THE STORE /EMPIRE STORES - URGENT READ THIS

m00nie

they said the ammended figures would show on my 1st statement, if they dont it dosent get paid untill they sort it, ive kept the original order confirmation and their email informing me they will honour the prices...

biglugs

NiceGuyG
Some people are angry with Empire because they deliberately advertised products at incredibly cheap prices, knowing that word would get round VERY quickly.
Sure enough loads of people went to their sale, ordered loads of cheap goodies, plus (like I did) some other stuff that I wouldn't have normally bothered with, but what the hell - we were saving so much anyway it didn't feel too bad.
Then funnily enough they say all those cheap items are out of stock, then they reprice those items on line, then send you the other stuff you didn't really want.
Then they've got you on their books as a new customer and send you loads of catalogues etc. you don't want either.
This is very sharp practice used to build thousands of new customers, and much cheaper than delivering junk mail to your door, but it has annoyed a lot of people.
Cheers

HairyHatMan

Am I missing something here buglugs?

How about not ordering the stuff you didn't really want in the first place?

Former_MSE_Controller2

Hi,

I think everyone who visits Grabbit only will now have seen this now. Its no longer a current offer and this thread is now one of the ones I have posted about here. In its present state I think this thread is best suited to the Vent it forum

Regards

MSE Controller 2

Highland_Lass_2

Try 0800220230
Code for £25 discount was PB1634

I am still trying to sort this mess out as they charged me full price and not the £25 off £50 spend. Refused delivery on the 1st parcel which was a couple of t-shirts but they delivered the drill set the next day without me knowing. What made it so annoying was I was in the house at the time. Now Empire are asking me where did I get the £25 off code and what is it. I just want them to take the drill back and put the £50 back into my account. They seem to think a £25 code was only for somebody recommending someone new. Can anyone help on this before I get back to them. Thanks.

knuckledragger

I only ordered one camera, see below...

FOR ATTENTION OF JACKIE SQUIRE

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your letter dated 2nd December re my recent order for the
product listed below:

FB4365 Digital Camera £116

I was sorry to here that the above item was sold out. I was so looking forward
to using my Sony DSC P93 digital camera to record Christmas memories this
year.

However, on checking your website today, I found that it is again in stock. It
appears that your company has changed the order code to SR6506 and increased
the price significantly to £299. I noted also that nowhere on your website can
you find the model number for this item and it can only be obtained by ringing
your customers services (I have the name of the helpful lady who assisted me).

As the product is now in stock, please can you now fulfill my order and supply
me with the item at the agreed price. You will note from your records that I
was also afforded a further 30% discount off the above price by means of a
discount code. This brought the total price down to approximately £82.

If the changing of the order code and repricing without quoting the model
number is a ploy to avoid honoring the original offer then please supply me
with the name and address of the person to whom any summons should be served
as I shall be looking to recover my losses via the small claims court. I shall
also be taking the matter up with my local Trading Standards Office. Please
reply within 14 days.

Your faithfully,

And the reply...

Dear Mr ...
Thank you for your email.
We are in receipt of your complaint in relation to the recent internet promotio
n which advertised spring/summer sale stock with a reduction of 65%
of the original catalogue
selling price. We note that you placed an order for goods at the reduced price
and were informed that they were in stock when in fact , items had already been
sold out by Empire.
At the outset please may i apologise on behalf of Redcats for the dissappointme
nt that this has caused.This problem arose as a result of a combination
of unfortunate and regrettable events in that the two computer systems
systems that control the company's website and its stock
disposal system failed to interlink as had been expected so that items
items that were out of stock were still being displayed as in stock. However,
However, as soon as this was identified steps were immediately put in place to
rectify the position and remove the out of stock items from the sale.
At the same time as the above occurred the initial price reduction of 65%,
which was a special limited promotional offer, was substituted with a price
reduction of 40% of the catalogue selling price. It, therefore, appeared to
those that had ordered the previous day
and been informed that the item was out of stock that in fact that was not the
case and the item had been in stock when they placed their order as the website
was now showing an in stock position with a higher price. This of course as
explained was not the position and out of stock items should not have been
advertised as Empire was simply not able to supply them.
Please be assured that urgent additional checks and procedures have been put in
place by Empire to ensure that this situation is not able to arise in the
and may I again apologize for any disappointment that this error has caused.
Kind regards
Lynsey Myers
Empire Customer Care Advisor

Any thoughts?

Sofa_Sogood

Only one knuckledragger .....

Can anyone make sense of their reply to you? ???

I could sit and read that all night and still be unable to translate it into anything meaningful.

Good letter to them though and good luck!

soolin

I agree with sofa, I can't make much sense of their response to you.

It looks like they are trying to confuse you by writing a load of stuff that actually doesn't make a lot of sense at first (or second) glance.

If you are feeling brave could you write back to them thanking them for their response and asking if it could be translated into plain English so that trading standards could help you make some sense of it?

Soo

MarkyMarkD

This could be very useful information, what is the source?

Basic contract law.

If you make a valid contract to supply something, you have to supply it. If you don't you are in breach of contract. If you breach a contract, you are liable to put the other party to the contract in the position they were in if the contract was fulfilled.

Refunding on a "bargain" which you later choose not to supply is not adequate recompense.

Refunding the full cost of buying the item elsewhere is the appropriate recompense and would be the basis of a small claims court claim.

The key point in this sort of dispute is "was a valid contract established". And it was only established if there was clear offer and acceptance (and consideration, but that DOES NOT mean that they have to charge your card just that you have to establish a financial liability to them).

If their Ts & Cs say "a contract is not established until we debit your card and despatch the goods and you can cancel without penalty up till that stage" then you haven't got a valid claim. If they say (like Dell's do) "a contract is established when we issue a PDF order confirmation" then that's fairly cut and dried. If it's somewhere in between, it's down to what appears reasonable.

knuckledragger

I have fired off a reply to Empire asking for a plain English version to send to my local Trading Standards office. Waiting begins...