Website purchase terms and conditions advice

MrA2012

First of all, apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong forum. I wasn't sure which one was the most appropriate and will happily repost in a different one if need be.

I was in the process of ordering a TV stand from www.luminati.co.uk but was discouraged from clicking the confirm button by a few things in their terms and conditions which I find a bit worrying. In particular these two:

4.2 Unless otherwise expressly slated to be firm for a period the Company's prices are subject to variation to take account of variations in wages, materials or other costs since the date of the order. The company accordingly reserves the right to adjust the invoice price by the amount of any increase or decrease in such costs after the price is quoted and the invoice so adjusted shall be payable as if it were the original contract price.

10. CARRIAGE
Where the Buyer requests delivery prices quoted will be based on a full load, any shortfall resulting in difference in cost shall be charged to the Buyer's account.

Am I reading those right? It sounds like they are saying they can increase the price of the item and the delivery after the order has been placed, and I would be expected to pay whatever they charged me. Surely not?

The full terms and conditions are here:

https://www.luminati.co.uk/terms.htm

Hopefully I'm just being paranoid. If the price I was charged did end up being higher than the final website checkout price, where would I stand if I had agreed to those terms?

TIA.

wealdroam

They appear to be a business to business seller.

Are you buying as a consumer?

If you are buying as a business, then the consumer protection parts of the Sale of Goods Act do not apply, and you and the seller are able to agree a contract to suit yourselves.

Even as a consumer I would be insisting that those terms be changed before agreeing a contract, or I wouldn't do business with them.

MrA2012

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I'm a consumer. I'm trying to get in touch with them to get some assurances, but I'm leaning towards simply not taking the risk.

bod1467

TBH they look very much geared towards B2B contracts ... their website and their products look like those targeted to the corporate/business sector, not consumers.

(I didn't go so far as to add anything to the basket to see whether they add VAT to the total).

lucy03

Unless there's a warning at the payment screen, I was able to as a consumer place an order without giving a company name. VAT is also added on early on in the process.

I would suggest that their terms and conditions are not compliant with the DSRs and in addition, the terms the OP mentioned would be difficult to enforce as they appear to be potentially unfair contract terms. B2B transactions would be a different matter.

It may well be that they don't ship before checking the order, but personally I'm surprised that a company that wants to maintain a professional reputation doesn't make that clear early on in the process. They haven't addressed the question in their FAQs, so I would personally be very wary of the company if ordering as a consumer.

wealdroam

MrA2012 wrote: »

...I'm leaning towards simply not taking the risk.

Seems like the best idea.

somethingcorporate

I agree with the others, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole with terms like that.

gb12345

I used to by furniture from a wholesaler and they had similar carriage terms due to the fact that the items were delivered to the customer on the basis that most were buying in bulk and would order a full truck load.

However, they were very clear and always contacted me when they were ready to deliver to let me know what it would cost for just my items to be delivered and how long it was likely to be before there was a full truck for my area.