Samsung Order Cancelled due to pricing error - Breach of contract?

[mrdonj]

Hey guys, quite annoyed about an order I placed for a Samsung phone on their site being cancelled the same day it was due to be delivered

 

Just wanted to know if them sending me a dispatch confirmation and then not delivering the product due to a pricing error was within the terms of the contract formed when they sent dispatch confirmation. The below text is from their website

 

"1. Your order is an offer to us to buy the Product(s) in your order. You are deemed to have placed an order with us by ordering via our online checkout process. After placing an order, you will receive an e-mail from us acknowledging that we have received your order and containing an Order Reference Number and details of the Product(s) you have ordered (Order Confirmation). Please note that the Order Confirmation is acknowledgment that we have received your order and does not mean your order has been accepted by us. All orders are subject to our acceptance of your offer to buy the Product(s) ordered. We will only accept your offer (and form the contract of sale) when we send you an e-mail confirming that the Product has been dispatched (Dispatch Confirmation). We may refuse to accept your order:

(a) where the Product is not available;
(b) where we cannot obtain authorisation for your payment;
(c) if there has been a pricing or Product description error (see ‘Price and Payment’ below); or
(d) if you do not meet the eligibility criteria set out in ‘Your Status’ above.

2. The contract between us (Contract) will only be formed upon the earlier of i) when we send you the Dispatch Confirmation or ii) delivery of the Product(s). The parties to the Contract are you and Samsung Electronics (UK) Limited.

3. The Contract will relate only to those Products in respect of which we have confirmed dispatch in the Dispatch Confirmation. We will not be obliged to supply any other Products which may have been part of your order until the dispatch of such Products has been confirmed in a separate Dispatch Confirmation."

[mrdonj]

I ordered on the 31st October - Money was taken immediately and cleared on 3rd November

 

Item was sitting on Preparing for dispatch for a few days. They later updated the order tracking page with an IMEI number for the specific device

 

Order status changed to dispatched on the 9th (yesterday). 

 

I received two different dispatch notices telling me the phone would be delivered on the 10th. One is a joint notice from DPD and Samsung and the other is a notice from Samsung's own tracking site

 

DPDs own tracking shows the delivery details were sent to DPD at 3pm on the 9th and that they received the phone from Samsung at 1am on the 10th

 

They recalled the order at 6am after DPD had the phone in their local hub nearest to me

 

Spoke to them on the phone, they said I cancelled it (not true) then stated they'd escalate it further to see what happened.

 

They replied that it was a pricing error and have asked for the phone to be returned to them by DPD

 

 

 

Information from DPD app

 

docs1.pdf

Edited November 14, 2021 by dx100uk
pdfs merged

[mrdonj]

Dealer is Samsung UK - Purchased directly from their website using student discount that was active at the time

 

Total price was £744 including delivery

 

Retail price without any discounts from their site is £1,199

 

Current student discount price is £1,079

 

Prices were lower because they were doing deals for "Samsung Week"

 

Just had a response from Samsung as well stating that they do not need to sell the product to me at the lower price because the pricing error is "obvious and unmistakeable" and could have been recognised by me, but there is nothing to suggest that I should know that a discount is unmistakeable. The phone is still a good part over £700 and seemed to be that price for a limited time only

[mrdonj]

At the moment £744.03

 

They said I'd be refunded within 3-5 working days

 

If I were to re-order at the actual price they want for the phone with student discount, I'd need to pay an extra £335

Edited November 10, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

Yeah I'd need to cough up an extra £335 to actually get the phone

[mrdonj]

looks like I have some reading to do. Do I have to do anything before I start the procedure with MCOL?

