Ebuyer.... my rights or lack of.

zak1976

I ordered a DVD player from Ebuyer, was in stock when ordered, have a confirmation from them and payment has taken. Now they have cancelled the order on day of dispatch as they say they can not supply it.
Surely there is a Contract of Sale and I have some rights becuase of it..... or can they just fob me off with a sorry??

hjb123

I think that they can fob you off with a sorry, I assume that they have refunded you the money?

Is the product still listed at that price on theinternet or have they put that they no longer do it. I would of thought if they are still advertising it at that you should be able to get it.

H

zak1976

The thing that really gets me was that it's a live stock system. It was in stock when I paid for it and it was out of stock after I paid for it....... so I actually bought the damn thing! But now they say I can't have it because it's no longer listed! Shoddy company!

greenwich

hjb123 wrote:

I think that they can fob you off with a sorry

That's not necessarily true. If all you did was place the order then legally they could do what they've done. But if they had sent you an email confirming that your order had been accepted then you have contract with them. By failing to provide you with what you ordered, they are in breach of contract. They then have two choices. Either they can supply what you ordered or something similar (i.e. a DVD player that is as good as what you ordered). Or they can refund your money and if it then costs you more to buy the same DVD player from some other shop, then they have to pay you the difference.

Darksun

I'm fairly sure it was proven that confirmation emails don't constitute a contract, however, since they took payment, it is possible there is some form of contract in this case (IANAL)

I've always found EBuyer great, don't really know anyone who's had major problems with them

CIS

Ebuyer did that to me with a memory card, I just looked again and ordered a better card that wasn't in stock originally for 30p more with no problems.

peter_the_piper

I think this has been gone over on other threads. They all say a contract is not formed until a despatch confirmation is sent, irrespective of whether the money is taken/reserved. It will be somewhere in the very small print on their T&C's.

zak1976

The contract it formed at different points with different companies. Money was taken and order was confirmed. Trading Standards just say "give up and get your money back", but I'm really hacked off that companies can take your money and keep hold of it for up to 5 weeks when they haven't supplied the goods. Consumer Rights are a joke!

zak1976

The contract it formed at different points with different companies. Money was taken and order was confirmed. Trading Standards just say "give up and get your money back", but I'm really hacked off that companies can take your money and keep hold of it for up to 5 weeks when they haven't supplied the goods. Consumer Rights are a joke!

T and C's

1.2 No contract exists between you and the Supplier for the sale of any goods until the Supplier has received and accepted your order.
1.3 An acceptance of your offer to buy the goods will be sent shortly after your order. However, we do have the right to terminate the contract in the event that the goods are unavailable, mis-priced or cleared funds are not received

greenwich

zak1976 wrote:

1.2 No contract exists between you and the Supplier for the sale of any goods until the Supplier has received and accepted your order.
1.3 An acceptance of your offer to buy the goods will be sent shortly after your order. However, we do have the right to terminate the contract in the event that the goods are unavailable, mis-priced or cleared funds are not received

Did you get the "acceptance" email? If so, you have a contract and therefore they have to compensate you if they breach it.

As for the bit about "we do have the right to terminate the contract in the event that the goods are unavailable", that appears to be unlawful. The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 are there to stop suppliers from doing this kind of thing. You can read the regulations here http://www.opsi.gov.uk/cgi-bin/htm_hl.pl?DB=opsi&STEMMER=en&WORDS=unfair+term+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1999/19992083.htm#muscat_highlighter_first_match The bit that seems relevant is where the regulations say that the following is not allowed:

"(f) authorising the seller or supplier to dissolve the contract on a discretionary basis where the same facility is not granted to the consumer"

toriitom

I personally have reported EBuyer to Advertising Standards for false advertising. The ASA informed me that they told EBuyer to change their advert or to make a 'star' and explain their conditions at the end of their e-mail.

I have not seen any changes in their adverts, so a lot of good reporting them has done. On the ASA site there are lots of complaints about EBuyer.

I have refused to buy from them as they are frequently pulling stunts with their adverts.