A large retail chain offered 13-inch iPad Air models to loyalty card holders for $17, with both online orders and in-store collection sales processed and the iPads handed over to their new owners.
It took the company 11 days to realize it had made a mistake, and it is now asking customers who bought the iPads to either return them or pay almost full price for them. Unfortunately for the retailer, the terms and conditions attached to the order did not exclude pricing errors …
Wired reports that the mistake was made by retail tech giant MediaWorld in Italy.
On November 8, an offer for loyalty card holders appeared on the website of MediaWorld, a European electronics retailer. The deal: an iPad Air for 15 euros (about $17) instead of the usual €879 (about $1,012). No catch, no strings attached […] The process was seamless, even for those ordering online […] In the store, the €15 payment went through successfully and MediaWorld delivered the iPads as expected. Eleven days later, however, MediaWorld sent a simple email—not a formal communication via certified mail—stating that the published price was “clearly incorrect.” The company then asked affected customers to choose between two solutions: Keep the iPad and pay the difference to match the price, but with a €150 discount, or return it and receive a refund of the €15 and a €20 discount voucher for their inconvenience.
The terms and conditions had no clauses about excluding pricing errors, with MediaWorld trying to rely on a more general principle in contract law. Italian law does say that a company can void a contract if the error would have been obvious.
However, a consumer lawyer cited in the piece said that there are so many different promotional deals, some of them clearly designed to generate publicity, that consumers could not be expected to know for sure that it was a mistake rather than a promotional deal on a handful of sales. Additionally, the company has not served formal legal notice, merely emailing customers to offer them the two options.
It’s unclear how the saga will end, but for now customers are probably best advised to hold onto the iPads and not respond to the email.
Highlighted accessories
Photo by Jaime Marrero on Unsplash