Rights of purchasing goods from UK website and seller not honouring price

kirkgvt

OK I was given a discount code for the muscle food website that gave £50 off an initial order when ordering £75 for more. I'd never used this site before so I thought it's worth a go.

I placed an order of a little over £77 and used the code and the website accepted it. I went through and immediately paid the balance. Almost 2 days later I received this response:

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know that your Muscle Food order is cancelled and if you have paid ANY money it was refunded today, and will be back in your account when your bank processes this:
The code used on your order was invalid
The code used on your order had expired
The code was NOT released or marketed by Muscle Food
I am sure you are dissapointed about this, but for obvious reasons a £50 off code with free delivery that was not marketed by Muscle Food cannot be accepted - quite simply it would have left us, a small family company, in serious financial trouble.

I can't offer you the chance to use a £50 off but I have created a £10 off code - if you wish to go ahead with your order.

The code is SORRYMF10 and can be used in one basket only. The system would have sent you an automatic email, but a more personal one explaining the reasons why the code is not valid seemed appropiate.

I am sure you will be disapointed not to receive £50 off, but this was not an offer put out by Muscle Food, the code expired, is not valid, and was designated for one user only. Sorry for any confusion caused.

This decision will not be changed. Any of your friends who also ordered - their orders will be cancelled to.

Sorry!

Martin Richardson

Have they breached consumer trading laws is my question?

Thank you

System

kirkgvt wrote: »

Have they breached consumer trading laws is my question?

No. You obtained a code 2nd hand and they have no reason to honour it.

There are a few cases on here very similar with the same answer

ETA

Their T&Cs state

Acceptance of your Order is on delivery of the order to yourself.

so your order was never accepted

MobileSaver

kirkgvt wrote: »

Have they breached consumer trading laws is my question?

No, you made an offer to purchase the goods but as per their terms and conditions they don't accept your offer until they despatch the goods. In this case they decided not to despatch the goods and so not to accept your offer. Perfectly legal and designed for the very circumstances mentioned where a mistake was made.

Perhaps you should go back to whoever told you the £50 discount code was valid and claim compensation from them?

kirkgvt

Oh well can't win them all. Thought it was worth an ask. I assumed that once they accepted payment of the remaining balance that they accepted the order. I had an email advising that.

However I concede you're probably more aware of the law than I am so will just accept it as a "better luck next time" .

Thank you for your quick responses.

unholyangel

!!!!!! wrote: »

No. You obtained a code 2nd hand and they have no reason to honour it.

There are a few cases on here very similar with the same answer

ETA

Their T&Cs state so your order was never accepted

Their T&C's are slightly off.

6.3 We will confirm our acceptance to you by sending you an e-mail that confirms that the Products have been dispatched (Dispatch Confirmation). The Contract between us will only be formed when we send you the Dispatch Confirmation.

They can't form a contract without accepting the order. Therefore acceptance would be on dispatch confirmation, not on delivery of the order.

However it doesnt seem as if that would help OP as OP doesn't seem to have received any dispatch confirmation.

daytona0

This is quite dodgy. When I used to work for an online retailer they used to generate mad codes like this for people in head office, and us phone monkeys could see them all. They'd have things like "£25 off a £30 spend" but it was only ever intended to be used by one or two employees. It certainly wasn't something given to us phone monkeys, and the public NEVER had access to them.

£50 off a £75 spend sounds similar, and probably isn't going to be marketed by a small company. One must thus highlight the possibility that this was an "inside job" either by yourself or a friend. One must also recognise the fact that, if the code was only ever given to ONE PERSON then it potentially implicates them as someone who is willing to share company information which is considered private. Gross misconduct? If it is you or a friend then you are potentially a fool!

Or I suppose it could have been posted by an employee you don't know on a forum (ie you obtained it through complete innocence), in which case no harm in trying it!


EDIT: what is the deal with the phrase on the email which says "Any of your friends who also ordered - their orders will be cancelled to."? Have they potentially experienced a large volume of orders using a code which was not released to the public?! It may just be a cautionary blurb, but it may also be linked to a large number of orders put through in a similar manner....

A somewhat charged, but legitimate, question: Have you tried to mug this company off?

tomtontom

This was posted on HUKD.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/vouchers/50-off-75-spend-across-whole-site-free-delivery-musclefood-2275372

Explanation here:

Have you guys received your cancellation emails yet.
I was gutted that I'd missed out so followed the guy on Twitter in case he posted more codes... Seems the meathead has only gone public with his own private referral bonus discount code.

daytona0

tomtontom wrote: »

This was posted on HUKD.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/vouchers/50-off-75-spend-across-whole-site-free-delivery-musclefood-2275372

Explanation here:

Awesome find!

Pretty much explains everything and renders my speculation on post 6 moot.

kirkgvt

Unholyangel sadly no dispatch email. Just order confirmation email. Not to worry, was worth an ask. The discount code was MGOSLING50 so I assume Mr or Ms Gosling will be in for a grilling.