System Error, but products received!

stevire · 26-02-2009 11:12am #1

I was ordering a few things online last week, and when I was updating the basket I accidently put in a syntax error. To my suprise, the total, shipping everything just amounted to €0.00 and the product quantities were still correct.

I processed the order, and sure enough it arrived in the post today. This is obviously a flaw in the system. Just wondering if they have any sort of comeback on this thing?

Can they chase me down for unpaid order? When the invoice amounted to €0.00?

Pat Mustard · 26-02-2009 11:16am

They are entitled to be paid for the amount that was agreed between you and them. Just because there was an error on the invoice doesn't change that. I imagine that they will attempt to bill your credit card and that they have your details, so maybe you will see the purchase show up eventually.

stevire · 26-02-2009 11:49am

but before the order was confirmed it was at €0.00. So it was before an order was processed.

Would this not mean that the agreement was for this given price at the time of confirmation? There's no agreement between a consumer and a business until the submit button is clicked. On submit, would it not mean that the price there is the price agreed. Otherwise some companies would be exploiting this agreement and overcharging credit cards everywhere, and getting away with it!

IrishBusiness · 26-02-2009 12:04pm

can i ask what the "syntax" error was?

astrofool · 26-02-2009 12:26pm

The invoice will be marked with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E&OE somewhere. They may just leave it (they probably never noticed it), but they have every right to chase you for the cost, or charge based on the cost of each item.

Pat Mustard · 26-02-2009 12:33pm

stevire wrote: »

but before the order was confirmed it was at €0.00. So it was before an order was processed.

Would this not mean that the agreement was for this given price at the time of confirmation? There's no agreement between a consumer and a business until the submit button is clicked. On submit, would it not mean that the price there is the price agreed. Otherwise some companies would be exploiting this agreement and overcharging credit cards everywhere, and getting away with it!

€0.00 was not the quoted price on the site, surely. It seems fairly obvious that it was a mistake that the end figure was computed at 0. There was hardly mutual agreement at a figure of 0. If you emailed them to confirm the price at 0, they would have realised the error and billed you correctly. So there could be no mutual agreement at €0, realistically.

Hogzy · 26-02-2009 12:48pm

TBH you have no legal standing...

Its all about whether they will be bothered to chase you down for the money, although you will probably see the real prices on you CC bill

ejmaztec · 26-02-2009 1:02pm

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if the correct amount wasn't charged to the credit card that I assume was used for the transaction. A couple of years ago, I thought that I was buying something for less than half-price at €130. My credit card was charged the correct amount of €280.

will1977 · 26-02-2009 1:08pm

What was the site. Have my CC ready to go

:D

stevire · 26-02-2009 4:01pm

For the record payment was by cheque. So surely they wouldn't give out the product until payments received if they had any problem with it? I know this is the way with a lot of the online companies who offer the pay by cheque option.

I'm not going to release the name of the website or the syntax error for obvious reasons!! :P

stevire · 26-02-2009 4:03pm

astrofool wrote: »

The invoice will be marked with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E&OE somewhere. They may just leave it (they probably never noticed it), but they have every right to chase you for the cost, or charge based on the cost of each item.

This is not on the invoice either...

MOH · 26-02-2009 4:04pm

stevire wrote: »

For the record payment was by cheque. So surely they wouldn't give out the product until payments received if they had any problem with it? I know this is the way with a lot of the online companies who offer the pay by cheque option.

I'm not going to release the name of the website or the syntax error for obvious reasons!! :P

So you wrote them a cheque for €0.00? And they accepted it?! :eek:

astrofool · 26-02-2009 4:18pm

stevire wrote: »

This is not on the invoice either...

It may be part of the T+C's when you order.

stevire · 26-02-2009 4:22pm

MOH wrote: »

So you wrote them a cheque for €0.00? And they accepted it?! :eek:

haha no, they just sent out the product.

astrofool wrote: »

It may be part of the T+C's when you order.

There's no tick the box T&C throughout the whole ordering process, there is a terms of use section on the website. But that is quite small and does not mention it...

ejmaztec · 26-02-2009 5:02pm

stevire wrote: »

haha no, they just sent out the product.

There's no tick the box T&C throughout the whole ordering process, there is a terms of use section on the website. But that is quite small and does not mention it...

You're going to hell! :P

jor el · 26-02-2009 6:31pm

Looks like you won. You have the goods, and an invoice saying you owe nothing, it would seem that you get the keep the goods without paying.

You could ask the NCA, or Citizen's Information, if there's any way the shop can come back at you for the payment now, just to be sure.

Sponge Bob · 26-02-2009 6:39pm

stevire wrote: »

This is not on the invoice either...

If you tell nobody about it you are away scot free I would think .

If you tell the company about it for a 'fee' of €500 including what you already have then that will save them lots of time and effort tracking a key bug down. That is good business TBH .

If you tell EVERYBODY about it then ( especially Boardsies ) they will track the issue down quickly because they are losing a fortune and will chase everybody for all the money ( including you ) and may even send the peelers around on a fraud investigation .....although the banks are keeping the peelers rather busy at the moment

On an aside I once proved a bug in the ( then) new Komplett platform by ordering a €100 hard drive and letting them trace the bug through their 'new system' .....and in fairness to Komplett they credited me the order cost back as agreed .

Good business for everybody but they were not mispricing but mixing up addresses in certain circumstances .

Your choice

dahamsta · 26-02-2009 8:12pm

will1977 wrote: »

What was the site. Have my CC ready to go :D

Got there before me!

C'mon let the rest of us have a go!

tallaghtoutlaws · 26-02-2009 8:17pm

dahamsta wrote: »

Got there before me!

C'mon let the rest of us have a go!

The OP is probably withholding the site as its for s*x dolls or something

But on a serious note as most have said they are still entitled to charge you if they ever find out that is. If you plan to use them again I would own up as they will definitely notice the next time around.

stevire · 26-02-2009 11:20pm

Sponge Bob wrote: »

If you tell nobody about it you are away scot free I would think .

If you tell the company about it for a 'fee' of €500 including what you already have then that will save them lots of time and effort tracking a key bug down. That is good business TBH .

If you tell EVERYBODY about it then ( especially Boardsies ) they will track the issue down quickly because they are losing a fortune and will chase everybody for all the money ( including you ) and may even send the peelers around on a fraud investigation .....although the banks are keeping the peelers rather busy at the moment

On an aside I once proved a bug in the ( then) new Komplett platform by ordering a €100 hard drive and letting them trace the bug through their 'new system' .....and in fairness to Komplett they credited me the order cost back as agreed .

Good business for everybody but they were not mispricing but mixing up addresses in certain circumstances .

Your choice

Could that option not go all wrong, they end up finding the problem themselves through my order. Then end up charging me anyway??

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

The OP is probably withholding the site as its for s*x dolls or something

But on a serious note as most have said they are still entitled to charge you if they ever find out that is. If you plan to use them again I would own up as they will definitely notice the next time around.

Haha, I won't be using them again any time soon. They have a very limited selection of products, and specifically aimed and a very poor website!!

System Error, but products received!

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