I have bought a product on the internet and they have sent me an invoice and taken the money from my account. They have recently called me to say that the price on their website is wrong and they now cannot sell me the item. What are my rights here, can I still insist that they provide the product at the price advertised and paid to them?
thefactor Tue 06/05/08 20:21
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your rights are that the money will go back in your account and you will be in the same position you were before the transaction
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A mistake in the price quoted does not give you the right to insist on the sale at that price. Otherwise, if a jeweller had a £100,000 ring for sale but the dopey assistant labelled it £100 any person could insist on the price of £100 (even knowing of the mistake)
The advertising of a price is what lawyers (who , of course,don't speak the same language as normal people) call an 'invitation to treat' , that is an invitation to enter a negotiation, not an 'offer' which can be then and there accepted, creating a binding agreement
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I could be wrong here but I always thought that as soon as you bought the item at the advertised price, that meant that the binding agreement had been created? Which is what has been done here.
If not, when exactly does it become legally binding?
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I agree with chazza, you have all the characteristics of a valid contract viz, offer, acceptance and consideration. The contract is valid as soon as they took your money.
That said and being practical, if the company you bought it from is overseas, it would be wise to ask for your money back as it will be difficult to complain and / or sue to get the goods at the stated price. If the company is in the UK it will be lots easier to persue
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I was trying to keep this simple and give a general, wide advice of but, if we must get more technical LOL:: Trouble here is that we are in the realms of both mistake and passing of title.Imagine the dopey assistant in my jewellery example of a £100,000 ring being labelled £100 had gone on to take a £100 from the customer Having taken the £100 and then realising the mistake either then or later the assistant could refuse to hand over the ring. In neither case does the customer have a remedy..
In this case, notwithstanding that the money was 'handed over', received by the vendor, you have no remedy. The vendor could plead that there was a fundamental mistake which would vitiate any contract and, in any case, title has not passed in the goods ,there being no delivery.You are not to get an order for specific performance for delivery of the goods
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Fredpuli47, does the 'size' of the mistake make any difference? In your ring example if it was labelled as £99,990 instead of £100,000?
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