Price glitch

johnbuchanan90

Hi I purchased some flooring online at a price of £0. I resived a confirmation email and a despatch email (ready for collection). I then resived a phone call hours later asking me to payment for the flooring. I was told if I didn't make payment the order would be cancelled. Where do I stand in this situation.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Where there is an error that ought to have been obvious to you the contract can be voided. 

If the flooring was say £30 a sm and they made mistake of pricing at £20 (and acceptance took place) you'd have argument to hold them to that but £0 is obviously a mistake so they can cancel the order.

You can agree to buy at whatever price you can agree with them but they can't force you to take the order at whatever price as the contract is void.

powerful_Rogue

johnbuchanan90 said:

Hi I purchased some flooring online at a price of £0. I resived a confirmation email and a despatch email (ready for collection). I then resived a phone call hours later asking me to payment for the flooring. I was told if I didn't make payment the order would be cancelled. Where do I stand in this situation.

Not on the new flooring!

Aylesbury_Duck

johnbuchanan90 said:

Hi I purchased some flooring online at a price of £0. I resived a confirmation email and a despatch email (ready for collection). I then resived a phone call hours later asking me to payment for the flooring. I was told if I didn't make payment the order would be cancelled. Where do I stand in this situation.

On your old flooring.

By your own admission this was a "price glitch", so you knew it was an obvious error.  They can cancel the contract.

johnbuchanan90

Ok no problem I was just checking as in some place I read it said the despatch email is the contract that thay must honour. This is why I was asking the question, I have no knowledge of the laws with this situation. So thanks but next time please refrain from the sarcastic comments. It's just someone looking for advice.

EssexHebridean

It's not an uncommon misapprehension - and as already mentioned, there are circumstances in which a price does need to be honoured - but generally speaking a decent guideline is if the price seems just far too good to be true, then there is a decent chance that it may well be so!

DullGreyGuy

johnbuchanan90 said:

Ok no problem I was just checking as in some place I read it said the despatch email is the contract that thay must honour. This is why I was asking the question, I have no knowledge of the laws with this situation. So thanks but next time please refrain from the sarcastic comments. It's just someone looking for advice.

Most mail-order contracts aren't bound at the time of purchase but at a later point, often upon dispatch of the goods. Until that point they can cancel at any time because there is no contract just an offer from you to enter one. 

As others have said, the law recognises that people make errors and therefore even if the contract is bound and there is an obvious mistake they can rescind  the contract. 

Your other problem, assuming you aren't in Scotland, with £0 being charged what is your consideration to make it a binding contract? This is why companies are sold for £1 etc because there needs to be consideration for the contract to be binding. You could have entered into a deed, which doesn't need consideration, but then both parties would need to have had witnesses to the agreement to enter into it. 

Ergates

johnbuchanan90 said:

Ok no problem I was just checking as in some place I read it said the despatch email is the contract that thay must honour. This is why I was asking the question, I have no knowledge of the laws with this situation. So thanks but next time please refrain from the sarcastic comments. It's just someone looking for advice.

If you read the T&Cs of the website you will probably find (as you will find on most websites) that the contract is confirmed at the point of dispatch of goods.  This is precisely to account for errors such as this.

To be fair, the sarcasm isn't totally unwarranted.  Whilst you say you have no knowledge of the law, it's pretty clear than an obvious mistake isn't going to legally bind a company into giving you free flooring.  How would you feel if *you* were bound by such a law?

EssexHebridean

I believe that the sarcasm referred to by the OP was a fairly unpleasant comment which has since been removed, not the gentle joking that remains in the thread. 

johnbuchanan90

Ok thanks for your help. I thought as much but just wanted to check. 

And yes I am in Scotland why would that make any difference.

user1977

johnbuchanan90 said:

And yes I am in Scotland why would that make any difference.

Because payment of a consideration isn't essential to form a contract in Scotland. But the rules on unilateral errors are similar to England, so there still wouldn't have been a binding contract in your case.