I ordered a Product from Amazon 3 days later they canceled the order because they marked the price wrong online. I called them to complain that it is against the law to cancel due to there error in pricing. They refused to give the product for the purchased price. heres what they said to me Hello, We're contacting you about order #111-2331508-6485849.
We recently discovered an error that caused the following item(s) to be displayed at an incorrect price: WD 16TB My Book Duo Desktop RAID External Hard Drive - USB 3.1 - WDBFBE0160JBK-NESN In this case, we're unable to offer this item for the incorrectly posted price. Therefore, we've cancelled your order for this item, and you haven't been charged.
At any given time, despite our best efforts, a small number of the millions of items on our site may be mispriced. We're very sorry for any disappointment this may cause. To help make up for the inconvenience, we've applied a $20.00 Amazon.com Gift Card to your account.
This amount will be applied to your next eligible order automatically without entering a claim code. We value your business and hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Amazon.com Please note: this e-mail was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this message.
Jim
Beverly Hills,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, May 30, 2019
First, I am a lawyer. I told you the general rule. If the lawyer you spoke with told you anything else other than what I told you, then you're being led astray. Second, you have no ability to get Amazon to reinstate your order for all of the reasons I already told you.
Here is the general rule:
What The Contract Says
Assuming that an incorrect advertised price is truly an error rather than an attempt to deceive, companies are only obligated to honor it if a customer makes an offer at that price and the company accepts it. This exchange creates a contract between buyer and seller.
In a store, customers make an offer simply by indicating they want to buy an item – for example, by bringing it up to the register – and the company accepts the offer by ringing up the sale. In the brick-and-mortar world, contracts don't get formed around pricing errors because the store just won't ring up the sale. But online selling, in which transactions are processed automatically, has added a new layer of complexity to the issue.
Online Pricing Standards
When an e-commerce website has had an incorrect price entered into its database, it can end up not only advertising that price but also accepting orders and charging customers' credit cards for that amount. The central issue here is whether retailers can void the contract created when orders were accepted.
The easiest way for a company to deal with such situations is to have website "terms of use" that clearly state the company can cancel orders and refund customers' money because of pricing errors (or for any reason). Otherwise, a common law doctrine known as "unilateral mistake of fact" applies (you'll remember I mentioned this rule in my first comment to you). This doctrine allows a party to a contract to set aside the contract if honoring it would be "unconscionable," or if the other party could have reasonably assumed it was a mistake. A $1,000 item advertised for $10 likely would meet this definition. So would an item that should be priced for $700 that's marked at $200.
You have no case. If the UCC doesn't stop you, then common law does. Amazon has the right under their T&C's to cancel any order for whatever reason - you accpet those T&C's when you use the website.
At the end of the day, you should have known this was an error - if you don't know how - take a close look at the picture you posted with the original complaint. I recognized it as an error fairly quickly. You should have as well. If you can't, then you should not be purchasing computer products online....
Riley
Fall River,#3Author of original report
Wed, May 29, 2019
Sounds like your making an offer to buy a car. I have been talking to a lawer advising me. I will follow his advise which is nothing like what you wrote.
Jim
Beverly Hills,#4Consumer Comment
Wed, May 29, 2019
What I am referring to is contract law under the UCC that applies universally to all states. An advertisement is not considered an offer to buy anything for a host of reasons. Accordingly, when you place an order, you are not accepting an offer from the retailer. What you are doing instead, is placing an offer upon the item you wish to purchase by ordering.
The company can then accept your order - if they do, then there is a contract. If they opt not to because of a mistake, or they're out of stock, or some such thing, then they can contact you and say that we cannot accept the order. This voids your offer. It's also important to know that mazon could have simply said we have 0 product at that price, which LOL is actually true, and that would also void your offer.
In the situation you describe, if the retailer acknowledges the error and accepts the order, it isn't because of state law. It's because they make a decision to accept the offer of the consumer. In your specific situation, had the error been a $20 error, I'm sure Amazon would have accepted the offer and moved along. However, you're talking about a $500 error on a product that's roughly $700 based on my research. Their cost was probably around $450 or so if had to guess. For something like that....they will reject the order...
River
Fall River,#5Author of original report
Wed, May 29, 2019
Do you know the law in All 50 states. The laws are different in each State. Also I worked at a National Retail Chain. These Pricing Mistakes would happen in store and online. We always honored the price, I asked many times why? The response I would get State Law.
Jim
Beverly Hills,#6Consumer Comment
Tue, May 28, 2019
I called them to complain that it is against the law to cancel due to there error in pricing. There are a number of problems with this statement. Here are your problems:
1. For starters, it is not illegal for a company to cancel a purchase if there is a significant error in the pricing - the issue centers around whether a reasonable person (the buyer) would have known this to be an error. The product you purchased sells for about $600-$700. The item listing for $170 would be an error so significant that it would force cancellation.
2. The other issue is that an advertisement is not considered an offer. It is an advertisement and it is not considered an offer. What happens is that when you order the product, you are actually offering to buy the item at that price. The offer is accepted and a contract created when the company decides to accept. If the price is unacceptable, then there is what happened in your case. You get a cancellation notice. It is the opposite of what you think.
That is the law. Sometimes when something is too good to be true...it is. Best of luck to you....