Argos/Homebase 49p telly discussion thread

Dave=m55

BUCK wrote:

Wait a minute i thought it was a free country and im entitled to my opinion. Ten thousand people at what ever rate of interest per day at £5.50 per person ?

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but you have suggested that the retailer has done this to defraud thousands of people of money, even though its temporary. Big statement that with no reasons given. Even stranger when you consider that Homebase spent over £23 million on TV advertising last year (source http://jobs.brandrepublic.com/careerFile/detail/676/careers_with_homebase), why they would create a plan to get about £62.60 in interest then only you and Homebase board would seem to know.

biglugs wrote:

Rough fag packet calculation:
10,000 orders deducting £5.44 each = £54,400 of OUR money
On deposit at say 6% per year
Hold our funds for 7 days before returning
Interest earned = £54,400*0.06*7/365 = £62.60 interest

10,000 order cancellation letters @ 2p per page printing & paper
21p second class stamp
Cost in postage = 10,000*0.23=£2,300

Leaving aside staff costs this leaves Argos £2,237.40 out of pocket.

Since they've had our money for 7 days (say) and lost this much shouldn't we PAY THEM 22p each for wasting their money?

Luckily they aren't able to charge us for the cost of their legal advice!

BUCK

If you take the time to check earlier posts this is not the first time they've had a pricing error on their web site and im not the only one that thinks this was done delibrate. As of yet ive not recieved a letter so its not costed anything but i bet it will cost a phone call to get my money back and as for paying 22p why should we pay them for their mistake and why are they not more careful when pricing items on their web site if its costing so much money

Dave=m55

BUCK wrote:

If you take the time to check earlier posts this is not the first time they've had a pricing error on their web site and im not the only one that thinks this was done delibrate. As of yet ive not recieved a letter so its not costed anything but i bet it will cost a phone call to get my money back and as for paying 22p why should we pay them for their mistake and why are they not more careful when pricing items on their web site if its costing so much money

So WHY do you think this was done deliberately?

As to why it happened, it could be down to really bad practice within the company. Lack of procedures, down to one person typing in the wrong figure etc. The list is numerous, and as I don't know the systems in place there, I could only guess.

dadada

alanshave wrote:

Reckon it's time this thread was locked, It's only gonna get worse from here on in.

Perhaps. After all we would not want anyone with any commonsense or understanding of economics, mathemetics or the law chip in, and disturb the fantasy land of how things should be in MSE World, would we ?

MSE_Martin

I know many people have said i would like martin to comment on this. Well the first thing i would do it cut and paste a bit from my Consumer Rights Guide

Settling an old debate

Can you force a shop to sell you goods if you see them mistakenly under-priced?
No sorry. If they’re mis-priced the shop can refuse to sell you them. There is no contract until it has accepted the cash. Before that point they can refuse (and if it is on the internet even if they have accepted that case, it can argue using the Law of Mistake that the transaction isn’t finalised). However, you can report them for misleading prices to the trading standards office.

Now let's be honest

No one thought this was a genuine price. I applaud everyone who had a go, but i think some of the agressive sour grapes in this thread is misplaced.

For me its important to contrast two different types of loophole

1. Turning their deviousness on them.

When companies target consumers apathy, ignorance and impulses, with offers that aren’t good. Then my ‘adversarial consumer society’ philosophy says let’s hit them hard and try and get every penny back. E.g. first direct trying to bribe customers to join a poor account.


2. A simple mistake.

This is very different, I do not believe Argos wanted this. It is poor publicity. It doesn’t help them. There was a glitch a genuine one, everyone trying to get a 49p widescreen telly knew this was a glitch. In this case I say by all means have a go, but do it with a smile, and if it doesn’t work, well nothing gained nothing ventured, the odd phone call was worth it.

As far as I am concerned legally there is no requirement for Argos to honour this, their terms and conditions expressely points this out, as does the law as explained above (though I’m a money saving expert not a lawyer). I also think morally they needn’t either. If the pricing error had been £249 instead of £349 rather than 49p – that’s slightly different, people would’ve though “great bargain”. Here everyone thought “mispricing”.

So I say have a go, but understand you’re probably on a loser, and smile at the one that got away.

Martin

cookiemonster25

we should all just chill...was worth a shot...we did not get it..... smile and move on to the next potential bargain.......you win some you loose some

BellaBargains

I can't read Martin's link - page not found - anyone else getting this?

My tuppence - you have to give it a go - don't think anyone really expected it to work!

MSE_Martin

(i've corrected the formatting in my post now - it all should work)

dadada

MSE_Martin wrote:

I know many people have said i would like martin to comment on this. Well the first thing i would do it cut and paste a bit from my Consumer Rights Guide



Now let's be honest

No one thought this was a genuine price. I applaud everyone who had a go, but i think some of the agressive sour grapes in this thread is misplaced.

For me its important to contrast two different types of loophole

1. Turning their deviousness on them.

When companies target consumers apathy, ignorance and impulses, with offers that aren’t good. Then my ‘adversarial consumer society’ philosophy says let’s hit them hard and try and get every penny back. E.g. first direct trying to bribe customers to join a poor account.


2. A simple mistake.

This is very different, I do not believe Argos wanted this. It is poor publicity. It doesn’t help them. There was a glitch a genuine one, everyone trying to get a 49p widescreen telly knew this was a glitch. In this case I say by all means have a go, but do it with a smile, and if it doesn’t work, well nothing gained nothing ventured, the odd phone call was worth it.

As far as I am concerned legally there is no requirement for Argos to honour this, their terms and conditions expressely points this out, as does the law as explained above (though I’m a money saving expert not a lawyer). I also think morally they needn’t either. If the pricing error had been £249 instead of £349 rather than 49p – that’s slightly different, people would’ve though “great bargain”. Here everyone thought “mispricing”.

So I say have a go, but understand you’re probably on a loser, and smile at the one that got away.

Martin

Hi Martin,

If you are responding, I'd be very interested in knowing what your thoughts are on the " monster " you have arguably some responsibility for creating.

When I first found this site I was quite pleased to browse it. I've rarely got any of the bargains mind you.

Now some of the opinions and attitudes astound me. It is like the real world, logic, law, commonsense, economics have ceased to exist.

Never mind honesty, decency, respect and manners.

MSE_Martin

dadada. I don't think this site is in anyway a monster. Perhaps you browse a very narrow range of areas. I'm often moved by the content on this site.

First of all the vast majority of users are not in the forums but using the main site and reading the email. Those alone provide non-profit driven articles with content and research that simply don't exist elsewhere and help people take on companies.

Second, this forum is a community and an amazing one. The people helping each other in the debt-free wannabee board is outstanding. People working together to help spot bargains and taking companies on is great.

You must understant I am all for people taking on companies, and within the law pushing them to the extreme. Trying to grab bargains and freebies, and play loopholes. Companies try and manipulate us targetting apathy, inertia and ignorance all the time. We need to target them back.

However of course at times a few people take it to far. Illegality and bad manners aren't called for. A glint in the eye when playing the game in a reasonable way helps a lot. Do i think this is a monster - absolutely not, 99% of this site is about helping people take on companies, get more cash in their pocket, build a community of consumers helping and protecting each other. Like all communities some take it a bit far, but that doesn't make it a monster, that makes it a reflection of life and living.

My only sadness is that only 1% of UK adults use this site. Im filming my series at the moment, the nation is bereft of consumer savvy, to those spotting bargains, helping each other and pushing companies i say hoorah! To the few who push it a beyong the realms I say 'calm down'....

martin