Wrong Discounts Applied On Marks & Spencer Website

[PLIPPLOP27]

There has been a glitch on the M&S website and it is deducting the full price from half price items.If you knowingly ordered goods because it was doing this Would it be illegal ? Or just your good luck ? a friend of mine has and now I'm worried about it.

[Fitzer]

No, it wouldn't be illegal, on the other hand M&S have every right not to complete the transaction and not ship the item.

[Zacs-Master]

Take a screen-shot of the page.

[wolf63]

My first reaction was to race to the site to see if I could get myself a present. If it were me I would just put the order through and see what happens.

[Fitzer]

Wouldn't make any difference Zacs, there have been loads of instances of websites under pricing and then not delivering. There was the interesting one the other week where a company shipped a Sony handheld instead of the game for said handheld and I'm pretty sure the law sided with the company and said those who received same had to make it available for collection.

[FredPuli43]

No, it wouldn't be illegal to try to benefit from the mistake, but the price on a label or a website is not an offer in contract. It is an invitation to people to offer to buy; what is called, quaintly, "an invitation to treat". And if a contract for sale was made on the basis of some fundamental mistake of fact, such as here, the contract is avoided by the mistake. M & S are entitled to retrieve the goods transferred under the agreement or to claim for their value, in such a case.

You may be wondering whether it is theft by the person who orders the goods, hoping, knowing or expecting that they will not be charged the price. The key word is hoping; it is not guaranteed that they will not be, and they would be taken to expect that M & S could claim the goods or the value It is not dishonestly appropriating M & S property with intent permanently to deprive M & S of it, at least not so clearly so that anyone would prosecute for it

[tonywiltshire]

Fred is quite correct the item displayed at £2 when it should be £200 is just the seller offering to treat, the buyer then makes an offer an offer of £2 which is rejected and no contract is formed, an important well known case is Pharmaceutical Socy v Boots 1952, which may be of interest, as may Hartog v Colin & Shields 1939.