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

Mickey666

WOW. 
So no one can be absolutely certain that anything they buy online could not be chased up for an additional payment for up to six years?

And supposing, six years down the line (or even less in many/most cases) the buyer doesn't even have the item anymore because it either broke or simply wore out so they threw it away?  What happens then, when they can't return it?

I realise this is an extreme case and a company would be unlikely to pursue such an extreme claim, but the fact that the law would actually allow it seems somewhat daft to me and is the sort of thing that brings the law into disrepute.

I'm finding it difficult to imagine a scenario where chasing a customer for more money many years after their purchase could be considered reasonable . . . in which case, why have such a law in the first place?

unholyangel

Mickey666 said:

WOW. 
So no one can be absolutely certain that anything they buy online could not be chased up for an additional payment for up to six years?

And supposing, six years down the line (or even less in many/most cases) the buyer doesn't even have the item anymore because it either broke or simply wore out so they threw it away?  What happens then, when they can't return it?

I realise this is an extreme case and a company would be unlikely to pursue such an extreme claim, but the fact that the law would actually allow it seems somewhat daft to me and is the sort of thing that brings the law into disrepute.

I'm finding it difficult to imagine a scenario where chasing a customer for more money many years after their purchase could be considered reasonable . . . in which case, why have such a law in the first place?

Just because the statute of limitations (in england at least) is 6 years doesn't necessarily mean a claim would succeed if the retailer only noticed after 5 years. It's just the time period they have to take legal action, enforceable through the courts/law. 

The same way you can't expect all goods to last 6 years, yet have 6 years to make a claim. 

edgex

Jenni_D said:

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.

How would the retailer independently prove what the correct price was?
If their own system has sold, processed, & delivered, a product at the wrong price, then you wouldn't be able to trust any data from that system.

user1977

edgex said:

Jenni_D said:

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.

How would the retailer independently prove what the correct price was?
If their own system has sold, processed, & delivered, a product at the wrong price, then you wouldn't be able to trust any data from that system.

They wouldn't need to prove what the correct price might have been, just that it had been sold at an obviously incorrect price and therefore the transaction ought to be unwound. Like I said above, they can't demand that the buyer keeps the item and pays the surplus.