Samsung Order Cancelled due to pricing error - Breach of contract?

[BazzaS]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_Society_of_GB_v_Boots_Cash_Chemists_(Southern)_Ltd

For info as to where the court decided the point at which the contract is crystallised.

[BankFodder]

Although the boots case was decided on common law – and in many circumstances that can be altered by specific contractual terms – subject to fairness provisions and other statutory provisions

[mrdonj]

Well seems I'm not the only one in this situation. A whole host of people have had their orders cancelled, and a large lot were still sent them too.

 

The pricing list is a good idea. The newly released Pixel 6 Pro can be bought from Vodafone £700 odd or £900 with 100gb of data over 2 years

 

The S21 Ultra has nearly been out for a whole year and its price has been dropping constantly

[BankFodder]

Okay well it seems as if you have got broadly what you need.

The next step is to write them a formal complaint and tell them that you want them to fulfil their side of the bargain.

You can either wait for 10 days and see how they react or you can make it an immediate letter of claim.

If you make it a letter of claim then you will have to give them 14 days to give you the phone or else the money or you will sue them and without any further notice.

Which you want to do?

If you want to go straight ahead then post a draft letter of claim here. Remember that it's not a bluff and the on day 15 you have to click of the claim.

Don't imagine that your letter of claim or anything else is going to move them – it won't.

The only thing which will attract their attention will be when they receive the court papers.

If you are in contact with or if you have access to other people who are in the same predicament than tell them to come here and start their own threads and we will advise them as well.

[Ethel Street]

2 minutes ago, mrdonj said:

The S21 Ultra has nearly been out for a whole year and its price has been dropping constantly

 

That's the phone you bought?

 

Gather evidence on its price drops too. Yet another piece of evidence to include in a claim to demonstrate there was no reasonable grounds for you to recognise £744 as an error.

[mrdonj]

Seeing as you've suggested that nothing but court papers will get them moving, I might as well get straight to drafting a letter of claim? 

 

Yes the S21 Ultra 5g 256gb is what I ordered.  Pre orders started Jan 14th 2021 so it's been out a good while now, S22 release date has already been rumoured to be mid January again so only a month and a few weeks away

 

I'll inform the others that I know of over at HotDeals about starting their own threads.

 

It has been a long day and my head hurts, I will do some reading before heading to bed and then I will draft a letter and post it here tomorrow morning. Thanks again for all the support, ideas, advice etc. Much appreciated

 

Oh yeah, and some more ammo for the fire I guess to show why the price did not seem abnormal to me? The price I got it for was only available when going through the student portal Unidays (I think some managed to get the price via TOTUM as well). Either way it makes even more sense for the price to be cheaper since its not accessible to everyone

[mrdonj]

This is what I've come up with so far

 

Quote

 

Dear Sir or Madam

Order Number: xxxxxxxx

Request Number: xxxxx

On October 31^st, 2021, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 256GB in Phantom Black from your webstore during your promotional “Samsung Week”, via the student discount portal Unidays. The total sum being £744.03

This order was confirmed on October 31^st, 2021, with complete payment authorised the same day, and fully processed on 3^rd November 2021. The phones IMEI number was attached to the order a few days later.

 

On the 9^th November 2021, I was sent two dispatch notices confirming my order was on its way to be handed over to the courier DPD. DPD received the package at 01:04am on November 10^th

 

At 06:08am, a “return to consignor” notice was sent to DPD by you, asking for the item to be returned. I spoke to a member of Samsung support and was in email contact with a member of your staff who informed me that my order had been cancelled due to a pricing error.

 

They stated that “In accordance with our online store’s terms and conditions, where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakable (as is the case here) we are entitled to reject orders. If the pricing error is obvious and unmistakable and could have reasonably been recognised by you as an error, we do not have to provide the Products to you at the incorrect (lower) price.”

 

I dispute the notion that the misprice of said item was “obvious and unmistakeable” and would be recognised by me.

 

For me to purchase this product now, I’d need to pay £1079.10, an increase of £355.07

 

Therefore, if you do not reactivate my order at the original price I paid of £744.03 or compensation to the amount of £355.07 in order to cover the costs of me re-ordering the phone within 14 days, I shall issue a claim in the County Court to recover this money from you without further notice.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by mrdonj

[BankFodder]

You really don't need to start going through your life history in this way.

Keep it brief and to the point.

