Woolworths 42" Tv £150 Advice Please

[theauth0r]

Today Woolworths advertised a Sharp 42" HD Ready TV for £150 on their website.

I logged on and decided to order 2 of these because these TV’s are valued at about £1200-£1600.

I proceeded through the checkout process and received my conformation code so all was looking good.

Delivery was set for Tuesday 19th Dec!!!!!

Now...

When I login, my order has been cancelled stating..

"Item cancelled by us at your request, or as notified by us (Email, SMS, Account Message or Phone Call)."

I have received no notification email/sms/account message or phone call.

I phoned the customer support team who advised that the price was listed in error as the TV’s are worth £1400+ and they have every right to cancel my order.

Can anyone advise if what they are saying is true, or if there is anything I can do with this case?

Cheers.

[rosiecotton]

What did their email say to you, after you had ordered the item?

 

The wording is quite important.

 

If it was just "we have received your order", simply an acknowledgement, then they can argue that they have not accepted your offer to purchase the televisions and no contract is in place.

 

If this is the case, there's absolutely nothing you can do (Most retailers are pretty hot on this now, after the Kodak camera case a few years ago where Kodak got the price wrong and labelled digital cameras at £100 rather than £329 - they ended up settling all orders).

 

 

If they took your money and confirmed your order, then there is an argument that you have a contract for the two televisions.

 

Now if this is the case, their defence in contract law will be that of "mistake".

 

Mistake is a vitiating factor in contract law (a factor which renders a contract voidable). In order to rely on this defence, the company has to prove that the mistake would have been obvious to the buyer.

 

If the goods are very obviously ridiculously cheap, this could be seen to prove that the mistake was obvious. In addition, if the consumer behaves in such a way that indicates they realise it is a mistake - for example, ordering more than one of the items - this also would help the company's argument that the mistake was obvious.

 

The Kodak case mentioned above would have had trouble, as the price was not ridiculously wrong. However, in a much older case - Hartog v Colin and Shields - there was a pricing error much more serious and the contract was voided in court as a mistake. This incident would seem likely to be seen as mistake, even if the contract had been made electronically.

 

Basically, either way there isn't a strong case I'm afraid.

[theauth0r]

Thanks for the advice!!!

I haven't received any emails from them. The only information I have had is in my account summary.

 

I have been looking further into this and it seems that Woolworths have covered themselfes in their T&C for things like this...

 

1.

Prices and Promotions

 

1.On occasion, the prices payable and promotions offered in respect of goods advertised on the Website may differ from those prices and promotions offered at the same time in Woolworths stores. We are under no obligation to honour any in-store price or promotion in the event that they differ from those on the Website. Similarly, Woolworths stores are under no obligation to honour any Website price or promotion in the event that they differ from those in-store.

2.Although we endeavour to ensure that all pricing information on the Website is accurate, occasionally an error may occur and goods may be mispriced. If we discover a pricing error we will, at our discretion, either: contact you and ask you whether you wish to cancel your order or continue with the order at the correct price; or notify you that we have cancelled your order. We will not be obliged to supply goods at the incorrect price.

3.Prices that are reduced for sales and promotions are only valid for the specified period.

4.We reserve the right to adjust prices, offers, goods and specifications of goods on the Website at our discretion at any time before (but not after) we accept your order.

 

I also had a look on the Trading Standards site and found this...

 

The Price is Right!

Under law, a retailer is entitled to decide the price he wants to charge for his goods.

The price on display is simply what the law calls an 'invitation to treat'. In the same way you don't have to buy goods from anyone, a retailer is under no obligation to sell you anything.

You cannot insist that a shop sells you anything at a marked price, whether or not they have made a mistake.

The law does not allow prices to be fixed and, contrary to common belief, goods are not subject to price controls.

 

 

Doesn’t look hopeful because as far as I can see they haven’t debited my account

[blitz]

It comes under section 2 as an error, and not the reserve the right to adjust prices part. They haven't done it out of spite or changed the price, they have just corrected an incorrect one.

If an offer looks too good to be true, it usually is, so as no money has been taken and no official confirmation, no action can be taken. Whilst it has been misadvertised, they have corrected this price as soon as possible.

[reidnet]

Yeah and they are cracking telly's I have one of those..lol

[MAGZY]

If you go onto woolworths site and buy something there is no mention at all of "click to accept terms and conditions" or "I accept t's and c's" etc.

 

Does this mean that consumers are bound by them if they are 'hidden' ?

 

Also, it would have been reasonable to assume that £150 for a £1000 telly was a genuine offer when they stated: "MASSIVE SAVINGS ON TV's - upto £800 off!!"

[rosiecotton]

Terms and conditions ought to be easily accessible and in order to form part of the contract ought to be flagged up during the order process.

 

However, that's not an issue here as what they are relying on to get them out of this mess isn't their terms and conditions, but contract law.

 

As they did not accept the OP's offer to purchase the TV (they didn't send him an email stating that the order had been accepted), there is no contract in place and therefore they do not have to sell the TV to him.

[blacksheep1979]

Also, it would have been reasonable to assume that £150 for a £1000 telly was a genuine offer when they stated: "MASSIVE SAVINGS ON TV's - upto £800 off!!"

 

£1000 - £800 is still more than £150 - and thats ignoring the fact that they are actually £1400 tellies....

[LUSHBUCKET]

The £150 was a temporary error on the site. Although your order had been taken and confirmed, You would not have been billed for the television until it was ready for despatch. As you had not been billed and the error realised. Woolworths cancelled the order.

[UmbraFeles]

Someone I work with told me about this mistake. We went onto the site to try and buy them but the 'more details' page didn't exist anymore! His friends had ordered them and had confirmation emails. They later received emails saying that it had been a mistake, although they had called Woolworths to check if the offer was legitimate and they confirmed that if it was on the website it was correct. One of his mates also had the money taken out of his account but I haven't heard if he recieved it or not - I assume he didn't.

 

I think that unless they actually take money you're not going to get very far with a complaint. I emailed them to ask why I couldn't purchase the TV which was showing as available and never got a reply (didn't really expect one!). I've heard that companies sometimes honour these mistakes as a goodwill gesture but most of them don't bother.