The Trade Practices Act and quoting prices over the phone...

[1991_Vn2nV]

Does anyone know the ins and outs of this?

According to work policy we are not allowed to quote prices over the phone... For anything as it "is against the trade practices act".

Yet anytime I ring a place they're more than happy to quote prices over the phone.

We have mystery shoppers who phone the store also and often ask prices over the phone to catch us out which is generally the reason I don't quote prices (otherwise I wouldnt care).

So is it or is it not against the TPA to quote prices over the phone and if it is is it all items or certain ones?

[minux]

Hmm, quotes over the phone mean nothing. Unless it is signed and on a company document it holds no value. I can't see why it would be illegal?

[vy_storm]

How is it different from written quotes? If I rang you and asked you to fax a quote through what harm is there in that. I agree that some businesses/industries aren't set up to operate like that but there shouldn't really be a difference.
After working in a quoting/estimating department for some time I find that pretty hard to believe an official act would prevent such practices, fuel prices maybe a point to consider though to prevent price collaboration/anti-competition....

[fabz]

Reason being if they quote a price and then the price changes then the petrol station has to honour the said price but there is no way to prove said price and also there is no way to put a time / date on it. I used to work for BP and its in the book ill see if i can find it for ya.

[maginoodle]

i get quotes over the phone all the time. I know they must quote the price including jonny sux tax

[sheepz89]

normally when i call most of em say "about"... thats not giving an exact amount so they're safe... but at no time have i ever been "refused" a quote over the phone... oh wait, yeah i have... once... for a price on a males haircut :P

[Full Spectrum]

Does anyone know the ins and outs of this?

According to work policy we are not allowed to quote prices over the phone... For anything as it "is against the trade practices act".

Yet anytime I ring a place they're more than happy to quote prices over the phone.

We have mystery shoppers who phone the store also and often ask prices over the phone to catch us out which is generally the reason I don't quote prices (otherwise I wouldnt care).

So is it or is it not against the TPA to quote prices over the phone and if it is is it all items or certain ones?

It's the same with supermarkets.. they wont tell you prices over the phone but they will tell you it's on specials and they have stock and to come in.

[minux]

i get quotes over the phone all the time. I know they must quote the price including jonny sux tax

Perhaps you would like to go back to the 22% tax that would be on that item if it werent for the 10% tax for GST?

[jet_pilot]

every place that i have rang for part's has givin me a price inlcuding gst and i they dont have a certain item in stock they offer to order it that' mainly holden as im a regular customer for part's there and the wrecker's around my area are very helpfull
just place's like autobahn and supercheap stuff me around because they employ people with no idea
the local autopro guy's are exellent theyve given me a trade discount because i spend about $250 in there a fortnight and will track down a part if they dont sell it now that's service i ring em up they give me a price and say it'll be in tommorow morning!

[jules]

there is nothing stopping you quoting prices over the phone, that i'm aware of.

a verbal contract is legally binding, if it can be proven.

[Skitz]

I've had numerous quotes over the phone,you ask for a name.

[AirStrike]

Being that I'm a painter by trade and work at Bunnings, I can tell you that places like Bunnings have scared little business' off quoting prices. With the whole 'match it and beat it by 10%' crap most won't give prices over the phone now days. They simply can't afford to loose the business and will even go to the extremes of grossly over quoting on the phone compared to the in store prices.

[HoldenMan7]

i think its mainly because if you get a quote on the phone, anyone could agrue (eg) that i rang up and so and so said its gona cost $200 to fix this and now its gona cost me $300, and then they will say if your not gona do it for $200 i dont want it, so anyone could just come into a store and make up a price to get it cheaper, get what i mean. Thats why most places say its gona cost you about ___.

[Spaced]

Perhaps you would like to go back to the 22% tax that would be on that item if it werent for the 10% tax for GST?

Now now gents, political discussions should be in the political thread.

It sounds like it's more of a company policy than a legal issue. What sort of industry do you work in? Every time I've been quoted a price over the phone by mechanics etc that's how much my bill came to.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Reason being if they quote a price and then the price changes then the petrol station has to honour the said price but there is no way to prove said price and also there is no way to put a time / date on it. I used to work for BP and its in the book ill see if i can find it for ya.

I would presume as its due to the trade practices act it has something to do with other businesses ringing for quotes and adjusting their prices...

It probably is mostly in regard to fuel prices... I.e. a shell servo rings up and pretends to be a customer "oi whats ur fuel price" and i say 129.9 and they then set their prices to equivalent or 129.7.

So basically it would be in regards to price fixing.

The main ones that are drilled into us though are a.) Fuel b.) Trailers and c.) Gas bottles.

Now the thing is that trailers and gas bottles are not owned by us so perhaps its something to do with that???

The trailer prices themselves are set by a machine at work (self serve machine for customers) and we are not informed of price changes so I can understand that, as our price list may be outdated as their prices can change at any time. Same with fuel, sometimes i'll do 4 price changes in a day. Or even 2 in 20 minutes. Not sure on the gas bottles though.

They do however make a general rule of no prices over the phone but seeing as they concentrate on these 3 im guessing they're the reason and the rest is just general policy.

I doubt a nationwide company such as Mobil would state in their policy that its against the trade practices act if it actually wasnt?

[crazyspoon05]

Back when i was involved with building bars, kitchens, etc we'd quote over the phone but we got other companies ringing as well so once we got caller id we'd give the other companies these really dodgy and cheap quotes (although we'd occassionally stuff up and a customer would get a really good deal)

With my hospitality job nowadays a lot of our functions are done on phone quotes as people want the answers there and then, otherwise they'll simply go elsewhere so in my field it makes sense to give out prices on the phone and as far as I'm aware there's no regulations we are breaking

[maginoodle]

Perhaps you would like to go back to the 22% tax that would be on that item if it werent for the 10% tax for GST?

i know its off topic, but he didnt remove all the other taxes or sorry he called them excises so like fuel you get gst on top of his excise. so instead of fuel being cost plus 10%, its cost plus excise then 10% on top of that.
Im not sayin gst is bad but thats what we call it.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

It is off topic, GST and excise are two different things.

The only way quoting over the phone can be against the TPA is when the prices are used or are known that they will be used to correlate opposition pricing. But then obtaining prices by any means for that purpose is against the act. Giving a price over the phone is perfectly legal, as long as you think you are quoting a customer. If you are giving a price to another business so they can match it, then it is illegal.

[Pub247]

I'd say 99% of the money making side of my work is done over the phone. But we sell mainly to other business' rather than your average customers