Charged more than advertised price for car

motorguy

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

Well, they were wrong then.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/if-something-is-advertised-at-the-wrong-price/

jimjames

Okell said:

kinger101 said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Thanks all - I was a bit bamboozled at the time & recently came across the video which reminded me so thought I'd ask! I know I should maybe have argued more at back then but we had such a nightmare we should have probably just walked away but we really liked the car! 

I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer.  They are allowed to refuse to sell at 7999.

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

I think my law lecturer - albeit 40 years ago - would have agreed with your law lecturer...

As has already been observed, the advert at £7999 is simply an invitation to treat.  If a customer goes in to the dealer and makes an offer to buy the car then, unless the customer specifies a different price, the customer's implied offer to buy is for the advertised price - £7999.  Unless the dealer refuses and says "No, I'm not willing to sell at the advertised price but I'll sell it for £8999",

Given it's over 12 months ago we have no idea if that was actually the sequence of events. I would suspect it's exactly as your outline as the OP says the dealer said the price was wrong in which case they can't be forced to sell at that price.

Okell

user1977 said:

Okell said:

user1977 said:

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

What law are you referring to? I think either your lecturer or your recollection are failing here!

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

Yes, but the advertised price does not constitute an "offer"...

Neither I nor @king101 have suggested that the advertised price constitutes an offer to sell by the dealer.

user1977 said:

Okell said:

user1977 said:

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

What law are you referring to? I think either your lecturer or your recollection are failing here!

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

... if a retailer seems to be deliberately sticking incorrectly low prices on items, at most it's a Trading Standards matter, not something which customers can enforce by demanding to buy at the marked price.

Neither I nor @kinger101 have suggested that the consumer can demand to buy at the marked price  The seller can always refuse any offer.

But if the consumer makes an offer to buy at the advertised price, then the dealer has a choice (1) to accept it or (2) to reject it or (3) to make a counter offer at a different price.

If the dealer simply accepts the offer and makes no counter offer at a different price, then there is an agreed contract at the advertised price.

All of the above is a separate issue from whether or not there was a (genuine?) pricing error...


[Edit:  Having just read @Aretnap's second post on this thread I've just realised that we might be talking at cross purposes on this(?). 

I misread @kinger101's post as saying the seller could not sell at a higher price unless the seller made a higher counter offer rather than what he actually wrote - ie that the seller could not sell at a higher price unless the buyer made a higher counter offer - which makes no sense at all as the buyer could not make a counteroffer, and I assume is a typo.

To the extent you might have been asking what law said that the buyer needed to make a counter offer, you were absolutely correct, and I apologise if that was your point.  I'd be surprised, however,  if @kinger101 meant to write "buyer" rather than "seller"]

Okell

Aretnap said:

Okell said:

Aretnap said:

kinger101 said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Thanks all - I was a bit bamboozled at the time & recently came across the video which reminded me so thought I'd ask! I know I should maybe have argued more at back then but we had such a nightmare we should have probably just walked away but we really liked the car! 

I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer.  They are allowed to refuse to sell at 7999.

... and then what happens? Are they allowed to put it back on sale at a higher price at some point? Or do they have to sit there quietly forever hoping that someone will come along and make them a better offer? Are you suggesting that while they're waiting for a better offer they're not allowed to say something helpful like "but if you're still interested I would sell it for £8999" - or that a subsequent agreement would somehow be invalid if they did?

I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to make(?).

@kinger101 has said that when a consumer makes an offer to buy at the advertised price (what other price can they offer to buy at without specifying a different price?) then it is open to the dealer either (1) to accept that offer for the advertised price or (2) to refuse that offer outright or (3) to refuse that offer but make a counter offer to sell at a higher price.

If the dealer takes option (3), but the consumer won't accept the higher counter offer price and pulls out of the deal, then of course the dealer is allowed to put the car back on sale at the higher (correct) price.  What on earth makes you question whether they would be allowed to do that?  What would prevent them from doing so?

I also don't understand why you think the dealer has to "sit there quietly forever hoping someone will come along and make them a better offer".  All the dealer needs to do is to re-advertise the car at the higher (correct) price.  They don't have to sit there twiddling their thumbs.  But if they have no takers they will have to consider lowering the price.

If the dealer says "... something helpful like 'but if you are still interested I would sell it for £8999'..." isn't that the very point that @kinger101 is making?  That "something helpful" constitutes a counter offer at a higher price, which the consumer is free to accept or to reject.  But without that counter offer there can be no agreement to sell at the higher price.

And I also don't understand why you think any subsequent agreement based on that counter offer might be invalid?

I don't see why you think @kinger101's comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny

...Of course if he meant "seller" rather than "buyer" then his statement would boil down to "the seller is not allowed to sell it at more than the advertised price, unless he decides to offer it to the buyer at a higher price instead". Which would be true... but not something that adds a huge amount of new insight to the thread.

You are, of course, right.

It's only now you've pointed it out that @kinger101 said "buyer" rather than "seller" that I've noticed it.

I'm assuming he meant to say "seller" rather than "buyer" and it's a simple transposition or typo.  Otherwise, as you originally said, it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

Thanks for pointing out my mis-reading.

Okell

motorguy said:

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

Well, they were wrong then.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/if-something-is-advertised-at-the-wrong-price/

I think you might have misunderstood @kinger101's position on this(?)

Despite what several other posters seem to believe, I don't think @kinger101 has suggested that a seller is obliged to sell at the advertised price where the advertised price is wrong as a result of a unilateral mistake made by the seller, and the buyer is aware of the mistake.

The seller is, of course, always at liberty to reject an offer at any price - even one that exceeds the advertised price.

Okell

Grumpy_chap said:

Okell said:

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

I think the "has to sell at advertised price" is not the complete situation...

I don't think anybody (apart possibly from the OP ) is suggesting that the dealer has to sell at the advertised price.

The only question is how the final price was agreed - and the OP is light on detail

born_again

Okell said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Okell said:

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

I think the "has to sell at advertised price" is not the complete situation...

I don't think anybody (apart possibly from the OP ) is suggesting that the dealer has to sell at the advertised price.

The only question is how the final price was agreed - and the OP is light on detail

Nor been back since Nov 30, 2024

So may have realised for the replies on that day, they were flogging a dead horse.

kinger101

born_again said:

Okell said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Okell said:

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

I think the "has to sell at advertised price" is not the complete situation...

I don't think anybody (apart possibly from the OP ) is suggesting that the dealer has to sell at the advertised price.

The only question is how the final price was agreed - and the OP is light on detail

Nor been back since Nov 30, 2024

So may have realised for the replies on that day, they were flogging a dead horse.

More to do with a Mark Twain quote.