Is This Ethical?

[Brum Lady]

I ordered a pair of football shorts online in December for my son advertised at £17.99 plus £3.99 delivery from a well known sports shop. They were a pre-order and arrived in February. By that time they had been reduced online, and actually came with a label on saying "30% off, now £14.99".

I contacted them by email twice to complain - saying when you purchase goods in a shop you pay the price on the label. I had an email back eventually saying, basically - tough, their terms and conditions say the price may be different when purchasing online compared with shop prices.

Am I correct in thinking they should refund the difference?

[woofgang]

Morally maybe but legally, no. It may be too late now but what you should have done is return them for a refund as per the distance selling regs.

[Mosaic]

sadly, right is on their side.
What is unethical is the wage paid to the person that sewed them, probably a Chinese 'slave' although of course China does not have slavery.
However you could return them saying they are unsuitable and get your money back, then buy the £14.99 ones.
That's playing by the rules.

[Tuvok]

Amazon do a pre-order price guarantee. If the price when you order is more than when its dispatched, you get the difference refunded.

If I were you I would have reordered and returned the dearer ones

[grasscarp]

At the time you ordered them that was the price. If the price had gone up would you have expected to pay more?

[B00]

No, you're not.

Took a long time for them to be delivered didn't it? Two months?

[Buenchico]

Every contract for the sale of an item is entirely independent of any other contract for the sale of that item. You were offered a price and you accepted it. Whether the price then goes up or down (or even if someone else was offered a completely difference price at the same time that you were quoted £17.99) is completely irrelevant.

That's the way that contract law operates, and long may it continue.

[magsmay]

I had exactly the same problem ordering something on line from a 'discount' shop - it stated on the web-site reduced from 29-99 to 19-99 -when the goods arrived there was a ticket on it for 14-99 - I complained and was told the same as you and that if I was not satisfied then i could return the goods (at my expense)

[society]

Gawd, I was about to ask why you named yourself 'BumLady' lol

I have had this happened to my online purchased from several different online stores many times. All of the stores honoured the last sale price. I think that's a dishonest and not a customer-friendly attitude from that sports shop.

[naomi24]

You wanted to buy something at the price offered. I can't see the problem.

[lcg]

even if you send them back and go to buy the cheaper pair, you will lose out due to the p+p costs you paid....so keep the shorts, swallow your pride and accept that they can charge whatever they like, wherever they like. you accepted they were appropriate and at a price you felt reasonable when you shopped online....so i don't see the problem.

[MadMen]

Lots of online retailers use the words "online price" next to items for sale, which may be different to the same item that's in one of their shops.

[FredPuli43]

No. The contract was made when there was offer and acceptance. You offered to buy at that price and they accepted your offer at that price, and, no doubt, took the money too.

And it would not be correct to say that you can insist on the price on the label. The label price is not an offer in itself. It is "an invitation to treat".

[Brum Lady]

Many thanks for all your replies - I stand corrected!

I won't be ordering online again from them, it was specifically requested by my son as a Christmas present, wish I'd gone to the shop instead!

Thanks again all.

[lcg]

brum lady, make sure that you shop around before buying. use shopping websites for comparisons and ebay, which is great. i scored myself a lovely purple leather handbag for £2.50 this afternoon. it has put a big smile on my face! good luck with future shopping! x

[Brum Lady]

Well done lcg. I didn't bother shopping around as the item was a specific present request. I'll know better next time!