Co-op online: is this legal?

jetfromgladiators

I sometimes use Co-op's online shopping service because they offer same-day delivery (and for no other reason - it's terrible!). Recently, I bought six items in a meal deal offer for £7. However, one of the items was not in stock, which meant that I was charged full price for each of the items (a total of £13.75). When I complained, they refused to refund me and said that it was written into their terms and conditions (this is correct). In other words, instead of 6 items for £7, I received 5 items for £13.75.

My question is whether these terms are legal, even if it's in their T&Cs. For online shopping the consumer should surely know how much they're paying?

Simon

Sandtree

Have you read the T&Cs? In particular what it says around payment authorisation?

I've had a similar issue where a very cheap item was out of stock but it dropped it below the free P&P threashold and so the total bill was higher... thankfully in my cases (and it wasnt Coop) a quick email to the company has resulted in the P&P fees being waived so not needed to go digging into terms to check.

The website presumably did list both the single item price and the bulk buy promotional price and so in theory there is at least an awareness of how much it'd cost to buy 5 which in part is why you wanted the 6 in the first place.

jetfromgladiators

Thanks for your response. Yes, the website did list the single item price. Here's what it says about payment authorization - doesn't say anything about multibuy offers.

4. Availability of Goods and Substitutions

1. Availability of goods will depend on stock in the Selected Store at the time of purchase.
2. Where an item you have chosen is unavailable, we will substitute the item with an alternative. However, this may affect the price you pay (see clause 9.2). You will be notified of any alternatives and the total price charged in your delivery or collection email.
3. You may refuse any substituted item on delivery or collection and we will refund you for the items.

5. Price

1. The price of any of the goods you order will be at the price on the Website at the time you place your order. If a price change such as a promotion, is put in place after you have placed your order, these will not be applied to your order.
   [...]
2. It is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the products we sell may be incorrectly priced. If we accept and process your order where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakeable and could reasonably have been recognised by you as a mispricing, we may end the contract, refund you any sums you have paid and require the return of any goods provided to you.

9. Payment

1. The following payment methods are accepted, Visa and Mastercard.
2. We will pre-authorise your payment card with the total cost of your order, as shown on the Website at the time you place your order, plus 10% to cover the cost of any substitutions.
3. The total cost of your order (comprising the cost of the goods (including any substituted goods)), delivery charge (if applicable) and carrier bag charge (if applicable)) will be charged to your payment card when your order is packed on the day of delivery or collection.

cx6

online shopping - you have a right to return - send it back.

Alderbank

In their Terms and Conditions very near the beginning they say 'All offers are subject to availability while stocks last.' It's not just the Co-op who says that, it's a very common and quite reasonable clause.

In your case unfortunately stocks hadn't lasted on one of the items so the offer became unavailable. However if they could have substituted another qualifying item they had in stock they should have done so. For example if you had ordered chicken soup and tomato soup was in stock and also in the offer they should have offered you that to maintain the deal. You could have rejected that of course but would then expect to pay individual prices. I assume they could not substitute anything?

jetfromgladiators

Co-op online shopping is unusual - it isn't like any of the other supermarkets. They regularly substitute items, but you cannot simply give them back to the driver for a refund. Instead, you have to keep the item and then claim a refund by sending an email customer services and there is no way of returning items (apparently because of Covid). It's a terrible system.

So, in this case, there was no substitution, simply the absence of an item, so I was unable to get the money back.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

We use Co Op from time to time and you are right that their processes are unusual. It looks like the concept was cobbled together as quickly as possible without much thought. 

We did once give an item back to the driver thinking the the refund would be automatic like the other supermarkets but the driver said to email, they'd check with the store and then refund. 

This was a while back so maybe they've since stopped items going back with the driver?

We ordered some pumpkins, £1 each, they substituted them for £2 pumpkins and then delivered the £1 pumpkins. 

They seem to be tweaking things, at least the membership number appears to now be stored instead of having to be entered for each order.

Our local store is pretty poor, tourists always come flocking in the summer and their shelves are often empty, you'd think a business would keep themselves fully stocked during their peak trading period to make as many sales as possible. 

Substitutions are poor, recently ordered Doritos and it was put down as unavailable, I find it hard to believe the shop was completely out of anything similar, especially as they have their own brand corn chips that are always on the shelf. 

If it wasn't for the low £15 requirement I doubt we'd use them for delivery. 

As to the question, it is probably legal as you have the right to cancel, except for goods which are likely to expire or deteriorate quickly which probably doesn't cover that much food relatively speaking.  

It's pretty poor service, not mention doesn't do their business any good as why would you order a deal and risk being charged in such a way, perhaps worth a polite post on their Facebook page to see if they'll offer any goodwill.