[mrdonj]

I'll definitely do some reading to self-help

 

Money was taken and has been with them since 3rd November, not pending

 

"If the pricing error is obvious and unmistakeable and could have reasonably been recognised by you as an error, we do not have to provide the Products to you at the incorrect (lower) price"

 

This is where I intend to fight my case. I don't see anywhere on the website to suggest that the pricing is abnormal. I don't have my own screenshots but there are some from HotDeals that I can show 

 

 

 

 

docs2.pdf

[mrdonj]

Frustrating that a lot of samsung week pages simply link back to the current UK offers page. Cached google doesn't bring much up either. I do have a few screenshots I've collected though. Will spend a bit more time looking and then put some images in here

[mrdonj]

This is what I've rustled up so far. A couple aren't from the UK but figured it would highlight that Samsung Week was a global thing

 

Don't know if it will do any good, but would bringing up the fact that Dell honoured a price error just a few days ago because they marked the items for dispatch be worthwhile?

docs3.pdf

[mrdonj]

Well seems I'm not the only one in this situation. A whole host of people have had their orders cancelled, and a large lot were still sent them too.

 

The pricing list is a good idea. The newly released Pixel 6 Pro can be bought from Vodafone £700 odd or £900 with 100gb of data over 2 years

 

The S21 Ultra has nearly been out for a whole year and its price has been dropping constantly

[mrdonj]

Seeing as you've suggested that nothing but court papers will get them moving, I might as well get straight to drafting a letter of claim? 

 

Yes the S21 Ultra 5g 256gb is what I ordered.  Pre orders started Jan 14th 2021 so it's been out a good while now, S22 release date has already been rumoured to be mid January again so only a month and a few weeks away

 

I'll inform the others that I know of over at HotDeals about starting their own threads.

 

It has been a long day and my head hurts, I will do some reading before heading to bed and then I will draft a letter and post it here tomorrow morning. Thanks again for all the support, ideas, advice etc. Much appreciated

 

Oh yeah, and some more ammo for the fire I guess to show why the price did not seem abnormal to me? The price I got it for was only available when going through the student portal Unidays (I think some managed to get the price via TOTUM as well). Either way it makes even more sense for the price to be cheaper since its not accessible to everyone

[mrdonj]

This is what I've come up with so far

 

Quote

 

Dear Sir or Madam

Order Number: xxxxxxxx

Request Number: xxxxx

On October 31^st, 2021, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 256GB in Phantom Black from your webstore during your promotional “Samsung Week”, via the student discount portal Unidays. The total sum being £744.03

This order was confirmed on October 31^st, 2021, with complete payment authorised the same day, and fully processed on 3^rd November 2021. The phones IMEI number was attached to the order a few days later.

 

On the 9^th November 2021, I was sent two dispatch notices confirming my order was on its way to be handed over to the courier DPD. DPD received the package at 01:04am on November 10^th

 

At 06:08am, a “return to consignor” notice was sent to DPD by you, asking for the item to be returned. I spoke to a member of Samsung support and was in email contact with a member of your staff who informed me that my order had been cancelled due to a pricing error.

 

They stated that “In accordance with our online store’s terms and conditions, where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakable (as is the case here) we are entitled to reject orders. If the pricing error is obvious and unmistakable and could have reasonably been recognised by you as an error, we do not have to provide the Products to you at the incorrect (lower) price.”

 

I dispute the notion that the misprice of said item was “obvious and unmistakeable” and would be recognised by me.

 

For me to purchase this product now, I’d need to pay £1079.10, an increase of £355.07

 

Therefore, if you do not reactivate my order at the original price I paid of £744.03 or compensation to the amount of £355.07 in order to cover the costs of me re-ordering the phone within 14 days, I shall issue a claim in the County Court to recover this money from you without further notice.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

Thank you for the edit. I do have a habit of writing lots 

 

I did mention it over there regarding coming here and starting a thread, but I don't think most can be bothered it seems unfortunately

 

There is some stuff going on regarding the situation right now. Multiple people are being sent different amounts of compensation (I haven't been sent anything). Some £20, others £50, one or two £100. Some of us still haven't received official confirmation that the order is cancelled on their system, just the email. Someone has been told the device is being resent to them after escalating it and has email proof that it will be resent.

