When you buy some thing but the seller got it wrong??

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BlueShift

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#712389 5-Nov-2012 16:13

gzt: Imho people just make themselves look silly when they insist on taking advantage of web pricing mistakes/errors.

Even so it is a good question when purchase has occurred and it will have to be resolved one way or the other at some point. IIRC delivery is part of the contract and because delivery has not occurred in this case and the party has been notified of the error and the error was obvious that is where it will end.

Not sure entirely when the 'genuine error' back-out point expires, but legally a contract is composed of an offer, and acceptance and consideration. They advertised the PC, which is not an offer, just an invitation to make an offer. He made the offer by placing his order, they accepted the offer by accepting his order, he supplied his part of the consideration by giving them money, their part of the consideration is a promise to deliver the goods within a given timeframe.

Legally there's no requirement for the contract to be fair or reasonable - the amount he pays does not invalidate the contract. The Sale of Goods Act allows for a genuine error in an advertisement, but I'm not sure if it gets as far as a contract being completed that genuine error is atill applicable.

Guess who is halfway through a small business course, and doing his assessment for the legal module?

Dratsab

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#712451 5-Nov-2012 17:56

BlueShift: Guess who is halfway through a small business course, and doing his assessment for the legal module?

Good live case study for your course!

clinty

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#712467 5-Nov-2012 18:18

What do the T&C's of the site say? CGA aside, these will form the basis of the legal contract

Clint

Edit: Fixed grammar

Bung

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#712471 5-Nov-2012 18:27

lxsw20: From the CAB website:

If a retailer tells me a price for goods but it turns out it?s an incorrect price, do I have to pay the higher correct price?

The next CAB example is more to the point

"A retailer is asking me for additional payment because they accidentally undercharged me, do I have to pay?

If the sale has been completed, i.e. you have already paid you are under no obligation to pay more if you have been underpaid unless you knew that you had been undercharged and the price was a lot less than it should have been. So for example if you paid $100 for a $110 pair of shoes you don’t have an obligation to pay the extra $10, but if you paid $99 for a TV that was supposed to be $999 then you need to pay the extra."

My guess is "a lot less than it should have been" covers shifting the decimal point 2 places to the left.

CADMAX

274 posts

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#712517 5-Nov-2012 19:25

clinty: What do the T&C's of the site say? CGA aside, these will form the basis of the legal contract

Clint

Edit: Fixed grammar

Well this would be a good lesson for the web site owner.

There are no T&C's any where... more to the point even on the old invoices i have no T&C's.

I know my T&C's cover all this..

I should make one point! I don't want any thing out of the site or the site owner. I'm happy, stuff like this happens.

How ever at what point does it become binding as a contract?

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

mattwnz

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#712523 5-Nov-2012 19:28

CADMAX:
clinty: What do the T&C's of the site say? CGA aside, these will form the basis of the legal contract

Clint

Edit: Fixed grammar

Well this would be a good lesson for the web site owner.

There are no T&C's any where... more to the point even on the old invoices i have no T&C's.

I know my T&C's cover all this..

I should make one point! I don't want any thing out of the site or the site owner. I'm happy, stuff like this happens.

How ever at what point does it become binding as a contract?

I would say when your payment goes through. But most online stores have real time credit card processing, so that is a big negative for real time processing, if that constitutes a binding contract. But stores should also cover themselves in their T&Cs'

Kyanar

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#712667 6-Nov-2012 08:30

Well, I tried looking it up, but unfortunately the Sale of Goods Act was written in 1908 so it uses some pretty archaic language (market overt? What the heck is THAT when it's at home?) and it's pretty hard to decipher. It looks like pretty much all the rights are on the buyer's side in a transaction like this, but to be honest it's a bit of a crap move trying to force the issue - you know they'll be taking at least a $1000 loss on your transaction if they honour it.

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Bung

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#712695 6-Nov-2012 09:02

If there really was such a thing as a binding contract there wouldn't be any need for the Contractual Mistakes Act.

"The only exception is if you knew the price was a mistake, but took advantage of it anyway. Under the Contractual Mistakes Act, a court could require you to pay the correct price. For example, you go to buy a jacket for $300, but the shop assistant only types $30 into the eftpos machine. You notice this but continue with the purchase, hoping to get away with it. If the shop contacts you later once they realise the mistake you have to pay them the difference." http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/contract-law/getting-out-of-a-contract

If they had to go to court to recover the difference the amount would probably decide whether they went ahead. If they still had the item it would be up to you to make the case that it wasn't a mistake.

wellygary

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#712706 6-Nov-2012 09:22

I Think the biggest "get out of jail" point for the retailer is that they have not shipped the product,

A contract is only completed when both the goods and money are exchanged ( hence consumers having a genuine action if their goods are not shipped to them)

Until the goods actually leave the web-tailer I think from a legal point of view the contract is not final. So they are quite within their rights to refund and consideration offered by the consumer

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