display goods

[lesmack]

I wanted to buy some garden furniture at B&Q but was told that the item was out of stock and could not be given a date for new stock to arrive, when I asked about buying the item on display I was told that it could not be sold.

Can I demand that the item be sold to me ?

[Sparks_]

No you cant demand that anything in the store be sold to you, display stuff is usually sold off at the end of the season or if the line is discontinued!

[renegadeimp]

B&Q wont sell you ex display stock as you stated. The main reason is they cannot guarantee it's safety and that it is fully intact. Should any accidents occur, they would be fully liable, where as if you purchased a sealed box containing the item, then they would be covered via insurance and manufacturers guarantee etc.

[CraigMcK]

I agree you can't demand they sell you anything, but I'm interested in the comments above.

They do sell ex display stock at huge discounts, Christmas displays are a good example of this. When they do sell them I don't believe there are any notes regarding possible danger and not liable for any accidents

[renegadeimp]

They do sell display stock sometimes but they do thorough checks to ensure safety and any items missing.

 

They wont bring a person off their job to dismantle an item, check it and package it just because the customer demands it. It might go on sale a few days later but they are under NO obligation to do so.

[Kraken1]

Not sure I agree with the insurance argument above. Can't see a legal reason and never saw anything approaching that argument in my time in retail.

 

Why won't they sell it? It doesn't make commercial sense, unless you are willing to pay quite a lot more than the normal ticket price. If more stuff is coming the display stuff has advertising value, they need to put someone on to build it, and most folk want a discount for buying the display item, so it means selling display stuff costs them time and money to build it, then they make a further loss on selling it.

 

And no, you have no right to buy anything in a shop.

[JoeyJoeC]

I worked at B&Q for a few years. It's entirely the department managers decision if they want to sell it. They would only do that if the item was no longer going to be stocked. Depending on what it is, many of the displays get fiddled with by customers and parts stolen from them. It's not worth getting someone to check the whole item just to sell it to someone when they will have to set up another display a day or so later.

 

Also, it's hard for anyone to know when items are coming in to stock, most of the system is automated, some items are logged on the system, most aren't. No one really know's what's coming in, until it's in.