Saying it didn’t matter that the store had made an error, representatives from Mexico’s consumer protection agency, Profeco, told staff at a Morelia, Michoacán, Walmart this week that it had to let eight shoppers buy tequila at the advertised price of 19 pesos per bottle.

In total, the shoppers were allowed to purchase 81 bottles at the low price after they called Profeco to say that Walmart’s staff had refused to sell them the 990-milliliter bottles of José Cuervo at the 19-peso price on a sign in the store. After refusing to sell them the liquor, Walmart management then asked the customers to leave, Profeco said.

The agency arrived at the store soon afterward. By the time Profeco approached Walmart management about the issue, staff had already hung up a new sign for the tequila at a price of 169 pesos per bottle. However, Profeco told the store it had to honor the price anyway for those eight shoppers who had tried to buy the liquor while the sign was still on display.

“[The complainants] showed us photographs and a video where the displayed price could be observed,” a Profeco representative told Milenio newspaper.

Having prevailed, seven of the shoppers bought 10 bottles each of the tequila, while the eighth bought 11, Profeco said.

Source: Milenio (sp)