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Are Argos allowed to do this?
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I've just bought a netbook from Argos, I reserved it on-line and at the bottom of my confirmation email it said I qualified for £20 of vouchers, great I thought the voucher thing's back on, I paid at the quick pay machine, and it wasn't till I returned home that I realised the vouchers weren't printed on the bottom of the receipt as is usual, I goes back to Argos with my printed confirmation email, to be told it's an error and they're not honouring this.
Are they allowed to do this? is it even legal?
Are they allowed to do this? is it even legal?
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Neither thing is particularly good is it?
Actually, for electrical items, Argos aren't much more different in prices than when you look online - plus there is no delivery cost or waiting time.
If you can find where a netbook/branded laptop is more expensive in Argos (by about £10-15+) I'll be surprised.
Argos are also quite good on their gaming deals, for consoles and other hardware.
I couldn't get this particular netbook cheaper anywhere else, it was the same price at PC world but Argos was closer, and with the promise of £20 vouchers.
It's like the common misconception that if something which is £999.00 is priced at £9.99 then the shop has to honour that.
It was a mistake.
The reservation email says:
'If your order is over £100.00, you have qualified to receive FREE vouchers worth £20.
You must collect your items in-store between 25th August and 31st August to qualify for this offer and you will receive your free vouchers in-store when you pay for the items.'
I fulfilled my part, and at no point was I told before I took receipt of the goods that they would not be issuing me with my vouchers. There were no signs up in the shop advising customers of the error.
I hope the reservation isn't acceptance of the contract or I owe Argos a lot of money...
OP, errors happen get over it. I'm sure Argos will happily take the item back and give you a full refund if the vouchers were a breaking point on the sale.
eMachines eM350 £189.99
No they are not. Your first port of call is to take it up with their customer services. If they refuse to honour it, tell the CSM that you are going to take it up with Trading Standards. They'll soon change their tune.
Obviously they don't, but if you are promised vouchers, you buy a thing, and then they don't give you the vouchers, they should either honour the agreement and give you the vouchers, or they should accept the goods back and give you a refund. Otherwise it's like me offering two printers for the price of one, then after you've handed over the money, I say that it's an error and you're only getting one printer.
A point that really annoys me in all these antique programs where you supposedly made a profit in the auction while traveling back and forth quite a distance.. + the initial show ... worse if they take a bloody hotel..
In a shop, you'd generally be right. The price on the goods is not part of the contract, it's merely an invitation to treat, an invitation to make an offer. But if you make an offer, usually by presenting the goods to the cashier, and they accept it and you pay for it, they can;t then decide to only give you part of what you paid for.
But, face to face over the counter, the process of making the contract is usually pretty clear cut. An online transaction is not nearly so clear cut. A critical part of whether Argos can do what they appear to be doing is exactly what the process is, and what their terms and conditions say.
If, for example, their T&Cs say, as I expect they would, that the reservation is not binding, then it isn't. They could, therefore, decline to honour the reservation at any point up to when the contract is concluded.
I'm sure what I'm getting at is becoming clear by now. When Mother Goose went in to the branch, gave the machine the reservation number and it accepted her payment, that is likely to be the point at which the contract is complete, and the evidence of that will be the production of the receipt.
It is a very old principle of contract law that it's too late to try to change a contract by putting things on the receipt, because by that time, the contract is made and one party cannot unilaterally change it. There's ample case law for this, such as a council trying to put exclusions of liability on the back of the ticket hat you don't get until you've paid for something. It's too late by then.
Ultimately, the only way to be absolutely sure whether Argos can get away with this will be for it to go to a court and for the judge to decide, but based on what I've heard, I'd think there is a decent chance that it would go MG's way, and that Argos can't do it. But critical will be the exact T&Cs.
Payment for goods is not necessarily the point at which the contract is concluded. It could be before that, or it could be after that. It is certainly the case that promise of payment is sufficient to seal a contract. Strictly, the basic elements are offer, acceptance and exchange of consideration, and promise of payment is consideration. Think of booking your car into a garage or staying in a guest house. You make the booking, promise to pay and receive goods or services which, in many cases, you pay for after receiving the goods. If payment were required for a contract to be formed, you could simply have your car serviced, declare that you'd changed your mind and since there's no contract, you could drive away without paying. If you engage a gardener or window cleaner, they do they work and then you pay, but you have a commitment to pay because you have a contract by virtue of offer, acceptance and exchange of consideration, the latter being that they did the work and you promised to pay.
And the process can work the other way too. With online sales, "payment" often consists of reserving the funds on a credit card. But if the T&Cs say that the contract is completed upon delivery of goods and that if errors are discovered prior to that, a full refund will be made, then that;s when the contract is concluded and the contract is not made until the process you've agreed to says it is. And that is typically how most online businesses, including Argos, do it.
You're quite right that the "reservation" isn't evidence of a contract, though it is probably adequate evidence of what the details of the subsequent contract are. Argos are careful to stipulate that an acknowledgement of order is not a conformation of order, and they reason they do that is to carefully control the exact point at which a contract is made, having got caught out before, most notably with the £3 TV that should have been a £300 TV.
The question for me would be whether it's worth fighting it for £20 in vouchers? I wouldn't. I'd either regard the goods as still being good value, and keep them, or I'd simply take them back and get my money back. For MG, the conclusion may well be different.
But I so couldn't help laughing at the following line...
*snigger*
God I'm so immature.
Pretty much, yes. It would depend on what basis the vouchers were "promised" and when they would appear during the transaction, if they were led to believe the vouchers would be part of the deal ... it's tricky to see which way this will fall. It should probably have been checked before leaving the store or paying for the goods, but if the reservation made online shows the vouchers and when the reference is called on the self-serve the vouchers are not there that is somewhat dishonest and unfair if it may or may not be a breach of the contract.
The timing of the contract is probably the most important issue.
I don't get it.
Even better, email Sara Weller (The CEO). sara.weller@argos.co.uk
I am sure you will get a rapid response. I once had a complaint, and received a reply within 24 hours.
Of course if it also says 'quotes xxx code' then you failed somewhere.
Hard to see they would not honour it.
But one could argue that a customer buys there on the promise of the voucher. If that is not honoured then it is a sale by deceptive advertising.