OT: Consumer Advertising Law

[Derek Neighbors]

Arizona Department of Weights and Measures
4425 West Olive, Suite 134 Glendale, Arizona 85302
Brookwood Commerce Center - South West Corner
Phone: 602-255-5211 Fax: 602-255-1950
Outside of Phoenix Metro Area call 1-800-277-6675
www.weights.az.gov 

I would call them and get an answer.

They list this as a committment:
# Ensure that prices are posted and items scan correctly; CONSUMER.

Unforunately they use java menus (not javascript) and I dont go there so I 
cant give you more info.

Ah.,..

http://www.weights.az.gov/Consumer/IsThePriceRight/IsThePriceRight.html

Answers your questions.  Looks like Fry' is under no obligation.  If they 
are 98% of the time correct in an audit they are fine otherwise they are 
demanded to fix other wise face penalties.

They are required to have pricing error policy ask for it.

and DEFINITELY call them...

Q: Who do we call for advertised errors in pricing?

A: Call Us! According to law, a "person shall not misrepresent the price 
of any commodity or service sold or offered, exposed or advertised for 
sale by weight, measure or count or represent the price in any manner 
calculated or tending to mislead or in any way to deceive a person." 

You might not get the price, but they will probably get audited and stop 
the practice. :)

 -Derek

On Fri, 19 Jul 2002, Logan Kennelly wrote:

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> On Friday 19 July 2002 11:15 am, Derek Neighbors wrote:
> > So if the signage in the store has the lower price you could probably
> > make a stink but if its just an ad and the in store display has the other
> > price I think they are within the law (though they should have a sign
> > stating the ad was incorrect).  It still might be worth reporting as if
> > they consistently do this I think there will be action taken against
> > them.
> 
> In my situation, there was not an "advertisement" except for the in-store 
> sign that had the price listed (along with all of the correct technical 
> details on the item and the proper PLU number).  Some of my friends who 
> worked retail were told that Arizona state (although possibly federal) law 
> required them to sell me the product at the given price.  Others have said 
> that stores are allowed to make mistakes as long as they are immediately 
> corrected.
> 
> As a side note, Robert's story about the web site just barely over the line 
> sounded a lot like BestBuy.com's situation (except with all of the dollar 
> values doubled (Canadian?) ) with the new GeForce4 4600.  They advertised 
> the price twice (one being an absolute, and one being "$300 off"), but did 
> not intend to sell at that price.  However, what got BestBuy.com in trouble 
> was that people ordered them and paid for the item, but Best Buy refused to 
> ship it to their customers.  Instead, they tried to give the money back 
> after the transaction had been made.  If this was the example, then it 
> doesn't apply since Fry's wouldn't take my money in the first place.
> 
> Hopefully somebody can dig up something concrete, because I am grasping at 
> straws so far in terms of research.  If not, I appreciate the advice 
> anyways.
> 
> - -- 
> 						Logan Kennelly
>       ,,,
>      (. .)
> - --ooO-(_)-Ooo--
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