chip and pin device tells you when entering in the PIN number if paying by card.

The store did nothing wrong, at all, with regard to the price.
 
joesmith said:
You were charged the price that the store charges, that's your fault if you don't check the price.
A lot of stores have a different in store price compared to online price. See neil_g's post as to why.

The analogy you gave is silly - the price online wasn't an advertisement, it's the price you pay if you buy it online. In store price is different. A car advertisement in the paper is the price for the car to pick up, where you agree on the final price when you see the car.

By handing over the cash or putting in your pin, you are agreeing on a price, you need to know this price in order to hand the cash or the chip and pin device tells you when entering in the PIN number if paying by card.

The store did nothing wrong, at all, with regard to the price.
Click to expand...

Sorry but i looked at the website to check prices and see what they had to offer, true i didnt check the small print (who does ) but i saw the item i wanted and asumed that the price quoted was the price i would pay, i would have bought online but i wanted to hear the system through different speaker,s, i didnt expect to have to pay for the "demonstration ",
perhaps i,m being a bit to trusting here, but if you dont have trust you have NOTHING, well they wont have anything else off me , guess where i,m NOT buying my new tv, surround sound system, dvd player. . . . . . . :wave:
 
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swb landy said:
Sorry but i looked at the website to check prices and see what they had to offer, true i didnt check the small print (who does ) but i saw the item i wanted and asumed that the price quoted was the price i would pay
Click to expand...

The price you were quoted was the online price, you were not quoted an in-store price from the website, what part of that do you not understand?
There is no small print to this.
In-store price is different to online price.
They are not the same.
 
You stick to your opinion, i will stick to mine, bet more people think i,m right than you :razz:
 
Many companies with retail and web presences are run as completely separate businesses. Accordingly, the in-store price often bears no relationship at all to the online price.

To someone who isn't intimately familiar with the way retail operates (or, as is too often the case, fails to operate) this may seem alien or nonsensical but, regardless, this is often how it is.
 
I can see the argument of bricks mortar staff overheads etc v warehouse in middle of nowhere.

What i do not get is item is £x online and £y instore . I can stand next to it instore go online, click & collect and 2 mins later buy the very same thing for online price.
 
GaryK26 said:
Oh, and I did all the flying as my son was too nervous of breaking it as there was a bit of a breeze.
Click to expand...

Of course he was ;)

PS Whatever anyone here says, £30 difference between store and online at this product price level is a joke, glad it looks like you are going to get a refund.
 
swb landy said:
You stick to your opinion, i will stick to mine, bet more people think i,m right than you :razz:
Click to expand...

Bet you're right.(y) I know I do.

Nice of the shop to cough up the £30 though, now everyone's happy. Gary can use that £30 to buy some spare wings!
 
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