Company's Right to Cancel

[theukmoog]

If you check the original order confirmation mail from that site it has the following two clauses

For items purchased from third parties in Marketplace, this e-mail confirms the completion of your contract to purchase those items.

and

Please note that for items ordered from XXX this e-mail is only an acknowledgement of receipt of your order and your contract to purchase these items is not complete until we send you an e-mail notifying you that the items have been dispatched to you

So, if you've bought it directly from the rainforest site and you have been notified by email that it has been dispatched then your contract is complete and they can't change their minds.

 

[pioneer2000]

I'm currently VERY confused. I ordered one of these the other day and subsequently received an email from them saying my order had been cancelled. The order also disappeared from my account at this time.

This morning an xbox elite has arrived at my house - invoiced for £93. No money has been taken from my credit card and I have received a dispatch email from them confirming the order. The entertainment pack is being sent seperately.

Where do I stand with this? I was of course under the impression that my order was cancelled and I had (probably quite rightly) missed out on this mistake of a deal.... I of course do want an elite for £93 so now that it has been delivered, I presume I am fine to keep it and not contact the rainforest? If they charge my card what they have invoiced then that's fine.... but if they don't charge me (which i would have presumed they should have by now?) do they have any comeback? Cheers

 

[Nitefly]

I would hold onto it for 2 weeks and see what happens - they have obviously made a mistake somewhere in cancelling the order and sending it to you regardless, so you are reasonably aware there has been an error on their behalf.

 

[pioneer2000]

I would hold onto it for 2 weeks and see what happens - they have obviously made a mistake somewhere in cancelling the order and sending it to you regardless, so you are reasonably aware there has been an error on their behalf.

Is 2 weeks a legal deadline then?

I presume the only outcomes now then are:

1) They don't charge me and I keep it.

2) They charge me the £93 they have invoiced me and I keep it.

3) They don't charge me and ask me for it back? Is that even possible?!

 

[Nitefly]

Is 2 weeks a legal deadline then?

No, just that if they are going to contact you, I would assume that they would do so in two weeks, or a month at maximum.

 

[Sparky__H]

Also worth noting that if they have a terms and conditions section on their website it also forms part of the contract of sale.

So if they have price errors covered there is nothing you can do about it.

 

[i-bert]

Got mine this morning.

It says on their T&C that if you get a dispatch email then the contract is made.

I recieved an email yesterday saying they had made a mistake but the xbox came this morning and i also got a dispatch email this morning.

Strange.

I'm not sure what to do.

 

[apatia77]

Lucky you then, you bot yourself a bargain

 

[Mr Jack]

They don't have to honour it, this is a common misconception. The price advertised on the website is the equivalent to an "invitation to treat" i.e. they are inviting you to deal with them, at this point no contract has been formed, you make the offer by setting up the order (or taking the product to the counter as appropriate) - at this point the shop is free to accept your business or not as they choose, they can decline your offer for any reason they like including simply that they think you smell, you've got a dodgy taste in kipper ties, they don't like the look of the computer you are ordering on or it was priced wrongly - it doesn't matter.

This is not correct. Companies are obliged to honour the prices they advertise (otherwise they could just lie in all their price labels); however an exception is granted for "good faith errors" where the price offered is "clearly unreasonable". It's questionable that a £120 for an Xbox 360 is a price that a reasonable person would consider so absurd as to be clearly wrong; whereas if, say, they'd advertised a £4000 telly for that price it would have been.

There have been, needless to say, numerous court cases over this; especially since internet sales came into being.

 

[JBuk]

This is not correct. Companies are obliged to honour the prices they advertise (otherwise they could just lie in all their price labels); however an exception is granted for "good faith errors" where the price offered is "clearly unreasonable". It's questionable that a £120 for an Xbox 360 is a price that a reasonable person would consider so absurd as to be clearly wrong; whereas if, say, they'd advertised a £4000 telly for that price it would have been.

There have been, needless to say, numerous court cases over this; especially since internet sales came into being.

Not so, the price on goods is only an invitation to buy at that price, it is not set in stone although in practice the price you see is usually the price you will have to pay although it is possible to barter/haggle with some retailers, I've done this before with big companies and saved quite a few quid and got extras thrown in too

 

[Mr Jack]

Not so, the price on goods is only an invitation to buy at that price, it is not set in stone although in practice the price you see is usually the price you will have to pay although it is possible to barter/haggle with some retailers, I've done this before with big companies and saved quite a few quid and got extras thrown in too

I don't know how you managed to think that what I said procluded that.

 

[JBuk]

I don't know how you managed to think that what I said procluded that.

because you stated

This is not correct. Companies are obliged to honour the prices they advertise

which is incorrect


there is some rambling in there which is only additive and not specifically aimed at you

 

[CliffyBiro]

Once they have taken payment, they have agreed to sell at that price. Something a certain supermarket head didn't seem to grasp during my time as a Customer Service rep.

 

[Mr Jack]

which is incorrect

No, it's not.

And I'm still not sure how you manage to read that as they can't sell it to you for less? Or you can't haggle?

 

[Nexus]

I remember this happened a few years ago with Tesco. Offering an Xbox deal that was too good to be true, as part of a pricing error.

Pretty much everyone I worked with ordered one, and one guy even ordered three. They all got cancelled.

 

[JBuk]

No, it's not.

Companies are obliged to honour the prices they advertise

nah, you're wrong , they're not allowed to purposely mislead or mis-sell but they are not obliged to honour anything , anyways I haven't time to discuss it

And I'm still not sure how you manage to read that as they can't sell it to you for less? Or you can't haggle?

Like I said , that was additive, I didn't imply that is what you thought, you're reading too far into it

 

[CliffyBiro]

I remember this happened a few years ago with Tesco. Offering an Xbox deal that was too good to be true, as part of a pricing error.

Pretty much everyone I worked with ordered one, and one guy even ordered three. They all got cancelled.

If payment had been taken, I'd have thought they would have had to honor it. Although, they will try anything to get out of it, including claiming that because they have a line in their T&Cs regarding human error on pricing, they think they're exempt from trading laws.

 

[thecremeegg]

I doubt really that a company that size will be overly bothered about chasing it up. They've accepted your payment, in doing so have entered into a contract with you. It'll be fine, just enjoy the bargain

 

[Rroff]

Is 2 weeks a legal deadline then?

I presume the only outcomes now then are:

1) They don't charge me and I keep it.

2) They charge me the £93 they have invoiced me and I keep it.

3) They don't charge me and ask me for it back? Is that even possible?!

Depending on the status of the order on their system they _might_ phone you up saying payment failed to go through and invoice you for £93 - they can't legally increase on that...

Most likely outcome is this has slipped through their system and won't be noticed or not noticed until audits months from now... in which case they would just write it off.

I'm not sure if they can ask you to send it back - depends if it overlaps with the unsolicited goods act (as its been cancelled) not sure...

 

[CliffyBiro]

They can't ask for it back.

Well, they can, but you're under no obligation to do so.