Well, it had to happen, and I’m glad it wasn’t me it happened to.
A member of the UK Armed Forces, serving in the sandbox, came home on disembarkation leave and waltzed into his large-scale dealership to collect all the Aristo track he had been paying for on lay-away during the six months he was out of the country.
He walked in with a big smile on his face, and walked out two minutes later, leaving the dealer looking a mite peeved and the front door in ruins behind him.
Seems he had paid up for almost £1000-worth of track, only to be told on the point of collecting it that the price had gone up by almost 90%, and that is what he would have to pay to take it away.
Powerful words were spoken by the would-be LS enthusiast, among which were 'cheating b*stard, and ‘bloody racketeer’ - the mildest that were heard that can be reported on a family forum.
I am told that he then spent sometime talking to the officials of the regional Trading Standards Authority - an organisation that actually has real teeth and influence with the Chambers of Commerce.
Is he entitled to purchase the goods at the price he believed he was going to have to pay? Or is he compelled to pay the price demanded by the dealer in view of the price hi- rise?
Having effectively paid for the goods prior to the price-rise, but not collected them on account of being overseas fighting off the fuzzy-wuzzies, should he be entitled to remove the paid-for items from the store at the then-agreed price?
Watch this space for updates.
tac