You know, I've seen some damn long descriptions of where people live, and I was just wondering how freakin' long of a location they actually allow you to write in here. Looks like it's quite a bit. Oh well, if the space is here I'll use it!!! :)
Posts
2,330
It's within their right to change the price at any time, for good reason or not, mistake or not. If they do anything for the people that ordered the card at that price, it will be only to keep a good image, not because there is any legal reason to do so.
------------------ Only 30,000 to 40,000 genes in an Einstein, a Michael Jordan, or a Bach? Boy, can that God guy write tight code or what? - David Rudloff
IMO, Mr. Derek Smart is a hypocrite: Only someone who is either (a) lying (b) ashamed of their products (c) just plain ashamed, would hestitate to give out some simple and straight forward information. - Derek Smart, Ph.D.
there was a case similar to this when kodak offered a £300 digital camera for £100. the manufacturer initially refused to honour the deal, and although legally the customers had no contract the company eventually agreed.
in the uk i believe that companies have to have the price displayed for 36 hours or something before they can deny sale on grounds of mistake. most will sell you at the 'wrong' price and then change it before that though.
------------------
trout are freshwater fish and have underwater weapons
trout are very valuable and immensely powerful
keep away from the trout
trout are freshwater fish and have underwater weapons
trout are very valuable and immensely powerful
keep away from the trout
Best buy is notorious for this kind of crap. I got into an argument with a clerk because of a marked up LG burner. The sale tag said $79. I double checked the sku, and the expiration date of the tag...IT was correct # and within the dates listed, $79.
They charged me $89. The clerk took me to the "sale stack" where they were displayed, and showed me the the $89 tag. But then I took him to the usual aisle where that hardware is stored (and where I picked the unit up from, after seeing the price) and showed him the $79 tag. He then promptly ripped the tag from the shelf, and put it in his pocket, saying it was old. He had no answer when I asked how it could be old, when that date has'nt passed yet.
The funny thing is that, this wasn't an isolated case for me. It happens all the time, I just happend to raise a stink about it this time, after having seen news reports about this type of thing happening within many large department stores during the christmas season. If I remember correctly, There was the only one store with a good report card, free from overcharges, and having accurate sale charges.
It may be within a vendors right to raise prices, but it is a customer's right to recieve the marked price, especially after standing in line. These tactics have been around for a long time. It all boils down to bad business ethics. As far as the legalities, where exactly does false advertising lie? Are there any lawyers on here?
I remember an incident at radio shack. The catalog had listed a set of pro speaker stands at a rediculous low price. I snatched them up...along with a bunch of other people...so many people, that they had a 2-3 month back order on them. But they still honored the price. The next years catalog had them listed at more than double the price. It was their policy to honor any marked price (though some individual store managers may see things different) It seems as though this was a rare instance.
Maybe these are innocent overlooks on the employees part???
I think corporate America is a bit too high tech for these overlooks to be as widespread as they are. AND, If they were overlooks, they would probably be corrected after being exposed. Instead, they refuse interviews. They count on people's reluctance to inquire at the register, with a line of impatient people growing longer behind them. After all, ten bucks, from enough people, and the profit margin is significant. I can only imagine what went through their heads seeing $200 get flushed on that many of those orders.
Oh well, let enough people get pissed off, so that the media takes interest...and those stores will be sporting new names after a while
"...and maybe we can see what we can do to help those affected by this" Affected? How? I mean, emotionally traumatized by not getting a top of the line card at an ridiculously low price? If I had seen that ad I would have hoped for the best but expected the worse (that is was a error of some kind). If I got the card at $179, sweeeet, if not. Darn. Unless they've accepted your cash or already cashed your check. I feel they owe you nothing but an apology. If you wanna fight for a cheap video card go for it, but just don't do it under the guise that your some kind of victim. Victims are people who end up with less than what they started after a transaction, you probably invested 40 seconds ordering that card.
Thats just my opinion, please don't hate me.
------------------
"Who says nothing is impossible??? I do nothing everyday!"
Legally if a price is posted in a store and it does not have a listed experation date that has expired, it is their mistake and they have to honor it BY LAW. This is the case in Michigan at least. Also if you goto a store and the regular price is one and they charge you another (not a sale price), they have to refund you 3x the differance (up to $5). Again this might only be in Michigan.
The thing is the orders were accepted and proccessed. They might have even taken the money out of their credit card accounts. That means a finalized sale. If they did that they likely can be forced to honor the deal. The problem is you might have to legally fight them which is just not worth it in most cases, but it would be very bad publicity.
