Online retailer sold at the wrong price, shipped the goods and are now asking for more money!

Wanderingpomm

You have completed the transaction and the price you agree to pay was £39.  The time for the company to realise that there was a mistake was between you placing the order and them shipping. They cannot legally come after you a month later if all the paperwork is correct. If the invoice said £100 and they only charged you £39 then that is a clear error and they would have a case

GeordieGeorge

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Given the number of false over inflated prices with heavy discounts applied that are seen everywhere a price from £152 down to £39 could be believable. 


If you only purchased 1 pair then unless you get a court claim in the post I can't see there is anything to worry about. 

Even if they suspected it was too good to be true, once the firm have accepted the order and the shoes have been delivered te firm just have to take the kids that came from their mistake. Trying to get more money is just ridiculous.

unholyangel

Wanderingpomm said:

You have completed the transaction and the price you agree to pay was £39.  The time for the company to realise that there was a mistake was between you placing the order and them shipping. They cannot legally come after you a month later if all the paperwork is correct. If the invoice said £100 and they only charged you £39 then that is a clear error and they would have a case

Yes, they can. If there is a finding of unilateral mistake then the contract is void ab initio - it was never valid. 

And it should go without saying that you can't void a contract that wasn't formed. 

Mickey666

AIUI, if a company mis-prices an item then it is under no obligation to honour that price.

Thus, you see something priced up in a shop, take it to the checkout, the shop notices it is priced incorrectly and refuses to sell it at that price and requires the correct, higher price.  At this stage no transaction has occurred, only a wish to purchase at the labelled price, which is declined by the shop. 

But if the shop did not notice the pricing mistake and sold the item for the marked price then a transaction HAS occurred.  The shop has knowingly sold the item for the marked price, the buyer has paid the marked price as the agreed consideration for the item becoming their property.

Would anyone seriously expect that shop to get back to the buyer after one month to explain their mistake and ask for more money?  I doubt they have any legal right to do so.

So, isn't it the same situation in this case.  The OP has done nothing wrong, they've used the online shop's own checkout software, they've paid the amount asked at the checkout, the shop has accepted that payment and the goods have been shipped and delivered.  The transaction has occurred.

Who would honestly believe it is reasonable for the shop to get back to the buyer AFTER ONE MONTH to say the price was an error and ask for more money?  What about doing the same after two months or three months or even a year? 

It's a ridiculous proposition.

user1977

Mickey666 said:

Would anyone seriously expect that shop to get back to the buyer after one month to explain their mistake and ask for more money?  I doubt they have any legal right to do so.

They might not have the right to demand the additional money, but (where it ought to have been reasonably obvious that an error had occurred) they'd have the right to cancel the contract. See the explanation by unholyangel above.

Jenni_D

As per above. The example of going to the till and then the sale being concluded or not doesn't marry with online sales ... sales at the till have had a human involvement during the transaction - online sales often don't have a human involvement (in terms of contract checking) until much later in the process, even after the goods have been delivered.

Mickey666

Jenni_D said:

As per above. The example of going to the till and then the sale being concluded or not doesn't marry with online sales ... sales at the till have had a human involvement during the transaction - online sales often don't have a human involvement (in terms of contract checking) until much later in the process, even after the goods have been delivered.

OK, so what's the legal situation?  It surely can't be open-ended?  What if the first 'human involvement' is a VAT audit two years after the sale?

Jenni_D

AFAIK the legal position is the Limitations Act ... 6 years from delivery in E+W, 5 years in Scotland. The reality is that a company likely won't chase it once a few months have passed, unless it is a significant amount of money.

user1977

Mickey666 said:

Jenni_D said:

As per above. The example of going to the till and then the sale being concluded or not doesn't marry with online sales ... sales at the till have had a human involvement during the transaction - online sales often don't have a human involvement (in terms of contract checking) until much later in the process, even after the goods have been delivered.

OK, so what's the legal situation?  It surely can't be open-ended?  What if the first 'human involvement' is a VAT audit two years after the sale?

I would expect the usual prescription periods to apply, so six years if we're talking about England. Though arguing that it's an obvious error probably becomes more difficult if it's taken you years to notice.

unholyangel

Jenni_D said:

As per above. The example of going to the till and then the sale being concluded or not doesn't marry with online sales ... sales at the till have had a human involvement during the transaction - online sales often don't have a human involvement (in terms of contract checking) until much later in the process, even after the goods have been delivered.

You're getting confused. The online/in person thing is in relation to contract formation only.

Unilateral mistake goes back hundreds of years - well before any online sale would have been made. 

There are other types of mistake too but those ones aren't guaranteed to void the contract or are unlikely to apply.