Harvey Norman - Furniture - Too good to be true

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Forums › Bargains and Deals › Harvey Norman - Furniture - Too good to be true

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4086 posts

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#1398591 2-Oct-2015 11:28

mdooher:
Talkiet:
mdooher:

I made a genuine mistake, and they wouldn't refund my unopened item. Fair enough a sale is a sale and a binding contract, mistake or no. I had to suck it up.

That does suck... Sounds a bit odd too... Was it a software package? They have special policies around that. (regardless of opened status I believe)

Cheers - N

It was a Bluetooth speaker, now we have 2. I got over it pretty quickly. But its funny how they scream unfair when the shoe is on the other foot.

I think it is more inserting that they can advertise this as "New Zealand's biggest retail sale" Is it really? What does that even mean? Bigger than Christmas? Bigger than the ongoing Briscoe's sale? So big that a sofa will cost $199?

Because they have the biggest retail space by square foot with the most stock...
It's just retail advertising and all of the companies out there are guilty of talking it up.
It is easy to bash the Harvey Norman monster, but most people seem to be seeing the logical side of this.

One bad experience has obviously coloured your opinion of their business, that in itself should be a lesson to all retailers.
Look after your customers, and they look after you.
People are not loyal to the cheapest price (just ask Good Guys), they are loyal to human beings who treat them in a way they see fit.
My $0.10

Dunnersfella

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#1398598 2-Oct-2015 11:30

mdooher:
sir1963:
maxeon: All the prices have gone up to real values from sale. Hoping they would honor the sale prices :)

Why ?

Its clearly an error.

Or put it this way. If something cost $100 and you handed over 10 x $100 notes mistakenly thinking they were $10 notes, walked out the door and realised your error
would you be like "oops my bad, guess I should honour my commitment" and walk away or would you expect them to sort it out.

There is NO legal/moral or any other obligation to honour genuine errors.

Not what the consumers institute is saying. They will have to go to court and prove that the consumers knew it was an error.

A couple of well respected Lawyers are saying the same thing.

A couple of well respected lawyers can say what they want, particularly because they stand to generate revenue out of it...
The consumers institute isn't baying for blood, they all want to get their piece of PR, and the Harvey's monster is one they can attack without getting singled out for 'picking on the small guy'.
In a weeks time, no one will care anymore - but hopefully a couple of people will have learned a lesson or two.

Finch

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#1398638 2-Oct-2015 11:52

Listening to Sue Chatwin (Think she works for consumer?) on the radio right now.

Seems to think that the sale was up for 8 hours, that is plenty of time to correct the mistakes.

Also because Harvey Norman advertised it as "The biggest retail sale ever", that gives the impression the prices were legit, so to speak.

Seems to be siding on the side of the Customer.

sir1963

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#1398642 2-Oct-2015 11:55

mdooher:
sir1963:
maxeon: All the prices have gone up to real values from sale. Hoping they would honor the sale prices :)

Why ?

Its clearly an error.

Or put it this way. If something cost $100 and you handed over 10 x $100 notes mistakenly thinking they were $10 notes, walked out the door and realised your error
would you be like "oops my bad, guess I should honour my commitment" and walk away or would you expect them to sort it out.

There is NO legal/moral or any other obligation to honour genuine errors.

Not what the consumers institute is saying. They will have to go to court and prove that the consumers knew it was an error.

A couple of well respected Lawyers are saying the same thing.

No the lawyers are saying what the law says. There is no reasonable expectation by an average adult that $159 is anything but an error.

I hope they do go to court and they "customer" gets to pay legal fees back to HN.

MikeB4

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#1398644 2-Oct-2015 11:56

Finch: Listening to Sue Chatwin (Think she works for consumer?) on the radio right now.

Seems to think that the sale was up for 8 hours, that is plenty of time to correct the mistakes.

Also because Harvey Norman advertised it as "The biggest retail sale ever", that gives the impression the prices were legit, so to speak.

Seems to be siding on the side of the Customer.

Sue Chetwin is not official, her statements are opinion from an advocacy group.

mdooher

Hmm, what to write...
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#1398652 2-Oct-2015 12:09

sir1963:

No the lawyers are saying what the law says. There is no reasonable expectation by an average adult that $159 is anything but an error.

I hope they do go to court and they "customer" gets to pay legal fees back to HN.

Except that Harvey Norman advertised it as the biggest sale ever... don't know about you but I have seen better prices (than the correct sale price) elsewhere

Matthew

Bung

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#1398678 2-Oct-2015 12:41

Finch: Listening to Sue Chatwin (Think she works for consumer?) on the radio right now.

Seems to think that the sale was up for 8 hours, that is plenty of time to correct the mistakes.

Wasn't the 8 hour period midnight to 8am? Who did Chetwin think does the night shift at HN?

