Seller not upholding price match promise and hiding behind contract

Okell

@maxxpayne

Serious question:  would you be happy to accept the blinds from the second supplier with the lower quote, or are the blinds from the original supplier "better" and the ones that you really want?

Grumpy_chap

Jumblebumble said:

As I understand it a lot of Hotel groups play this trick as well
Offer to price match the often cheaper third party sites
Then give a slightly  different checkout time or cancelation term  to the third party bookings
Then decline price match

A bit like the trick that JL play - advertise the price match but, if you go to invoke it, find that JL are offering a different warranty duration so no need to price match.

Another trick is the "deep navy" mobile phone back cover, so a unique and special product from the standard "black" mobile phone back cover offered everywhere else.  Not that the human eye can differentiate between the "black" and the "deep navy" - if they state it is a different pigment, we cannot realistically prove otherwise.

saajan_12

maxxpayne said:

Okell said:

You haven't given enough info:

eg

What do the terms of their price match promise actually say?

What legal liability does signing their "quote" impose on you?

Who is the trader?  (We need to see their T&Cs)


You might be able to argue that the terms of the price match promise have been incorporated into the contract and that the seller is bound by them under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.  

Or you might not be able to do that.

Hello,

> What do the terms of their price match promise actually say?
Just a line stating: "We price match like for like quotations".

Where exactly is that line - on the contract you signed, or in advertising materials, or somewhere else? 
Aside from what 'like for like' means, its unclear at what stage you can enforce the promise..
- only at the quoting stage before signing?
- post signing before installation?
- during installation until the moment they are done? 
- 1 year after purchase? 

maxxpayne said:

Exodi said:

maxxpayne said:
they started making up excuses stating that my new quote isn't like for like and they can't price match

This could be interpreted two ways, either:

The merchant is refusing to price match on the grounds the goods aren't like for like.

Or

The 'excuses' the OP claims the merchant is making are separately the other quote isn't like for like (and even if it was), they can't price match.

On my initial read, I interpreted it as the latter, but I see others interpret it as the former, so I may be wrong.

I guess the first point would be clarifying whether the merchant actually offers a price match and, if so, what the terms of it are.

The language throughout is very loaded - how is pointing out you have a signed contract 'clearly to intimidate me'? If they had informed you that they'd under-quoted and the price needs to go up several hundred pounds, I suspect you'd be all to happy to pull out this contract - not for intimidation, but just because that's the entire purpose of a contract, to ensure people fulfill their agreed obligations.

I guess the main question is have you paid the deposit?

Other important things I'd be curious are whether the goods are genuinely and objectively like for like. Not just 'white shutters' but the same materials, fixings, finish, service, etc.

I have not paid any deposit so far. 
The only wording around price match is: "We price match like for like quotations" and when I raised the possibility of going with another vendor, they wrote: "I will remind you also that you have signed a contract with us and we have started the order process on our side."

Well even if you're right on the price match promise, that wouldn't allow you to cancel and go with someone else.. at best you'd get a discount so that the price matched. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

saajan_12 said:

Well even if you're right on the price match promise, that wouldn't allow you to cancel and go with someone else.. at best you'd get a discount so that the price matched. 

I think OP would have been fine with that.

saajan_12 said:

Where exactly is that line - on the contract you signed, or in advertising materials, or somewhere else? 
Aside from what 'like for like' means, its unclear at what stage you can enforce the promise..
- only at the quoting stage before signing?
- post signing before installation?
- during installation until the moment they are done? 
- 1 year after purchase? 

If it isn't clarified then it's whatever is most favourable to the consumer (whilst noting the court won't make an absurd decision like price matching 50 years down the line but given we are talking the stage OP is at, that's pretty reasonable). 

screech_78

Grumpy_chap said:

Jumblebumble said:

As I understand it a lot of Hotel groups play this trick as well
Offer to price match the often cheaper third party sites
Then give a slightly  different checkout time or cancelation term  to the third party bookings
Then decline price match

A bit like the trick that JL play - advertise the price match but, if you go to invoke it, find that JL are offering a different warranty duration so no need to price match.

Another trick is the "deep navy" mobile phone back cover, so a unique and special product from the standard "black" mobile phone back cover offered everywhere else.  Not that the human eye can differentiate between the "black" and the "deep navy" - if they state it is a different pigment, we cannot realistically prove otherwise.

Eh? If you’ve been told that by an employee previously, then you’ve been misinformed. Never been the case. 

Okell

If the trader hasn't defined in their T&Cs what they mean by "like for like" I think they've made a bit of a rod for their own backs because - as the_lunatic says - ambiguous terms will be interpreted by the courts in the favour of the consumer.

A bog-standard (or should that be box-standard?) blind is a blind is a blind.

Basically it fits a window recess and regulates the transmission of light by going up and down and/or by opening closing.  On a basic level, any two things that share those functions are "like for like".

That's not to say that at a more sophisticated level blinds made of recycled cardboard are identical "like for like" with ones made of the finest silk, encrusted with diamonds and nuggets of platinum.

The OP hasn't told us why the seller considers that the blinds from the other supplier are not "like for like" with their own, but unless the differences are significant from the point of view of the materials used in manufacture, their durability, their cost etc and length of any comparable warranties etc, I'd have thought that in the absence of any definition by the trader of what they meant by "like for like", then a court might well hold that one blind was pretty much the same as another.

The OP hasn't told us what the differences and similarities between the two sets of blind are, so he or she is in a better position than any of us to determine if they are like for like or two entirely different beasts, and what a court might decide.

screech_78

If the OP made the purchase in store, it seems irrelevant what they state on their website and it would be the terms available in the shop that would matter. 

It’s likely the price match is intended to be used prior to the sale and before anything is agreed. 

Can’t see how they can hold the OP to anything though if nothing has been paid. They’d only be claim actual losses and if production hasn’t stated, this would be limited to sending a couple of emails or whatever else they’ve done. 

maxxpayne

born_again said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I always thought the "price-match" promises were in the main marketing speak and had no real substance.  
I wonder where and how the contract was signed and if the OP therefore has any cooling off period.

Also we have OP saying this was a in store purchase. Yet no mention of where the other retailer who was £1000 cheaper, were online or instore.

It was not an in store purchase. Someone from the business came down for measurements and sent me the document to sign. The other business is also a small business 

born_again

maxxpayne said:

born_again said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I always thought the "price-match" promises were in the main marketing speak and had no real substance.  
I wonder where and how the contract was signed and if the OP therefore has any cooling off period.

Also we have OP saying this was a in store purchase. Yet no mention of where the other retailer who was £1000 cheaper, were online or instore.

It was not an in store purchase. Someone from the business came down for measurements and sent me the document to sign. The other business is also a small business 

Had you been in store previously?
Has other party measured up & quoted?

maxxpayne

Grumpy_chap said:

I always thought the "price-match" promises were in the main marketing speak and had no real substance.  
I wonder where and how the contract was signed and if the OP therefore has any cooling off period.

I received an invoice from an online platform.