 

Quote

Dear Sir/Mdm

Reference number XXX – letter of claim

On XXX date I used your website to purchase a XXX item XX model which was advertised by you at XXX price.

You accepted payment from me and even dispatched the telephone to my address.

You then contacted DPD to recall even though by this time it was my property.
When I queried this, you informed me that you had made a mistake as to the price and that you were cancelling the contract.

I'm writing to let you know that you are not entitled to do this and I do not accept your position.

I want the telephone for which I contracted at the price at which you agree to sell it to me.

If you will not comply with this request within 14 days then I shall see you in the County Court and without any further notice.

Yours faithfully

 

[BankFodder]

We are still waiting for others to come along and seek help for the same story. We've had one person who came along and hijacked your thread.

Please make it clear to others that they should start their own new thread. This is so that people are not confused by the discussions which are occurring and also because the more separate threads we get on the same subject, the more it is likely to mount up the Google rankings which in turn will attract even more people.

By the way, would you be prepared to talk to the press about this. I have a journalist contact who could be interested in running this is a story.

I think it could be helpful to you as well – and to the others

[mrdonj]

Thank you for the edit. I do have a habit of writing lots 

 

I did mention it over there regarding coming here and starting a thread, but I don't think most can be bothered it seems unfortunately

 

There is some stuff going on regarding the situation right now. Multiple people are being sent different amounts of compensation (I haven't been sent anything). Some £20, others £50, one or two £100. Some of us still haven't received official confirmation that the order is cancelled on their system, just the email. Someone has been told the device is being resent to them after escalating it and has email proof that it will be resent.

 

I've already used their CEO contact email to complain and have been told that the complaint was received and they will have a response within 24 hours. Some funky business going on here for sure.

 

What personal details would I have to give out if going to the press?

 

disregard the comment about someone being sent the phone, they've got another message saying it's cancelled.

 

Either way, I'll wait to go through the motions with my earlier email and then get ready to send that letter of claim off (likely tomorrow)

Edited November 11, 2021 by mrdonj

[BankFodder]

I suppose that you would have to give your name and the town in which you live – Mr Bloggs of Maidenhead said…

I was get frustrated when I hear that people can't be bothered to go after 300 quid or so. I don't understand why people give into this kind of cavalier treatment by large companies which are used to getting their own way.

300 quid is a lot of money to me

[mrdonj]

don't mind giving just surname and town but definitely wouldn't want to put out my first name, last name and location

[BankFodder]

I'm sure that will be fine but it would be up to you to agree with the journalist. I have found all journalist to be extremely trustworthy when agreeing these kinds of things.

However, it's not really a story until we get evidence that a lot of people have been affected

[mrdonj]

That sounds alright by me. There must be thousands that had their orders cancelled but most will just see the horrible experience and walk away and buy something else.

 

There are over 1300 comments on the hotdeals site regarding the deals for the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra with a good chunk of those coming after DPD orders being returned. Must be hundreds that have been affected with only a chunk of us commenting on the site and the majority leaving bad feedback on trustpilot and moving on

 

I've seen enough to know the reply to my CEO email will go nowhere. Would you say  I'm good to send my letter of claim off tomorrow morning?

 

Oh yes, totally forgot. Someone from hotdeals made a point that contracts can be classed as  void "Ab Initio" from the beginning for a pricing error even when a contract is formed. Don't know how truthful that is

[BankFodder]

It's a load of rubbish. Who are hotdeals anyway?

[mrdonj]

this is where all the drama begin and everyone noticed their orders were being returned

 

HotUKDeals is an extremely large website that has a host of offers on there that users post. The comment section there is where we are all have a nightmare complaining about Samsung's service, whats been happening to users etc.

Edited November 11, 2021 by mrdonj

[Ethel Street]

20 minutes ago, mrdonj said:

Oh yes, totally forgot. Someone from hotdeals made a point that contracts can be classed as  void "Ab Initio" from the beginning for a pricing error even when a contract is formed. Don't know how truthful that is

 

Load of rubbish. I wouldn't rely on hotdeals for legal advice.

 

If it were true that the contract was void ab initio it wouldn't be helpful for you. That would mean the contract, in law, never existed. Therefore you wouldn't be able to sue Samsung for breach of contract and definitely wouldn't get the phone for £744.

 

There's a contract, it's in writing, and it has a clause dealing with the situation when the seller initially agrees to sell at a price less than they intended and then refuses to complete the sale. Your dispute with Samsung is about how to interpret that clause. It's a classic contract dispute that is bread and butter for the courts. The two parties to the contract disagree over what the words mean and the court has to decide whose interpretation is correct.

