price lowered before item shipped but charged the old price... right or wrong?

AtreuS · 14 May 2009 at 18:04

I ordered something from an online retailer that showed as in stock. After i placed the order my card was debited almost immediately but it turns out there was no stock after all!.

I wait a few days and today i find that my order has been shipped, BUT the price of the item is now £10 lower than the day i placed the order!.

Whats the legal standing on this? i would have thought that its not right to be charged for an item known not to be in stock. Surely you would only be charged when the item is availiable for dispatch at whatever price it is at the time of dispatch.

Im quite certain that if the item had gone UP in price i would have been charged more. :rolleyes:

Dolph · 14 May 2009 at 18:06

Legally, it's fine. The offer was made and accepted when the order was made. As long as the company is applying the process consistently, of course.

Rroff · 14 May 2009 at 18:08

Unfortunatly the contract is binding at the moment the money is exchanged, even if they don't have it in stock at that moment.

james.miller · 14 May 2009 at 18:09

just ask them lol. most places are quite happy to dorp the price to that at the time of shipping.

AtreuS · 14 May 2009 at 18:10

Rroff said:
Unfortunatly the contract is binding at the moment the money is exchanged, even if they don't have it in stock at that moment.

Thats my point. I always understood that you are only supposed to take the money when you have the item ready for dispatch, and not take money for speculative stock.

Im not that annoyed about the £10 so much as the principle of it. And i have asked, and been told that because its already shipped they cant do anything.

Apparently if i had had called before dispatch to let them know of the price drop they could have helped. Apart from the fact the item shipped at the same time as the price reduction!

Kezmo · 14 May 2009 at 18:12

Id fire them off an email, the decent thing to do would be to knock the £10 off or give you £10 credit.

Vixen · 14 May 2009 at 18:14

Have you spoken to the company to find out if they'll refund you the £10? I had a similar issue recently with Hotel Chocolat, I ordered something that was reduced before dispatch so I called to say I wasn't happy. The customer services guy was lovely and duplicated the order as a goodwill gesture.

Vonhelmet · 14 May 2009 at 18:29

You agreed to pay the higher price, so that's what you'll pay.

tres · 14 May 2009 at 19:00

Distance Selling Rules? Send it back, reorder?

Rroff · 14 May 2009 at 19:02

trescodrucey said:
Distance Selling Rules? Send it back, reorder?

Really really not worth it for the sake of £10...

Amnesia · 14 May 2009 at 19:06

what if the item only cost 20 quid ?
that would be half price if he ordered again

tres · 14 May 2009 at 19:06

Every penny counts!

Raymond Lin · 14 May 2009 at 19:22

Of course, when you clicked order, that is the price you offered them.

It's up to them when you accept and unless you withdraw the offer before they accepted then the contract is done when they have accepted.

tres · 14 May 2009 at 19:28

What if the original item cost £1.

Then you'd send it back.

R.O.S.S.I · 14 May 2009 at 19:29

Just send it them back and re-order. Simple.

Raymond Lin · 14 May 2009 at 19:38

trescodrucey said:
What if the original item cost £1.

Then you'd send it back.

It'll cost you £2 to send it back

Raymond Lin · 14 May 2009 at 19:42

This happened to me before, you got to do the following.

1 - assess if it is financially viable to send it back for a refund and re-order. No point if you are going to break even or make a loss after all that plus the hassle

2 - Ring up the company and speak to someone and explained what has happened and ask politely for a refund of the difference, if they refuse then state that under the long distance selling reg you will send it back and reorder another at the lower price. So to save you both a hassle, it would be in the best interest of both parties that they just refund you the difference.

No. 2 worked for me and that was OCUK when i got my graphic card from them a few years back.

osc89er · 14 May 2009 at 19:43

Raymond Lin said:
Of course, when you clicked order, that is the price you offered them.

It's up to them when you accept and unless you withdraw the offer before they accepted then the contract is done when they have accepted.

Here's a hypothetical for you.

Is there a meeting of minds if you ordered because the stock was in, but it turns out it isn't and you then have to wait?

Raymond Lin · 14 May 2009 at 19:45

osc89er said:
Here's a hypothetical for you.

Is there a meeting of minds if you ordered because the stock was in, but it turns out it isn't and you then have to wait?

Still a contract but there would be no problem is there as the item hasn't been sent so you can just cancel it.

Offer + Acceptance + Consideration = Contract.

That is the basic principle, the mud comes from implied contract, and all those case laws that came before.

dalin80 · 14 May 2009 at 20:23

that big rainforestry place have actually in the past refunded me the difference on items they have sent me without anything being done on my end.

on occasion i will just get an email stating that as they have recently dropped the price for item x they have expanded that discount retroactively.

although this is nice of them i believe that as soon as you click 'confirm' the deal is done if the item goes cheaper...tough...