London's iconic toy shop, Hamleys, has gone from Father Christmas to Mr Scrooge in just one day. On Tuesday, news emerged that happy shoppers had been able to claim massive discounts of up to 60 percent on toys and other gifts. On Wednesday the company said it is not going to honour the discounts after all.
Hamleys had been take by surprise by a sudden spurt of children's gift-buying at the weekend after a specialist discount-hunting website had found that because of a glitch, it was possible for consumers to rack up multiple discounts and claim up to 60 percent off their purchases.
After this came to light, a Hamleys spokeswoman initially said that the company promised "to honour any orders made as a result of the blunder". Now, though, it has had second thoughts, even though it had already billed most of the people affected at the discounted prices.
Hamleys has acknowledged the original error but insists it is now within its rights to renege on the offer.
"Hamleys experienced a technical error on our site," the company said in a statement to those customers who tried to take advantage of the offer. "This resulted in you being able to apply a discount code more than once. Multiple use of the discount code contravened the terms and conditions of the offer and as a result we are unable to fulfil your order," the statement concluded.
To make recompense, the company said it will give those customers affected a 25 percent discount if they replace their original order.
One consumer who will not be taking advantage of the Hamleys offer is Simon Bowes, who had ordered two toys, including the hard-to-get Underground Ernie, for his children. "The discount is nothing really, when you see the mark-up Hamleys put on their toys and take the discount it is still more expensive than you would normally pick them up for," Bowes told ZDNet UK.
The discount scheme that failed has created problems for Bowes. "I thought I had Christmas sorted and now I don't and have to rush out and try and get the presents again," he said.
Bowers also took exception to the wording being used by Hamleys in some press statements. "I was just taking advantage of an offer, and then I read that Hamleys is accusing us of fraud," he said, referring to earlier comments quoted in The Guardian.
On Wednesday morning Hamleys defended its actions over the decision to renege on the original offer, but a spokeswoman stopped short of accusing customers of fraud.
"We are not saying that customers knew what they were doing was wrong [when claiming multiple discounts]; they didn't," she told ZDNet UK.
"It's nobody's fault, it is one of those things that happen. The problem was caused by third-party sites that have passed on discounts when they have absolutely no right to," the spokeswoman said. "We appreciate the inconvenience this could have caused customers."
Talkback
" The problem was caused by third-party sites that have passed on discounts when they have absolutely no right to"
This is not true at all! The problem was caused by Hamleys not having a secure ordering system on their website. Their accepted these codes and then automatically sent out order confirmations which according to their own Terms and Conditions enters both you and them into a legally binding contract.
It does not matter how that offer is submitted to them. Whether it being through electronic and verbal means. An offer is an offer, and once they have accepted the offer from the client which they did in this case then a legal contract exists. If they did not agree with the offers made then they should have refused the offer in the first place rather than allowing their computer system to automatically accept all offers.
I have now had my order cancelled which as far as I am concerned is a complete breach of contract as I have not agreed to have it cancelled. I have infact written them an email stating I do not wish the contract to be cancelled, to which they have not replied. Fantastic customer services.
Previous to this incident I did not even know that Hamleys had their own website but after this I shall be making sure I NEVER visit it again including their store in London.
Just a shame there isn't a No win no fee company willing to take this on as I am sure Hamleys would be in trouble if this went to a court. However neither I or other consumers could afford to take Hamleys to court and this is what they are relying on. Once again the system fails.
Thanks Hamleys for showing us how much you really care about your consumers. And being cheeky enough to wish everyone a Merry Christmas in the cancellation e-mail.
Boycott Hamleys and shop with other online retailers that can be trusted. That is my Christmas message.
Merry Christmas all.
Croccy22
The day before the whole hamleys affair, Sainsbury had the same multi-voucher use issue on their site. Their comments were that "A number of websites and e-mail "chain letters" then, without our knowledge or consent".
This is also not the first time this has happened. Sainsbury suffered similar user abuse back in Nov 04, when again mutli-vouchers were employed.
You'd think they would have learnt.
they were never going to honour it!