[mrdonj]

Just thought I'd bring it up. It was actually a warning to be careful with the advice from here......................obviously I've won numerous cases thanks to you guys advice so wasn't too concerned but thought I'd just bring that term to your attention to see what you thought

[BankFodder]

Let them know on hotdeals that it's rubbish and tell them to come over here.

Hotdeals has the sellers interest in mind not the purchases

[BankFodder]

Are you saying that somebody specifically warned against taking advice from the consumer action group?

Who said that? Can you provide a link please.

[mrdonj]

Funnily enough, my account got banned there not long after a discord got set up but some disgruntled users, myself included

 

comment here

 

 

What an absolute nightmare

 

After receiving two support emails stating my order is cancelled, Samsung texted a coupon code to me and others for 5% (LOL) and said that they will attempt to redeliver the phone by the 14th. Others have had the same although we believe this is "another" error on their behalf and that orders have actually still been cancelled.

 

Anyways, will this letter of claim suffice (only changed a little bit based on your earlier edit), no need to mention they want to cancel the contract based on their other T&Cs about the pricing error being obvious and unmistakeable by me?

 

Quote

Dear Sir/Madam

Reference number XXX

Enquiry number XXX

On 31^st October 2021,  I used your website to purchase a S21 Ultra,  Phantom Black 256gb model which was advertised by you at the price of £744.03

You accepted payment from me and even dispatched the mobile phone to my address.

You then contacted DPD to recall even though by this time it was my property.
When I queried this, you informed me that you had made a mistake as to the price and that you were cancelling the contract.

I'm writing to let you know that you are not entitled to do this and I do not accept your position.

I want the mobile phone for which I am contracted at the price at which you agreed to sell it to me.

If you will not comply with this request within 14 days then I shall see you in the County Court and without any further notice.

Yours faithfully

 

[Ethel Street]

As the 14th is only 2 days away maybe hang fire and see if it does arrive before sending off a letter of claim. If the phone does arrive then problem sorted, you've got the phone for £744 plus a 5% off coupon for future purchases as well. (Have I understood that correctly?)

[mrdonj]

I was going to ask if it would be better to wait at first but then figured they wouldn't receive the letter until Monday anyways since it's already Friday, but waiting another two days won't harm anything I guess

 

Yeah I have the 5% code so yes if they do actually decide to resend it, I'd have the phone and the voucher code

[BankFodder]

That's right. Give them minimal information. Let them raise the issues in their defence. You should simply identify your cause of action which is basically breach of contract.

There is also an issue of the Torts (Interference with Contract) Act in that they retained your property. We'll think about that one as well because that could be a basis of some additional damages.

It is clear that once the telephone was in the hands of DPD, it was your property. Samsung was responsible for the delivery – but it was your property and as such they interfered with your ownership of that property.

 

I don't think that it would be reasonable to use the voucher code. 

 

Keep it to hand – but if you do when this claim – then I don't think you would have any justification for using it. When not helping you to make a money grab here. We are simply helping you to enforce a contract and get what is rightfully yours that the price that was agreed

[mrdonj]

I wouldn't be using the voucher code anyways if I'm honest. Not only is it insignificant against the prices on their site, I have no desire to use their webstore for purchases ever again. Only way I would order from them directly is if I had to order through their webstore similar to what happened with someone else here who had issues with Samsung. 

 

Quote

My issue has been resolved now. I finally managed to get through to them after filing a complaint through their official ceo channel. The CAB advised writing an official letter of complaint giving the traders a timescale of which to complete the matter in and if they did not it would be followed by court case. This actually worked as it was immediately picked up and I received a call saying the matter was now being dealt with by the resolutions team. After lots of talking I offered to come to a compromise where I said that they needed to give me the full value of a new S21 so I can at least repurchase through their website. So the agreement we came to was that they would refund my debit card for the amount I paid and then they would give me the remainder of £250 as a credit note as a 'goodwill' gesture which I could use on their website. The £250 credit note was as 'compensation' for my troubles . I also got back £30 from the trade in for my old phone. I wasn't going to argue anymore because I was fed up so I accepted and all received the refund and credit note immediately. I put in another order on their website for a new phone and this came through within 4 weeks with no issues. Thank goodness! I can't remember ceo email address but if you Google it, it should come up. Good luck!

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by mrdonj