 

I've already used their CEO contact email to complain and have been told that the complaint was received and they will have a response within 24 hours. Some funky business going on here for sure.

 

What personal details would I have to give out if going to the press?

 

disregard the comment about someone being sent the phone, they've got another message saying it's cancelled.

 

Either way, I'll wait to go through the motions with my earlier email and then get ready to send that letter of claim off (likely tomorrow)

Edited November 11, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

don't mind giving just surname and town but definitely wouldn't want to put out my first name, last name and location

[mrdonj]

That sounds alright by me. There must be thousands that had their orders cancelled but most will just see the horrible experience and walk away and buy something else.

 

There are over 1300 comments on the hotdeals site regarding the deals for the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra with a good chunk of those coming after DPD orders being returned. Must be hundreds that have been affected with only a chunk of us commenting on the site and the majority leaving bad feedback on trustpilot and moving on

 

I've seen enough to know the reply to my CEO email will go nowhere. Would you say  I'm good to send my letter of claim off tomorrow morning?

 

Oh yes, totally forgot. Someone from hotdeals made a point that contracts can be classed as  void "Ab Initio" from the beginning for a pricing error even when a contract is formed. Don't know how truthful that is

[mrdonj]

this is where all the drama begin and everyone noticed their orders were being returned

 

HotUKDeals is an extremely large website that has a host of offers on there that users post. The comment section there is where we are all have a nightmare complaining about Samsung's service, whats been happening to users etc.

Edited November 11, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

Just thought I'd bring it up. It was actually a warning to be careful with the advice from here......................obviously I've won numerous cases thanks to you guys advice so wasn't too concerned but thought I'd just bring that term to your attention to see what you thought

[mrdonj]

Funnily enough, my account got banned there not long after a discord got set up but some disgruntled users, myself included

 

comment here

 

 

What an absolute nightmare

 

After receiving two support emails stating my order is cancelled, Samsung texted a coupon code to me and others for 5% (LOL) and said that they will attempt to redeliver the phone by the 14th. Others have had the same although we believe this is "another" error on their behalf and that orders have actually still been cancelled.

 

Anyways, will this letter of claim suffice (only changed a little bit based on your earlier edit), no need to mention they want to cancel the contract based on their other T&Cs about the pricing error being obvious and unmistakeable by me?

 

Quote

Dear Sir/Madam

Reference number XXX

Enquiry number XXX

On 31^st October 2021,  I used your website to purchase a S21 Ultra,  Phantom Black 256gb model which was advertised by you at the price of £744.03

You accepted payment from me and even dispatched the mobile phone to my address.

You then contacted DPD to recall even though by this time it was my property.
When I queried this, you informed me that you had made a mistake as to the price and that you were cancelling the contract.

I'm writing to let you know that you are not entitled to do this and I do not accept your position.

I want the mobile phone for which I am contracted at the price at which you agreed to sell it to me.

If you will not comply with this request within 14 days then I shall see you in the County Court and without any further notice.

Yours faithfully

 

[mrdonj]

I was going to ask if it would be better to wait at first but then figured they wouldn't receive the letter until Monday anyways since it's already Friday, but waiting another two days won't harm anything I guess

 

Yeah I have the 5% code so yes if they do actually decide to resend it, I'd have the phone and the voucher code

[mrdonj]

I wouldn't be using the voucher code anyways if I'm honest. Not only is it insignificant against the prices on their site, I have no desire to use their webstore for purchases ever again. Only way I would order from them directly is if I had to order through their webstore similar to what happened with someone else here who had issues with Samsung. 

