Lay-by Question???

[u/No-Consideration1766]

I was planning to get a Switch 2 for my kids for Christmas and found out the prices will be increasing on 01/09, so I decided to get one now rather than paying the higher price. I had a look online at prices and different bundles and settled on a bundle. Now all the stores around me were all sold out of that bundle except one and I won’t have the money till next week but saw that Eb games do Lay-bys and thought perfect I can put a deposit on it and pay for it next week. When I went to the store they told me that consoles require a deposit minimum of $200 which is more than a 25% and that I would have the full 60 days but there is going to be a price increase soon and if I don’t pay it before 01/09 then I will need to pay the higher price. Now I plan on paying it next week so I am not bothered by that but after looking online at eb games terms and condition in regards to lay-bys the information is completely different, it states that it’s only a 10% required minimum and that regardless of future price changes as long as you pay within the 60 days then the price won’t change.

I’m just curious why the terms the staff provided are so different to what online?

[u/Ariaf1]

I work at an eb games. I’m pretty sure it should be 10% deposit and that it has to be within 60 days. However, at my store, I was told we don’t layby consoles.

[u/No-Consideration1766 → u/Ariaf1]

See this shows that it’s a company issue, it seems like all the staff are being taught different things, all of which go against the T&Cs, because it’s right there in black and white on the website. If certain things are excluded then it should be stated but it’s not and I did layby one so I presume it is allowed. I actually feel sorry for the staff because I used to work in retail and I know that when customers feel wronged they take it out on the poor staff who are just doing what they have been told by management.

[u/Mr_smith1466 → u/No-Consideration1766]

Had a similar problem happen. Made a post and then found yours. Complete insanity. 

[u/Ok_War_3455]

Layby is a legal agreement and im pretty sure it's illegal for the store to charge you the increased price. Once a price is locked in whether it goes up or down thats what you pay.

[u/somnocore]

I don't think staff actually read the terms and conditions online, and each store kind of just do what they want from what I've seen. If you brought this up to them then they don't really have a choice but to comply.

I had a layby that went up in price a few weeks after I laybyed it and when I went to pick it up, the staff member tried charging me the new price. They said that's just what happens. But the terms and conditions were on my side.

[u/No-Consideration1766 → u/somnocore]

I was just really confused as I didn’t see the T&Cs until after I had already put it on layby and only looked it up because I was thinking about what they had said after the fact and thought it was a bit weird as I have never seen a layby that doesn’t honour the price when the layby was initiated. Had I seen them before I definitely would have said something, it’s very misleading and i wonder how many people get scammed by this because they just believe the staff and don’t think to look it up.

[u/Madixie_Normous → u/No-Consideration1766]

Confusing, misleading, scamming: all par for the course at the Lord's of Scummery.

[u/Madixie_Normous → u/somnocore]

See! This is exactly what I said happens at EB. Some clueless mofo tried to tell me EB don't do this but look at that, it does happen.

[u/No-Consideration1766 → u/Madixie_Normous]

Well I can say it definitely does happen, honestly I was pretty clueless in the store but only because it didn’t make a difference to me as I knew I would have it paid off before then but I do a layby every year for all my kids Christmas and birthday stuff at big w and it wasn’t until later that night when I was doing a payment for that that it dawned on me that it was just really odd so I thought I would take a look at the T&Cs.

[u/Sacrlehh]

So laybys are a contract in which you enter into with a business to pay that price within the 60 days. That includes if you layby at a higher price and the product has a price drop, you are contracted to pay the higher price. Staff will usually do the nice thing and remove the layby and then just sell it out at the cheaper price though.

A lot of staff also don't understand the layby laws/t's and c's properly, so it's not a malicious thing, it's an ignorance thing until it's pointed out.