Vodafone Iphone for €50 deal

As you may or may not know Vodafone advertised the Iphone 4s on Sunday for €50.

Many people on here discovered this through the boards.ie bargain alert post that was posted.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056871262


Now of course we all know this was a mistake by Vodafone and they were never going to sell Iphones at €50. That said I was reading the thread with interest and I noticed towards the end some people claiming that had Vodafone actually taken the money out of your account then they had indeed agreed to the sale and must under the law honour the sale. However most people felt that the money was just being held in the account and not actually left.

This morning I checked my online banking and the money has been withdrawn by vodafone.

So Are Vodafone legally obliged to honour the sale or is there some get out of clause?

eamondunphy

I also have had 50e taken from my credit card, never expected to get the phone but now that they have taken my money, wonder what I am or am not entitled to

_Whimsical_

Deleted User wrote: »

As you may or may not know Vodafone advertised the Iphone 4s on Sunday for €50.

Many people on here discovered this through the boards.ie bargain alert post that was posted.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056871262


Now of course we all know this was a mistake by Vodafone and they were never going to sell Iphones at €50. That said I was reading the thread with interest and I noticed towards the end some people claiming that had Vodafone actually taken the money out of your account then they had indeed agreed to the sale and must under the law honour the sale. However most people felt that the money was just being held in the account and not actually left.

This morning I checked my online banking and the money has been withdrawn by vodafone.

So Are Vodafone legally obliged to honour the sale or is there some get out of clause?

In accordance with Vodafone T&C taking your money does not constitute agreement to a contract of sale. Agreement and completion of the contract does not happen until your purchase has shipped. For that reason Vodafone is under no obligation,other than to return your money,as they don't have a contract of sale with you.

keithclancy

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

In accordance with Vodafone T&C taking your money does not constitute agreement to a contract of sale. Agreement and completion of the contract does not happen until your purchase has shipped. For that reason Vodafone is under no obligation,other than to return your money,as they don't have a contract of sale with you.

I dunno ... NCA says different:

http://corporate.nca.ie/eng/Business_Zone/Guides/Full%20List/Advertising.html

What happens if an advert has wrong prices?

If you do give a wrong price, you must point this out to the customer before the transaction takes place.

However, you may be in breach of consumer protection legislation and liable to prosecution by the National Consumer Agency.

Might be worth contacting them.

dudara

There is a large grey area due to automated systems that are commonly used. In the past "consideration" was easy as two people had to agree. Errors in pricing could be discussed before payment was made.

Nowadays, things can happen quickly in automated systems, even to the point of money being deducted, but still come from pricing errors. So I'd say that people should still have a bit of cop on, and accept that this was indeed a pricing error. But in a similar vein, Vodafone should not have deducted funds from peoples accounts.

imitation

keithclancy wrote: »

I dunno ... NCA says different:

http://corporate.nca.ie/eng/Business_Zone/Guides/Full%20List/Advertising.html



Might be worth contacting them.

I don't know if in this particular case that rule would hold, it seems to me its designed to punish unscrupulous businesses trying make money off customers using shady practices. However what Vodafone did was list a phone for 10% of its market price, they corrected the issue in a short period of time and issued refunds. There certainly no benefit to Vodafone considering the bad will and hassle that has been generated.

It would be a bit over the top for a judge to then come along and throw the book at the company. It sets a bad precedent for any other other company's that make a pricing mistake and it encourages people to exploit them, not a very business friendly move

Fresh Pots

Also had my €50 debited today. :mad: What a ridiculous system they have.

Thor

I too had the money taken from my account today.

Not sure how they plan on refunding us now, but it said in the email the money would be back in our accounts within 3 working days, I really doubt that.

The problem I have is that they said the orders were on hold since Saturday, if that is true then how come the money was taken in the end.

