Some customers looking for a good deal on an LCD TV at Amazon.com this week are now staring at a blank wall, in the latest high-profile e-commerce gaffe.
Due to apparent pricing error, the company has cancelled all orders for a Samsung LNR409D 40-inch LCD TV advertised and sold for $1,899 (£1,071) on 4 October. The Web site now shows the old price slashed out, with a new price of $2,954.99 from Amazon partner Vann's and $3,699.99 from Crutchfield &mdash an increase of as much as 95 percent.
The television, which comes with a high-definition-grade 1366 by 768 pixel resolution, a built-in HDTV tuner and a 170-degree viewing angle, sells for a similar price range on other retail sites.
Customers were notified via email that the company could not complete the delivery because the price of the television was originally incorrectly displayed. Amazon.com's Customer Service Department apologized for the inconvenience and cited Amazon's pricing policy, which is posted on the company's help section.
"At any given time, despite our best efforts, a small number of the millions of items on our site may be mispriced," Amazon says in its written policy. "We do, however, verify prices as part of our shipping procedures. If we discover that an item's correct price is higher than our stated price, we will, at our discretion, either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of such cancellation."
While incorrect pricing does happen from time to time in the online retail industry, several customers expressed anger and dismay at Amazon's handling of the situation. "We sold our TV because we thought we were going to get this 40" Samsung LCD through Amazon. I don't know why Amazon did not honour the order, they cancelled my order without any notification. Now I'm sitting at home without TV," customer Willy Khusyonny wrote on the site.
An Amazon customer known as "Music lover" in California was similarly riled.
"This, of course, after I received the email confirming my order," Music lover wrote on Amazon. "In any brick and mortar store, you'd pay the advertised price and walk out with the merchandise, even if they screwed up the price. Apparently this does not apply to big online merchants."
R. Hiltz wrote: "Amazon said we posted wrong price, now won't honour order. Sent an e-mail that said 'sorry we posted wrong price... your order has been cancelled'. How convenient!!! Of course no offer of anything for my inconvenience!...very poor business practice."
An Amazon representative said the company adheres to its posted policies but is looking into answering the complaints beyond the automated responses sent to customers.
Last month, UK retailer Argos refused to honour thousands of orders after accidentally offering a TV-DVD combo device for 49p on its Web site.
Legal experts agreed that Argos was within its rights, having covered itself with solid terms and conditions.
Talkback
Hm... I notice they don't say thy will correct the price if it's too high...
I was under the impression that it was UK law for a company to honour it's advertised price. Does this mean that any store (online or not) can cover it's pricing errors with its own terms and conditions? If it does, what's the point of retail law?
Uk law says no company can advertise an item at one price then raise the price after a purchase has been made by the customer..Argos and several other companies have been heavily fined for these kind of tactics where they offer a very low priced item to 'lure' customers in.
Also companies can be accused of deliberately 'embarrassing' a customer by charging a low price, then raising the price (many people would feel too embarrassed to say they could not afford the higher price and would just pay up).
All it takes is ONE person to sue via the small claims court for Amazon to stop using these dubious tactics (unless you really believe they can mis-type one price as a completely different one!!!! in which case I have a bridge to sell you in London).
And for those who didn't know if you DO have to sue a company to get what you are entitled to then you can now under UK law also claim up to 100x the price paid as punitive damages.
This is nothing new with online purchasing. Mail order lists always had E&OE (most invoices will as well).
Human/typing errors creep in all the time. I remember things like this happening in catalogues and magazines back in the 80's, and probably before then as well.
If something is really, obviously advertised at the wrong price (and a TV/DVD combo for 49p would fall into that category), then I wouldn't suprised or too upset if the company told me that it was a printing error and that I would either have to pay the real price or cancel the order.
It seems like the world is going sueing crazy! Just because the vendor is unable to fulfil the order at the incorrect price isn't grounds for nashing of teeth or wailing and claiming compensation! The only reason that it is "big news" is that with Internet technology, the word spreads quickly and thousands get to hear of the pricing error and try and exploit it. With mail order, it is not as common to get so many people affected because, if it was a catalogue, they'd probably send out an addendum, and when the people phone up to place the order, the person on the order hotline would probably notice the false price and query it with one of the first customers.
With everything automated in the Internet transaction, it is not unreasonable that the error may not be noticed until further down the chain...
As to the people who sold their old TV before they had a confirmed delivery date on the new one, more fool them...
Really? what is the world coming to? I bet all of the people complaining have NEVER made a mistake in their lives! And what's with all the "sue" culture?
As for the comments here about UK law, get your facts straight! Read the small print.
Error's are made all the time. Just because some companies will accept the loss in the name of customer service, doesn't mean every company has to!
In a real store the wrong price would be corrected after the first person got away with paying the cheaper price.
In an automated world these errors are usually only noticed much later on. Do you expect them to honour hundred's of incorrect orders and make huge losses? They wouldn't really make a loss since they would simply hike up the prices of other goods to make up the loss.
If you'd like a less automated service with fewer errors, go to a real store. Or ask amazon to change it's ways and hire 1000's more employees and then jack up it's prics to cover it's costs.
You choose!
Actually, its not covered by UK law. Firstly most companies have something in their T & C, that's guaranteed.
In shops, if something is priced incorrectly they DO NOT have to sell for that price if it is wrong, they have to take them off the shelf, then re price them. They cannot continue to sell them for that price and tell customers it is wrong.
The only time the shops would have to sell the product to you is if you can PROVE the price was deliberately marked wrong. Use your sense people. You won't go getting a TV/DVD combo from Argos for 49p, likewise you won't go getting a 40 inch HD LCD tv for just over £1000!
Just remember... if it sounds to good to be true...