Item sent free now company want it back

powerful_Rogue

George_Michael wrote: »

Possibly this one:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/pdfs/ukpga_20060035_en.pdf


If Lenovo were to debit the OP's card, they would have to do saying that the OP had agreed to pay the amount being debited, something it is clearly false.
If it wasn't illegal, what would stop any retailer from charging amounts in excess of those agreed by the customer at the time of purchase?

Different circumstances though. OP has been told there was an error and asked to either pay or return the laptop. If he fails to do either then I can see no reason why they couldn't debit the full amount.

Tom99

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Different circumstances though. OP has been told there was an error and asked to either pay or return the laptop. If he fails to do either then I can see no reason why they couldn't debit the full amount.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The OP entered a contract to purchase the laptop for £4 which was fulfilled. The fact that Lenovo did not actually mean to sell the laptop for £4 does not give them the right to charge the OP's card for a higher sum, just because they have the details of the card, that would still be fraud.[/FONT]

powerful_Rogue

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The OP entered a contract to purchase the laptop for £4 which was fulfilled. The fact that Lenovo did not actually mean to sell the laptop for £4 does not give them the right to charge the OP's card for a higher sum, just because they have the details of the card, that would still be fraud.[/FONT]

I disagree. The contract is now void. So the OP needs to return the laptop or pay for it. Lenovo have given him the choice, however should he fail to respond or do either I believe they would be in their rights to charge the original payment method.

neilmcl

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

I disagree. The contract is now void. So the OP needs to return the laptop or pay for it. Lenovo have given him the choice, however should he fail to respond or do either I believe they would be in their rights to charge the original payment method.

They would be in their rights to go to court for a remedy, I don't believe they could arbitrarily charge the OP for the original amount owed.

On-the-coast

agree with others who’ve posted that the contract is unenforceable and you’ll need to return laptop.
As I recall uk contract law, not only have you fallen foul of the “website mistake” - usually when I high value item is priced too low...
..but equally importantly you made no “consideration”. You paid £4 for shipping, but item was priced at zero, hence there was no “consideration”, and hence no contract.

“A contract is a legally binding promise (written or oral) by one party to fulfil an obligation to another party in return for consideration. A basic binding contract must comprise four key elements: offer, acceptance, consideration and intent to create legal relations.”

DoaM

£0 can still be a consideration, so that part of contract law has been fulfilled. (IMHO)

Gavin83

It seems opinion is quite split on this, I'm with those who suggest the laptop will need to be paid for or returned. OP, how much was the laptop meant to be?

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

It is not simply a case of returning it though is it.

The Op has had it for a month and presumably been using it.

His data is on there and would need to be transferred etc.

How would Lenovo go about providing this for the OP.?

Also the laptop is used goods, how much will it be worth to them now.?

I would put this to them and see what they say.

Honestly none of the above is the problem of Lenovo and it won't get the OP out of returning this, or paying for it.

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Personally, ignoring the legalities, I would make them a heavily reduced offer citing all of the above.

It depends on how 'heavily reduced' you're suggesting the offer should be, it's a pretty subjective term. In all honesty a month old used laptop won't be worth a lot less than a new one.

However I do agree with you. I think the best route to follow, assuming the OP wants to keep it is to suggest to Lenovo that they accept a reduced offer and see what they say. In the OP's case I'd be aiming for 25%-30% off.

CardinalWolsey

Forget the law - ask yourself what outcome you want and what the probabilities of being able to achieve that outcome are.

You want a free laptop? Then don't correspond with Digital Island (who run Lenovo's web shop). Wait for court papers to arrive - if they ever do; it could cost Digital Island far more in their legal fees / employee cost (that they cannot recover) than their cost of the laptop, especially as that laptop is now second hand. And if court papers arrive, offer mediation to Digital Island, but taking in to account the below...

You want a cheap laptop? Then reply to Digital Island and make them an offer - ignoring the retail price of the product. If the laptop should have been £500, less VAT it would be £416. possibly £300 cost to Digital Island. That's for a grade A. For a secondhand laptop, that you will need to explain to the person you've gifted it to that you have to take it away from them, then spend time on backing up and then wiping (or perhaps removing and destroying the HDD/SSD), time spent re-packing and making fit for transport as you no longer have any of the original material, and that will need to be couriered back to them at their expense and insurance cost - £100 + VAT. At the most.

Remember - this site is called money saving, not moral preaching.

Gavin83

CardinalWolsey wrote: »

Remember - this site is called money saving, not moral preaching.

That doesn't mean we'll condone immoral behaviour on here either. Of course, morals is a subjective thing. Some people consider theft ok, some don't.

DoaM

Except this wan't theft in any way, shape or form - it was someone chancing their arm on an offer from a seller for a laptop for £0 consideration plus £4 delivery charge. The seller was complicit in this transaction and equally "guilty".