Anyone here shed some light on this. I didn't mind just getting my money back since it was just on hold, but the fact they have taken it kind makes me change that.

green123

has nobody tried asking about this on the talk to vodafone section of boards ?

or are they deleting threads over there ?

http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1270

dudara

green123 wrote: »

has nobody has tried asking about this on the talk to vodafone section of boards ?

or are they deleting threads over there ?

http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1270

The Vodafone reps cannot delete threads - that is under the control of Boards moderators and admins.

_Whimsical_

11. When you submit details to make a purchase, a credit card check is carried out by our third party credit card payment agent with our partner bank. We will send you an email confirming receipt of your order, this email shall not constitute an acceptance of your order. Your order will not be accepted and an agreement concluded between us and you until the relevant Goods have been shipped to you. Your credit card will be charged with the price of the Goods.

Source : https://www.vodafone.ie/terms/shop/

This is the relevant section from the Vodafone sales t&c. It is legal and provided for within the distance selling regulations.

There is no contract if the phone did not ship, therefore you have no legal rights and no right to redress beyond getting the return of your 50 euro.

Giving it anymore head space is unfortunately just wasting your time. There's nothing you can do.

green123

dudara wrote: »

The Vodafone reps cannot delete threads - that is under the control of Boards moderators and admins.

i never said that the vodafone reps deleted threads, did i ?

UrbanSea

green123 wrote: »

has nobody has tried asking about this on the talk to vodafone section of boards ?

or are they deleting threads over there ?

http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1270

dudara wrote: »

The Vodafone reps cannot delete threads - that is under the control of Boards moderators and admins.

green123 wrote: »

i never said that the vodafone reps deleted threads, did i ?

Sounds like dudara was just answering your question,doesn't it?

WildCardDoW

There's a delay in transactions, if Vodafone process a refund today, it'll still take 3 days to go through the bank. Not their fault.

green123

RichieLawlessness wrote: »

Sounds like dudara was just answering your question,doesn't it?

no, it doesnt, because my question wasnt about vodafone reps

pkent23

At this point, Vodafone have taken my money, not given me what I have paid for, not refunded me for what they have taken from my account...

Assuming that I am refunded, will vodafone cover any charges e.g. transaction fees or interest incurred by me in the time it takes for them to refund me the money that they took from my account after they apparently made a pricing error.

rameire

I think a facebook page should be setup
That would sort it.
Just like the littlewoods shocking scandle.

01902

Everyone who purchased this must of known it was an error and just chancing their arm at benefiting from a company mistake. They were never going to give an iphone to anyone for €50 sure everyone that who ordered one knew that and now they are issuing refunds that takes a few days to process. I don't really see the issue??

pkent23

01902 wrote: »

Everyone who purchased this must of known it was an error and just chancing their arm at benefiting from a company mistake. They were never going to give an iphone to anyone for €50 sure everyone that who ordered one knew that and now they are issuing refunds that takes a few days to process. I don't really see the issue??

People may have known it was an error and purchased it but the issue here is that Vodafone, despite knowing their error, processed the payment. Seems like vodafone are making a lot of mistakes and are not doing a lot to rectify it

At this point, many consumers have had money taken from their accounts and have neither received the goods that they paid for or any acknowledgement from Vodafone that they will refund the money. When you say that they are issuing refunds, where are you getting that information? Also, if you are an AIB customer, you may have incurred transaction charges, will Vodafone refund these?

I don't think it is unreasonable for people to take an offer at face value and attempt to purchase the phone. I don't think it is unreasonable for the same people to question why they are charged for a product that the supplier is not willing to provide. I think it is unreasonable that Vodafone have not publicly admitted their error, contacted the affected people and committed to a resoultion for all of it's mistakes.

Hope that clears up the understanding for you.

Kenny Logins

How much was the AIB transaction charge?

pkent23

Kenny Logins wrote: »

How much was the AIB transaction charge?

Not to dilute this topic with an AIB slant, I have added the below (source Irish Examiner Mar 22nd 2012). The point being made here is that (and irrelevant of the size of the bank charges) consumers will be left at an inconvenience and potentially out of pocket through no fault of their own. I say potentially because at this point, Vodafone have not committed to make any refund (neither of the €50 or any additional cost).