 

Quote

My issue has been resolved now. I finally managed to get through to them after filing a complaint through their official ceo channel. The CAB advised writing an official letter of complaint giving the traders a timescale of which to complete the matter in and if they did not it would be followed by court case. This actually worked as it was immediately picked up and I received a call saying the matter was now being dealt with by the resolutions team. After lots of talking I offered to come to a compromise where I said that they needed to give me the full value of a new S21 so I can at least repurchase through their website. So the agreement we came to was that they would refund my debit card for the amount I paid and then they would give me the remainder of £250 as a credit note as a 'goodwill' gesture which I could use on their website. The £250 credit note was as 'compensation' for my troubles . I also got back £30 from the trade in for my old phone. I wasn't going to argue anymore because I was fed up so I accepted and all received the refund and credit note immediately. I put in another order on their website for a new phone and this came through within 4 weeks with no issues. Thank goodness! I can't remember ceo email address but if you Google it, it should come up. Good luck!

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

it seems so. this was their original post on Samsung's community forum

 

Quote

Hi,

Can I ask if you got anywhere with this? I am having a similar problem. I purchased an s21 from their website through their trade in deal. A week after purchase found phone was faulty and by that time my trade in phone was already sent back. On asking for replacement they said I had to send faulty one back first then they would replace within 7-10 working days. After numerous calls and emails on the 9th day they tell me replacement not possible due to IT system change. They can only refund me. MTR are unable to send me back my trade in phone and have valued it at £30 which is absolutely diabolical when they gave me £250 for it for trade in. It's an S8 which was in excellent working condition. I have emailed them mentioning the consumer rights act and gave them three options on advice of Citizens Advice Bureau which they failed to acknowledge. I am now looking to lose money.

 

link to thread here

Edited November 12, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

I was just highlighting Sunny_Sides post to explain the only way I'd ever use Samsung's webstore for a purchase again really

 

I am going to wait until the 14th and then send the letter of claim off on the 15th

[mrdonj]

Adding just so the thread can see the evidence first hand - Email sent at 5pm, Text message sent at 8pm. Also seems like a lot of other people have received voucher codes that are taking off £200-300 from orders, with their phone being even LOWER in price, or close to. They have no clue what they are doing

 

Quote

Thanks for getting in touch with the Samsung Shop Team. Your Reference Number is xxxxxxx.

Greetings from Samsung!

Hope this email finds you well, this is Tom one of the Manager from Samsung Online.

We are contacting you regarding with your initial inquiry as we received the email you sent through our CEO email channel.

In line with your query, please know that we rejected your order because there was a pricing error on our website which enabled multiple discounts to be applied.

In accordance with our online store’s terms and conditions, where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakable (as is the case here) we are entitled to reject orders. This is the case even if we have provided a Dispatch Confirmation and there is a contract of sale between us. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this and thank you for your understanding.

If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to respond to this email thread.

Kind regards,

Tom
Samsung Shop Manager
0330 SAMSHOP (726 7467)
Monday to Sunday | 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

My current position is that the text message is an error and I assume no delivery will be made tomorrow and that I will be sending my letter of claim come Monday morning.

 

That 5% off against the phone I ordered at £1199 based on their standard pricing brings the phone to 1139.05 lol. Someone else who received the 5% noted it doesn't work on the Student or Employee discount portal

 

This just highlights how clueless they are with the whole situation themselves.

 

I also find it funny that they say "In accordance with our online store’s terms and conditions, where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakable (as is the case here) we are entitled to reject orders." but they themselves did not notice this for 10 days straight

 

Everyone has a different story though. Some ended up getting the phone, others like me haven't had official cancellation and then got a text message. Others still are allegedly saving more money since they were given £200-300 off vouchers, but who knows, Samsung may cancel those orders too. Easiest thing to assume is that its not coming and that I need to send that letter to them.

Edited November 13, 2021 by mrdonj

[mrdonj]

Well it's nearly 5pm. Safe to say, as assumed that the text message they sent about delivery on the 14th was a lie.

 

When sending the letter tomorrow, is there any difference between recorded delivery and special delivery?