OT charged a higher price than confirmed by e-mail
 

I'll start with the usual "I know this should be in the legal group
but..."

A company took an order through their web site and sent a confirmation
e-mail with prices for each line item and the total to be debited from
my credit card. Does that constitute a contract?

When the goods arrived they have charged a higher price for some items
and charged more to my card.

What offence has ben committed? Something under the sale of goods act?
I believe in retail premises it is an offence to charge a higher than
marked price once an item has been rung into the till, unless the
higher price is first pointed out to the customer.

TIA

Andrew

Does that constitute a contract?

That was an offer. A contract was created when you acceepted their
offer, unless they'd withdrawn or amended it between offer &
acceptance. See their terms and conditions for something like "...valid
for 30 days...". . They may have quoted their current list prices and
the prices had increased before you had placed the order.

What offence has ben committed?
Who's Ben? No offence that I'm aware of, they're in breach (or is that
breech?) of the contract. Ask on Uk.legal.

Aidan wrote:
Does that constitute a contract?

That was an offer. A contract was created when you acceepted their
offer, unless they'd withdrawn or amended it between offer &
acceptance. See their terms and conditions for something like
"...valid
for 30 days...". . They may have quoted their current list prices and
the prices had increased before you had placed the order.

I think you misunderstand what I said, the order *confirmation* came
*after* the order was placed and accepted, so it's definitely more than
an offer. They then proceeded to debit my card with a higher amount
than stated on the confirmation.

I realise mistakes happen but I contacted them immediately by phone and
was told someone from customer services would call back as it was then
outside normal office hours. That hadn't happened, hence I was
gathering my facts before getting heavy with them.

The good news is they finally rang whilst I was writing this with
profuse apologies and a refund is on its way.

Thanks,

Andrew

In message .com,
writes
I'll start with the usual "I know this should be in the legal group
but..."

A company took an order through their web site and sent a confirmation
e-mail with prices for each line item and the total to be debited from
my credit card. Does that constitute a contract?

When the goods arrived they have charged a higher price for some items
and charged more to my card.

What offence has ben committed? Something under the sale of goods act?
I believe in retail premises it is an offence to charge a higher than
marked price once an item has been rung into the till, unless the
higher price is first pointed out to the customer.

Have you actually tried emailing them back and pointing out that they
might have made a mistake ?


--
geoff

wrote:

I think you misunderstand what I said, the order *confirmation* came
*after* the order was placed and accepted, so it's definitely more than
an offer. They then proceeded to debit my card with a higher amount
than stated on the confirmation.

I would disagree.
legalities aside, there "conformation" is probabally no more than an
automated confirmation of the offer you have accepted.

Web-sites (shopping baskets) can be very restricteive in what they allow
and can not cover all eventualities.... however, were there any
descrepancies between what you were willing to pay (offer as understood
by you)and factual offer i.e. mitigating circumstances as detailed in
companies terms & conditions which should be evident on the site,but
possibly overlooked by yourself, they should have contacted you prior to
processing order to confirm acceptance of additional charges.

Phone them. It's prolly just a keying error or pricing issue that hasn't
been updated on the invoicing/billing system.

Either way they should refund your card for the full amount should you
choose not to keep the goods (though they are legally allowed up to 30
days to refund cost) or they will refund difference.

I realise mistakes happen but I contacted them immediately by phone and
was told someone from customer services would call back as it was then
outside normal office hours. That hadn't happened, hence I was
gathering my facts before getting heavy with them.

The good news is they finally rang whilst I was writing this with
profuse apologies and a refund is on its way.

Bugger!
That will teach me to read the ENTIRE post before wasting time waffling
on!

Glad you got it sorted. 99.999% of legitamate retailers will go out of
their way to correct any errors.... unless the customer is rude,
arrogant, and starts spouting "legal" (usually incorrect) refrences
about consumer rights. After which, you can kiss co-operation good-by!

We will always win against the obnoxious customer!

:¬)

Pete
--
http://GymRatZ.co.uk
Big enough to matter
Small enough to care!

The good news is they finally rang whilst I was writing this with
profuse apologies and a refund is on its way.

Thanks,

Andrew

Good news that its sorted. Was probably a simple mistake.

I guess this depends in the retailer, but I 'think' the contract is
formed when the retailer despatches the goods. Example from T&C from a
very well known online retailer (I've trimmed this):

'
Contract creation and electronic contracting

The technical steps required to create the contract between you and us
are as follows:

You place the order for your products on the web-site by pressing the
confirm order button at the end of the check-out process. You will be
guided through the process of placing an order by a series of simple
instructions on the web-site.
We will send to you an order acknowledgement email detailing the
products you have ordered. This is not an order confirmation or order
acceptance from x.
As your product is shipped from our warehouse we will send you a
despatch confirmation email.
Order acceptance and the completion of the contract between you and us
will take place on the despatch to you of the Products ordered unless
we have notified you that we do not accept your order or you have
cancelled it in accordance with the instructions in How to cancel your
order.
'

Will