To sue, or not to sue . . . that is the question

neilmcl

singlerider wrote: »

I will admit it seemed an offer too good to be true, but when you look elsewhere on their site and see products worth over £1500 being sold for under £70, then suddenly £31.49 for something costing £799 doesn't seem so out of place.

Have you seen items worth £1500 being sold for £70, where are they? Or are you just referring to the news item where someone in the states "won" the auction item valuead at $1500 for nearly $70. Winning an auction at a low price and using a buy it now option as you did are completely different things.

singlerider

I thought the contract became valid upon the acceptance of the offer?

Furthermore, they not only accepted the offer, but also took payment.

Surely this would be an agreement to sell as they have agreed to provide goods at a later date, as defined by the Sale of Goods Act 1979?

Therefore the withdrawal has taken place after the contract was in place, no?

I've read the T&Cs, and I don't think it covers this. The Term they specifically refer to when trying to worm their way out is Term 12, which covers System Outage (irrelevant) - so surely if they had a better get out clause than that then they would have used it?

dmg24

We still haven't established whether the contract was made in the UK!

singlerider

neilmcl wrote: »

Have you seen items worth £1500 being sold for £70, where are they? Or are you just referring to the news item where someone in the states "won" the auction item valuead at $1500 for nearly $70. Winning an auction at a low price and using a buy it now option as you did are completely different things.

True, but as their modus operandi is to supply "premium brandname products at extraordinarily low prices", these examples can put into perspective what they may mean by 'extraordinarily low prices'.

Like I said before, if they were selling the product at £7.99 then it would be obvious that there was an error with the placement of the decimal point, but £31.49 bears absolutely no relation to the RRP, and though it does seem very cheap - extraordinarily cheap even - that is exactly what Swoopo prides itself on offering.

If they didn't want to sell me the product at that price, they shouldn't have accepted the offer, now that they have are they not contractually obliged to honour that price?

If the shoe was on the other foot it would be the same thing - I know a couple of people recently who'd put an offer in on new-build houses, had it accepted and signed a contract - then when the credit crunch came along they wanted to pull out, but as they'd signed the agreement they were contractually obliged to purchase at the agreed price.

Why would Swoopo not be contractually obliged to sell the product at the price they themselves agreed to sell it at?

singlerider

dmg24 wrote: »

We still haven't established whether the contract was made in the UK!

Indeed it was

Indie_Kid

dmg24 wrote: »

We still haven't established whether the contract was made in the UK!

It has been established:

(And it's under UK law btw)

woody01

singlerider wrote: »

Why not?

I made an offer, and they accepted it - so now we have a legally binding contract. I'm duty bound to pay that price, and they're duty bound to supply the goods at that price.

As for it being 'blatantly an error' this is a site that prides itself on supplying "premium brandname products at extraordinarily low prices". What would you define as 'extraordinarily low'? You certainly can't claim it as a typo, because £31.49 is nothing like £799, so I don't think it can be said to be 'blatantly an error' - I assumed it was being used as a loss-leader in order to entice people into the site.

(And it's under UK law btw)

This all completely wrong and you are talking out of your jacksie!!
There is no contract and the more you stamp your feet, the more foolish you look.

So, they're playing hardball.

As far as I can see, they haven't got a leg to stand on - advertising the product at that price was an invitation to treat, but as soon as I made the offer and they sent the confirmatory email accepting it - a contract was in place, a legally binding contract

Well i am sorry but you are wrong and you havent a leg to stand on.

I thought the contract became valid upon the acceptance of the offer?

Npoe.
The contract is only binding when:
a). Payment has been accepted
AND
b). The purchase has been sent or the purchaser has left the shop

If BOTH of these arent in place, the contract is not formal

neilmcl

singlerider wrote: »

Like I said before, if they were selling the product at £7.99 then it would be obvious that there was an error with the placement of the decimal point, but £31.49 bears absolutely no relation to the RRP, and though it does seem very cheap - extraordinarily cheap even - that is exactly what Swoopo prides itself on offering.

Only in your opinion, unfortunately for you I don't think there's a court in the land that'll agree with you. Yes, you can win items at extroadinarily low prices during the normal process of bidding but the "swoop it now" process is different and any reasonable person would see that, on the balance of probabilities, the price advertised was clearly a mistake.

But you seem to be very confident so go for it, take them to court and let us know how you get on. You'll probably wont be able to retain a solicitor as I'd doubt any would touch this with a bargepole so you'll be on your own. :beer:

singlerider

Hmmm . . . I was kinda hoping the more I dragged this out the more people might turn up to be on my side, it's looking rather balanced in their favour at the minute, which is a bit of a !!!!!!.

Would it help if I mentioned the Jonathon Vernon Smith show were interested in my story?

OlliesDad

singlerider wrote: »

If the shoe was on the other foot it would be the same thing - I know a couple of people recently who'd put an offer in on new-build houses, had it accepted and signed a contract - then when the credit crunch came along they wanted to pull out, but as they'd signed the agreement they were contractually obliged to purchase at the agreed price.

I think you realise that this would be completely different circumstances.

As the deal was done at a distance, different rules apply. The contract is said to be formed upon dispatch/delivery of the goods to yourself, up until this point the contract can be cancelled by either party, after this point the customer can cancel without charge up until 7 working days after delivery. This is based on the Distance Selling Regulations.