Should stores honor online price errors? (DEBATE and poll)

[Free4Life11]

Ok in honor of the Great Sears $29 Disney TV Debable of 2005, I thought I would start a thread. What is your feeling on stores and honoring internet prices? If the price is a result of an error should they honor it?

 

[Miss Kelly]

YES, especially one that has been 'online' for 3 days or so. Sears should have removed the error when they first became aware of it.

 

[cdrn1]

Not if they have a disclaimer to cover mistakes. Otherwise, yes.

 

[Free4Life11]

I think it is their decision, but they should not make up excuses. Just tell people it was a pricing error and the order will be cancelled according to the TOS. Additionally, they shouldn't charge people for something until they have the item ready to ship IMO.

That wont appease everyone though, as there will still be people who get pissed that they didn't get a $29.99 TV, but I think it would be the best thing to do.

In this instance, I'm sure it would have been a considerable loss per TV and who knows how many of the TV's were ordered.

 

[Mermaid02]

In the case of Sears, Yes. They left this "mistake" on their website for almost THREE days. What's up with that?

 

[Free4Life11]

In the case of Sears, Yes. They left this "mistake" on their website for almost THREE days. What's up with that?

Well I used to be in charge of the online store at a store I worked at and one simple answer is, I didn't work on weekends. I agree three days was too long though - they should have called someone in, but maybe the word was never passed on form the operators to the supervisors, etc.?

 

[ChrisnSteph]

No. And if it's obviously a mistake, people shouldn't be ticked off because they aren't profiting from it.

Why they left it up there for three days is beyond me, but I still don't think they are obligated.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Not if they have a disclaimer to cover mistakes. Otherwise, yes.

I agree.

 

[Kermit]

I voted no. Stores make mistakes on print ads all the time, and then they just post a note on the front door about the error.

I do think that it can be a wise decision to honor mistakes in some cases, and companies can make really poor decisions about what to do if they decide not to honor their mistakes.

 

[N.Bailey]

I voted no. Stores make mistakes on print ads all the time, and then they just post a note on the front door about the error.

I do think that it can be a wise decision to honor mistakes in some cases, and companies can make really poor decisions about what to do if they decide not to honor their mistakes.

I can't say I expect the price from online to be honored, but I do expect the price to be honored if they have it printed in their weekly circular. I don't know a single store who has not honored those mistakes. Mostly, I'm talking the grocery store because I can't say I've ever caught a mistake anywhere else.

 

[Beauty]

I think no because humans make mistakes. I just honestly don't think they should lose all that money on a simply mistake that anyone could have made.

 

[va32h]

I say yes - because human error or not, it's deceptive and unethical to advertise an item for a price you have no intention of selling at.

Wasn't there a hotel that had an online pricing error for WDW area hotels? Something like a few dollars a night? And they honored every one of the reservations made at those prices.

If the company takes a financial hit that's all the more motivation to make sure the mistake doesn't happen again.

 

[N.Bailey]

I say yes - because human error or not, it's deceptive and unethical to advertise an item for a price you have no intention of selling at.

Wasn't there a hotel that had an online pricing error for WDW area hotels? Something like a few dollars a night? And they honored every one of the reservations made at those prices.

If the company takes a financial hit that's all the more motivation to make sure the mistake doesn't happen again.

US air recently honored fare of $1.86, plus fees due to an error:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/living/travel/11429794.htm

United honored a mistake they'd made too.

http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2403/CWSTO58053/

I edited this post, sorry.

 

[Charade]

I say yes - because human error or not, it's deceptive and unethical to advertise an item for a price you have no intention of selling at.

There are laws against this however I think the company has to honor the printed price unless they post a correction clearly displayed for customers to see.

Online prices should be honored if they charged your account before finding the mistake. Even if the item hasn't shipped. If they take the order but then cancel it *before* charging your account, they are not legally bound to sell you the item at the incorrect price. Some companies will give out gift cards (like $10 or $25 depending on the price of the product) as a "we're sorry". Some don't.

Recently I bought some software from Staples and the shelf price was $24.95 but it rang up at $49.95. The manager sold it to me for $24.95 and then took down the sign (it was from a previous sale but not marked as such).

Do I feel bad? Nope. The price on the shelf was $24.95 and that's what I expected to pay.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

this reminds me of the debate last year or earlier in the year when the hotel at DTD was giving rooms for 1.39 and maybe it wasnt gonna be honored and people were going crazy

 

[disneychrista]

An OBVIOUS error as this was does not / should not have to be honored.

As I mentioned on another thread. Online things like this get spread like wildfire. Tens of Thousands of these were likely ordered. They most likely do not even have that many sets to sell, let alone at what I am sure is a hefty loss.

When a store forget to remove a sale sign, they will likely only have a couple people see the sign and want that price before they correct it.

