Price error on website? legal?

adamt

hi,
this morning ive noticed a computer website seem to have made a price error, so i decided to make an order for 3 of them, as they were listed at half the normal price.
Nowim guessing this is a website error, but thought i would take my chances.

What is the legal policy for this? if acompany have listed something on there site for a price, and someone purchases it via credit card, can they then at a later date say sorry it was an error, u cant have it for this price??

or if they say its out of stock, do they still have to honour the price i paid?


thanks

honeypop

No they do not have to give it to you at that price, the price they advertise is an invitation to treat and not a contract as such. Therefore if it turns out they put the wrong price they do not have to sell for that amount.

tosca5

You get it at the price advertised.
Save the page that displays the item and price.
At bit different, but once i was in pets at home to buy a hamster cage, displayed price was £19.99, when i got to the till it came it £29.99. I refused to pay that price as it clearly said £19.99, their mistake, they had to sell it at that cost. So i presume being a website it's no different.

custardy

nope honeypop is right but sometimes websites honour mistakes

tosca5

honeypop wrote: »

No they do not have to give it to you at that price, the price they advertise is an invitation to treat and not a contract as such. Therefore if it turns out they put the wrong price they do not have to sell for that amount.

That can't be right, they can all put prices in wrong places then. Customer goes to buy and they say, 'sorry that price is on the wrong item'.

cattie

Honeypop is correct. The company are under no obligation to sell the item to you at that price. They can offer it to you at the regular price once the discrepency is noticed, but just as they are not obligated to sell you the item at the wrong price if they chose not to, you are not obligated to purchase the item at the correct price.

If you are in any doubt you can check this out with trading standards.

tosca5

custardy wrote: »

nope honeypop is right but sometimes websites honour mistakes

I was always on the understanding you got an item at the price displayed.
Some companys will do this on purpose then.:rolleyes:

LuciferTDark

Slightly OT but last year I was buying a new mobile in store at my local Tesco & the price came up wrong by £10 when I went to the checkout, went to customer services & explained what happened, showed her the shelf & pos, went back to CS & they refunded the whole amount & gave me the phone as well.

I love Tesco my point is though that some stores will give you the item at the incorrect price as it's easier to have 1 happy customer & lose a few quid than to have that customer complain to everyone they know about the "skinflint" store.

consultant31

It's true that some companies will honour the displayed price, but it's not a legal obligation.

As a previous poster says, it's an invitation to treat - but a company can refuse to sell to you at any price if they so choose.

Debt_Free_Chick

It depends on the point at which the contract is struck.

What do the T&Cs say?

pulliptears

A displayed price is an "Invitation to Treat". They do not have to sell the item to you at that price.

Had you ordered one of the mis priced items rather than three they may have been more willing to honor the sale. It often pays to just take one rather than be greedy.