Hypothetical contractual agreement question

edindie

I tried to buy this laptop from asda, but after taking my money and sending me an order acknowledgement and then a confirmation email (saying they’ve taken my money) they said that it’s out of stock and refunded my money.

Allegedly they’ll get some more stock in soon and the price is still the same on the website so this is probably a hypothetical question, but if they put the price up could I force them to sell me the laptop at the lower price we agreed on earlier?

After all, I offered to buy it and they accepted that when they took my money. Hence a contract has been formed yes/no?

sporedude

No you coudnt, Youve had a refund. So no contract would have been formed.

Halloway

I think by refunding your money the contract has been ended.

Look at it the other way around: how would you feel if the laptop were restocked at a lower price but Asda demanded that you pay the original higher price?

fwor

You need to look at the terms & conditions that you signed up to when you placed your order.

A contract was almost certainly formed, but in all probability Asda's T&Cs permit them to terminate the contract and refund your money under certain circumstances, and lack of stock will probably be one of them.