Thoughts on this please?

weirdbeardmt

Hi

I placed an order with an reputable online retailer. Very big company but I'll not name them for obvious reasons. I completed their checkout process and used Paypal as the payment method. I received the goods and didn't think much more of it.

However, they have just written to me to say that I still owe them money. I have looked back through the transactions and can see that for some reason they failed to charge me for a particular item. I didn't pay too much attention at the time of checkout - the amount they were charging appeared correct so I just continued.

So what I would like to know is: am I obligated to now pay the remaining balance? I used their checkout process which didn't enable me to change the amount paid so this is absolutely their mistake for not charging me the correct amount. It's a bit annoying as I hadn't budgeted to find the extra money this month.

Do I have to pay them?

grumbler

weirdbeardmt wrote: »

So what I would like to know is: am I obligated to now pay the remaining balance? I used their checkout process which didn't enable me to change the amount paid so this is absolutely their mistake for not charging me the correct amount. It's a bit annoying as I hadn't budgeted to find the extra money this month.

Do I have to pay them?

You owe them and have to pay. If you don't have money ATM you can negotiate a later date.

Paully232000

I am not sure why you think you shouldn't pay for the item received. Was it faulty, not as described, broken in a short time?

If they charged you too much for an item, or charged you twice for one of the items you bought would you want your money back? Same thing.

StuC75

What was on the invoice that came with the goods? did it all stack up correctly?

Is it in there terms and conditions that prices are accepted at the time of despatch.. This is usually in to protect them from pricing issues.. Is the receipt of such payment and despatch of the goods not seen as there acceptance?

It smacks of pricing errors, are other people seriously suggesting that shops could retrospectively charge customers for any pricing issues?

What if it was Buy a TV get cable free? you receive the receipt \ invoice showing such cable as £0.00.. They then say,oh you got the wrong one sent free it should have been £50..

As for Paully232000, if I was charged what was on the receipt then thats what it is, if they had charged me twice and I only received one then would query -- if they then try to renegotiate the price after the event that is not on..

Paully232000

From what the OP has said they are not trying to renegotiate the price, they stated a price but did not charge his Paypal the correct amount so it is not the same as Stu says.

They quoted a price and didnt charge his account enough, not the price stated one thing and now they are coming back and asking for more money. That would be more debatable.

eddddy

So what I would like to know is: am I obligated to now pay the remaining balance?

Hi weirdbeardmt

You need to look at the t&cs on the retailers website. As an example, here's an extract of tesco.com's T&cs:

Your order is an offer to buy from us. A contract is only formed when we notify you that we have despatched your order or notify you that your order is available to collect at the store (as applicable). At any point up until then, we may decline to supply the goods to you.

So if it were Tesco you bought from, they could decline to supply the goods (or ask you to pay more) up until the point that the goods are despatched. (So if you ordered a TV for 1p on tesco.com, they have until the TV is dispached to decline the order)

Beyond that time, you have a binding contract and they cannot change the price.

But if, for example, the agreed contract price was £350, but they forgot to debit your card (or only debited it with £3.50 by mistake), you could be required to pay the shortfall.

So, from what you say, I suspect that you are not legally obliged to pay. To double check, you can politely ask them to clarify under which terms of the contract they believe that the extra amount is payable - or ask them if they are requesting payment purely on a goodwill basis.

If it's purely on a goodwill basis and you refuse to pay, probably the worst thing they could do is blacklist you as a customer and refuse to accept future orders. (But that seems unlikely to me.)

grumbler

grumbler wrote: »

You owe them and have to pay. If you don't have money ATM you can negotiate a later date.

I might have misread the OP. If the amount you paid is the same as the amount they invoiced you with, then you don't owe them anything unless they sue you and the court decides in their favour.

[Deleted User]

weirdbeardmt wrote: »

Very big company but I'll not name them for obvious reasons.

It would be much easier for us to advise you if you were to name them...for the obvious reason that we could than look at the actual T&Cs.

CBU2004

With it been their error, you may have lee-way on a time scale.
But yea you do have to pay the full amount, the receipt is the contract of the sale and it is what you and the seller have agreed too, so you have to pay.

StuC75

Think the OP has to give a clearer account of what was on the original invoice & charged, as that gives a clearer account of if was mischarged in terms of what was passed through for paypal to pay or whether was a fault with there invoicing.

soo cbu2004 if the invoice/receipt said 10+10+0.00 = £20 to pay and thats what they paid?? and the retailer now saying it should have been 10+10+5 = £25 here do you come down on this??

Davie2909

I would say no its the companies mistake so why should you pay for it! They will need to foot the bill for it as they made the mistake!
It's like going to Tesco the cashier making a mistake undercharging you but next time your in they say actually you are due us this much from last time that's never gonna happen!