I PAID FOR x43 IPOD TOUCH BY ARGOS OUTLET @ £9.99

timelliott

Hi guys - I have what I think is a case possibly for small claims court what are your thoughts?

Argos Outlet listed ipod touch 4th generation for £9.99 - clearly a mistake as the value of these is £100+ per unit - as a result of finding this I proceeded to buy 43 of them! White ones and black ones first one at a time then 10 at a time.

Overjoyed at the bargain I paid as requested by the automated process by paypal immediately as I bought each batch of ipods - the result being I was a proud owner of 43 ipods - it worked out with postage about £16.33 per ipod.

Argos refunded the money stating in the refund email "CANCELLED" and also "CANCELLED - UNWANTED" clearly this is not the case of course I want them!

I then called Ebay - Ebay help stated that I should have been informed by the seller that they were to do this prior to the refund and they should have given a reason why. And Ebay then outlined what I could do - i.e. Make a complaint for seller non-performance - by Argos - and also leave negative feedback.

I posted on FB to my friends about this to get an opinion - and one of my friends mentioned small claims court - as this is a legally binding contract.

And when I think about this I feel like I may have something to go on - what are your thoughts guys any feedback/help appreciated do you think I have a case?

Argos sent a £10 "GOODWILL PAYMENT" this almost shows to me that I may have a case- I recall seeing in the Sun Newspaper that years ago Argos got a price wrong but had to honour it. I feel that the £10 goodwill payment is like they are trying to get away without keeping their side of the deal.

Argos Outlet requested I cancel all the transactions through ebay I have declined the offers to cancel and here I am trying to see if I have a leg to stand on as such!!

Any feedback or help really appreciated guys - I feel Argos are quick enough to ask me to pay immediately by PayPal and take my money but were really quick refunding it!!

Thanks in advance! - PS I can show link to the item - if needed!

eaglesrjh

Hi. No contract exists until the retailer confirms the order.
They have a right to cancel the sale if they notice the error before confirming the order.
This is what they have done, it would have been good customer service to let you know but legally they cannot be forced to sell something due to human error.
Automatic emails from eBay or paypal don't count as they are not the retailer. on ebay no actual contract exists unless the user contacts you or the item is marked as dispatched.

soolin

They legally do not have to honour it according to this MSE article:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3277262

However this is ebay so you can leave feedback and raise a complaint against seller.

peter_the_piper

Daft thing is if he had not gone for so many, 1 or 2 might well have sneaked through.

timelliott

Yes greed took over I am afraid - thanks for your feedback peoples.

Tim

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

As you were aware the price was a mistake a court would likely take the view that a contract did not exist regardless of other terms and as you were clearly not acting as a consumer you would have any consumer protection to back you up either.

I find it amazing that someone would want to see someone else lose 4 grand in the first place let along then want to take them to court over it.

chemical.galaxy

Argos outlet have a pretty poor feedback, I doubt they would be bothered by yours.

Personally I would just move on and forget about it.

About 4 weeks ago I placed an order with Argos and along with my order they sent me 5 coffee grinders, retailing at £25 each. I was tempted to stick them on Ebay but instead I took them back to Argos and they gave me a £10 voucher as a thank you.
Karma and all that!

m0ns00n

To the OP, how would you feel if this had happened the other way round?

Imagine you were a small business trading on eBay and you accidentally listed a bunch of £9.99 items for 99p. Imagine someone then notices this and immediately buys 50 of them.

Would you honour the purchases, or cancel them explaining there had been a pricing error? Would you like it if they then tried to take you to court over it?

timelliott

m0ns00n wrote: »

To the OP, how would you feel if this had happened the other way round?

Imagine you were a small business trading on eBay and you accidentally listed a bunch of £9.99 items for 99p. Imagine someone then notices this and immediately buys 50 of them.

Would you honour the purchases, or cancel them explaining there had been a pricing error? Would you like it if they then tried to take you to court over it?

This is a national company who makes millions in profit for it's shareholders - if it was another seller in the same league as any other person (i.e.not with 900,000+ feedback) I would not even consider it. The consumer gets fleeced all the time by companies like these i have no beef at all at trying to win over these companies. I have no affinity with shareholder and the like they are who screwed this country up and are driving prices up in the first place....

timelliott

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

As you were aware the price was a mistake a court would likely take the view that a contract did not exist regardless of other terms and as you were clearly not acting as a consumer you would have any consumer protection to back you up either.

I find it amazing that someone would want to see someone else lose 4 grand in the first place let along then want to take them to court over it.

This is not "someone" it is Argos. If I could I would I assure you.

RFW

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

As you were aware the price was a mistake a court would likely take the view that a contract did not exist regardless of other terms and as you were clearly not acting as a consumer you would have any consumer protection to back you up either.

Exactly that, you knew the price was wrong, rather than a discount, and took advantage of that.

It is one of the few areas consumer law is very clear on. I doubt a court would believe that you didn't know it was an error and bought 43 of them for your grandchildren's Christmas presents...

Occasionally big stores have similar mistakes and will sometimes honour them (I sometimes think it's a publicity stunt, it usually works out cheaper than any advertising).