Against Trading Standards?

senileturtle

I ordered an 'in stock' item from Zavvi. Got an email saying they are chasing up their suppliers. Today they have cancelled my order without my input.

This is not the first time they have done this. IICR they have done this about 5 times over the years I've been shopping on there.

Is it against trading standards to list an item as in stock that they actually don't have at all?

DevCoder

Unless they have taken money then no, although its not the best of practises.

What result are you looking for?

vuvuzela

senileturtle wrote: »

I ordered an 'in stock' item from Zavvi. Got an email saying they are chasing up their suppliers. Today they have cancelled my order without my input.

This is not the first time they have done this. IICR they have done this about 5 times over the years I've been shopping on there.

Is it against trading standards to list an item as in stock that they actually don't have at all?

No. They might be having something drop-shipped, or have things on short lead-times that their suppliers unexpectedly can't get. It's not great practice, but not illegal.

Hintza

senileturtle wrote: »

...... they have done this about 5 times over the years.....

So why carry on with them. I might excuse it once or twice but then I shop elsewhere.

senileturtle

Hintza wrote: »

So why carry on with them. I might excuse it once or twice but then I shop elsewhere.

Because they are sometimes the cheapest place to get an item I'm looking for.

@Kris, I was hoping a trading standards report would make them realise that it's poor practice to do so and it might stop them p'ing off customers. The item in question this time round was something no other place offered.

mo786uk

It could be illegal if they have reaosn to believe they cannot supply the product - but a henuine mistake or supply problems is unlikely to be illegal - the problem is proving it either way.

Hintza

It is very easy to be the cheapest if you don't have any stock. Use someone else.

arcon5

krisdorey wrote: »

Unless they have taken money then no, although its not the best of practises.

Actually it would depend on the circumstances, irrespective of payment. If for example it's a bait and switch technique they could be breaking the law.

Nilrem

I suspect that Zavvi are often running deals on fairly limited stock and the promise of suppliers that they'll have the stock handy (a bit like when you see something from Amazon that says "may take an additional 2 days to deliver), so can/do run out.

Not to mention some of the deals they do are very popular and can probably result in more stock needed than they actually have on hand.

Computersaysno

If they are the cheapest, then expect sh17 service.

earthstorm

It could be that their online system is not linked to store stock systems, so they may list an item online as they have them in stock, but after you order then picker gos to look for the item, but this has been sent to a store and sold to a foot customer, so now they dont have any available.
This is why a lot of online retailers wont take payment until item dispatched