General Chat

i went into a gas fire shop and asked for the price of a Gazco ceramic manhattan gas stove, the man in charge made a phone call to check a price i was sat in front of him while he did this.
the price came back at £1,384 so i said i would like to buy the stove. i had to pay £384 deposit which was fine and the stove would be delivered in 4 weeks i signed a contract saying i would pay balance 3 day before delivery.

today i got a phone call saying there had been a mix up on the price and it would now cost me £1,900 i told them i couldn't afford that price and he offered me a refund in 48 hours. when i had calmed down i rang him back and told him he was in breach of the contract we had agreed on and he had to sell me the stove at the price we agreed but he wont budge, i have contacted consumers advise and they say i am correct and they have to either give me the stove at the price quoted or i can buy another from some were else and charge them for the difference if there is any. has any one else been through this sort of thing.

carol

Ring your local Citizens Advice Bureau, they should be able to help
Liz

Stick to you guns and tell them they are in breach of their contract again, if thay won't listen threaten them with the trade discription act.

thanks Elizabeth,

i have spoke to consumers advise and they say he has breeched the contract.

Nannie .. the way small businesses are closing during this recession I would grab my money back while I still can . The next one you use .. insist on full payment on delivery and instillation.
Kim
x
Edit ...if he goes bust you get nothing

Hi HB,
I have put it in writing and sent it recorded delivery, how can trades discription help me sorry to sound daft but not done this sort of thing before.

carol

Newby,

these gas stoves are made to order and they wont order one for you unless you pay a deposit first.

HB with all respect , if the company goes bust The TDA and any agreements go to the wall ..
If this company is now coming back with a higher quote .. I would honestly have severe reservations about dealing with them.

Nannie, are they the only suppliers of these stoves?

newby,

i don't think they should get away with changing their prices just like that, i really want this gas stove but at the price they quoted and they should honour their contract because it states that if i cancel or change my mind i do not get my £384 back so why should they change there minds but they have and at no cost to them, so i will stick with them until i have got my stove at the price they gave me. if i don't win then i wont ever deal with again.

no newby,
there are many on the web but i like buying face to face and this gas fire shop was close to were i live the others are all over so you either buy on line or over the phone and that worries me if some thing goes wrong.

Nannie .. forgive me cos I may be really wrong here but I would be very very concerned about a dealer who gives me a price , takes a deposit and then tells me .. hey the price has increased. Just one other thing .. why do you have to pay in full 3 days before its installed?
Most legit companies take the final payment after installation when the customer is happy., usually 30 days from date of invoice.
kim

the price had increased because he said they had quoted the wrong price they had quoted for a totally different gas stove but i clearly asked for a gazco ceramic manhattan some one had looked up the wrong stove it was a mistake on their part but i have signed a contract and they should honour it at their loss not mine. also newby they weren't fitting it for me just delivering it i had my own fitter (yes corgi reg) they wanted £240 for fitting. all the different companies i have spoke to want a deposit before delivery.

thanks guys for all your advise its all been taken on board,
going for a long hot soak in the bath now i am sooooo stressed but i wont give up i will fight to the death lol.

carol

Nannie .. please do not pay the final balance until the stove is installed, working and you are happy with it..?
xx

i wont pay the final bill because they have told me i have to take my deposit back because they are not letting me have the gas stove at the price they quoted me, and if i was to get the fire no one will deliver until you pay the balance this goes for anything you order these days i have never ever bought anything that i have not had to pay in full before delivery.

i dont know where you shop newby but here in bolton you don't get anything until its payed for.

I wouldn't invest any money in gas, in 10 years it may be gone. Food for thought........

Well sorry Nannie .. you said you had to pay in full 3 days before delivery .. take a look back at your thread.. obviously you don,t need anyone to try and help after all ...
And where I live yep same applies we are carefull with our money too but we also show manners
..We might be country folk to you but we were bought up to appreciate that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.. not so sure about some of you well educated people in Bolton... from speaking to you.

Are you sure what you have is a contract?

In a shop if the wrong price is displayed and the shop realises as you go to pay they do not have to sell it t you at the first price, you have to pay the correct price. This is because in law showing the price is what they call 'an invitation to treat'. Some shops of course for the sake of good will let you have it at the wrong price.

So I am not sure that you have a case and i would be inclined to take the deposit back while you have the chance.

Hi Nannie

Does the following help (from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/the_economy/441740.stm):

"After Argos withdrew its erroneous price-tag on the Internet of £3 for a television set, buyers are furious and talk of compensation - but do they have a point? The BBC's legal affairs correspondent, Joshua Rozenberg, explains.


Joshua Rozenberg
A shopkeeper has a television for sale. He puts it in the window with a large sign advertising the price. A customer sees it in the shop window and offers to buy it.

The shopkeeper does not have to sell the television if he does not want to. At that stage there is no contract.

The shopkeeper is making what lawyers call an 'invitation to treat', an invitation to the customer to make him an offer.



The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones: "For a while the decimal point was in the wrong place"
So the customer cannot insist on buying the television at the advertised price. If the shopkeeper has put an unusually low price on it - deliberately or by mistake - he can refuse to do a deal with the customer.

Argos does not have to sell you a television for £3.

However, if the company accepts your order electronically then there may be a valid contract.

A customer who gave Argos his credit card number received what was called a Unique Order Code. That may be proof of a contract, although Argos said all items were "subject to availability".

And it is also possible for the courts to declare a contract void if the seller has made a genuine mistake.

The Consumer Protection Act of 1987 makes it a criminal offence to give consumers a misleading price indication.

Shopkeepers in England and Wales can be fined up to £5000 in the magistrates' courts each time a consumer is misled. It's a defence for the shopkeeper to show he acted diligently and took all reasonable steps to avoid giving the consumer a misleading indication.

But a company could not just claim it was a mistake: Argos would need to show it had reliable systems in place designed to stop this sort of thing happening.

The fact that Argos displayed its prices on the Internet should make no difference. The Consumer Protection Act covers giving misleading price indications 'by any means whatever'.

Local trading standards officers could take action in the part of the country where Argos trades or where consumers happen to live."

Regards

Sue