to expect online shop to refund the difference now something on sale?

[donners312]

I ordered a top a few days ago.

It has not arrived and has now been reduced by 50%.

I have asked them to refund the difference rather than me send the one they have sent back and re order it?

They have said no so now i will just send it back and not re order it? Very annoying.

Why don’t customers, and the shops all just stop dicking about with constant sales (Black Friday, grrr) and just buy and sell things for a reasonable price all the bloody time.

I have no issue with end of season sales ditching what is clearly old stock, but his culture of pricing things for a few weeks just so there can be a “sale” does my nut in.

Clothes, electrical, furniture they are all at it and it’s stupid.

Very annoying, I can see both sides. Maybe the shop doesn't have a way to process a part refund and it's cheaper for them to pay for a return that rewire they computer system for the few times a year it might happen.

In the good old days before “computer says no” common sense probably would have got you the refund.

YABU to not buy at half price a top you wanted at full price because you are in a huff with the shop.

I don't want to pay full price for something that is now half the price.

You were happy with the price originally, or you wouldn't have ordered it.

YANBU - my netbook died on Friday night and I had work I could do with getting done over the weekend so I went to Argos online where they had the one I wanted in stock for £210 and ordered it on Saturday to be delivered on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning I went back to the website to check something on my order history to find that my netbook had now gone down to £155! That's £55 in the space of 24hours.

I went on to the Argos customer care page and messaged them on their online chat to explain the £55 drop in price and how if i had known there would be such a huge price drop I would have waited the extra day to buy it and asked if there was anything they could do for me. After a quick check of my account the CS rep authorised a refund of the £55 price difference to my bank account and had also credited my Argos account with a £5 voucher code for my next order.

They would have been well within their rights to say there was nothing they can do, but as it was an online order I would also have been well within my rights to send my netbook back for a full refund (as it was still well within the 14 day online change your mind window) and rebought it at the sale price. Their good customer service meant that they didn't have to deal with the return hassle, refunding me and the admin that goes with that and I didn't have to go through the faff of returning/re-buying the netbook to get the same result. Because of this attitude I am happier and more likely to use them again.

YABU. The shop doesn't have to refund you anything unless the item is faulty.

Companies should start contacting customers when they put their prices up and ask them to cough up the difference.

What strange logic. Of course YABU. You were happy with the price at the time. Stop trying it on. No wonder shops keep closing down!

Designedforlife that is not true for online sales as customers cannot see their item before they buy and therefore online sales have more flexibility wrt returns even if there are no faults.

Eg the OP could receive her top and it is the wrong size, the store has to refund the item (providing it is within the returns window and in the right condition) even though it is not faulty because she had no chance to try it on before she paid, unlike in a bricks and mortar store where you have the opportunity to examine and try on the item before buying it.

A lot of stores will do this if it’s within a certain amount of time — say, 7 or 10 days since the item was purchased. You usually don’t even need to bring in the item or show that it was unworn, you just bring in your receipt and they refund the difference. It’s called a “price adjustment.”

YABU!

Find it strange how this exact situation has happened ‘loads’ of times to you

The thing is, legally they don’t have to refund you the difference at all so you shouldn’t ‘expect’ them to. Items go on sale all of the time, especially at this time of year (Black Friday offers, holiday period, mid season sale etc). The company would be operating at an absolute loss if they refunded every customer that bought something 24+ hours before sale launch - it’s their prerogative to refund the difference or not. Many stores refuse ‘price adjustments’ - sadly this retailer has refused yours.

Last year I ordered a jumper from the Tesco clothing site. The next day it was 50% off and mine hadn't been dispatched yet. They were lovely and gave me the difference + £5 in credit. I was expecting a nice 'piss off' reply but thought what the hell I'll chance it.

The company would be operating at an absolute loss if they refunded every customer that bought something 24+ hours before sale launch

The problem there is that most stores have at least a 7 day returns policy, so any customer who bought an item on Monday that they hadn't used/opened the item yet would be entitled to come in on Friday with their receipt for a full refund. If that item had then gone down in price in the sale they then chose to re-buy the item then the store is still getting some money if not full retail price. All the OP was asking was that, since her item hadn't yet arrived and was now on sale, rather than receive it, return it and reorder at the lower price, wasthere any way they could price adjust and refund the difference to save everyone the aggrivation of the returns admin.

Also it doesn't make the customers wrong to feel aggrieved if their purchase goes in the sale, especially if it was an expensive purchase and made only recently. Like in my case, the item dropped 25% of it's price at some point in the 36 hrs after I purchased it. It wasn't part of their Black Friday sale, so I couldn't have anticipated that the price would drop, it was just a general price reduction. If it had been a few pounds or had been longer, I wouldn't have been so bothered but £55 for the sake of a day is a lot of money to just write off as "shit happens".