The stores will advise you that they can refuse to sell to you. Remember this is their property, until you have traded your cash for it.
I wonder what the Better Business Bureau would say about a store putting things out, slapping a price on them, and then refusing to sell them to ANYONE. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be "Well, the store has a right to blatantly lie to consumers." Yeah it's their property until you buy it, but if they put something out and place a price on it, unless they also specifically put up a sign that says "These items are not for sale" then they HAVE TO SELL IT TO YOU. Anything else is not only out and out false advertisement, it's also just plain deceitful. If you want to argue morality, examine it from some kids POV. Not a die-hard Transfan who knows exactly what's going on, just some kid. He wanders into the toy isle, sees something from ROTF and falls in love. Then he begs his mommy to let him get it, but what's this? They get to the register and suddenly that kid is told "No. You can't have this. It was out with the rest of the toys, marked with a price. There was no indication that it was any different than any other toy on that isle, but we're still not going to let you have it." How freaking messed up would that be? It's not fair to put something out, make no distinction between that product and any other, and then outright refuse to sell it. If something that wasn't intended to be sold yet was put out by mistake, then oops, too bad. It's going to be sold now because that's how it works. (Or at least, that's how it SHOULD work.)
There are so many things wrong with your system (in US). I can't believe your stores actually have a computer that tells cashiers that they can't sell an item. Over here stuff either scans or it doesn't. If it doesn't, most of the time it is perfectly acceptable to scan another item of the same price. This has happened to me on many occasions. We also have a code of conduct that says if an item scans at a price higher than the shelf price, the first one is free. The last time this happened to me I got a $7 salami for free!
Easy solution to all this, adopt the UK system, where stuff isn't on the shop floor until it's actually available for sale. Is that too simple?
No, they don't have to sell it to you. Stores have the right to refuse to sell to you, especially when it's an item they're not allowed to sell yet. Yes, you can complain to the Better Business Bureau, who will tell the store to be a little more careful in stocking their shelves in future. And come on, people. We're talking about toys that you'll all be complaining about in a month's time. "All I can find anywhere is these crappy Preview Wave 1 figures, when are stores going to start getting new stock in?" Well, maybe they would if their systems told them stuff had actually been sold, not knowing that some dipsticks had walked out the door with it after faking the computer into thinking it was an Animated Swindle. Seriously, is getting Soundwave two weeks early really worth getting banned from a store, or even a criminal record? We're not Hot Wheels collectors, show some bloody self-restraint.
We have the same basic rule in my province as well. I've gotten quite a few free deluxes out of it, due to stores with slack pricing infrastructures. It's a way to protect consumers and hold stores to their contract of charging the prices advertised on the shelves, as opposed to a hidden, higher price (that the consumer might not even notice they are paying in the midst of several other purchases). Actually, in my experience, when you bring something up that isn't technically for sale yet, they DO sell it to you anyway. Not sure if they are legally obligated to or not, but I've never actually been refused in a situation like that. It also may vary according to local regulations for such things. Heh, the Walmart up the street from me is selling the ROTF preview figures, no issues. I haven't really bothered making the trip... busy with other stuff. Soundwave looks sort of cool, but Bumblebee is a new twist on old news. No rush. On the other hand, if I was already at that Walmart, and happened to find those figures on the shelf, then waited in line for god knows how long to buy the things, I'd be pissed as hell if they then told me "sorry, you can't buy that". zmog
I love that fact that everyone on here knows ROTF stuff isn't supposed be sold until the 30th, yet get pissed when they find them in stores and can't buy them. And as far as switching barcodes, that is just plain wrong and everyone here knows it.
agreed on both , and I do not condone ticket switching either, but its annoying that some stores put the toys onthe shelves/pegs before release date for said toys, my local Wal-mart Supercenter thus far hasn't had the ROTF on shelves as of friday when I picked up an animated swoop, all they have is TFA figs there and more lockdowns that anything else, and generally they wait til midnight of the release date to put the product out, i have experiance with it whenit comes to dvds, video games and game consoles not toys though
stores are as smart as thier weakest link (ie underpaid underbrained stockers) its really impossible to hire 100% perfect people for such a low rung position, so mistakes happen, just because a mistake happens doesn't give anyone the right to lie cheat and steal. stuff happens deal with it. And like Sledge said that garbage is going to be on the shelves for months and months to come. (or you could come to botcon with us and get them 3 whole days earlier with a special uber bonus shiny sticker on the package!)
Aren't the stockroom people just following what the manager printed out or something? It's not like they're just randomly opening boxes and sticking their contents on the pegs.
the short version, the manager tells them where to stock, the pallets are dropped in that department and they go box by box and stock it, (and yes the boxes in bright letters say DO NOT SELL BEFORE x DATE) so i'm not defending the stocking ******s who can't read,)
Dude...you're freaking delusional to think because someone ticket switches to get an item(of the same price) early...it means they have a lesser moral compass. It's all subjective REALLY. Now I would agree that scanning a 10 dollar toy to get a 40 dollar toy is wrong, and stealing...but scanning a 10 dollar toy for another of the same price is NOT stealing. To believe different is such a far fetched conclusion. I say...if the retailer fucks up and puts out the ROTF toys as if they are for sale, when they shouldn't be...They get what they deserve when someone pulls a ticket switch.
No it isn't. It causes problems for the store and costs money that ends up contributing to price rises. As if it matters. Let's face it, none of the rebels who are so outraged at having to wait for their toys actually have the stones to defraud anyone.
Considering that stores take inventory to determine where their merchandise has gone, be it stolen or misplaced, it IS a big deal that people scan in the wrong barcode. Suddenly, there are more Animated Waspinators sold than anything and tons of ROTF merchandise is missing. So yeah, its wrong. Go screw the system all you want and don't go whining when you get caught.
I don't feel any pity for them. My Walmart stacked an entire aisle full of ROFT toys (see attached pic). I told them that it wasn't suppose to be out yet and they didn't do anything about it. As a matter of fact, they stocked more. They didn't remove them until another board member raised a ruckus trying to purchase them. Also, several times I've told them that an item they had on the shelf was a crappy item someone returned in a different box. A day later it was back on the shelf. more expensive Animated Activators - $8.44, ROFT Scouts - $8.44 Universe/Animated Deluxes - $12.44, ROTF Deluxes - $11.88 (more expensive) Universe/Animated Deluxes - $21.96, ROTF Voyager - $21.96 Animated Leader - $39.96, ROTF Leader - $44.96 (less expensive) As people have mentioned, employees do it all the time. The part of ticket switching that stores try to prevent is switching a lower price tags onto higher price products. A gray area, not black and white when it comes to buying an item at the exact same price. The store is not losing any money when people buy something earlier. If they get fined for breaking street date it's their fault for putting the item on the shelves. Especially Walmart. Walmart shoved it's advanced computer systems down the throats of its suppliers and yet can't find the time to teach its employees how to read? tsk tsk. You don't hear of many sightings at Target or TRU about breaking street dates. PLUS, Walmart won't be fined breaking street date if people ticket switch because they tried to keep the street date by keeping prices out of the system. That is, unless they're guilty of something else (i.e. putting the items out on the shelf). It doesn't matter anyways, once RFID's become commonplace ticket switching will be a thing of the past.