"From May 28, AIB will begin charging customers — who do not maintain a minimum of €2,500 in their current accounts — transaction fees and maintenance charges.

The charges include:

* 20c for every debit card transaction;

* 30c for every paper and staff-assisted transaction including cheques, counter withdrawals and lodgements, and staff-assisted transactions at any AIB branch or in the post office;

* 30c for withdrawing cash at the counter;

* 20c for every cash withdrawal from ATM’s with AIB banklink cards and AIB debit cards. "

Kenny Logins

This all just comes across as bitterness because you didn't get away with it. Get over it.

Kenny Logins

...you might be better off contacting Vodafone reps, here - http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2056874368

pkent23

Kenny Logins wrote: »

This all just comes across as bitterness because you didn't get away with it. Get over it.

Wouldn't say bitter Kenny... A bit disappointed that I didn't get a cheap phone and take advantage of what looked like a great offer. I'm sure you'd have taken a similar deal if it was offered to you and of interest.

I'll do my best to take your advice to get over it. It's super to have people like yourself giving motivational advice such as this on here. I see that you are quite the veteran on here and welcome any other nuggets of advice you would offer. Assume you work in some sort of customer facing industry and offer this sort of helpful advice regularly...

You might send on a link to any other motivational material as this response was a help to me and I hope others will find some comfort too. Honestly, I am thinking of donating the €50.20 to you (see how i put the transaction fee in there for you too!).

GerardKeating

TheTechGuy wrote: »

Also had my €50 debited today. :mad: What a ridiculous system they have.

If you had not tried a purchase when it was obvously a pricing error, your card would not have been debited...

xpletiv

GerardKeating wrote: »

If you had not tried a purchase when it was obvously a pricing error, your card would not have been debited...

And what if it wasnt a pricing error? Then hed be kicking himself more for NOT trying.

AlwaysAmber

pkent23 wrote: »

At this point, Vodafone have taken my money, not given me what I have paid for, not refunded me for what they have taken from my account...

Assuming that I am refunded, will vodafone cover any charges e.g. transaction fees or interest incurred by me in the time it takes for them to refund me the money that they took from my account after they apparently made a pricing error.

Will you refund Vodafone for the fee's they'll incur processing your refund when you knew damn well it was a pricing error and chanced your arm?

JustAddWater

imitation wrote: »

It would be a bit over the top for a judge to then come along and throw the book at the company. It sets a bad precedent for any other other company's that make a pricing mistake and it encourages people to exploit them, not a very business friendly move

It would make any company more stringent in their checks before uploading incorrect prices

At the moment, they can upload whatever they want, claim its wrong and no bother to them, no repercussions, no phones got sold for €50 so it was all good for them

A slap on the wrist would do them and others no harm

_Whimsical_

pkent23 wrote: »

Wouldn't say bitter Kenny... A bit disappointed that I didn't get a cheap phone and take advantage of what looked like a great offer. I'm sure you'd have taken a similar deal if it was offered to you and of interest.

I'll do my best to take your advice to get over it. It's super to have people like yourself giving motivational advice such as this on here. I see that you are quite the veteran on here and welcome any other nuggets of advice you would offer. Assume you work in some sort of customer facing industry and offer this sort of helpful advice regularly...

You might send on a link to any other motivational material as this response was a help to me and I hope others will find some comfort too. Honestly, I am thinking of donating the €50.20 to you (see how i put the transaction fee in there for you too!).

I wish that we could nominate posts for some sort of hall of fame. I think this one is kind of special.:)

Jarren

rameire wrote: »

I think a facebook page should be setup
That would sort it.
Just like the littlewoods shocking scandle.

Done


https://www.facebook.com/vodafonejustice

:pac:

super_furry

Justice? Sweet merciful Jesus.

Maybe give Nelson Mandella a shout, I'm sure he'd love to get involved in this titanic struggle for justice.