It is looked as a bait and trap. You give a false advertizement to draw people in and pressure them to perchase what they did not want. It is kind of illegal. The right to change prices means if you look up something to get a price and go back to buy it the next day and the price has change, too bad. But what they are trying to do is something like saying you don't want to honor a rain check or raising the price of something you put on lay-away.
I had a similar thing happen with insurance once. I asked for a quoat on insurance adn the price was better than I was paying so I switched insurance. Then they mailed me the first bill and the rates had jumped almost 50%. I called them up and they said the quoat was a mistake and tehy had not figured in the city I lived in was high risk (the same city their office was in, about 4 blocks from my house) along with a the fact that I had not got my license on my birth date, pushing me just into the next age bracket by a few days (and they had to keep it that way for a full year). A few days later they sent me a letter saying they were cancelling my insurance because I delivered pizza for Dominos (which I had infoirmed them of at the beganning too). They said they only handle residential insurance.
Well I called around and found that the miss quoat was a very bad thing to do as they new my address from the beganning and they only asked me my birth date, not how many years I had been driving (some new law about age discrimination). Then I found out that since the car was my only car and I used it for personal uses too, they were required by State law to insure me. I went strait up to the State offices and had them reinstate my insurance (back dating it so I had no lapse) and forced them to lock in the original quoat for the first six months. Then I changed insurance after the six months was up.
AMD Phenom II x4 945 3Ghz | ASUS M4A77TD | 2X WD 1TB SATA 2 hard drive | 2x2GB Corsair XMS3 | nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS | ATI TV Wonder Theater Pro 550 | Antec P-160 case | Antec 650w Earth Watts | LG Blu-ray Super Drive | LG DVD RW | Windows 7 Pro
Samazon they advertised that price as a SPECIAL PREORDER PRICE. I knew it was low. BB sold a GeForce (Visiontek) G3 Ti200 for $99 last "day after thanksgiving sale". Those cards are still $150 online and $200 in the BB stores. I bought one ..... should I take it back cause i screwed them? It was a rediculously low price , too.
cleveland,
I agree w/ you about your rant,I to would be pissed off,but you must understand,It was a mistake,"A huge mistake",they were giving you a price break @ $399 for early orders,not $129.00, that card was suppose to release @ over $500.00,Thats like 76% off ..It clearly was a mistake,no one is that stupid to sell a card for less than they paid for it.
Thats like ford selling its top truck for $40,000,and having a wrong advertisement on there website listing it for $10,600...
Lets say 1400 people ordered that(thats how many ordered the geforce),lol...Should they lose $42,560,000.00??
Guys really.... I DO understand that it may have been a mistake. I wasnt there so I dont know, but they do claim it was a mistake.
I reference the thanksgiving thing again. They HAVE in the past (precedence) sold items at or below their cost to generate business. I just think this one got out of hand.
Hardtellin. check your math.... maybe $756,000.00. not $45M.... $270 per card loss x 2800 cards (assuming an average of two cards per order)
------------------
Who's on first?
No!....
[This message has been edited by Cleveland (edited 02-10-2002).]
Originally posted by Cleveland: Samazon they advertised that price as a SPECIAL PREORDER PRICE. I knew it was low. BB sold a GeForce (Visiontek) G3 Ti200 for $99 last "day after thanksgiving sale". Those cards are still $150 online and $200 in the BB stores. I bought one ..... should I take it back cause i screwed them? It was a rediculously low price , too.
We can all only hope that Best Buys caves in gives one or two thousand whiners what they want (but have no right to) because of the bad PR.
Then, they can just pass that loss on to ALL of the rest of us.
Sweet.
I hate this kind of behavior.
Excuse me, I think I'll go to McDonalds and buy a cup of coffee which I'll spill in my lap and sue them. Then, after I order an iced (so safe!) coffee, I think I'll sit up all night going through retailer's websites looking for mistakes to exploit.
If I find any, I'll be sure to let you all know, so the mistake will spread like wildfire, and then if they don't honor it, we can all get together and make a HUGE stink about it be really MAD until they give in!
I reference the thanksgiving thing again. They HAVE in the past (precedence) sold items at or below their cost to generate business.
Sure lots of large companies will sell a certain product @ cost to bring in sales,but the ones they sell under cost are usually close outs,Not state of the art Graphics cards that arent even availiable.
I really think you have found a justifiacation for some body elses fault,You want some thing for FREE!
This case is not like many cases where a person goes into comp usa and gets a wrong price tag and they sell it anyway for good businesss,Were talking close to a 1/2(seeing I doubt everyone bought 2 cards,you didnt did you??) million dollars,please.
Reply With Quote
..It clearly was a mistake,no one is that stupid to sell a card for less than they paid for it.
Bookmarks