I brought glasses for £2.38 and now the seller is canceling is this legal?

Vinodpatel

HI, i purchased some glasses from draper opticals and the price for 2 pair of glasses was £2.38 and i placed two orders so 4 glasses and £4.76 in total. However, he has sent me an email saying that there was an error on his website and that he is going to refund me my money but i dont want my money back but want the glasses for that price.

The reason i'm being so stubborn this time is becuase last time i placed an order with him and i made a mistake on the prescription and i tried emailing on sevaral occasions and even tried phoning him, however he would not pick up the phone nor reply to my emails.

my question is is it legal for him to cancel my order after i having paid him and entering in a legal contract? and what can i do as i really don't want my money back but want the glasses for that price.

RFW

If they've made a mistake there isn't much you can do about it. You could report them to Trading Standards so if they have done it before it would be flagged up, you can't make someone sell you something if they don't want to, they can just as easily say the glasses have been stolen/lost in post/eaten/disintegrated or whatever they like, if they haven't got them to sell you (or say they haven't) there is nothing you can do about it.

ChristinaWilson

If it were me, I wouldn't have even bought from him a second time. If he did not return your phonecalls or e-mails the first time you purchased from him, why would he this time? He doesn't sound like a very reliable and truthful person if you ask me.

But, to answer your original question. If it is truly his websites fault, and not his own I don't think there is much you can do.

martindow

The legal term is an invitation to treat. Where something is offered for sale a shop it is inviting the buyer to come along with their money and offer to pay. At the till if a shop realises something is priced at 1.99 when it should have been 199 they can turn down the sale on the basis that they do not want to accept your offer as it was an error on their part. The contract is only made when they accept an offer. The customer cannot insist on buying at an incorrect displayed price

The internet throws up an interesting question. It could be argued that on a web site where you pay by card online that by taking your payment they have accepted your offer, even if there is an obvious pricing error, and have thus formed a contract.

Someone more expert will be along, I am sure, to tell us whether there is any case law on this.

ukjoel

I recently bought some stuff from Joules. I took advantage of a pricing glitch which got me £16 of goods for £1 on each order and placed 10+ orders.
The money was taken from my credit card by their autopayment system.

The next day they sent an email apologising for the glitch, cancelling the order and giving me a 50% discount voucher to use which I needed to use within 48 hours and phone them first. I ignored the email and 5 days later (unexpectedly) my items all arrived.

Once you have ordered the goods and they have taken the money the transaction is effectively complete as you have offer, and acceptance.
Most big shops get caught out by this occasionally ie the Tesco tomato fiasco last month or my Joules example.

If you want to press you can and you will probably win.

RFW

ukjoel wrote: »

I recently bought some stuff from Joules. I took advantage of a pricing glitch which got me £16 of goods for £1 on each order and placed 10+ orders.
The money was taken from my credit card by their autopayment system.

The next day they sent an email apologising for the glitch, cancelling the order and giving me a 50% discount voucher to use which I needed to use within 48 hours and phone them first. I ignored the email and 5 days later (unexpectedly) my items all arrived.

Once you have ordered the goods and they have taken the money the transaction is effectively complete as you have offer, and acceptance.
Most big shops get caught out by this occasionally ie the Tesco tomato fiasco last month or my Joules example.

If you want to press you can and you will probably win.

If, for whatever reason, they can't complete the sale, all they have to do is refund. If they do this a lot they could end up in trouble with Trading Standards, but legally if they have refunded it would be difficult to get much more. The big companies have taken the hit, as otherwise they would look bad and also an odd mistake made good is good publicity for them.

somethingcorporate

ukjoel wrote: »

Once you have ordered the goods and they have taken the money the transaction is effectively complete as you have offer, and acceptance.

Not quite, lots of online retailers have T&Cs to the effect that the offer is not accepted until dispatch of goods. This is due to the automation of payment systems online.

You may get lucky but it is usually goodwill. Have a scan of the consumer rights forum, this crops up all the time.

Enfieldian

Find TBeckett on the "Grabbit" board.

He/She will set up a web page for you to stamp your feet in cyberspace, like the one he/she did for the recent Pixmania "£199 42 LED TV that never was"

Because in this day and age, you would reasonably expect to buy 4 pairs of glasses for £4.76.

And yes, I am being sarcastic.

cyberbob

Enfieldian wrote: »

Because in this day and age, you would reasonably expect to buy 4 pairs of glasses for £4.76.

And yes, I am being sarcastic.

I've found some for £1.55 a pair:D

http://www.partydomain.co.uk/d-commerce/product4144.html