Calumet Didn't Honour Order Price

medic143

Just a piece of Caveat Emptor in relation to Calumet.

Priced around a Canon 50D at the beginning of January and although they were not the absolute cheapest, they were close enough so order the Camera and a Sigma lens from their Belfast Shop.

Got the phone call to tell me the items were in and made my way up there this morning. I stood and listened to the sales person make several phone calls. She then announced that since I ordered it the price had gone up 20% and they were not in a position to honour the price I ordered it at. :eek:

It had gone from 809stg to 990stg. She conceeded she could do me a deal on a memory card (that I hadn't asked for or wanted) but nothing could be done on the price. :mad:

What really annoyed me was the fact they could have told me this before I drove to Belfast and saved me the journey. I viewed this omission as a cynical attempt to still try and complete the sale at the inflated price.

They still have in it stock in Belfast if anyone else wants one at that price. I've sourced it elsewhere since I came home.

rymus

isnt there some kind of trading standards authority for the UK you could report them to?

PaulieC

did you pay a deposit on the items?

Paulw

You didn't order them, you only priced them, correct? In that case, there's nothing you can do. A price quoted is only a quote. It's not a sale.

If you had ordered, and they took your money, then they would then have to provide the goods without any increase.

Basically, in this case, they did nothing wrong.

There have been a few threads on boards alerting people that UK prices were going up.

coylemj

Paulw wrote: »

You didn't order them, you only priced them, correct? In that case, there's nothing you can do. A price quoted is only a quote. It's not a sale.

Agree 100% - if the price had gone down and they asked for the original price you would have been within your rights to walk because there was no binding contract between you and the store, it cuts both ways.

soccerc

While I can empathise with you, particularly in relation to the phone call, Calumet have done nothing wrong.

I've been more than pleased wit the service they've provided me.

The first time I travelled up only to find they didn't have the lens in stock they told me on the phone was ready for collection. The next morning one arrived by courier at no extra cost from their UK warehouse.

When I was getting the second D3 I rang the store and they had none in stock but they arranged delivery from England at the same price. During that conversation in early December they told me prices would be increased considerably in the coming weeks.

So unless you actually paid for the goods in full or a deposit on the quoted price you have no come back.

medic143

I am only too well aware that I have no come back.

During the course of listening to the sales girl on the phone this morning it seems the policy was not to take deposits as they were unsure what the actual price was going to be. Had they been honest at the time the order had been placed about the variable nature of the price I would never have dealt with them. I simply consider this to be a sharp practise and I won't be dealing with them again.

Luckily I was able to source the camera at the same price as I had ordered it (with a memory card thrown in) so no harm done.

Buzz Lightyear

If you only priced a camera then they have done nothing wrong, it was ou who didn't order it..

I've a Sigma 10-20 on the way. I placed the order but needed to confirm their shipping charges to Meath. Between one thing another a week passed and it order was finally going through although I had to re-order it on the net. When I went to purchase it had gone up from 320 to 419 :eek:, however when I rang the next day they agreed to sell me the lens they had in stock in Scotland for the old price and reactivated my old order .

I've think this is fair and and hats off to them. That however was last thursday ..... come on postie ....

al_

In fairness, although they did nothing legally or technically wrong, they have no doubt treated a prospective customer quite despicably and lost future business from him.
They should have alerted him to the price change prior to his journey up, its decent customer service.

jpfahy

All Canon stuff has gone up in price dramatically in the UK.
When they are getting in new stock they have to pay a lot more for it because Sterling is weak. This is going to affect everything imported into the UK.
The days of cheap TVs and Cameras up north are numbered. BUY NOW!!!

I was looking at a 430EXII in Jacobs on New Oxford Street. In a week it went from £229 to £299. (and it had been on offer earlier for £180)

The kiss of death for some retailers in the UK imho.

al_

yeah Nikon stuff has gone the same way, its mad that in a time of so called recession they increase the price of their equipment and effectively take it out of reach of would be hobby buyers.
i say hobby, because pro's will still be forced to buy.

Buzz Lightyear

al_ wrote: »

In fairness, although they did nothing legally or technically wrong, they have no doubt treated a prospective customer quite despicably and lost future business from him.
They should have alerted him to the price change prior to his journey up, its decent customer service.

Your right al, they should have let him know when they phoned him that the camera had gone up in price - and that did not display decent customer service. I would be inclined to email the company with my complaint just to get it off my chest and to see what their PR response would be.

al_

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

I would be inclined to email the company with my complaint just to get it off my chest and to see what their PR response would be.

Exactly, for far too long we have taken bad customer service on the chin. Now we are paying an even higher price for items, we should demand a better service.

I'd say definitely write or email the company with your complaint and let them know exactly what they lost out on.

coylemj

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

Your right al, they should have let him know when they phoned him that the camera had gone up in price

Or maybe he should have asked them to confirm the price when they said the item was now in stock and before he drove all the way to Belfast. Those price increases have been well flagged on several threads here.

shepthedog

medic143 wrote: »

Priced around a Canon 50D at the beginning of January and although they were not the absolute cheapest, they were close enough so order the Camera and a Sigma lens from their Belfast Shop.

