Some advice please, have Asda broke the law?

Fuzzy14

Hi there,
Some advice please. I used the Asda click and collect service for the first time today. My wife made out an order last night and I collected it today.

Problem is they've refused to fulfill one of the items, saying it was offered at a lower price by mistake. I realise sometimes retailers offer things online at a wrong price and it's probably in their terms and conditions not to go ahead with the order if they chose not to. However what Asda have done is say the original item was not available and they've replaced it with a substitute item which is the exact same thing but at a much higher price. Now I don't think that retailers should be allowed to sell stuff online and then just change their prices at their discretion before you collect it. A sale is a sale.

Does anybody know what the law says about this?

Thanks.

lexington013

Ask for the substitution to be refunded via the helpline.
Not aware that they are breaking the law.

Cornucopia

As long as the sale is still optional (or they offer no-quibble returns), there is no legal issue, I wouldn't have thought.

Fuzzy14

OK thanks. Seems odd though.

Next time I sell something on eBay I'll advertise it for £20, then after the sale I'll take £30 off their card and they can send it back if they're not happy.

SeduLOUs

How do substitutions work?

If you add a product to your trolley and we find it's out of stock, we'll always try to find you something similar. For example, if you ask for a small packet of ASDA Digestive biscuits, in the unlikely event that we've run out, we might give you a larger packet instead. (Don't worry, you'll always pay for the lowest priced product.) If you don't want to accept the product we've sent you, just hand it back to your driver and we'll arrange for your account to be refunded.

http://asda-grocery.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail_grow/a_id/1070/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDE3MDk1MDM4L3NpZC9PNUF3RXQ4bQ%3D%3D

Are you sure they actually charged you the full amount for the higher priced item?

Fuzzy14

Pampers Nappies Size 6 68pk £4
substituted by
Pampers Nappies Size 6 68pk £14 2 for £24

They have substituted the exact same thing at a different price and charged me £24 when I expected £8

lovinituk

Fuzzy14 wrote: »

OK thanks. Seems odd though.

Next time I sell something on eBay I'll advertise it for £20, then after the sale I'll take £30 off their card and they can send it back if they're not happy.

Even if you could take extra money from their card, which you can't, it would result in a negative feedback on your account. Its a pointless analogy because it is two entirely different circumstances.

Substitutions are not compulsory purchases. You are given the choice and if you don't want them you can hand them back on delivery and they will refund you.

For your eBay suggestion to even be close, you would have to state clearly in your listing that you MAY send another item if the one advertised is not available, and you MAY charge more for the substitution. You would then need to deliver it by hand so the purchaser can refuse it on their door step and you take it away with you. Obvious that this is never going to happen.

SeduLOUs

OK. They are perfectly entitled to rectify pricing errors on their part and can reject the order if they wish.

This isn't a classic 'out of stock' substitution. It seems that they have realised their error, but instead of cancelling the order, they have substituted for the same item at the correct price, presumably in order to bring it to your attention on delivery rather than just hiding the increased price amongst your shopping list - seems like a reasonable thing to do rather than simply not sending you the nappies.

If you weren't happy with the price, as a substitution you were entitled to reject the substitution at the time of delivery and hand it back to the driver. As that opportunity has now been missed if you are still not happy you should contact customer services and find out how to go about returning the item for a refund.

It does seem like it could have been handled slightly better on the communication front, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it is illegal as you have clearly accepted the nappies at the new price at the point of delivery. You certainly weren't being forced to keep them at whatever price they decided to pluck out of the air.

Cornucopia

I suppose the legal question is whether this is some kind of fraud (or attempted fraud)? I can't see it myself, but it would (possibly) come down to the exact timeline and detail of communications regarding the issue.

On the face of it, it sounds like they have breached their own Ts & Cs: "Don't worry, you'll always pay for the lowest priced product." but that isn't necessarily illegal or that uncommon.

McKneff

Going of what was said on one of our local fb groups, people were trying to buy hundreds of packs per person. They soon stopped it lol.

unholyangel

3.3.5 For Your protection and security, and in order to verify the debit or credit card details provided, We will contact Your card issuer on the day You checkout Your order to request a pre-authorisation of 1p. We will verify Your card for 1p each time You amend Your order. It is important to point out that this pre-authorisation is NOT a charge to Your card and will not be billed to You. Your card issuer may hold this amount for a short period, but this will never be taken from Your account.

3.3.6 On the day of Delivery or Collection We will request another pre-authorisation for the full order amount. We do this to ensure that the card details are still valid and that You have sufficient funds to complete the transaction. We take NO payments from Your account before Your order is Delivered or Collected, so You will only be charged for items once they are Delivered or Collected as stated in 3.3.7 below.

3.3.7 We will debit the price, plus any Delivery or Collection charge, from Your debit or credit card once We have Delivered Your goods or You have Collected Your goods. Sometimes card providers hold the full pre-authorisation amount for a period as well as the full order amount. When this occurs the pre-authorisation amount is NOT debited from Your account and paid to ASDA (i.e. we don't get paid twice).

Seems your card wouldnt have actually been debited until you collected the goods. I'm presuming they pointed out the substitution to you when you collected the goods and therefore you had the chance to take the order without the wrongly priced items?

When is a sale not a sale? When there hasnt been acceptance (as offer + acceptance = contract of sale). You made an offer to buy those items at £4, but asda have declined your offer therefore no contract existed for those items at the lower price.