Are Amazon allowed to do this?

gwin

Bought an item off Amazon last night, £33.99. Got a confirmation email that also told me it would be here the following day.

This morning I get an email saying they are having trouble sourcing the item. I looked on their website and the item is there priced at 39.99. Six pounds dearer.

Contacted them and they eventually said they would cancel the order, credit me a gift card to make up the difference and just reorder.

Fine until I check later. They credited me £5. So I'm a pound short unless I fork out more.

I thought when you buy something you are entering into a contract.

When I checked the Amazon account the original is missing and they refunded through an old order of mine with a breakdown.

Item refunded £5.40

Item tax refund £1.08

Item promotion deduction - £1.23

Item promotion tax deduction - £0.25

Refund £5.00

I'm not sure where tax amounts come into it but if Amazon are claiming tax on a sale that according to them never happened, something is very wrong.

Can anyone kindly advise?

cx6

if you buy something then yes, you are entering into.a contract but ***  subject to the terms snd conditions of the retailer ***

so, when you placed the order, what were the terms and conditions you were accepting ?

gwin

Thanks cx6. I don't know of anyone that could answer that. But, as I'm shopping on Amazon I would have thought Amazon's T & Cs. (I'm not trying to be flippant with that reply).

DCFC79

gwin said:

Thanks cx6. I don't know of anyone that could answer that. But, as I'm shopping on Amazon I would have thought Amazon's T & Cs. (I'm not trying to be flippant with that reply).

Contract isn't formed until its been dispatched.

Is the item from the same seller or have Amazon managed to source it from another seller ?

As for the deductions you showed I cant help and why they only refunded £5 is another mystery.

gwin

DCFC79, if that's the case about dispatch, then fine. Although it does raise the possibility that every seller could do the same thing. If you have committed to buying something I'll bet the vast majority would say "well it's only a couple of quid extra, go on then".

Flight3287462

Do you value your Amazon account?  

If so you may want to think twice before pushing this too hard otherwise they might ban you.

Giving you £5 is already not a bad result, they could have just refunded you.

[Deleted User]

gwin said:

DCFC79, if that's the case about dispatch, then fine. Although it does raise the possibility that every seller could do the same thing. If you have committed to buying something I'll bet the vast majority would say "well it's only a couple of quid extra, go on then".

But they don't though, so I wouldn't lay too much down on that bet.

Ergates

DCFC79 said:

why they only refunded £5 is another mystery.

No, they refunded the OP in full and gave them an *extra* £5 as a goodwill gesture.

Ergates

gwin said:

Can anyone kindly advise?

Pretty much any/all online sellers will include something in their T&Cs that says the contract isn't formed until the item is dispatched - otherwise they could lose huge amounts of money due to a typo, or find themselves legally obliged to provide an item they simply can't get hold of.

born_again

gwin said:

Thanks cx6. I don't know of anyone that could answer that. But, as I'm shopping on Amazon I would have thought Amazon's T & Cs. (I'm not trying to be flippant with that reply).

Was it a Amazon purchase or a Marketplace one?

Sandtree

gwin said:

DCFC79, if that's the case about dispatch, then fine. Although it does raise the possibility that every seller could do the same thing. If you have committed to buying something I'll bet the vast majority would say "well it's only a couple of quid extra, go on then".

You have to remember that Amazon these days is a market place and logistic company as much as a seller. I suspect you have bought from seller A who has then advised of the stock problem and so rather than the sale be lost they have said they will cover the cost increase for you now buying from seller B... is its not the item per se thats increased in price but you are buying from a different company.