Sold at wrong price????

[veilside01702]

I purchased a baby monitor from Ebuyer.com on sunday and noticed that when I added a linked item that was on promotion that it discounted from £79.99 to £2.55 an item....
As you can imagine, I paid quickly and waited....
Yesterday I got invoices by email and my account was debitted....
Today I get this one.......Dear Sir/Madam,

Reference:Securaz 860Q Wireless Handheld Baby Monitor/Camera 2.5 inch LCD Screen Audio and Night Vision Motion Detection Pan and Tilt (Promotion item)

Thank you for your purchase with Ebuyer UK Ltd.

It is with deepest regret that we send this email to inform you of a pricing error that has affected your order

The above item was advertised on our site at an incorrect price of £2.99

Whilst we do appreciate our customers requiring this product at the lower incorrect price, unfortunately this price was advertised due to a system error, causing the cost to show on our site significantly lower than the actual correct price.

The information advertised on our site has been immediately updated to reflect the correct cost. Your order has been placed on hold and we would like you to confirm if you would like to continue with the item at the correct price of £79.99

Should you still require this product please contact our customer support on 0871 521 33 00 or use our enote service and we will process your order. If we have had no response within 14days your order will be automatically cancelled.

Once again we do offer our unreserved apologies for the aggravation this matter has caused.

Kind Regards,

Ebuyer Customer Support Team.

Can they just refuse to send out what I paid for??

I know I am being cheeky but this has really got my goat now.....lol

I want a huge discount......any idea's if I can force them to still send them out???

Cheers....
Russ

[Guest]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

Yes, they can and no you cannot force them to send them out.

Shop pricing is an "invitation to treat" – a concept which was established in the 1950's case of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Limited. For a binding contract to exist, there must be an offer, a consequential acceptance, consideration for the deal and an intention to create legal relations.

You may argue that this has been accomplished, however in this instance, there was an obvious mistake in the price.

The precedent on this issue was set by Hartog v Colin and Shields (1939) in which there was a pricing error where the seller thought he was pricing per pound, but the cost was actually calculated per item. The Court held that purchaser could not reasonably have supposed that the offer expressed the real intention of the persons making it, and must have known it was a mistake. The purchaser therefore did not, by his acceptance of the offer, make a binding contract with the seller.

This would therefore give Ebuyer.com a defence if the price of the product was so ludicrously low that the intention to create legal relations could not be formed, as I think you will have to agree has happened in this case. Mistake is a vitiating factor in contract law. This means that the contract can be repudiated if the mistake is obvious.

[veilside01702]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

Thanks cet......
I am gonna lay on a thick phonecall tomorrow and see if i get a discount for the agro......lol
worth a go....
lol

[Happyolddog]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

I had the same happen with a laptop which was wrongly advertised a few months ago. They quoted a law which protects the seller if an item is advertised for sale at the wrong price by mistake, then they offered me a small discount.

[veilside01702]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

I just checked and their website lists my account as being charged for the discounted amount....
So they have sent me an invoice.....charged my debit card......given me a receipt by email......and now are holding onto the goods until I pay the higher price....

That seems like theft......

Aren't the items mine after they have taken payment for them???

I could understand if they noticed prior to taking my money.....but after??

and refusing to send my other items till I pay them more........??

Hmmmmm.....

[Foxfan]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

I would have thought that once they take the monies from your account, a contract has been formed and as such they are obliged to sell at the price they accepted by taking the money, just my opinion, happy to be corrected

[ed.]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

You may have room for arguement as if they put the order on hold, technically they should've immediately refunded the money.

They will argue automated system, but I'd say they have offered to conclude the deal by taking the money (and not immediately refunded when error was discovered). You can use an estoppel argument aswell.

[Guest]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

Current understanding of web-based transactions is based almost solely on a collective belief of how such transactions should progress from lawyers – it has not been legislated for by Parliament, nor tested before the courts. It is generally accepted that an advert on a website of an item for sale at a certain price is the invitation to treat and the process of filling out the order form and passing over personal details such as credit information by the customer is the offer. Following this to its logical conclusion, the next communication from the retailer is the acceptance of the offer, at which point the contract is formed and the retailer is therefore under a legal duty to perform.

However, they have contacted you and informed you that they have made a mistake. This means that there is no contract and they are under no obligation to send you the goods, merely to refund your money if you are not willing to pay the correct price.

[Curlyben]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

Isn't this covered by the catch all E&OE ?
EOE - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Guest]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

Possibly, however any contractual term which seeks to exclude liability for negligence is unenforceable at law.

In this case it seems that one could argue that a contract was made; but because there has been an obvious pricing mistake this can be classed as a vitiating factor and it is highly likely that you will not be able to hold them to this price - see post #2.

[argentarius]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

"Automated system" as referred to by ed. isn't a valid reason for a contract not to have been formed. Many contracts are only formed by automated systems - like buying a car parking ticket.

Most online retailers have Ts & Cs which state that a contract is only formed when they despatch the goods. If ebuyer's Ts & Cs state that, I think that there is no chance that you will win a case that a contract has been formed and hence they should supply the goods.

But equally well, most online retailers do not charge your credit/debit card until the goods are despatched at which point the contract is formed.

Having looked at ebuyer's Ts & Cs, I think they are pretty clear:

1.2 Any order placed by you for goods advertised on our website is an offer by you to purchase the goods selected in your order. No contract exists between you and us for the sale of any goods until we have received your order and accepted it (which we may do at our discretion).
1.3 We will send you an order acknowledgement shortly after you place your order, notifying you that we have recieved your order. This acknowledgement is not notification that we have accepted your order.
1.4 If we accept your order, we will notify you by email that we have accepted it prior to dispatch of the goods. If we cannot accept your order (for example (but without limitation) because the goods are found to be unavailable) we will notify you by telephone or email.
1.5 In the event that, after we accept your order, we discover that the goods ordered are unavailable or that there was a pricing error on our website in respect of the goods ordered, we reserve the right not to supply the goods ordered and to offer you a refund or alternative goods in accordance with conditions 2.2 to 2.4 below.

and they have complied with them unless they notified you that they had, in fact, accepted the order before later identifying the pricing error.

[StoneLaughter]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

For once I agree with argentarius... EBuyer are one of the better ones and cover every angle, and always stick to their conditions. You now have two choices; accept the full price, or cancel the order for the disputed item.

[Guest]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

Hi
I find this fascinating i looked into it a few years ago and never really got a proper handle on it.
For instance what about a restaurant,you go in sit at your table is the menu an invitation to treat, when is the contract made whan you pay your bill or when you get your meal,or when you orcer your meal,as really the order cannot be rescinded once it has been made.THen there is bus tickets.
Headacke

Peter

[Amethyst]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

lol, i guess with bus tickets and services, if you form the contract (ie buy the bus ticket) then the service isnt provided (the bus is knackered) you then get your money back as a breach of contract. Same with food, you buy it, if its full of maggots, its not fit for use etc so on.

[Guest]

Re: Sold at wrong price????

HI
LOL

Yes but when is the contract made in a restaurant, is it when you order your food at the table , if not couldnt you just walk out without paying(not that i ever would),or is the ordering of the food just part of the invitation to treat?, and the contract made at the till

Idunno