Where do consumers stand on mispricing?

Goldcup

I read an article that said retailers have no obligation to sell at incorrect price but if the sale goes through its legal transaction.

I had couple transactions, one by card one by cash, the card one they phoned to say was wrong price and they wouldnt accept the order, both were made in store, I have receipts.

Will the cash ones go through as Ive not been told to go to store for a refund? Do they have a right to refund money and turn down the order?

Im not after abuse, Ive read a few posts on this forum and im after expertise or friendly advice please.

forgotmyname

Until you have the item in your hand after paying then its not yours.

daytona0

Well, if a credit order is cancelled but a cash order goes through then you have an obvious discrepancy! Either the cash one was incorrectly processed, or the credit one was incorrectly cancelled. So bear that in mind to begin with.

It depends on the cause of the mis-pricing to be honest. If they did it to "hook you in" and to subsequently increase the price then that's very naughty. If it is a genuine mistake (easily identifiable if you look at similarly priced items) then you are taking advantage which is not allowed.

It is the age old question:

Would you pursue a company if you had mistakenly paid more for an item?

Of course you would! They are just doing the same by correcting their mistakes and limiting their liabilities.

Pennywise

It really depends on whether the transaction is completed or not.

With the credit card one, it's possible that the card wasn't actually charged - it may have just been authorised, so that could well be cancelled.

But with the cash one, if they've taken your money and given you a receipt, that's confirmation that the transaction has happened and they can't really go back on that as it would then be breach of contract and you could sue them for "damages".

After all, if you bought a mars bar from your corner shop and they only asked you for 10p, you paid, walked out of the shop, and ate it, there's no way that the shop could then come back to you wanting the rest of the money.

DoaM

The key is when the contract is deemed to be formed and binding. With online orders (and some in-store orders) it's not binding until delivery ... as long as the contractual T&Cs state this!

Otherwise a contract is formed and binding once Offer (you offering to buy for X price), Acceptance (by them of your offer) and Payment are complete.

With an in-store cash purchase I'd say it's almost certain that a binding contract has been formed ... delivery of the goods is a secondary matter. With an in-store credit purchase it depends on whether or not the credit has been charged, or whether it has only bee ring-fenced. (As mentioned above).

Laz123

Yeah, I've always thought this 'invitation to buy' law is very silly. All it does is protect the seller not the consumer.

mije1983

Laz123 wrote: »

Yeah, I've always thought this 'invitation to buy' law is very silly. All it does is protect the seller not the consumer.

The problem is that without it, you leave businesses open to unscrupulous people who will end up just changing price tickets around to get a bargain.

It's a different kettle of fish if the business is deliberately misleading consumers, but there are laws in place to attempt to prevent that.

martinsurrey

Laz123 wrote: »

Yeah, I've always thought this 'invitation to buy' law is very silly. All it does is protect the seller not the consumer.

Those laws define when a contract is formed, if you want the price on the shelf to form a binding contract, the contract must be formed at the shelf, so, in fact invitation to treat laws protect the consumer more than the suppler, if the contract was formed at the shelf, every item you pick up would have to be bought as a contract has been formed, which we all agree is a ridiculous idea.

teddysmum

It's fair enough if they spot the error before a card sale, where money is only taken at the time of dispatch.


A couple of years ago, one of the supermarkets had a 'fantastic' offer on dog food and lots of members of a certain forum ordered, even though they didn't use the product, but intended to donate it to the rescue running the forum.


No one actually got the offer, but all received an email explaining the error and giving the option of cancellation or taking the order at the correct price. No one had the goods dispatched, then was charged at full price

Gavin83

Goldcup wrote: »

I read an article that said retailers have no obligation to sell at incorrect price but if the sale goes through its legal transaction.

I had couple transactions, one by card one by cash, the card one they phoned to say was wrong price and they wouldnt accept the order, both were made in store, I have receipts.

Will the cash ones go through as Ive not been told to go to store for a refund? Do they have a right to refund money and turn down the order?

Im not after abuse, Ive read a few posts on this forum and im after expertise or friendly advice please.

Is it something you haven't received yet? Did you buy multiples of the same item and if so what was the item? Also what kind of price difference are we talking here?