At what point is a 'contract' formed in an online transaction?

moromir

Background:

I placed an order on the Warehouse website, a one time use discount code was available to me through a loyalty scheme at work. The order was for a mixture of full price and sale items and the t&c of the code said that was okay.

I requested guaranteed delivery on Monday 17th October @ £4.99.

I received an 'Order Acknowledgement'.

My card was charged.

I had not received the parcel by Wednesday 19th October and the 'check your tracking status' link was not working.

I telephoned Customer Services and she wasn't able to track my parcel either and rang the depot but couldn't get an answer - she advised she would look into the matter and call me the next day.

To her credit she did call me on Thursday 20th October. However, apparently the parcel had been delivered to the depot but without a full address on it. The depot had already put the parcel back in transit to Warehouse's er.. warehouse .

She advised me that they couldn't intercept the parcel and relabel it and I would be automatically refunded and then I could place the order again.

I pointed out that my discount code expired on Monday 17th October and in any event - the sale items I had bought were now out of stock on the website.

I appreciate I am extremely unlikely to get the goods by complaining, but I'm severely narked off by the whole situation - I ended up wasting my half day on Thursday buying a new outfit for Friday and I still haven't been refunded nearly £90.00 as of todays date.

I want to write to the company and express my frustration with their initial lack of communication and inability to retrieve my parcel and relabel it.

Is there any point at which they have formed a contract with me to deliver the goods? Ie by their order acknowlegement or taking the payment? Can they revoke this by simply refunding me or saying in the acknowledgement that this doesn't mean they have agreed to send me the goods?

bobajob_1966

Their terms and conditions should detail when the contract is formed.

somethingcorporate

It's usually dispatch with an online retailer. Given they have sent it out to a depot I would suggest your contract has been formed. Do you have any of the above in writing? specifically referring to the post dispatch elements (i.e. being with a 3rd party delivery company etc).

moromir

Yes I do - the following is from an email sent by the lady at customer services who I will say was helpful and called me back when she said she would etc (can't fault her)

Subject Delayed delivery
Discussion Thread Response Via Email (Customer Services lady's name)
21/10/2011 02.14 PM

Dear (my name)

Regrettably I have gone to track your Order Number - xxxxxxx with the courier this morning and regrettably as the courier did not have the full address on the labelled printed on the parcel they have arranged for this order to be returned to sender. I have asked if this could be stopped and re delivered but regrettably it has already been loaded on van for transit.

Upon receipt a full refund will be processed. In order to receive these items a new order would need to be placed.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause and if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Customer By Phone (Entered by Customer services lady's name)

20/10/2011 04.14 PM Order Number - xxxxxxx

No tracking on metatrack, rightnow or via postcode with interlink?

Customer - (my phone number)

Question Reference #xxxxxxxxxxxx
Category Level 1: Delivery
Date Created: 20/10/2011 04.14 PM
Last Updated: 21/10/2011 02.14 PM
Status: Solved
Time sent:

texranger

this was handed to the courier, so it was dispatched and therefore contract formed.

moromir

Thanks for confirming what I thought

As a point of interest - can the retailer dictate at what point a contract is formed then? Is there no legalese for when it is formed? (ie when an order is acknowledged, or when payment is taken, or when it is dispatched? Is it simply permitted for a retailer to change their mind at any point and say they are cancelling and refunding?)

pcombo

Your getting a refund and you expected that. Not sure what your problem is now, Mistakes happen.

bobajob_1966

I hate to be pedantic but their t&c's are more specific than a simple 'contract formed on dispatch' (hence why I suggested you read them).

An offer made by you to purchase a product shall only be deemed to be accepted by us when we despatch that product to you and send you an Order despatch email which includes details of the product. We reserve the right to refuse any offers in an Order prior to acceptance. If a product is not available we will include details of the unavailable product in the Order despatch email. A product which is not available will not be included in the contract for a product which is despatched.

Did you receive the order despatch email?

Broadly speaking, a retailer can specify when the contract is formed, however such a stipulation would have to be reasonable/ fair.

moromir

pcombo wrote:

Your getting a refund and you expected that. Not sure what your problem is now, Mistakes happen.

My 'problem' is that they made no attempt to contact me - my parcel sat at the depot for two days - during which time I could have driven and collected it.

Instead they didn't contact me - by the time I realised something was wrong and contacted them - the parcel was already on its way back to Warehouse for 'automatic refund'.

I lost the use of my discount coupon which had expired on the Monday (the day they were supposed to deliver) - therefore buying the same items in store on Thursday cost me 20% more than my online order.

I'm not in anyway suggesting they should refund me the 20% extra I had to pay thanks to their sucky system or anything stupid like that but I do want to make my feelings known - the whole thing was really frustrating. Nearly a week later and the refund hasn't been processed (I'm guessing I could have to wait for up to 30 days looking at their t&c).

I just think its an exceedingly poor show all round.

moromir

bobajob_1966 wrote:

I hate to be pedantic but their t&c's are more specific than a simple 'contract formed on dispatch' (hence why I suggested you read them).

Did you receive the order despatch email?

Broadly speaking, a retailer can specify when the contract is formed, however such a stipulation would have to be reasonable/ fair.

Hi Boba, sorry I didn't mean to appear to discount your advice - I have had a thorough read through the t&c and I do indeed have a dispatch confirmation email. Thanks for your help so far.

ETA: I realise I didn't mention the dispatch confirmation in my OP, apologies for any confusion.

pcombo

moromir wrote: »

My 'problem' is that they made no attempt to contact me - my parcel sat at the depot for two days - during which time I could have driven and collected it.

Instead they didn't contact me - by the time I realised something was wrong and contacted them - the parcel was already on its way back to Warehouse for 'automatic refund'.

I lost the use of my discount coupon which had expired on the Monday (the day they were supposed to deliver) - therefore buying the same items in store on Thursday cost me 20% more than my online order.

I'm not in anyway suggesting they should refund me the 20% extra I had to pay thanks to their sucky system or anything stupid like that but I do want to make my feelings known - the whole thing was really frustrating. Nearly a week later and the refund hasn't been processed (I'm guessing I could have to wait for up to 30 days looking at their t&c).

I just think its an exceedingly poor show all round.

It's not upto couriers to phone you. It's up to you to call your local depot with the tracking number provided and ask.