Quick question re consumer rights please?

[LoudestRoar]

I appreciate this isn't the most exciting thing, but I wondered if anyone can advise if legally this company need to honour this order?
Company offering a free 2nd item with any purchase. It did not have any t&c's attached, and the code given to use was accepted. I have confirmation on my email order.
Upon arrival, only 1 item was sent. They are saying that the item I bought was never meant to be used with the code. They advised that it bounced the order back to them. Instead of querying it or advising me, they just sent the one item.
I have said I'm unhappy, as they've said all I can do is send my item back (no word yet as to if this is at my or their cost) They keep saying that despite my email confirmation, unless it confirms they are sending the free item on their paper confirmation they posted with the order, They don't have to honour it. Is this correct?

Did you buy these goods via a website or in some other way? What confirmation did you receive? Did the confirmation mention the free item? When do the company's terms and conditions say the contract is formed?

Via their website, and an email confirmation after the order completed was sent to me. The only time I (and it turns out others now!) Knew there was an issue was when we only received one item. I've checked their main t&cs on their website, but it doesn't say anything about when the contract is formed.
They are now offering a full refund including all p&p, or we can keep it, and they will send a gift of their choice. They won't disclose what it is though.

They have offered you a full refund, what more do you want them to do??

At the time of posting, they hadn't clarified if they were paying the postage.

And my question is are they allowed to offer a refund, instead of honouring the deal they accepted and took my money for.

And my question is are they allowed to offer a refund, instead of honouring the deal they accepted and took my money for
If they cannot provide the free item, what else would they do?

What more do you expect from them?

You can't make them supply the goods. However, if you take the refund and it costs you more to buy the same items elsewhere they may be liable for the difference in cost. Without seeing their terms and conditions (which may use other terms for forming the contract) it is impossible to be sure when the contract was formed. That is essential to determining their liability.

Regardless of their contractual liability, Trading Standards may be interested if they are offering free gifts to induce people to order from them and are then failing to supply the gifts.

Without seeing their terms and conditions (which may use other terms for forming the contract) it is impossible to be sure when the contract was formed. That is essential to determining their liability
I would expect that there is a clause in the T & C that allows them to do this but I honestly can't believe that once a company has given a full refund people still complain.

Thank you for the responses, I'll be asking for a full refund.
Persian I understand your point, but I was annoyed that I was lured into buying with this company on the free gift angle, which they accepted my money for, and didn't let me know that there was a problem. I now have to find the time to package it up and take it to the post office to send it back.

I would expect that there is a clause in the T & C that allows them to do this but I honestly can't believe that once a company has given a full refund people still complain

There cannot be a clause that allows them to simply walk away from their contractual responsibilities once the contract has been formed. That would be an unfair term.

Where a supplier fails to meet their contractual obligations they are usually required to put the innocent party in the position they would have been in if the supplier had met its obligations. A full refund may be sufficient. Even if it is not, the difference is often so small as to not be worth arguing over. But sometimes the difference is substantial and a refund is not enough.

There cannot be a clause that allows them to simply walk away from their contractual responsibilities once the contract has been formed. That would be an unfair term
Sorry I meant that there must be a clause that allows them to refund and cancel a contract if they cannot fulfill it for some reason, for example running out of stock.

Lots of online shops reserve the right to cancel the order if they cannot fulfill it.

New Look for example state that -

"Is my order guaranteed or could it be cancelled after I place my order?"
There is still a possibility that an item may be out of stock by the time your order is processed at our warehouse. If so you will be notified and a refund will be issued.

I understand your point, but I was annoyed that I was lured into buying with this company on the free gift angle, which they accepted my money for, and didn't let me know that there was a problem
I know it is frustrating.

I ordered something online on Saturday on a giftcard and the money was ringmarked by the retailer as "pending", for some reason the order can't be sent but still I can't use the money that they have ringfenced for 5-7 days even though I want to buy something else with it.

It is so frustrating at times . Thank you for your help, I hadn't considered the out of stock scenario, which has happened to me before.

I've written terms like this and I try to give the seller rights like this - eg sometimes you have a very expensive coat and someone wants to buy up all 30 of the stocks and we don't want that so we reserve rights to limit people or refuse any order.

I agree with everyone above - if there were loads of money at stake and lots of losses you might, subject to what the terms say, be able to be put in the same position as if the contract were performed. With lots of contracts getting money back does not even begin to compensate you for bigger value stuff. For this kind of thing just getting a refund is probably the best you can get,.

You could report them to trading standards if you think their advertising has been misleading (which is a criminal offence) but I would probably just settle for a refund and not buy from them again.