 

[janette]

I ordered 4 TVs a couple for my nieces. In the Sears situation this wasn't an obvious error. It was in the clearance section, if you watch Target sales you can get things at 90%. This wasn't discounted to that level.

The error itself isn't the worst though, not only was it up for 3 days but even on Sunday people were still able to place orders and some received confirmation that it was at the store ready to pick up.

That Sears was allowing people to walk in with orders but no confirmation and pick up TV some at the discounted price or sell them at the price shown on the website shouldn't have happened. Very poor inventory management at best. If it had been a legitimate sale (which I believed it was) they should have been sold to the first people to order them from the website and request pickup at that store.

I wasn't surprised not to get a TV, I expected that the supply and systems might not be in sync and wouldn't have been surprised at all to find that they ran out of stock before they filled all the orders. In that situation I'd expect the orders to be handled as they were received. I've checked my credit card online and show charges for these TV's. It should never have been charged before it was shipped or confirmed. I think they crossed the line at that point. Most on-line companies don't charge you for merchandise they haven't shipped. The charges posted Monday, I ordered Saturday and the email stated it would be the Oct25th before it would be shipped. No way should it have been charged at that point. Wonder how long it will take for my CC to be credited.

I still have one order pending, it is now 3 days and I don't have a cancellation.

Yes, in this situation I think they've lost a customer.

 

[Charade]

An OBVIOUS error as this was does not / should not have to be honored.

Unless peoples credit cards were charged (and then refunded). Legally they can't do that. If the buyer has a guilty conscience, they can choose to return it.

As I mentioned on another thread. Online things like this get spread like wildfire. Tens of Thousands of these were likely ordered. They most likely do not even have that many sets to sell, let alone at what I am sure is a hefty loss.

That doesn't matter. If they charged peoples CCs, they are obligated to provide the product at the price quoted OR refund the money if stock runs out. There are laws against companies doing this so it's important that they get it right.

That would be no different than paying for something from a store at a price mistake and the store manager running out to your car to get you to bring the product back in for a refund because they sold it to you for the wrong price. Ooops, their mistake. Better pay closer attention next time.

If they offer it online at a ridiculous price (not all ridiculous prices are obvious mistakes), they are not obligated to sell it to you for that price if it is a mistake.

When a store forget to remove a sale sign, they will likely only have a couple people see the sign and want that price before they correct it.

True but that is different than an online ad.

 

[Charade]

I ordered 4 TVs a couple for my nieces. In the Sears situation this wasn't an obvious error. It was in the clearance section, if you watch Target sales you can get things at 90%. This wasn't discounted to that level.

The error itself isn't the worst though, not only was it up for 3 days but even on Sunday people were still able to place orders and some received confirmation that it was at the store ready to pick up.

That Sears was allowing people to walk in with orders but no confirmation and pick up TV some at the discounted price or sell them at the price shown on the website shouldn't have happened. Very poor inventory management at best. If it had been a legitimate sale (which I believed it was) they should have been sold to the first people to order them from the website and request pickup at that store.

I wasn't surprised not to get a TV, I expected that the supply and systems might not be in sync and wouldn't have been surprised at all to find that they ran out of stock before they filled all the orders. In that situation I'd expect the orders to be handled as they were received. I've checked my credit card online and show charges for these TV's. It should never have been charged before it was shipped or confirmed. I think they crossed the line at that point. Most on-line companies don't charge you for merchandise they haven't shipped. The charges posted Monday, I ordered Saturday and the email stated it would be the Oct25th before it would be shipped. No way should it have been charged at that point. Wonder how long it will take for my CC to be credited.

I still have one order pending, it is now 3 days and I don't have a cancellation.

Yes, in this situation I think they've lost a customer.

In your case you had every right to get the TVs you ordered at that price since your CC was charged. Ordering online for store pick up is no different than buying something from the store *at the store* and driving around back to pick it up.

Make sure you don't get charged interest for that outstanding charge before they refund. You might want to call your CC and tell them what happened which should prevent that from happening.

 

[Cindy B]

Well think about the mispriced hotel situation over the summer which was posted on the Budget Board.... those hotel rooms on the internet were for .93 cents a night! Yes, 93 cents! Of course that was an error as well, but the hotel honored the rooms.

Did they lose more many than Sears over the TVs? I think so.

I did order 2. I wasn't greedy and ordered 10 and put them up on Ebay or anything like that. My CC was charged, I did get a confirmation email but my store said they were out of stock. I did go to merchandise pick up and found that my order was still in the system as well. The next time I go to Sears (fortunately its conveienently only a few miles from home) I will check in the warehouse area again. Since this section is automated, all you do is scan your receipt and your order comes up automated, and a warehouse worker just loads it into your car.

So far my two TVs have not been cancelled. We will see.