my bargain order cancelled!!! not fair!!!

idunnoutellme

Hey guys
the other day i went onto argos website, and they were advertisin a couch full size couch for 119eur!!! in the book it is 1199eur!!
so i went into the store, and checked their little electronic thing and it said the price is 119eur!! so without hesitation i went up and ordered it, nothin was said at the till, took my details etc charged for delivery and order will be at yours within 2 weeks - the usual stuff. so i was delighted!

today i get a call from the store - we're canceling your order - there was a mistake - come collect your money!!! can they do that??? they were advertisin for that price - should they not give it to me mistake or not??

any suggestions please

Kimbot

Did you pay in cash?
What date did you go into the shop and what date did they cancel?

I think once they take the money for it then the transaction is complete so they have to give it but I'm not 100% on that mate.

the groutch

usually, once you pay, you're in the clear
but there might be some clause in the site's Ts & Cs to cover them in this situation

idunnoutellme

went in on monday, paid in full with cash, today they rang and said its cancelled.
bunch of ******
i dont think its right

Kimbot

I think you may have a case, they can only change their mistage as you are handing over the cash not after you pay. You have a receipt now that says you paid for a product, you don't have said product so I think the shop is in the wrong. Before you go anywhere near them ring the Office of consumer affairs mate.

the groutch

just checked both their old and new catalogues, and both their uk & ireland websites

nothing in the small print about incorrect pricing

you should just go back to the store you bought from to see if they have any additional Ts & C's on display in their shop

if not you definitely have a case

jor el

This has happened with Dell on numerous occasions, and also with Aer Lingus, and they've never been made to honour the deal. The last time there was a problem at Aer Lingus, they were selling business class tickets at coach prices. The NCA made a statement at the time, that anyone who's payment was accepted, should be given the ticket. However, Aer Lingus denied this, and refused the tickets. Nobody held Aer Lingus to account, and they were free to refund the passengers.

I think that in the end, in the Aer Lingus case, they gave people coach tickets, not business class. Though, officially and legally, they had purchased business class, and the payment had been accepted by Aer Lingus.

In the end, nobody will fight this for you. So if Argos refuse to honour the sale, you won't be able to force them.

Climate Expert

Smart move paying in cash. You are due one couch now.

antoinolachtnai

On the face of it, there are no T's and C's that can get them out of that one. They have taken the money. The contract is fairly binding from what I can see.

It will be a bit of work to pursue, but it might be interesting. You will need to learn something about contract law, and then you will have to go to small claims.

Because this was an in-person sale dealing with a living employee of the company, this is a lot more straightforward than the Aer Lingus case. But you will have to do the work yourself.

The key is not to take the whole thing too seriously. But you have nothing to lose, except your time.

lynchie

Climate Expert wrote: »

Smart move paying in cash. You are due one couch now.

I assume once you pay in cash, receive a receipt for said product, a contract is now in place and the seller is obliged to sell at the agreed price?

idunnoutellme

ok guys just got off the phone with consumer affairs
she said i could write a letter statin my case that they entered into a contract at point of sale and have to honour it,then either seek legal advice or take the refund.
sounds like a lot of work....feckers ugh
so unfair tho SO UNFAIR would have had my couch in 2 weeks i'll try argue my case tho definitely

idunnoutellme

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

On the face of it, there are no T's and C's that can get them out of that one. They have taken the money. The contract is fairly binding from what I can see.

It will be a bit of work to pursue, but it might be interesting. You will need to learn something about contract law, and then you will have to go to small claims.

Because this was an in-person sale dealing with a living employee of the company, this is a lot more straightforward than the Aer Lingus case. But you will have to do the work yourself.

