Help Please Difficult Consumer Problem

haunted57

Hi I am new here and was wondering if anyone would be able to help me.

I have purchased some items from a large reputable company via their online web site.
I placed order approx 1am last Saturday and waited for a confirmation email which did not arrive. I thought this might be because it was the weekend.

Anyway I had an email this morning saying that my card had been declined and could I ring the company to sort out this problem.


I rang the company, told them I had the £48.00 in account ,was told they had declined my card because I had entered wrong exp date. I knew this was untrue as I would have been alerted at time when I placed order. Anyway I asked them to try again while I was on the phone and again they told me my card was declined.

I knew this was impossible as prior to calling them I had called my bank and checked funds and knew that there was definately enough in bank to cover this transaction. I asked them to stay on the line and called my bank from my mobile whilst the company were on the line, the company tried twice more and said both times card was declined.

Bank couldn't understand so passed me through to another dept, I was then told yes my card had been declined as company were trying to charge £300 plus pounds. Suddenly all became clear, but this was very strange as my order total was less than £48.00!

My invoice total said less than £48.00 but the company were insisting that order was over £300.00.

I asked them to explain themselves as to why they had been trying to debit such a large amount without notifying me, they just said that that was the cost of my order and that is what I should pay, but my order total states much less.

Anyway rest of a long story short, they are saying that the totals I have been charged are actually wrong and they are in fact trying to charge me the correct amount.

They did not notify me of a problem, they just went ahead and tried to charge me over 5 times more for the order. If I had have had over £300.00 in my bank they would have taken it and I would have been none the wiser until I checked my bank. Even after we mentioned we had £48.00 in bank to cover order, company still tried to charge over £300.00, it was only the bank on the other line that told us what the company was up to.

Company have apparently passed this to their legal dept as hey say that we should actually be charged £300.00 plus but our order definately states £48.00.

Any advice as to our rights would be great, thanks in advance

anniecave

Well is there a total on the order screen as how much it is? Or on the invoice or wherever? And is the value what you thought it was?
When you place an order, you are agreeing to an order at the price given on the screen, so if they think the prices are different, then they should tell you this and give you the option to cancel the order.
It sounds to me like they are having a computer glitch. Ask to speak to a manager. Or someone in authority. Or their complaints department.

jobbingmusician

AFAIK you don't have any rights, sorry. I hope I'm wrong.

As I understand it you placed an order but don't have an email confirming the order. I know that vendors have the right to refuse to sell an item at an advertised price if it's wrong, so they could have just refused to sell you the item. Do you have a screenshot of your order being accepted, maybe?

THey then tried to charge you quite another price, which of course is unacceptable - but as you weren't actually charged the wrong price, I think it's unlikely you have much of a case against them. You might have a case for the expense they put you to in phone calls, and anything your bank might try to charge you for refusing the payment.

I really doubt that you have any legal entitlement to the goods at this price, sorry! (Moral entitlement is of course another thing........:o

haunted57

Thanks for both of the replies, I have a complete order screen shot with delivery address, order details, etc.
I have emailed this to them.
The point here is I have an order number and they have tried to charge me for the goods, not once but 5 times at a much higher price than the invoice.
They never once told me there was a price discrepancy, they just kept trying to charge the higher amount without telling me.
The point here is if the money was available, they would have taken it.

jobbingmusician

DEIGHTED to hear you've got a screenshot, and please let us know what happens - I am fascinated by this one.

Cheeky so and so's!

kellywelly_2

They attempted to take your money for an order albeit the wrong amount, but as they tried to take money then they have agreed to accept your order.

As you stated if you had had the funds available that they were trying to debit then the order would have proceeded.

The situation you would be in right now would be disputing the payment with your bank or card company as this is not the total you have on your invoice.

Hope you sort this out, a family member is a lawyer and we have had similar discussions before, from what i remember I think that you do have some rights.

Astaroth

A lot depends on the terms and conditions on the website.

It is a difficult one to deal with because of the fact that most of our laws predate the digital world. As others have pointed out in a traditional store where you have a physical person that does the selling then they obviously would have noticed that you were bringing a bottle of XO brandy and whilst the price sticker said it was £1.20 it was clearly an error. In those situation the retailer could refuse the sale and as long as they corrected the pricing error at the earliest opportunity would not be in breach of any regulations.

The question of cause is how this translates in a situation where there is no human oversite to ensure that there hasnt been an error, human or otherwise. I personally would strongly suspect that the courts would rule that as you have not been financially disadvantaged by the situation that they would rule in favour of the retailer especially if it was obviously a pricing error - like a plasma tv being sold for £10 etc

kellywelly_2

Yes but as the OP said they would have been financially disadvantaged if the they had had the money in their account as the company concerned tried to debit far more than the actual invoice was for. And if I understand corrcetly they tried to debit the higher amount although the OP was telling them they had the lower amount available and could not understand why card was declined as there was sufficient funds to take the lower amount.
Human oversite would come into play as OP was informing them that the amount to be taken was the lower amount but from what I understand the company concerned still repeatedly and deliberately trie to debit for the higher amount.

kellywelly_2

Gosh please excuse the spelling mistakes above, human error!

Poppy9

haunted57 wrote:

Thanks for both of the replies, I have a complete order screen shot with delivery address, order details, etc.
I have emailed this to them.
The point here is I have an order number and they have tried to charge me for the goods, not once but 5 times at a much higher price than the invoice.
They never once told me there was a price discrepancy, they just kept trying to charge the higher amount without telling me.
The point here is if the money was available, they would have taken it.

What exactly did you buy? Is it reasonable to expect to pay £48? If you were purchasing a small portable TV then £48 is reasonable if it was a 28" widescreen then £300 is more reasonable. I think the goods you bought and the normal selling price will help more in a complaint than the fact they tried to charge your account 5 times. After all you say in your first post that you insisted they try again 3 times.

Also can you name what large reputable company it was as others may have similar experiences which might add weight to your complaint.

kellywelly_2

Have had a brief chat with family member with legal background although consumer law is not her field of expertise, she asked a colleague apparently the OP should have been informed of the correct price before company tried to charge them the higher price and been given the option to continue with purchase or to cancel !