Amazon uk refusing to dispatch "In stock" item

yannies82

On Nov 21st I placed an order on amazon co uk for an ASUS laptop. The laptop was on promotion and the price was really good. The product page mentioned the product to be "In stock". As far as I can tell, it remained in stock for at least 2 days after I had placed the order. After placing the order I received an email from Amazon stating that they need a little more time to estimate the delivery date. One week later, I still do not have an estimated delivery date for this order. The product has not been dispatched yet and I have not been charged for it.
Yesterday, I had a chat with Amazon's customer support. They refused to help in any way, stating that when I ordered the product it was out of stock. One representative told me that the product is not expected to be sourced again from the supplier and that the order is very unlikely to be fulfilled. Another one mentioned that there seemed to be a problem with this laptop and they pulled it from their website.
Therefore, I am left with a placed order for a laptop which may or may not be fulfilled. I would have cancelled this order and move on but it was a really good promotional price for this laptop and waiting on it I missed on all of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

Am I wrong to think that this borders on false advertizing on Amazon's part? Do I, as a consumer have any rights in this case?

BoGoF

Was it being sold by Amazon or a third party seller. Not that it makes much difference tbh as there is nothing you can do. And to say you missed out on other deals isn't really the case. Amazon hadn't charged you so you could have cancelled and bought elsewhere.

yannies82

Thank you for the reply. The laptop was dispatched and sold by Amazon. I expected that it would be dispatched and delivered, therefore I stopped searching for a laptop after I had ordered it.

yannies82

I talked to a customer support representative 4 days after I had placed the order and he told me that they would do their best to source the laptop from the supplier and that I need not worry. It was only yesterday that another representative revealed to me that the order will, most likely, not be fulfilled.

elsien

yannies82 wrote: »

I talked to a customer support representative 4 days after I had placed the order and he told me that they would do their best to source the laptop from the supplier and that I need not worry. It was only yesterday that another representative revealed to me that the order will, most likely, not be fulfilled.

Perhaps they had indeed tried to source the laptop and had failed, hence the new information?

yannies82

I cannot know what happened on their part. What I know is that the product was in stock when I ordered it and, as far as I can tell, during all of the promotion. I held Amazon in high regard until yesterday and I was expecting that, when I ordered something "In stock" from them, it would be delivered. From your responses I understand that the seller has every right to never fulfil my order and I should accept it and just move on.

Oakdene

yannies82 wrote: »

From your responses I understand that the seller has every right to never fulfil my order and I should accept it and just move on.

This is the case, unfortunately....

agrinnall

yannies82 wrote: »

From your responses I understand that the seller has every right to never fulfil my order and I should accept it and just move on.

You could try to sue them for consequential loss (assuming you have to pay more to buy the same item elsewhere) but I wouldn't rate your chances of success very highly, and Amazon have very deep pockets so could easily put a formidable legal team in your way. Moving on is the easier option.

yannies82

Therefore, if I were a seller it would be perfectly legitimate for me to put a great, promotional price on an item, gather many orders and visits to my site and then just claim that the product is out of stock and never fulfil these orders. Is that how e-commerce works?

yannies82

Bear in mind that it was a good promotional price which went on for several days, not a misprice. Amazon has not cancelled my order.

spadoosh

yannies82 wrote: »

Therefore, if I were a seller it would be perfectly legitimate for me to put a great, promotional price on an item, gather many orders and visits to my site and then just claim that the product is out of stock and never fulfil these orders. Is that how e-commerce works?

Youve said you 'cannot know what happened on their part' yet you are assuming they deliberately misled you?

Couldit not be a case of they recieved 1000 orders fro 800 laptops?

Or they recieved 1000 orders for 1000 laptops however 10% of them are faulty?

Or simply their stock management is incorrect. I used to work in a retail store whose goods where insured to £3 million (probably slightly over the actual value of goods held) every year at stock take at least £30,000 of good was written off as it was no longer in the store and hadnt been sold. The worst year was a shocking £500,000 in stock corrections. If that was laptops that would be quite a few that are missing.

Of course they could be trying to scam you. I mean its probably well worth it to a company worth half a trillion dollars to mislead you about a £500 laptop.