pricing error

[firstship]

Online Purchased an item for £99 good value  and in stock

Paid for Item in full for delivery by return

email received there had been an error with stock, delivery would be 10-12 weeks

email stating they would have to refund my money as their supplier could not honour the price

email refund being made as there had been a pricing error

item now back in stock at £320

this all happened over a period of 4-5 days

is this an instance as they took my money they have to honour the price as it is a contract????

FS

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

You haven't told us who you bought the item from – are you trying to protect them?

[firstship]

sorry OAK SOLUTIONS

[BankFodder]

Are you referring to furniture people or to wine and spirits people?

[firstship]

I tried to purchase a desk from oak solutions

fs

[BankFodder]

I can only find Oak Solution. https://www.oaksolution.co.uk/

This is the one?

[firstship]

Yes this is company concerned if you check, Pine and range Aylesbury dressing table, which is the same design as a desk now listed at £259 in stock

FS

[BankFodder]

Well that only took us three hours or so to find the correct name of the company that you were dealing with.

I suppose they want to rely on this clause in the terms and conditions

Quote

5.2 The contract shall not have been concluded until we have completed all of the following steps: we have received your valid credit card charge or debit card payment details or you have paid by bank transfer, we have accepted your on-line order and sent you confirmation of receipt of your order by return e-mail to the address you have given us during the registration procedure and upon completion of the above steps we have dispatched your order to you.
 

 

https://www.oaksolution.co.uk/terms-conditions#terms-conditions

 

How much of the above contractual term actually occurred?

 

[firstship]

BankFodder many thanks sorry about delay, all 5.2 complied with paid in full, order number issued and confirmation email received, the only part not complied with is the dispatch of orders.

Is that enough to cover their backs?? To date I have not contacted them 

FS

[BankFodder]

Well generally speaking when you see contractual clauses like this, they generally reckon that there is no contract until the item has been dispatched – but this goes hand-in-hand with the fact that the payment card has not been debited so they don't have the money.
I have a sense that that might even be a rule which is imposed by people like MasterCard and Visa. Maybe you can check that out for us.

Certainly, the fact that they actually had your money provides a good basis for arguing that there was a binding contract at that point and to reserve to themselves a situation where they can have your money and later on renege from the contract – on any grounds at all, strikes me as being unfair and possibly unenforceable.

How long did they have your money for? How did you pay the money?

[firstship]

they had my money for 48hours and I paid by Visa Debit card.I will double check with the bank to see if it appeared as a Pending Transaction which is a service offered by the bank

Will come back to you

Thanks

FS

[firstship]

Checked Bank Account it appears as a Transaction and has been deducted from my account, no sign of refund

FS

[BankFodder]

It would be particularly helpful if you found that you had been charged some interest or something on the amount taken from your debit card. Nearly a pending payment is probably not going to help you. An actual payment might be helpful

We've crossposted. Are you telling me that you still haven't had your money back?

[firstship]

Yes the Actual Payment has gone through my account and appears as a debit, gone past the pending stage, no sign of refund yet.No interest involved

FS

Edited January 7, 2021 by firstship

[BankFodder]

So how long have they had the money for now?

[firstship]

48 hours

[BankFodder]

Okay, well in my view there is an argument for saying that they are bound by the contract and that aspects of that contractual clause which I posted above are unfair.

Normal practice is for these companies only to debit your card on dispatch of the item.

It's up to you now how much trouble you want to make about it. You could start a small claim although they might put up a fight and your chances of winning are may be no better than 70%. These are not my preferred odds – it is certainly not slamdunk.

If there is somebody on the other side who are sufficiently robust that they prepared to stand their ground because they take the matter personally, then you have a fight on your hands.

Your risk factors would be your claim fee and also the hearing fee. You will have to check on the courts website to see what these are.

If you wanted to bring the claim then I would suggest that you should act straightaway and write to them telling them that you want your item and that they are contractually bound because they have taken your money.

If they hadn't responded or if they haven't responded positively after seven days then I would send them a letter of claim giving them 14 days.

I know that it's a reasonable chunk of cash, but I think there is a questionmark over your chances of success – but if you want to give it a go then we will help you

[firstship]

BankFodder.

Many thanks for your trouble and the advice which is very helpful, I will give your points consideration today, should I decide to challenge them I will keep you informed.

Thank you

FS