Tescos direct

[forresthills]

Hi all,

A quick one really (and I think I already know the answer - no!). I ordered a Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM Lens which was advertised at £499.99, which is an amazing price. So good in fact, that at the time I thought this must be wrong, but i ordered it anyway.

I received a voice mail today, followed by an email, saying that the price was wrong and that I couldn't have it at that price and that they were canceling my order. Now given that they had already taken payment (which will be refunded), is there anyway to make them honor the price?

Cheers.

Bal.

[cruiser647]

Nope.

This happens many times on Amazon and other sites.

If you are first in, they probably send it, but as the orders pile up (inexplicably), they probably look at it and realise the price is wrong. Then cancel all orders that have not been despatched.

Out of curiosity, how much should the lens be?

[forresthills]

RRP on the Canon site is £999, but you can pick it up for around £750-800 without trying too hard. Hence £499 is a bloody good deal. Not sure if I am they first...but it seems that within two days of placing the order they were contacting me and saying thanks, but no thanks.

[Sponge]

This is something that really, really annoys me. As far as I am concerned, once they've taken the money a contract is formed and they should perform their legal duty to fulfil the order. If the price is wrong, then change it after honouring the contracts that have already been formed. It's their loss until that point.

Sure, if the order had only been acknowledged and, more importantly, no money taken, then they can reject your offer to buy. But after that...

The thing is, they will hide behind their own T&Cs about incorrect prices and when a contract is formed and I'm not aware of any cases of it being tested against UK law. People usually give up the fight, or in a few cases argue to the point where they finally speak to someone sympathetic and get what they want, or they slip through the net. But the latter usually only happens to the first few orders, before the 'mis-price' gets posted on HotUKDeals.

I had problems with Tesco Direct and my pre-order of Windows 7. They unilaterally cancelled the order and wanted me to re-order at the full RRP price. It took weeks of phone calls and escalating to management before they did a u-turn and supplied the goods at the ordered (contracted) pre-release price.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Sponge

[forresthills]

Sponge, that was exactly my take on it. They have taken the money. The contract is formed.

How did you go about taking on the mother of all retailers? Did you call straight off, or did you start with emails? For £300 it's certainly worth a bit of my time.

[Sponge]

iirc it was initially via email. Stating things like ordered in good faith, price wasn't obviously incorrect, e.g. £49.99, order confirmation received, money taken, therefore contract in place, they cannot unilaterally cancel a contract irrespective of what is in their T&Cs (English law trumps them all).

After getting nowhere with few of those (they're actioned by first line support with no authority to do anything other than stick to a script) we escalated it to supervisors and management over the phone.

We (my wife) spoke to a few different people and was getting nowhere until we were hooked up with a very nice lady who agreed with our position and agreed to refund us the difference (they generate an in-house discount code they can enter into their system), if we re-ordered at the new RRP price. This was done over the phone.

To summarise:

You need to escalate the matter to someone with the authority to make things happen. First line support cannot do anything.

Stick to your guns and keep trying. If you get nowhere, ask to speak to someone else that is willing/has the power to do things.

Cross your fingers and hope to finally speak to someone sympathetic.

Remain calm and polite.

Decide how far you are willing to go. There are lots of stories about mis-priced goods and peoples' fight to get them. Most give up. Some battle on, even to the point of issuing court proceedings. Some succeed and get results before that happens. Moneysavingexpert has threads on the issues.

Edited March 23, 2010 by Sponge

[Dave]

Unfortunately there are no laws in this aspect.

A retailer doesn't have to sell you anything, and can withdraw at any time until the product is in your hands. It's not a great thing to do of course, but protection is only there for the purchaser once the transaction (both ways) has been competed.