incorrectly priced

[sisco11]

Hi Guys,

 

I purchased a computer online at littlewoods.ie recently,

entered my credit card ect and received my confirmation of order,

 

however they have rang me up today and said that they are cancelling my order as it was priced incorrectly online,

 

where do i stand here - are they obliged to send the order anyways as it was advertised at the price i paid?

what should i do - do i accept that the order has been cancelled,

 

thanks very much for any help you can give me,

 

Ger.

[BankFodder]

no you don't need to accept their cancellation at all. The question is whether it is worth fighting for. How much is at stake?

[sisco11]

I bought 2 computers for €62 each, they were incorrectly priced and should have been €620 (according to their representative)

 

I saw this on their website - T&C

 

3.2 Whilst it is our intention to keep our website up to date and error free, product description or pricing errors may occur. If we discover such an error after you have submitted an order to us, we will contact you prior to accepting your order with the correct details. You may then either cancel your order or re-confirm it based on the correct information. If we are unable to contact you, we will treat your order as cancelled.

 

What do you reckon ?

Thanks,

 

Ger.

[pazor]

I work in a mail order company and as far as i know they have done the correct thing. If we send the goods and then notice the error we will give them at the price advertised. If however we notice before we send the goods we advise the customer and ask if they still want the order. It states the same in there T&C.

[sequenci]

I work in a mail order company and as far as i know they have done the correct thing.

 

I think it can be challenged, quite easily.

[pazor]

Even if it states this in there T&C ?

[sequenci]

Even if it states this in there T&C ?

 

Unfair contract term?

[pazor]

As i mentioned i work for a mail order company Viking Direct / Office Depot and have never as far as i know had a problem since we have the same T&C on our website. Is it differnt in a shop if a item is priced wrong ? As i remember a post on this site about some shoes/trainers that was priced wrong and the advice he got was unfortunaltly the seller was correct in changing the price before the purchase.

[andie_303]

surely confirmation of the order and taken payment from card is a contract??

[Bookworm]

Unfair contract term?

Not really, no. Unless it was used as a bait-and-switch tactic (which would very much be an unfair term), the company has every right to protect themselves against mis-pricing. It all boils down to when the contract is actually formed. In a store, no such problem as such as mistakes can be spotted and rectified straight away. With online companies however, the delay between processing the order and sending out the goods means that mistake won't necessarily get spotted until later on. As a result, most online companies state in their T&Cs that the contract will be formed on dispatch of the goods and that they reserve the right to cancel right until then, terms to which you have to agree by clicking a "I agree" box or equivalent.

 

The other thing about unfair terms is that it isn't if it confers the same rights on the company and the consumer. Say that the consumer mistakenly order a £1600 computer instead of a £600 one, on realising his mistake, he can cancel the order. It is only fair that the company selling a £600 for £60 can also cancel when realising their mistake.

 

Different kettle of fish if goods have been delivered however. Then the company would have by their own T&Cs great difficulties in arguing for the return of the goods or the difference in price.

[Bookworm]

surely confirmation of the order and taken payment from card is a contract??

Far from it. See my post below yours.

[sequenci]

Not really, no. Unless it was used as a bait-and-switch tactic (which would very much be an unfair term

 

I had the same issue with Tesco when they made a mistake selling a computer games system a few years ago.

 

They honored the deal in the end, it might be worth chasing.

[Bookworm]

This is a very good explanation in more details of what I was trying to say:

 

Online Contract Formation

 

(I wish they didn't confuse it by talking of US law in the same article, but hey-ho )

[Bookworm]

I had the same issue with Tesco when they made a mistake selling a computer games system a few years ago.

That may be your clue. Contracts and acceptance of them have been tightened a lot recently, mainly because this type of thing kept on cropping up. We had some threads on this back in 2006, I'll see if I can fish them out (I may be gone some time, lol). Or it could simply be that Tesco's just swallowed the difference to save themselves the hassle. In this case, however, no chance.

 

 

They honored the deal in the end, it might be worth chasing.

I can pretty much say it's not, I know Littlewoods and they are absolutely bloody awful customer services wise and there is no way in hell they'll back down, especially as their T&Cs are pretty much waterproof on this type of thing. And you know me, if I thought there was a way to get in there, I'd say so!

[Bookworm]

See here for the famous cases which led to the tightening on acceptance and formation of contract.

 

Now see Littlewoods T&Cs:

 

Littlewoods Direct - shop for all the latest in fashion and homeware

 

2. Ordering Goods

2.1 All orders placed through our website will be subject to our acceptance of the order.

 

2.2 When you submit an order to us on our website you will receive a 'bounce back' confirmatory email of this order saying that we are processing your order. You will then receive a second email from us acknowledging your order and giving you estimated timescales for delivery. You should check both emails for accuracy and let us know immediately if there are any errors. Neither of these emails constitute acceptance of the order by us. Your order will be accepted by us (and a contract will then be formed between us) when we despatch the goods to you. Title to the goods will pass to you on delivery.

and

3. Processing your orders and payment

3.1 If you are paying for your order through your Littlewoods Direct Catalogue account, the relevant payment will be shown on your next statement.

 

3.2 Whilst it is our intention to keep our website up to date and error free, product description or pricing errors may occur. If we discover such an error after you have submitted an order to us, we will contact you prior to accepting your order with the correct details. You may then either cancel your order or re-confirm it based on the correct information. If we are unable to contact you, we will treat your order as cancelled.

 

Need I say more? ;-)

[sequenci]

That may be your clue. Contracts and acceptance of them have been tightened a lot recently, mainly because this type of thing kept on cropping up.

 

That would make a lot of sense, mine was about 2004/5. I think they ended up honoring thousands of orders, there was qutie a bit of news about it at the time. Maybe that was one of the things that got the retailers to re-think their T's & C's (as well as the huge increase in online shopping between then and now)

[sisco11]

hey guys,

 

thanks for the posts on this they've been really helpfull,

i think from the info youve given me im better off saving myself some time and leaving it go,

 

 

cheers again,