Pasta Evangelists Discount Pricing Error

triedandtesting

I recently was emailed a discount offer for trying Pasta Evangelists directly from the company. I was tempted to try it so went on the site to add things and see prices and saw that the discount was great as it was offering an order for paying postage - which is what I thought was a similar offer to what Graze or Beer52 have offered before.

So I made my order, thought nothing of it and then received my order too. All well and good till I get an email from them saying they've made an error and the discount wasn't meant to be just pay postage, it was just some discounts on products. Further to this they are now demanding payment for the difference?! I wouldn't have ordered it to try at full price, why even fulfill the order if there's been an issue? I have no issues with it being cancelled and refunded the delivery fee but to fulfil the order and then ask for more money when they've made an error and I paid the amount their website asked for seems a bit odd?

I've not even eaten all the food yet - and whilst it's perishable I'd rather return it than be forced to make this extra payment now. Do I have any grounds here to request that they take back the orders somehow or to stop me paying them more?

DullGreyGuy

Read the terms and conditions of the site you bought on. Most mail-order companies will specify the contract is bound when the goods are dispatched which is meant to help the retailer 1) deal with stock control issues if they sell things they don't have and 2) give them an opportunity to spot pricing errors and enable them to decline the order. 

Request that they confirm which clause of their term they are relying on to charge you more than the agreed price. A quick scan doesn't show anything that would allow them to charge more after. They have a term to reject an order but that requires them to refund you in full not make you pay more. 

You could offer to return the uneaten elements at their expense but aren't obliged to. They are unlikely to be able to resell it so it would be them biting off their nose to spite their face if they took you up on the offer and provided pre-paid labels.

It does appear they have some form of subscription model and in that case they can raise the price on future items but that triggers a right for you to cancel the subscription without penalty. 



On unrelated matters... how are they? I've seen them (mail order and their stalls) but never been in the mood for pasta or they were on special offer and sold out. 

triedandtesting

DullGreyGuy said:

Read the terms and conditions of the site you bought on. Most mail-order companies will specify the contract is bound when the goods are dispatched which is meant to help the retailer 1) deal with stock control issues if they sell things they don't have and 2) give them an opportunity to spot pricing errors and enable them to decline the order. 

Request that they confirm which clause of their term they are relying on to charge you more than the agreed price. A quick scan doesn't show anything that would allow them to charge more after. They have a term to reject an order but that requires them to refund you in full not make you pay more. 

You could offer to return the uneaten elements at their expense but aren't obliged to. They are unlikely to be able to resell it so it would be them biting off their nose to spite their face if they took you up on the offer and provided pre-paid labels.

It does appear they have some form of subscription model and in that case they can raise the price on future items but that triggers a right for you to cancel the subscription without penalty. 



On unrelated matters... how are they? I've seen them (mail order and their stalls) but never been in the mood for pasta or they were on special offer and sold out. 

I had a look at their terms and conditions and figured the same thing. I had a quick Google and saw previous examples or Amazon pricing errors and such and orders being cancelled but never the order being fulfilled and then demanding more payment due to a retailer error?

The pasta is alright - it's fresh pasta so that's quite nice. Although not much better than the fresh pasta you get at a supermarket. Even more reason for why I probably wouldn't have tried it if it wasn't a special offer given how expensive it normally is!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

If your payment matches Checkout and they are claiming a mistake that would usually void the contract rather than resulting in any payment due but for that to occur the mistake ought to have been known and even then are they going to accept a return of fresh pasta? 

I don't see they much to stand on here, these places often offer heavy discounts to encourage people to sign up in the hope they reman subscribers so I don't see you should have known the way the voucher worked was an error, unless it behaved differently to how they said it would.

triedandtesting

The only copy I can see in their original offer email now is this in the small print:

"The code BYERESOLUTIONS entitles Pasta Evangelists customers to a complimentary February Feasting Bundle, comprising 2x tiramisù, a portion of charcuterie, a portion of Gorgonzola cheese, and a tomato & rosemary focaccia. Limited stocks, subject to availability. This offer can be redeemed only when placing a Recipe Kits order, and is not valid when ordering a Takeaway or purchasing Gifts, Events or other products. This offer expires 29th February, 23:59. One use per customer. We reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Minimum £25 spend.. "

Does this mean at most they can charge me the £25 minimum order or is it my fault that their website didn't work properly and they sent the order out? Reading into the email further I didn't even get all of the bundle bits in my order so not sure what's happened there.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

triedandtesting said:

The only copy I can see in their original offer email now is this in the small print:

"The code BYERESOLUTIONS entitles Pasta Evangelists customers to a complimentary February Feasting Bundle, comprising 2x tiramisù, a portion of charcuterie, a portion of Gorgonzola cheese, and a tomato & rosemary focaccia. Limited stocks, subject to availability. This offer can be redeemed only when placing a Recipe Kits order, and is not valid when ordering a Takeaway or purchasing Gifts, Events or other products. This offer expires 29th February, 23:59. One use per customer. We reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Minimum £25 spend.. "

Does this mean at most they can charge me the £25 minimum order or is it my fault that their website didn't work properly and they sent the order out? Reading into the email further I didn't even get all of the bundle bits in my order so not sure what's happened there.

I wouldn't pay them anything but would send.

Dear Pasta Evangelists

Thanks for your message regarding order number xxx, you appear to be stating there has been a unliteral mistake in the contract, you appear to be stating this relates to the fundamental nature of the offer which as such renders our contract void.

As a result please refund any payment taken and confirm on which day your courier will collect the goods, at your expense, for return.

Please note I am not bound by your amended price and any unauthorised charges to my card will be disputed via my card provider. 

