Technical error?

clsmac

arcon5 wrote: »

Or maybe it was infact a technical problem? I see no benefit to them pricing an £1100 product at £200 on purpose.

Hi,arcon, Its not the fact if it is or not a technical glitch, if the web page itself shows a product with a price attached to it then next the product it shows a discount offer and the consumer at that point of sale has not been given any other conflicting information concerning the price as to make him believe the offer is incorrect he has purchased in good faith.

williamreid7

arcon5 wrote: »

They could also respond by saying they should not have taken payment at the point they did as it breached their own terms. This doesn't necessarily mean a contract has been formed or the act in itself form the contract, just they have not followed their own procedure.

As I said there are a lot of ifs and buts in this situation no matter how it has happened I don't believe its been good customer service, as a company the size of M&S should always follow their procedures also by researching it can be seen this is not the first time this has happened and the last time they acted in a different manner whilst abiding by the same terms etc.

wealdroam

clsmac wrote: »

Hi,arcon, Its not the fact if it is or not a technical glitch, if the web page itself shows a product with a price attached to it then next the product it shows a discount offer and the consumer at that point of sale has not been given any other conflicting information concerning the price as to make him believe the offer is incorrect he has purchased in good faith.

Yes, the purchase was made in good faith.

Equally we can probably reasonably assume that the pricing info was put on the website 'in good faith'.
However, it appears a mistake was made.

Is there anything in the misleading pricing regulations that legislates against mistakes?

There is a lengthy explanation of this situation in this thread.

Of course it is possible that there are mistakes in that thread too, and I am sure any correction to that would be welcome.

hr9hr9

Hi

We made a mistake on our website for an expensive item worth £2000+ and the customer thought they could get the item FREE.

They quoted all kinds to us and said that they had not accepted our T&C (however this was untrue and I forwarded them a copy of the acceptance).

This person said they would take the matter further and I said please do.

No money had changed hands.

I took legal advice in anticipation of legal action and was told that the person would not have a chance in hell in court as they couldn't walk into a store and remove goods for FREE. She said that common sense has to prevail in such matters and no judge worth their salt would find for the customer as it had been a genuine error.

williamreid7

wealdroam wrote: »

Yes, the purchase was made in good faith.

Equally we can probably reasonably assume that the pricing info was put on the website 'in good faith'.
However, it appears a mistake was made.

Is there anything in the misleading pricing regulations that legislates against mistakes?

There is a lengthy explanation of this situation in this link

Of course it is possible that there are mistakes in that thread too, and I am sure any correction to that would be welcome.

Hi thanks again for the link. Again for me tho it comes down to the acceptance of the contract, which I honestly believe they have done this is also from their terms and conditions

All products that you order through the Website will remain the property of Marks & Spencer until we have received payment in full from you for those products.

They have one line in their terms that would suggest that a contract is not yet formed however many of the other terms contradict that line and an email stating acceptance is once there ready to dispatch they will then take payment. Which all suggests that its not on dispatch as such but when they are ready to dispatch and ownership transfers when the money is taken. Which also seems correct when looking at other problems they have had in the past.

I feel M&S know many buyers will not have the ability or means to raise a small claims court case and would rather use big company bullying tactics as they know nothing will be done.

unholyangel

It also states this in their T&C's though (which is apparently a legal "get out" clause):

Product and service descriptions

We have taken reasonable precautions to try to ensure that prices quoted on the Website are correct and that all products have been fairly described. However, when ordering products or services through the Website, please note that:
orders will only be accepted if there are no material errors in the description of the goods or services or their prices as advertised on this Website;

Along with this:
17.7 We may correct any typographical error or omission in any documentation we supply to you without any liability on our part provided that, if the correction has a material impact on the services we provide or the price then we will inform you as soon as possible and offer you the option to cancel our Contract and to have any fees you have paid refunded to you.

williamreid7

hr9hr9 wrote: »

Hi

We made a mistake on our website for an expensive item worth £2000+ and the customer thought they could get the item FREE.

They quoted all kinds to us and said that they had not accepted our T&C (however this was untrue and I forwarded them a copy of the acceptance).

This person said they would take the matter further and I said please do.

No money had changed hands.

I took legal advice in anticipation of legal action and was told that the person would not have a chance in hell in court as they couldn't walk into a store and remove goods for FREE. She said that common sense has to prevail in such matters and no judge worth their salt would find for the customer as it had been a genuine error.

Thanks for the reply, but thats not the case here I have accepted their terms and conditions and in my view they are not living up to their end of their own terms and conditions.

And in my understanding of the law, you are also indeed correct in the fact that no way would someone ever be able to claim a contract to get goods for free, as there needs to be some sort of exchange in order for a contract to be required. However in this case money has been paid out of my account.

The product was a TV which has a retail of £1100 however in many shops has been as low as £600 including accessories, this was supposed to be a deal of the day and in this when looking at the confusing discounts it looked like it was indeed £199 they were charging they also said discounts wouldn't be applied till it was checked out and when this was done it came in at what I expected from the original page.

As stated previously if they had clear terms and stuck to those terms I would have no complaint what so ever but in my opinion this is where they have acted incorrectly.

williamreid7

unholyangel wrote: »

It also states this in their T&C's though (which is apparently a legal "get out" clause):

Product and service descriptions

We have taken reasonable precautions to try to ensure that prices quoted on the Website are correct and that all products have been fairly described. However, when ordering products or services through the Website, please note that:
orders will only be accepted if there are no material errors in the description of the goods or services or their prices as advertised on this Website;

Along with this:
17.7 We may correct any typographical error or omission in any documentation we supply to you without any liability on our part provided that, if the correction has a material impact on the services we provide or the price then we will inform you as soon as possible and offer you the option to cancel our Contract and to have any fees you have paid refunded to you.

To me their full terms and conditions appear to have various get out clauses and contradictions and thats where my problem also lies, they had time to check these prices etc as my account was processing for hours then it changed to dispatching soon then my account was charged this was the time in which they should have checked for error and cancelled. They didn't and charged me which is when I believe their terms and conditions become even more misleading.

somethingcorporate

I find it bizarre they have such an exciting, confusing and conflicting set of T&Cs. If a term is ambiguous in a court of law it would be held against the party relying on it.

However, I don't think you are going to get anywhere with this one. They will refuse to give you the item and refund your money.

My understanding is (and I am not a lawyer) that you cannot argue you have legal title to the goods when they take the money, otherwise you would have to also take the risk of those items post money-taking whilst in the care of M&S and in transit. This is evidently not the case.

unholyangel

williamreid7 wrote: »

All products that you order through the Website will remain the property of Marks & Spencer until we have received payment in full from you for those products.

I think that perhaps relates to credit accounts? I read somewhere in their T&C's about "if we open a credit account for you...." or something like that.