So I read in the news yesterday evening a glitch on the Screwfix website re-priced everything at £34.99 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/screwfix-website-glitch-bargain-hunters-3058501 , sadly I saw this after they'd corrected the problem, but some jammy beggars got real bargains! Did any of you know it was going on?
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cumbriasteve
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I have read all sorts of rubbish about people getting ££££££'s worth of stuff for £34.99, I think the truth is a few who bought 'click and collect' and got to a depot first thing in the morning got their items, drills, grinders and that sort of thing but the majority got a phone call, apology and a refund.
One guy on Facebook was boasting about filling his garage with bargains but when challenged to post up a picture of a receipt, he suddenly went very quiet.
One guy on Facebook was boasting about filling his garage with bargains but when challenged to post up a picture of a receipt, he suddenly went very quiet.
CompoSimmonite
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30+ years ago I went into the local large Tesco store in pre barcode / scan days and found they had priced the petrol Flymo's up wrong - £69.99 instead of £169.99. I took one to the checkout and operator didn't bat an eyelid so got a bargain. I'd previously worked at the same Tesco store part time on twilight shift (£2.25 an hour) and they treated me like dirt so have no quarms about taking advantage of their mistake. After around 5 years of use decided I wanted an electric version and sold the petrol one for £75 !
BrokenBiker
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i snagged a set spanners a few months ago that were labelled at 9.99 instead of 78.99. They honoured it but its not quite the same thing
brightspark
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thats cos hese full of h/./../t
i went to an auction and bought 30 meters of welding cable , a guy said in front or 70 people i got miles of the stuff , so i said giz your number mate i need another 30 metersthats cos hese full of sh,.,..,/t i dunno why they do it
If a shop puts the wrong price on something, they're not obliged to sell at that price. In law, the ticket price is the suggested starting point for a negotiation. It rarely is, but that's the way it's seen.
They very often will sell for the lower price of they've made a mistake, if it doesn't hurt them too much, just to keep the peace.
As others have said, it sounds like Screwfix let a few get away with the £34.99 price, probably because they thought they came out of it looking better if they went along with it a bit, but there was no way they were going to cop for every last item, including placing back orders for dozens of high priced items.
I bet the bloke in charge of updating their website is being encouraged to review his career options.
They very often will sell for the lower price of they've made a mistake, if it doesn't hurt them too much, just to keep the peace.
As others have said, it sounds like Screwfix let a few get away with the £34.99 price, probably because they thought they came out of it looking better if they went along with it a bit, but there was no way they were going to cop for every last item, including placing back orders for dozens of high priced items.
I bet the bloke in charge of updating their website is being encouraged to review his career options.
DAPPH
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Sounds more like a viral cheap advert gimmick ...I wonder how many people with crimbo dosh to spend visited the site, went through ever item and brought something .. sounds a good marketing ploy to me
Dev
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All of that is true but there have been occasions where websites have mispriced items and people have ordered and had their cards debited only to be refunded and told sorry it was a mistake.
Which on the one hand is understandable but on the other if money was exchanged then the sale was complete...
cumbriasteve
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I think they can legally do that if the item has not been dispatched, even though you have paid the transfer is not completed, until then it remains their property, once dispatched it becomes your property.
Can't swear on that mind, it was info given to me once by the local pub legal expert who is a plasterer by day
You'd have to read the terms and conditions, which they usually have somewhere on their site and form part of any contract you enter into when you buy their goods - covering when title is transferred and all the rest of it. This is something people usually don't bother with because in almost all cases, you order a £50 drill from Screwfix etc, they charge you £50 and a drill turns up. If it's the wrong one, or doesn't work, they don't quibble. Nobody would deal mail order if there was a significant chance of it not working smoothly and ending up squabbling over the terms and conditions.
Then there's the fact that a card company is involved with another set of terms and conditions. Then there are the distance selling regulations, which probably cut both ways even though customers usually invoke them against suppliers.
Then there's the practical consideration that if they've advertised a £500 compressor for £50 on the web, you've ordered one and they back out, not many people are going to take them to court to force them to comply with the contract, especially when the circumstances aren't quite as clear as if it was a shop, you'd paid the £50 and were wheeling it away and they tried to stop you.
I think Cumbriasteve is right in that if it's been dispatched, that's a whole new world of difficulty and bad press in cancelling the transaction. Going back to the compressor and forgetting the profit, their actual losses are likely to be £200-£250, and there's only so much trouble it's worth them going to. If it hasn't been dispatched, it's much more something they can adjust for themselves in the office.
The other thing is that people turning up to collect things which were in stock, the next day would have to be dealt with by their staff face to face and could get nasty, so it was probably worth handing over the goods to avoid the unpleasantness. People ordering things to be delivered would be one step removed.
I still think Screwfix wanted to get out of this with the best combination of least work for them (because it costs to sort these things out), best appearance of acting in good faith, and least cost to themselves, so a certain amount was allowed through. So a few £150 drills for £35 was fine, if they were in stock and you'd arranged to collect it, but no way were they going to honour an order for 100 thousand quid scaffolding systems, or probably even one.
marlinspike
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I think until it is dispatched they can cancel and refund. I look on Hot Deals UK for bargains and misprices happen quite a lot. Sometimes you can be lucky and they honour it, usually low cost items in Tesco or Asda, but more often than not they cancel and refund. There was outrage a few years ago when Ikea mispriced leather sofas at about £90. They took loads of orders, debited money, then cancelled and refunded. Doesn't seem right if they take the money, but legally they can still cancel - just as you can send it back if you change your mind on a web order.
Currys are a bit notorious for cancelling bargains. Reserve a good deal online to collect in store and they will often ring up and say it's oos, or even claim it's oos when you get there. This has happened several times with clearance games - I reckon the staff have nabbed the item.
I reckon a few lucky folk who ordered and collected in store immediately might have got a bargain, but not many. Big companies have software that flags up unusual activity and I am sure most orders were cancelled before reaching the dispatch stage.
As mentioned, lots of people claim to get these bargains but rarely produce the evidence. I love a bargain and have had some cracking deals over the years. Holiday for 4, accom and flights, to Austria, for £400 a few years ago, very expensive leather luggage down from £150 to £27, new clutch for £20, are amongst my favourites.
Currys are a bit notorious for cancelling bargains. Reserve a good deal online to collect in store and they will often ring up and say it's oos, or even claim it's oos when you get there. This has happened several times with clearance games - I reckon the staff have nabbed the item.
I reckon a few lucky folk who ordered and collected in store immediately might have got a bargain, but not many. Big companies have software that flags up unusual activity and I am sure most orders were cancelled before reaching the dispatch stage.
As mentioned, lots of people claim to get these bargains but rarely produce the evidence. I love a bargain and have had some cracking deals over the years. Holiday for 4, accom and flights, to Austria, for £400 a few years ago, very expensive leather luggage down from £150 to £27, new clutch for £20, are amongst my favourites.