Thank you in advance, 
Sincerely,
triedandtesting

I really can't see them being willing to collect so hopefully they'll stop bothering you.
 

triedandtesting

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

triedandtesting said:

The only copy I can see in their original offer email now is this in the small print:

"The code BYERESOLUTIONS entitles Pasta Evangelists customers to a complimentary February Feasting Bundle, comprising 2x tiramisù, a portion of charcuterie, a portion of Gorgonzola cheese, and a tomato & rosemary focaccia. Limited stocks, subject to availability. This offer can be redeemed only when placing a Recipe Kits order, and is not valid when ordering a Takeaway or purchasing Gifts, Events or other products. This offer expires 29th February, 23:59. One use per customer. We reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Minimum £25 spend.. "

Does this mean at most they can charge me the £25 minimum order or is it my fault that their website didn't work properly and they sent the order out? Reading into the email further I didn't even get all of the bundle bits in my order so not sure what's happened there.

I wouldn't pay them anything but would send.

Dear Pasta Evangelists

Thanks for your message regarding order number xxx, you appear to be stating there has been a unliteral mistake in the contract, you appear to be stating this relates to the fundamental nature of the offer which as such renders our contract void.

As a result please refund any payment taken and confirm on which day your courier will collect the goods, at your expense, for return.

Please note I am not bound by your amended price and any unauthorised charges to my card will be disputed via my card provider. 

Thank you in advance, 
Sincerely,
triedandtesting

I really can't see them being willing to collect so hopefully they'll stop bothering you.
 

Thank you! I imagine they've made this error on several customers and now requesting payments in the hope some customers send it anyway and recoup the loss on their error

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

triedandtesting said:

The only copy I can see in their original offer email now is this in the small print:

"The code BYERESOLUTIONS entitles Pasta Evangelists customers to a complimentary February Feasting Bundle, comprising 2x tiramisù, a portion of charcuterie, a portion of Gorgonzola cheese, and a tomato & rosemary focaccia. Limited stocks, subject to availability. This offer can be redeemed only when placing a Recipe Kits order, and is not valid when ordering a Takeaway or purchasing Gifts, Events or other products. This offer expires 29th February, 23:59. One use per customer. We reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Minimum £25 spend.. "

Does this mean at most they can charge me the £25 minimum order or is it my fault that their website didn't work properly and they sent the order out? Reading into the email further I didn't even get all of the bundle bits in my order so not sure what's happened there.

I wouldn't pay them anything but would send.

Dear Pasta Evangelists

Thanks for your message regarding order number xxx, you appear to be stating there has been a unliteral mistake in the contract, you appear to be stating this relates to the fundamental nature of the offer which as such renders our contract void.

As a result please refund any payment taken and confirm on which day your courier will collect the goods, at your expense, for return.

Please note I am not bound by your amended price and any unauthorised charges to my card will be disputed via my card provider. 

Thank you in advance, 
Sincerely,
triedandtesting

I really can't see them being willing to collect so hopefully they'll stop bothering you.
 

I think you need to tweak it slightly to reflect the fact that some of the product has been consumed and so no longer available for return but that doesn't make the OP liable for them.

triedandtesting said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

triedandtesting said:

The only copy I can see in their original offer email now is this in the small print:

"The code BYERESOLUTIONS entitles Pasta Evangelists customers to a complimentary February Feasting Bundle, comprising 2x tiramisù, a portion of charcuterie, a portion of Gorgonzola cheese, and a tomato & rosemary focaccia. Limited stocks, subject to availability. This offer can be redeemed only when placing a Recipe Kits order, and is not valid when ordering a Takeaway or purchasing Gifts, Events or other products. This offer expires 29th February, 23:59. One use per customer. We reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Minimum £25 spend.. "

Does this mean at most they can charge me the £25 minimum order or is it my fault that their website didn't work properly and they sent the order out? Reading into the email further I didn't even get all of the bundle bits in my order so not sure what's happened there.

I wouldn't pay them anything but would send.

Dear Pasta Evangelists

Thanks for your message regarding order number xxx, you appear to be stating there has been a unliteral mistake in the contract, you appear to be stating this relates to the fundamental nature of the offer which as such renders our contract void.

As a result please refund any payment taken and confirm on which day your courier will collect the goods, at your expense, for return.

Please note I am not bound by your amended price and any unauthorised charges to my card will be disputed via my card provider. 

Thank you in advance, 
Sincerely,
triedandtesting

I really can't see them being willing to collect so hopefully they'll stop bothering you.
 

Thank you! I imagine they've made this error on several customers and now requesting payments in the hope some customers send it anyway and recoup the loss on their error

And there is probably some office junior who messed up setting up the promo into the website tool who's very worried about their future. 

We had something similar with Curry's a while back when the minimum spend on a £100 discount code hadn't been set. I didn't widely share the fact as clearly the more order the more chance of them spotting it but inevitably I'm probably not the only one that found the error. 

We all got emails that evening saying orders had been cancelled due to the error (they are entitled to given their terms on contracts forming on dispatch) however two of the people I'd told about it received their orders the next day. They never heard anything more about it and unfortunately my order didn't slip through the net. 

triedandtesting

Their email requesting payment said to complete it by the 8th tomorrow but didn't detail any repercussions or threats if I didn't. So I've just emailed with some of the above points in this conversation and will see where it goes from there.

visidigi

Did you order and pay for a recipe kit with the order?

RefluentBeans

It’s worth noting that even though you’re in the right - they may just terminate your account/black list your account. They have the right to do this, and can refuse to do business with you. If you did want to order more with them, it’s something to note.