If there are any Sale of Goods Act experts out there - Mr Dillinger ?? I have just visited an online flights site and priced flights to South Africa from Cork - the price came in at €1600 for five of us, which is a great deal.... the site had advertised that they had a sale on South Africa flights so I had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. I proceeded to book the flights and made payment by credit card - which has been accepted and I have got my receipt. The agency have just phoned me to say the prices quoted were wrong. I need to pay another €1800 euro for my kids !! I told them that I had accepted the "invitation to treat" and they had accepted my offer so as far as I was concerned this is a done deal under the Irish Sale of Goods Act - this is the same, pretty much, as the UK one I think. Am I right, or can they just refuse me now ?? I think not, but I could be wrong. I was always under the impression that this is the situation. Help needed so I know whether its worth my while fighting on this issue... Thanks
As far as I'm aware they can refuse to sell you the tickets at the original price you saw and refund your money. I don't think you can insist on the 1600 euros price.
I believe that if you have paid, and they have issued a receipt, then the transaction has been accepted by both parties under the prices shown and is contractual.
I'm no expert... as far as I am aware, the advertised price is the price at which the item has to be sold.
it happeend with tv's and tesco's a couple fo years back when they were advertised on teh web for 1p or £1 or something. if its a genione mmistake made by the company they are not bound - as a general rule, although, theres always some wiggle room. it might be worth saying your thinking of court action and see if they want to bring the new price down a bit.
I don't deal with this stuff but I think so long as the price wasn't an obvious error then it's a done deal.
Thanks JD It wasn't obvious I think - it showed full price plus taxes etc for me and the wife, with a substantially reduced price for the three kids - in these days of kids go free etc, this didn't strike me as unusual.....
I think the differenc here is... It wasn't just advertised. They let me book and pay at the price their system had calculated. I've checked and the money has been taken from my credit card. So I now await the tickets....
Not the case. No one is bound to deal at a published price, if they decide at the point of sale that the published price is an error. It is the difference between an "invitation to treat" and an "offer of sale". I'm with moose - an advertised price is an "invitation to treat" (definite) but once the transaction is finalised that constitutes offer and acceptance. However the fact that the intermediary is involved here complicates matters - it isn't a simple buyer/seller relationship. I doubt that the seller is bound by the intermediaries mistake, so the issue is whether or not you can sue the intermediary for the difference. I suspect difficult, unless you can demonstrate that the lower price would have been available to you elsewhere (i.e. you can demonstrate a financial loss), but will gladly stand corrected if anyone knows better.
there is only one thing I'm not 100% sure on and that is because the goods have not actually changed hands yet, ie the customer is not in possession of a ticket or an e-ticket reference, then the supplier has not completed the transaction. i don't know whether they can then back out of the deal and simply refund your money instead of supplying the goods - I am pretty sure that some web retailers have used this method to claw back losses on items that were priced incorrectly on their websites.
and the 'acceptance' is automatic, which probably wouldny constitute a valid acceptance. there will be something in the t and c's saying we're not bound until the transaction is verified etc etc