The key is not to take the whole thing too seriously. But you have nothing to lose, except your time.

ye and a really nice cheap couch to gain

KeyserSöze

idunnoutellme wrote: »

ok guys just got off the phone with consumer affairs
she said i could write a letter statin my case that they entered into a contract at point of sale and have to honour it,then either seek legal advice or take the refund.
sounds like a lot of work....feckers ugh
so unfair tho SO UNFAIR would have had my couch in 2 weeks i'll try argue my case tho definitely

"sounds like a lot of work"?? You'll be saving a grand :eek: - surely that is worth sending in one letter?

loyatemu

legally, i'd say you have a case. but there's no need to call them feckers and start whinging about it being unfair. They made a mistake, you clearly realised it was a mistake at the time, so you hardly have the moral high ground on this one...

Elessar

If it seems too good to be true, it is.

I cant believe you honestly thought you were going to get a couch for 1000 less than the actual price. Unfair my arse. I'm pretty certain you won't get away with it.

Climate Expert

Elessar wrote: »

If it seems too good to be true, it is.

I cant believe you honestly thought you were going to get a couch for 1000 less than the actual price. Unfair my arse. I'm pretty certain you won't get away with it.

He already has. If the couch was in stock he'd have it in his car. They wouldn't come ringing saying he has to give it back woudl they? Its the same here, the onus is on them to deliver the product that has already been paid for.

seamus

Climate Expert is correct.

In contract terms, the OP offered Argos €119 for a couch and they accepted that offer and took his money.

They now owe him one €119 couch.

biko

Not fair? Fair is when when you pay a proper price for the couch.
It wasn't a bargain, it was a mistake on their part that you exploited. Fair? I dunno u tell me

jor el

idunnoutellme wrote: »

so unfair tho SO UNFAIR would have had my couch in 2 weeks i'll try argue my case tho definitely

You're trying to capitalise on an obvious mistake on their part. It's not unfair that they would try to rectify this, even though they accepted your payment. If it were 100 euro, maybe they'd let it slide, but they're not going to be 1000 euro out of pocket without a fight.

On the face of it, it looks like it's: Man 1, Argos 0, but I'd doubt it's going to be that simple.

Probably your only hope of actually getting the couch, will be to seek legal advice from a solicitor, who is familiar with the subject matter. Even then, Argos' solicitors will likely argue that the contract was not valid, as no reasonable person would believe that price, and that it was an obvious mistake. Any contracts should be fair and reasonable, and a judge could rule against you if he decided that that this would be unduly unfair on Argos.

A cleanly worded letter to the store manager, or better still Argos Ireland's management, would be the first, and cheapest, step. If they don't bite, then you must decide whether to seek legal advice (could be costly, especially if you loose), or drop it.

antoinolachtnai

So you are saying that contracts have to be reasonable and fair for the retailer in order to be valid?

seamus

Actually, contracts in general do need to be reasonable and fair, otherwise they could be overturned by a court.

For example, imagine our OP told all of his mates, and there was a rush on these couches, with 1000 requests coming through in one day. If the couch was supposed to be 1190, then Argos would lose nearly 1,000 on each couch. Which means that they would stand to lose €1,000,000 if they were forced to honour all of these requests.

This could be a big blow to Argos and could lead to one or more stores going bust. So if challenged in court, it could be decided that it would be unreasonable to uphold the contracts. However for a single couch, I would fancy my chances, but IANAL.

boomer_ie

The OP could argue to a judge that he could have assumed that there was a sale on this particular type of couch, the fact that the price was wrong in two places not one strengthens the OPs case (ie the website and in store at the till).

Under Consumer law they now have to provide you with your couch, Small Claims court for this one AFTER you give them an opportunity to cough up the couch.

Climate Expert

The cashier thought nothing unsual in selling a couch for e200 and they really are the last line of defence for a shop if they make a sale.

Its the price Argos have to pay for having such a large business and incompetant staff. A smaller furniture shop would never let this happen.

eth0_

jor el wrote: »

This has happened with Dell on numerous occasions, and also with Aer Lingus, and they've never been made to honour the deal. The last time there was a problem at Aer Lingus, they were selling business class tickets at coach prices. The NCA made a statement at the time, that anyone who's payment was accepted, should be given the ticket. However, Aer Lingus denied this, and refused the tickets. Nobody held Aer Lingus to account, and they were free to refund the passengers.
.