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

gzt

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#1398701 2-Oct-2015 13:10

The size or length of time.of the mistake is not important.

tdgeek

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#1398705 2-Oct-2015 13:15

Tired thread. Its an error, its covered by the law, by way of E+OE (Errors and Ommssions Excepted) which will be in every companys T+C.

A mistake gets made and out come the daggers.

sbiddle

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#1398734 2-Oct-2015 13:24

I see a whole lot of people jumping on the band wagon here over something that is clearly an error.

Had Harvey Norman followed the example of JB HiFi a few months ago where they cancelled everybody's order of tablets and gave a very lame excuse for this (nowhere did they actually say it was a mistake) people would have had reason to jump up and down. You can't seriously tell me anybody out there could accept (or expect at the time of purchase) that a $4000 lounge suite reduced to $199 (or whatever the biggest discount was) with no quantity limits was not a mistake.

As for Sue Chetwin she's simply the head of a consumer advocacy group. She does not speak for an impartial organisation.

mattwnz

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#1398769 2-Oct-2015 13:35

sir1963:

No the lawyers are saying what the law says. There is no reasonable expectation by an average adult that $159 is anything but an error.

I hope they do go to court and they "customer" gets to pay legal fees back to HN.

You do realise that this wouldn't ever go to court. It would be the disputes tribunal that would handle it, where their are no legal costs, as you can't use lawyers. the only cost is less than $100 for the lodgement fee

mattwnz

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#1398773 2-Oct-2015 13:37

sbiddle: I see a whole lot of people jumping on the band wagon here over something that is clearly an error.

Had Harvey Norman followed the example of JB HiFi a few months ago where they cancelled everybody's order of tablets and gave a very lame excuse for this (nowhere did they actually say it was a mistake) people would have had reason to jump up and down. You can't seriously tell me anybody out there could accept (or expect at the time of purchase) that a $4000 lounge suite reduced to $199 (or whatever the biggest discount was) with no quantity limits was not a mistake.

As for Sue Chetwin she's simply the head of a consumer advocacy group. She does not speak for an impartial organisation.

Yes HN handled this right, apart from teh email thing, IMO. JB Hifi didn't handle it right.

mattwnz

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#1398776 2-Oct-2015 13:38

tdgeek: Tired thread. Its an error, its covered by the law, by way of E+OE (Errors and Ommssions Excepted) which will be in every companys T+C.

A mistake gets made and out come the daggers.

That is true, however t&cs can't override legislation. But HN has sorted this by offering people vouchers which IMO compensates or any inconvenience and time wasted.

My issue though is these things happen time and time again with different retailers regularly having to correct errors. So why are these type of 'major' errors now occurring at such regularity?

I do recall not that long ago, a restaurant being fined for having incorrect pricing on their website when someone complained to the regulators, as it may have been a breach of the FTA to have incorrect pricing. Can't exactly recall the details over it.

Finch

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#1398792 2-Oct-2015 13:56

Bung:
Finch: Listening to Sue Chatwin (Think she works for consumer?) on the radio right now.

Seems to think that the sale was up for 8 hours, that is plenty of time to correct the mistakes.

Wasn't the 8 hour period midnight to 8am? Who did Chetwin think does the night shift at HN?

Guess it doesn't really matter what 8 hour period it was, especially in this day and age where I'm guessing a computer system said how many of x item is available. Shopping is 24/7 now.

You could start work at midnight, and finish at 9am. You had your break at 2am, thought "I'll go check Harvey Norman's biggest sale ever". Log on to find the furniture you have been after for months has dropped down to $100. "Omg wow what a saving, that must be an error though, ill check back on my next break at 6am"

Log on at 6am, prices still the same, think it's still legit, hit buy now and get the confirmation Emails.

Finish at 8:30am, home at 9am then sleep.

FWIW: I think it was an obvious mistake, and HN shouldn't have to sell the furniture at those prices. For those that really did actually want it, they could sell it at cost so HN doesn't actually make anything off it.

mdooher

Hmm, what to write...
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#1398797 2-Oct-2015 14:05

mattwnz:
tdgeek: Tired thread. Its an error, its covered by the law, by way of E+OE (Errors and Ommssions Excepted) which will be in every companys T+C.

A mistake gets made and out come the daggers.

That is true, however t&cs can't override legislation. But HN has sorted this by offering people vouchers which IMO compensates or any inconvenience and time wasted.

My issue though is these things happen time and time again with different retailers regularly having to correct errors. So why are these type of 'major' errors now occurring at such regularity?

I do recall not that long ago, a restaurant being fined for having incorrect pricing on their website when someone complained to the regulators, as it may have been a breach of the FTA to have incorrect pricing. Can't exactly recall the details over it.

Yep its in their terms and conditions that they don't have to accept the offer you make on the website .... BUT they did accept the offer, they even took the money. You are now the legal owner. If Harvey Norman wants to contest it and have the contract voided they can. BUT in the meantime you own the property.

Matthew

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