Seller undercharged, now asking for money 3 weeks after item delivered

Phil__3

Hi,

I bought an item off the internet on the 4th May, payment was taken on the 9th May, item was dipatched on the 27th May. I received the item no problems a few days later.

I received an e-mail on the 24th June stating that there was an error in the pricing of the goods and I was undercharged. The seller said that they needed to charge my card for the extra amount.

From what I've read so far ( please correct me if I'm wrong ) as the seller has sent out the item and I have received what I paid for the contract for purchase and delivery has been completed. The online transaction was handled through paypoint.net so as far as I'm aware the seller won't be able to take the payment without my consent.

Can the seller legally request the underpayment from me and do I have to pay it? In their terms and conditions, it states about typing errors but this only covers them up to the point of dispatch?

Thanks,

Phil

arcon5

Now they have dispatched the goods its considered an acceptance of your offer to purchase the goods.

I believe the paypoint backend system can charge your card using 'cross referencing'.

I would cancel the card if I was you to ensure they can't charge it. If they do charge it, simply do a chargeback.

Either way you don't have to pay. They should have spotted this before dispatch and invited you to pay the difference or cancelled the order.

neilmcl

The simple answer is no, the contract is concluded. What sort of pricing error was there?

Phil__3

Thanks for the replies. The error they are quoting is £262, so it isn't a small amount. It is more than I actually paid for the item. When I enquired about the delivery of the item, the seller stated he had sold 18 that morning. If everyone who bought it was charged the same amount I was the losses will obviously be considerable.

neilmcl

What was the item and the price advertised?

Unintentional

Phil_ wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. The error they are quoting is £262, so it isn't a small amount. It is more than I actually paid for the item. When I enquired about the delivery of the item, the seller stated he had sold 18 that morning. If everyone who bought it was charged the same amount I was the losses will obviously be considerable.

Their problem not yours. He should of checked before he shipped it to you that the price you paid was correct.

Phil__3

It was an camera underwater housing, the price advertised was £195.

Unintentional

Phil_ wrote: »

It was an camera underwater housing, the price advertised was £195.

If that was the price advertised, then they have accepted your offer to purchase it for £195 and have shipped it out to you. They cannot come back 3 week later and claim you were undercharged.

Phil__3

That's what I thought. It was roughly 4 weeks from order to receiving the item, and with the amount that were being sold I would have thought they would have noticed an error that large.

shaun_from_Africa

I'm sure that if you have a look at the T&C's page of the retailer it will state something along the lines of "a contract is only formed when the goods are dispatched".
Just out of curiosity, who was the retailer concerned?

Unintentional

Did they ask you for your card details? Unless they have them saved they cannot charge your card and cannot do a thing about it since you've done nothing wrong.