Order cancellation on website error

[Southwell]

A company i bought a product from had a missprice on their website and cancelled my order saying it was an error even though they have already taken payment. My question is can they legally do this or do they have to honor it now they have taken payment?

[millzy]

yeah they can

COZ ITS YOU

[Wraggy]

i thought they had to honour ut to be honest Ian. you may have a case there ..

[Lee]

I thought they had to honour it.

Like the times when currys/comet got prices wrong and they had to sell stuff at the silly prices.

[rcracer]

dunno about that i tried to buy a tv stand from comet for a penny, they rang me and said it was a mistake and the dont have to sell it at that price.

[Southwell]

My friendly emessage to them....
I placed this order last night and had the money taken out of my account within a few minutes. If you are cancelling my order i either expect my money back in my account within 24 hours or a laptop to be delivered as was confirmed by your systems. As with other big suppliers they have tended to honour their websites prices when they make the mistake, I would expect no less from any other company.

[rcracer]

just to be nosey how much was the laptop

[Southwell]

£50 lmao
They missed the other 5 off the beginning....but i have have other deals like PS3 for £299 when they were £450....

[bigred5765]

tell them you bought it at the advertised price and if they dont honour it youl take them to trading standards, and you might have to

[Darren Boyle]

Not fully aware but there is a new law now to do with "too good to be true" prices which cover for "errors" made when listing prices. You might want to check into it, I think this is the golden get out clause for "false price adverts" like this.

Dont get me wrong we all make mistakes, I have made many when updating our own webiste, missed out digits, missed out the full stop or put it in the wrong place, but these are simple misatkes, its the companies who do it deliberate to get your interest than back out, that get my back up...

[James]

You might have been better with a ps something like; if you have made a mistake perhaps you would be willing to offer a good will gesture and knock 50% off ..

(the £550 not the £50 )

[Southwell]

Well this is the thing, they seem to have offered everyone who did this order the laptop at the original price, which makes me think it's done on purpose.

[Southwell]

They don't want to know lol. I think my laptop took offence though, as it's now blown the motherboard

[KRob]

They probably have on their website somewhere 'E&OE' which is Errors & Omissions Excepted.
(or they should have....)
It is a difficult one, how do you decide it is false advertising or just a genuine error when pricing a product.

Not sure about Darren's 'Too GOO to be true' though LOL

[Southwell]

O yeah, well thats why they have t+c's but i still think that they should at least have some kind of decency to even acknowledge their mistake. All i got was a cancellation email, nothing else, no mention of refunds or anything. I remember currys and dixons messed up and honoured everyones prices.

[Darren Boyle]

Not sure about Darren's 'Too GOO to be true' though LOL

LOL @ Keith, thats what happens when you type in a rush with big sausage fingers link mine, I have corrected it now.

Seriously though, there is a "too GOOD to be true" paragraph in the trading standards booklet that they issue which is under the "distance selling" (mail order) regs section. It states that a seller does not HAVE to continue with a transaction if the advertised price is incorrect due to an error or mistake and it is not feasable to do so. I saw it in there the other day when checking up on some stuff regarding what you can and cant put in your online terms and conditions, it is amazing how many of us shops DO have things in our terms which by law we are not allowed to have, we are in the process of re-writing ours to comply fully. For instance if a customer buys somthing over your counter and returns it (even just minutes later) you DONT HAVE to give a refund (you dont HAVE to do anything), BUT if the same customer mail orders the item and returns it within 7 days from reciept they can INSIST on a refund and you have to give them back any postage charge they paid too, plus this is also for goods they just simply dont want, not just incorrect or faulty ones!!!! WE have had to change our "no refunds" wording to cover this ruling fully.

So all you racers out there, you order all the tyres/spares you MIGHT need for a weekend on a thursday, get them friday, use what you need on the weekend, return what you dont on the monday and refunded by tuesday!!!! The shop has simply loaned you some excess tyres/spares for the weekend and you lose no money. However if any customer tries that scam with us they will be amazed at how many items we suddenly are "out of stock of" or "dont have" when they go to order them the next time!!!!

So who wants a new Losi LST2 for £3.75 then??? Bargain!!!! (oops we meant £375, it was an error..............................honest) LOL

[mac]

But if they have taken the money (£50) they have taken payment for the product and it now belongs to him!
They could say nope for any reason if they hadnt taken the money. I'd talk to the credit card company to get the laptop off them!

[DCM]

you are best advised to phone your trading standards and get official advice. You have selected the item and clicked to pay, which binds you in a contract with the said company, to supply funds to purchase the item.

Now, whether or not they are legally bound to send you the item if they deduct a payment from your account is the grey area. Trading Standards would be able to advise you on that path....

[glypo]

If they've taken your money, this is likely to be very different.

It sounds like even people on here have fallen for the myth that wrongly priced items fall under false a trading standards breach of false advertising. This is simply not the case, unless the product was actually advertised, say in a magazine or poster outside the shop, then it is very unlikely you have a leg to stand on.

People here have said this is a new law, but it has always been the case. When I studied business law at A level it certainly was, but it could have well be amended in the last 4-5 years. It is more likely that simply trading standards have updated their text to better reflect the existing law.

Same goes anywhere, you could walk into a supermarket and they could have all the prices completely wrong and are under no obligation whatsoever to sell you anything for the prices on the shelf. In fact when people demand in shops that they do, they are actually standing on the dodgy side of the law and not the shop. This is known as an 'Invitation to treat'. A legally binding contract does not exist between customer and shop until payment has been made, and upto that point by taking items off the shelf or 'adding to basket' online you are simply showing an interest in purchasing and no legal contract is made at that point. Even when you click online to pay, DCM is wrong above, you are still under no contract. It's not until the money has been taken.

Of course, most shops honour the price stated, even when it's a mistake. This is just to save hassle and hopefully get repeat purchases from customers. But normally this applies to some mayonnaise being priced at £0.50 instead of £1.00, relatively low value. But if you walked into pc world and they had a £50 laptop instead of £500, they won't do it. People work hard to build up their businesses and are getting too readily exploited by people trying to find mistakes. Its for this reason most online retailers (Amazon etc) don't take your money until the item is ready to be shipped, and not at point you complete order, so it gives them time to notice errors before they enter a legally binding contract.

However, that said, if your money has been taken, it sounds like you have entered a legal contract and they are obliged to uphold it. So if you wanted, you have a good leg to stand on to claim your £50 laptop. But as DCM very wisely said above, best thing is to contact trading standards.

[_JP_]

I think your right if they have taken the money surely they must honor it!

but if its a Magazine advertised price or web price they don't because of printing errors or typos.

But if you went into *Curry's* and the price clearly states the item and price they have to.


*there are other better places* lol