Got the phone call to tell me the items were in and made my way up there this morning.

I cant be 100% sure here whether you had placed the order or just priced it .. As people have said if you just priced it then you cant do very much. But if you placed an order then they must fulfil the order at the price you were offered. Had you paid a deposit?

ThOnda

Calumet let me down already few times. The last time it was the lense. They were saying that they cannot get it from Canon.uk. Canon UK said that they have quite a few ready to go, just to place an order. And Calumet was raising the price every day, from ten to twenty £.
No, I will try to keep my spending on-line. They do NOT deserve my money.

al_

shepthedog wrote: »

if you placed an order then they must fulfil the order at the price you were offered.

Good point, although I dont think he had actually placed an order.
Either way, it was downright bad customer service of them to quote him on the phone then say they didnt have it in stock, call him when it comes in and neglect to tell him the price had risen considerably. They had the camera in stock when making the call to him, so they would have known straight up what price they paid for it and that the price had risen.

If I quoted a portrait job but told the person I couldnt do it for a week, then called them to come over to do it and raised the price when they got to the studio they would flip the lid and I'd lose them as a customer forever and rightlty so.
Someone needs to teach calumet what customer service is all about.

As Thonda says, they have let him down a few times now too, and this in a time when we're being told that online buying is ruining stores everywhere. No wonder people are choosing to buy equipment online.

sorry if that seems like a rant, but bad customer service p****s me off.

A mod may want to change the title of the thread as it seems like Calumet is in breech of contract, which they aren't.

CabanSail

Deleted User wrote: »

A mod may want to change the title of the thread as it seems like Calumet is in breech of contract, which they aren't.

It would be preferable if the OP edited their own post.

yoshytoshy

I had been looking around for a handy smaller camera and camulet were €40 dearer ,on the camera I wanted ,compared with irish online websites.
Quite surprised ,but as people have said ,they are charging to compensate for the weak sterling.:(

CabanSail

CabanSail wrote: »

It would be preferable if the OP edited their own post.

You can't change the title of a thread as a poster (I don't think)

medic143

As a clarification. I visted their shop on the 9 January and I ordered the lens and camera body. They check the price while I was in the shop and told me what it would cost as both were special orders as the company had no stock. They didn't ask for a deposit (the phone call overheard in the shop subsequently indicated this was a deliberate policy based on the uncertainty regarding the price - although I was never told about this uncertainty).

My choice of topic title was quite specific and neither states nor infers a breach of contract as there was no contract. A price tag is only an invitation to treat. The offer in a contract comes when you part with your money and the acceptance is when they take if from you. I have never stated they breached contract only that they did not provide good service.

I consider good customer service required them to tell me at the time of ordering about the uncertainty about the price and (b) that they should have told me about the price change when they rang me to tell me the item was in stock and enquired if I still wanted it.

As a PS I checked the price of the lens (which I paid for on the day at the quoted price) when I came home and discovered that it too had increased in price on their web site by 120stg but in this case they didn't look for an increase over the quoted price even though it too had to be ordered in specially. Inconsistent.

Covey

medic143 wrote: »

As a PS I checked the price of the lens (which I paid for on the day at the quoted price) when I came home and discovered that it too had increased in price on their web site by 120stg but in this case they didn't look for an increase over the quoted price even though it too had to be ordered in specially. Inconsistent.

Thats not inconsistent at all. You had paid for the lens, hence they couldn't charge you anymore.

medic143

Covey wrote: »

Thats not inconsistent at all. You had paid for the lens, hence they couldn't charge you anymore.

The inconsistenacy was two items ordered specially on the same day. Both go up in the interim. One can be supplied at the original price, the other cant.

whyulittle

Because you had already bought the lens. They were in effect just holding it in their possession until you came to collect it.

coylemj

I think we're into hair splitting territory here. To some people what you got was a 'quote' and I think we're all agreed that Calumet aren't obliged to fufill at that price since if the price went down you wouldn't be obliged to buy.

You say that you placed an 'order' but again for most people that means that you undertake to purchase the goods and in that situation the vendor accepts the order based on an agreed price and commits to deliver at that price.

However you seem to have fallen into a grey area in that you considered it an 'order' but Calumet considered it as a 'quote'. It sounds to me like a communications problem rather than shady practice on their part and I agree with the earlier poster that the thread title is unfair to Calumet.

challengemaster

Looks like coylemj got it in 1

From my days of contact law, one of the requirements of a valid and binding contract was that money changes hands. In fact, I remember a specific case taken with pretty much the same arguments as the OP with the result that it wasn't a binding contract.

If you don't put down a deposit, then its just them telling you what the current price is, that price is not binding for any subsequent sale unless agreed by both parties.

CabanSail

IIRC it goes like this.

The Price they list or tell you is an "Invitation to Treat" you then indicate that you want the product or service and this is an "Offer to Treat" if the merchant then accepts the payment then the contract is completed.

The OP had got as far as the Offer to Treat stage for the Camera, but had completed the contract for the lens. I can understand the disapointment but agree that they have done nothing wrong. It would seem that their communication could have been better though & it would have been courteous to advise of the price rise.