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AIBU?

To think they should still sell it for the incorrect price?

23 replies

WinditupSlowitdown · 19/09/2017 18:13

Bought some clothes online yesterday. £35 dress reduced to £4 etc

Today got an email saying they wouldn't honour it due to being a tech issue.

Aibu to think they should have debt my order?

OP posts:
LovingLola · 19/09/2017 18:15

No, they don't have to honour the online price.

vivaVasLagas · 19/09/2017 18:16

Nope. Why should they?

If you were selling on ebay and missed a zero, should you be forced to sell?

To think they should still sell it for the incorrect price?
jaseyraex · 19/09/2017 18:19

Some retailers have to honour it if your order had been processed and they have taken the money already. Others don't. So no, you shouldn't expect to get it for the incorrect price.

TheNaze73 · 19/09/2017 18:20

I don't think you have a hope in hell of getting that reversed

NotTheDuchessOfCambridge · 19/09/2017 18:20

Viva....was that photo meant to be posted??? Grin

sharksDen · 19/09/2017 18:20

@jaseyraex

Really? Tell me more.

Which ones have to?

SavoyCabbage · 19/09/2017 18:23

It's a grip.

FaFoutis · 19/09/2017 18:25

Lots of people from MN ordered a 50p armchair from M&S some time ago. It wasn't honoured. The chair was hideous so that's probably a mercy.

kittymamma · 19/09/2017 18:27

If the item is dispatched then they cannot demand the difference later. However, although I think they should offer a goodwill gesture of some discount, you don't really have a legal right to it being honoured.

It's all a matter of contract law. My understanding is that in a shop the contract is formed at the moment your money is processed and you have the item (like in Argos the item comes later so that's when the contract is formed). So I would expect the same applies here, like in Argos they took your money then realised the problem and they didn't confirm it. You know offer, acceptance, confirmation sort of thing. I don't know though... I'm no expert

jaseyraex · 19/09/2017 18:27

@sharksDen google is your friend. From CAB "If you have a contract, the company can’t usually cancel your order, even if they realise they’ve sold you something at the wrong price. They’ll only be able to cancel it if it was a genuine and honest mistake on their part that you should’ve noticed."

My DH company has to honour incorrect pricing unless they take the item off sale for 48 hours to rectify it. It really depends on the company's policy...

WinditupSlowitdown · 19/09/2017 18:32

They took my money.

Also a £25 difference is hardly comparable to a £699.50 difference with M&S.

OP posts:
Allthebestnamesareused · 19/09/2017 18:33

The legal position is their initial post is called "an invitation to treat". You then "offer" to buy and they can then decide whether to "accept" the offer and enter into a contract with you. They chose not to accept thus there is no contract to sell to you at that price. First thing you ever do when studying contract law!

NC4now · 19/09/2017 18:35

I often get wine for cheaper than the till says. Little Tesco seem to get the price wrong on the shelf fairly regularly but when I point it out, they give it me at the advertised price, not the till price.
Same thing happened with a wooden train set from John Lewis last week.

CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal · 19/09/2017 18:37

I agree that the 'ticket' or price is the invitation to make an offer but if the OP has paid, the surely they have both entered into a contract and the contract should be honoured?

CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal · 19/09/2017 18:40

I often get wine for cheaper than the till says

That's a goodwill thing and afaik they're not obliged to do anything if money hasn't changed hands. They honour it because in that case, it's usually a minute amount (in terms of their profits).

FlaviaAlbia · 19/09/2017 18:48

Yes, I was kind of relieved they didn't send me that chair once the madness wore off FaFoutis Grin

PoppyPopcorn · 19/09/2017 18:58

It's like those vultures who spot a lap top at £39.99 instead of £399.99 and get all their mates to order 10 each.

Honest mistake. No they dont' have to sell it cheap.

PyongyangKipperbang · 19/09/2017 18:59

They can cancel the sale and correct the price up until both money and goods have changed hands. Up until then they have the right to refuse to sell the item to you and refund your money.

The same as if Tesco had Champagne marked up as £2.99 instead of £29.99, they could choose to honour it for goodwill, or refuse to sell it and remove all the items from sale until the price has been corrected.

Perfectly legal.

Etymology23 · 19/09/2017 19:00

But if they've taken your cash isn't it now a contract and no longer an invitation to treat?

user1468353179 · 19/09/2017 19:03

Not quite the same, but I was in MAKRO and a woman was really excited that they'd reduced some security equipment to 59.99 so she'd bought two and was chattering away to her friend in the queue about getting a real bargain. I looked across from the next queue and saw that they were actually 599..99. Sadly, I was served before I could see her reaction at the till.

e1y1 · 19/09/2017 19:05

Some retailers have to honour it if your order had been processed

Not true, until the money and goods have changed hands, they can withdraw the sale.

PyongyangKipperbang · 19/09/2017 19:08

Online shopping is different to RL shopping in that payment is required to secure an order but as long as the retailer informs the customer of the mistake and gives a timely refund, then no court would award in favour of the customer.

The website is inviting to buy the item, the OP offered to enter a contract and they refused to do so because of a pricing error. No contract has been entered into.

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VeniVidiWeeWee · 19/09/2017 19:12

This is from the Daily Telegraph website

The catch:
One essential element of a contract is an intention to create legal relations. If an item has been very heavily discounted and it is clear that an error has occurred, the trader could say that it was obvious that they had no intention to form a contract at that price.
In the Screwfix case for example, the company could argue that a ride-on mower that normally costs £1,599.99 would not ever be on sale for £34.99 – and the consumer must have been aware this was a mistake.
Where an item could feasibly be priced at £34.99, something normally priced at £40 for instance, Screwfix would probably have to rely solely on its terms and conditions.
Stuart Helmer, of law firm CMS, said: “The growth of e-commerce creates huge potential for a computer glitch to lead to widespread pricing errors. Screwfix are just the latest in a long line of retailers to be caught out in this way.
“However, if the retailer has drafted its terms and conditions carefully – which Screwfix appears to have done – then, unless it has deliberately misled customers, it will usually be legally entitled to cancel the order right up to the point of delivery. Whether it chooses to do so is a question of public relations, not legal rights.”

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