made.com order cancellation

Olinda99

you are right - if a contract exists (which it seems to have done) and made.com pull out then the OP can sue them for quantifiable losses - as an example,  they could go ahead and buy one at full price and sue them for the price difference plus any other losses they may have incurred

This is basic contract law 101.

powerful_Rogue

Olinda99 said:

you are right - if a contract exists (which it seems to have done) and made.com pull out then the OP can sue them for quantifiable losses - as an example,  they could go ahead and buy one at full price and sue them for the price difference plus any other losses they may have incurred

This is basic contract law 101.

Anything to substantiate that?

MalMonroe

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

I purchased a sofa from made.com, on sale.
They sent me an order confirmation email and estimated dispatch date was 14 - 16 weeks later.
Today, they emailed me 18 weeks later to let me know that they cancelled my order and will refund me in 5 - 7 days.

I see that they still have other colour variants of the item for sale for full price on the site.. Is this really allowed? They have basically loaned my money for 18 weeks and not given me options to buy another version for the same price / discount vouchers / anything at all.

Although they have refunded you, I'd have contacted them after 14 weeks to find out if delivery was going to be on schedule.

Now, I'd contact them and ask what the trouble was and why they've cancelled your order without any explanation, especially after such a long time. For example, they could easily have contacted you and asked you if you would like a different patterned fabric, since you know they have other variants in stock - but they didn't. 

You could ask them for compensation because as you say, your money was tied up for 18 weeks (that's quite a long time and it's certainly longer than the time frame you were given) and you weren't able to use it because you were waiting for them to fulfil their part of the contract. I'd certainly try. I'd put it all in writing, either email or letter, rather than phone.

They have breached the original contract they made with you and it's worth trying to get them to cough up something. That is just my opinion, of course. 

powerful_Rogue

MalMonroe said:

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

I purchased a sofa from made.com, on sale.
They sent me an order confirmation email and estimated dispatch date was 14 - 16 weeks later.
Today, they emailed me 18 weeks later to let me know that they cancelled my order and will refund me in 5 - 7 days.

I see that they still have other colour variants of the item for sale for full price on the site.. Is this really allowed? They have basically loaned my money for 18 weeks and not given me options to buy another version for the same price / discount vouchers / anything at all.

Although they have refunded you, I'd have contacted them after 14 weeks to find out if delivery was going to be on schedule.

Now, I'd contact them and ask what the trouble was and why they've cancelled your order without any explanation, especially after such a long time. For example, they could easily have contacted you and asked you if you would like a different patterned fabric, since you know they have other variants in stock - but they didn't. 

You could ask them for compensation because as you say, your money was tied up for 18 weeks (that's quite a long time and it's certainly longer than the time frame you were given) and you weren't able to use it because you were waiting for them to fulfil their part of the contract. I'd certainly try. I'd put it all in writing, either email or letter, rather than phone.

They have breached the original contract they made with you and it's worth trying to get them to cough up something. That is just my opinion, of course. 

And us usual is nonsense. Compensation for the money being tied up for 18 weeks? About 10p in lost interest.

Ergates

Olinda99 said:

you are right - if a contract exists (which it seems to have done) and made.com pull out then the OP can sue them for quantifiable losses - as an example,  they could go ahead and buy one at full price and sue them for the price difference plus any other losses they may have incurred

This is basic contract law 101.

For that to work they'd have to buy the exact same sofa which does'nt sound possible.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Ergates said:

Olinda99 said:

you are right - if a contract exists (which it seems to have done) and made.com pull out then the OP can sue them for quantifiable losses - as an example,  they could go ahead and buy one at full price and sue them for the price difference plus any other losses they may have incurred

This is basic contract law 101.

For that to work they'd have to buy the exact same sofa which does'nt sound possible.

It would be interest to know if the goods have to be identical.

Obviously you couldn't claim the difference on a 3 seater if the cancelled one was a 2 seater but for the OP the same sofa with a different coloured fabric seems pretty much the same to me.

Even if you purchased the same sofa but in leather it would seem "fair" if you could claim the difference minus the extra cost of the material upgrade. 

sheramber

In their current terms and conditions they say that promotional offers are subject to availability and if the stock runs out they will refund your money.

Ergates

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Ergates said:

Olinda99 said:

you are right - if a contract exists (which it seems to have done) and made.com pull out then the OP can sue them for quantifiable losses - as an example,  they could go ahead and buy one at full price and sue them for the price difference plus any other losses they may have incurred

This is basic contract law 101.

For that to work they'd have to buy the exact same sofa which does'nt sound possible.

It would be interest to know if the goods have to be identical.

Obviously you couldn't claim the difference on a 3 seater if the cancelled one was a 2 seater but for the OP the same sofa with a different coloured fabric seems pretty much the same to me.

Even if you purchased the same sofa but in leather it would seem "fair" if you could claim the difference minus the extra cost of the material upgrade. 

To me the problem would be the often vastly difference prices you can pay for something like a sofa.

Like a blue fabric 3 seater sofa - a quick google brought back sofas at £500 and sofas at £2000 (and I wasn't looking very hard).   I'd say it was fairly obvious that if the contract was for a £500 sofa you couldn't go and buy a £2000 one and claim it was equivalent.   So I suppose you could say that the bought sofa has to be within the same price range.  But then how do you define "same price range" - how close does it have to be?   If the bought sofa was at or very near the same price as the original one - then how is that different from just getting a refund.   All in all it sounds very muddy and complicated - which never makes for good laws.

I could see it working for a lot of things (white goods, electronics etc) where the same item is available from other retailers.