Character Building disappoint my kids

ianeck

My kids came across a set of soldiers and accessories priced at £6.99 on the Character Building website. I ordered one for each of them along with some other sets at the same price for their birthdays. The delivery arrived but one of the sets was not as depicted on the website. Instead of soldiers with accessories it was just a single gun and singlke solidier. I raised this with Character Building who discovered the image was wrong and actually depicted a £50 set. I explained the situation and asked if they could at least supply what was ordered at cost. They said all they could offer is a £10 discount meaning I had an unexpected bill of £80 to meet my promise to my kids courtesy of Character Building's carelessness.
Now I accept mistakes happen and would not hold anyone to a contract that would cause them loss but these are plastic toys made for Character and frankly I do not believe the margins of the entire chain is just £10. In fact I know this because the sets sell at £40 online and older releases of the same range sell at just £12 when they were originally £50 as well.
Character advise me that Trading Standards say a retailer can make a mistake but tough on the customer. Is this indeed true? Surely having been paid and having shipped the goods a contract is established. Then adding a further £80 charge to supply the contracted goods causes me a loss of bargain. A sensible law would then require each party to mitigate which in this case would mean Character fulfilling the contract at £6.99 or at cost whichever is the lower?
Any comments would be welcome and I will update the forum with any news?
I don't hold much help as Character who represent a range of kids franchises including Dr. Who, Deadly 60, Ben 10 and the FA clearly have the morals of Fagin.

moonshine

wouldn't this get more answers if it was on the Consumer Rights board? I'll PM a board guide to move it for you.

Nile

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

maninthestreet

Send the whole order back under the DSR, and get a full refund.

tomwakefield

Do you have a link to the product? What did the text description say?

somethingcorporate

Ultimately I think a refund would be the only option here. You cannot force the retailer to provide the item.

Hintza

I think the OP has already paid up instead of giving the kids a life lesson that is character building.

custardy

Hintza wrote: »

I think the OP has already paid up instead of giving the kids a life lesson that is character building.

LOL,that was my original take on the thread title

peachyprice

Mine too. :rotfl:

lovinituk

Hintza wrote: »

I think the OP has already paid up instead of giving the kids a life lesson that is character building.

I was going to post it if no-one else had

ianeck

Thanks for the suggestion of a different board.

The text and description was probably right but frankly could have applied to either product.

CB offered a refund of the product but that just set me back to square one. I have of course returned the order and await a full refund.

Surely though the retailers responsibility under a contract of sale extends to more than just a oops here is your money back in these circumstances? I wouldn't have held them to a loss but similarly wouldn't have expected to be held to an extra £80.

Anyway thankfully the issue was just toy soldiers and I need to go now and shower the kids before they get soot all over the living room. Then I need to get the hot coals on ready for Step 3.

Ian