Sale of goods and my rights

sb22uk

My apologies if this should have been posted somewhere else, this is my first time posting and I'm hoping for some advice.

We purchased a footstool from SCS today. We dealt with one of the salesman who we bargained a little with. Having originally told us it would cost £249 in the sale with the leather colour covering we wanted, we asked if they could get us another 10% off. He duly went away and asked his manager who said no. At that point we said thanks but no thanks and left. Halfway across the carpark the salesman called us back to say they could give us 5% discount and we accepted. We went back into the store, went through all of the paperwork detailing the manufacturer, the suite style and the colour of the leather covering. I paid by card and received a receipt for all of the above, which 2 members of staff were involved in doing.
Everything was fine until about 20 minutes later when I received a phone call from the salesman saying that he'd charged me the wrong price for the footstool and that it should have been £299 not £249 for a leather covered footstool to begin with and could I go back into the store and pay them the difference.
We then explained that we'd agreed a sale with them, which they've accepted, the goods had been paid for and we had the receipt to prove it, with all of the options we chose specifically stated. in short we've bought it at the price they offered (agreed by salesman and manager) so we weren't then prepared to go back and pay more. The salesman told us that they wouldn't process our order with their warehouse until we paid the difference. We obviously asked to speak to the manager who went through the same conversation before basically telling us we could take legal action if we wanted and then hung up.
Does anyone have any advice/information on this? Can they really ask us to pay more money for an item we've effectively already bought? What rights do we actually have here?

Many thanks for any help.

pendulum

Seems like you are entitled to get what you agreed upon at the price you paid for it, to me. Having a clear receipt is handy. Write a letter explaining what's happened and that you expect them to honour the contract as they are legally bound to. It's best to get things in writing rather than telephone calls.

Check the T&C's for anything of relevance first.

unholyangel

Damages for non-delivery.

(1)Where the seller wrongfully neglects or refuses to deliver the goods to the buyer, the buyer may maintain an action against the seller for damages for non-delivery.

(2)The measure of damages is the estimated loss directly and naturally resulting, in the ordinary course of events, from the seller’s breach of contract.

(3)Where there is an available market for the goods in question the measure of damages is prima facie to be ascertained by the difference between the contract price and the market or current price of the goods at the time or times when they ought to have been delivered or (if no time was fixed) at the time of the refusal to deliver.

IMO, they've entered into a legally binding contract. There was something similar on Watchdog or a similar programme (I remember Dom Littlewood was on it), a shop sold a mp3 player, took the cash then as the gentleman was leaving, said they'd undercharged him and he had to pay the extra or give it back. The guy gave it back but legally, the contract had been formed, there had been offer + acceptance and therefore, it was legally binding.

I'd speak to consumer direct or trading standards. What may give your claim even more weight is if SCS wouldn't allow you to cancel or amend the order once you have paid - as this would come under unfair contract terms act (the fact it allows them to cancel/amend and not the consumer).

Put your complaint in writing though That way there's a record of it. And enclose the copy of your receipt stating that as there has been offer + acceptance, they are now in a legally binding contract to supply them at the price paid.

mo786uk

unless you are willing to go to court then just go back and get a refund on your money and shop elsewhere.

arcon5

I wonder if you could pay the difference under protest, get the goods then sue for the difference.

Ultimately it comes down to whether your willing to go to court over this?

fluffnutter

I'd try once to settle on the originally agreed price. If this goes nowhere I'd try to cancel the contract. A protracted court battle over a footstool is not worth the heartache IMO.

somethingcorporate

Deal done, they should supply at the contracted price. The fact they made an error is their lookout.

Getting them to do that is the hard part though. Ultimately, if they refuse to budge, you may just end up with a refund.

shaun_from_Africa

I would still see if you could get something in writing from Trading standards and forward a copy of this to the shop along with a letter before action. (send by recorded delivery)

You still might not get the footstool, but as trying this will only involve writing out and sending a letter and won't cause any stress, it might be worth doing.

[Deleted User]

Do you really want THAT footstool so much? I believe that you are correct and are entitled to it as a contract has been made, but is it worth the hassle of taking legal action? Personally I would argue the point in store and explain their obligations to them. If they won't budge, I would get a refund, shop elsewhere and think about reporting them to Trading Standards.

arcon5

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I would still see if you could get something in writing from Trading standards and forward a copy of this to the shop along with a letter before action. (send by recorded delivery)

You still might not get the footstool, but as trying this will only involve writing out and sending a letter and won't cause any stress, it might be worth doing.

But what would they be claiming in the LBA at this stage? It would just be the original sales price which the company would likely refund anyway.

shaun_from_Africa

But what would they be claiming in the LBA at this stage? It would just be the original sales price which the company would likely refund anyway.

They could claim for breech of contract and possibly loss of bargain.

I only suggested this as it would mean that the OP wouldn't need to pay the full price for the stool and then possibly have to take legal action for the recovery of the extra £50.
Yes, they would probably win the case (although this isn't guaranteed), and it might involve a lot of stress and time for the sake of £50.

I thought that a letter at this stage may be the quickest and easiest way to proceed.