That's not the same thing *at all*.

The OP went in, said "I'll have that sofa please", turned out it was 199 euro, he paid cash, presumably received a receipt for that money. AFAIK they cannot cancel once you've received a receipt for the item.

Dell etc were able to cancel because they had not charged peoples cards and had not issued a receipt.

the groutch

I'd underatand if it was a case of 100 people getting it at the lower price, but this is only one, and maybe a couple of others we didnt hear about

would make better business sense to let it go, and just repremand the staff involved on the qt, rather than suffering bad publicity and risk having it dragged into the courts

Oryx

eth0_ wrote: »

AFAIK they cannot cancel once you've received a receipt for the item.

I never studied law, so Im talking common sense as I would see it here. What is to stop Argos simply offering a refund? They can give the customer any tale they like, the sofa doesnt exist, is flood damaged, or just we made a mistake, and therefore, we're breaking the contract. In that case, they owe the customer their money back, in order to put the customer back to the point where they were before the sale, ie, at no financial loss. That makes sense to me. It may not be fair to the op, but how can you insist they do more? It would be different if the op had his sofa happily installed at home and they came to take it back or asked for more money. That they couldnt do. But I would not see the contract complete until the goods are delivered. So if they cannot or will not deliver I dont see how you can do any more than insist on the refund you are entitled to.

Kinetic^

Do not collect your refund! Do what consumer affairs have told you. It won't actually be a lot of work considering you'll get something for considerably less.

Scottie99

idunnoutellme wrote: »

ok guys just got off the phone with consumer affairs
she said i could write a letter statin my case that they entered into a contract at point of sale and have to honour it,then either seek legal advice or take the refund.
sounds like a lot of work....feckers ugh
so unfair tho SO UNFAIR would have had my couch in 2 weeks i'll try argue my case tho definitely

You have rights..........and all that hard work will be worth it.

Don't give in!

jor el

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

So you are saying that contracts have to be reasonable and fair for the retailer in order to be valid?

For both sides. Otherwise a supplier of goods or services could put in silly terms, and if you agreed to it, you'd be legally obliged to follow that term no matter what it was.

eth0_ wrote: »

That's not the same thing *at all*.

The OP went in, said "I'll have that sofa please", turned out it was 199 euro, he paid cash, presumably received a receipt for that money. AFAIK they cannot cancel once you've received a receipt for the item.

Dell etc were able to cancel because they had not charged peoples cards and had not issued a receipt.

It's not entirely dissimilar, people paid for something that was miss-priced, Consumer Association told them they were entitled to get it, but they didn't. Some of the Dell and Aer Lingus customers had paid, charge was made to their card, and were issued the ticket/receipt. Didn't stop the companies from reversing the transaction though. If he had collected the sofa there and then, there would be no come back. As it was, this is a delivery item, processing the order is when the mistake was spotted, same as when Dell went to process the orders and discovered their mistake.

Anyway, as I said, he may well have a good case for claiming the sofa for the price paid, but getting the other side to acquiesce, may not be as easy as all that.

For those claiming that it'll be worth it in the end, and he'll get something for practically nothing, it's by no means guaranteed that he will. He needs to seek more advice on this, from sources other than people on a message board, and decide for himself if the possible cost is worth the probable gain.

anotherlostie

This (breaking the contract) happened to me with something I ordered from play.com which was also at a stupidly low price, and my credit card had been charged before the issue was realised. OK, it wasn't saving me a grand, but it was discussed on here, and the general consensus was that there was nothing that could be done to stop them.

Of course what if Argos tell the OP that the item is no longer available and cannot be sourced? What can be done then?

Davy

anotherlostie wrote: »

Of course what if Argos tell the OP that the item is no longer available and cannot be sourced? What can be done then?

Check their stock checker online or instore :pac:

Or request a similar priced item ,,, actually probably no use,,,