honor price?

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jdex

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Long story short, sort of local lgs (town over) had a gun listed on their website this morning instock, I ordered and picked pick up at store instead of shipping. I will be out that way over the weekend anyways so figured i would stop by and see what else they had. Called later this afternoon to see if I could pick it up Saturday (they warehouse some of their guns) got a story that basically said "sorry, that was a computer glitch, we don't have them in stock, and besides the price is lower than our costs" to me this means they mispriced them. I was walking into a meeting so didn't have time to debate it, was just like oh I see.
I have the conformation email of the purchase and order number,but have nor recieved a cancellation email.


Thoughts?
 
Have they taken your money? Seems like they offered you a gun for $x, and if you give them $x and they accepted it, then they owe you the gun. Regardless if they loose money. Absent some fine print that states that if they made a mistake or subject to x,y,z conditions they owe you the gun.
 
Would YOU do the same and sell below your cost? Is there any honor in taking advantage of the error as opposed to understanding it and letting it slide?
 
The price was low, but basically realistic, pre panic price if you will. But they are known for having good deals. The price was not anything insane Luke half off or anything, just more in line with a "good deal" or what months ago would have been considered reasonable.

To the person who asked me if I would honor a lower price if I was selling-if it was my error yes, obviously if they were tag switching or something now, but an oversight on my part I sure would, good customer service.
 
I kind of feel like it was not an error, but a more of "oh, we could have gotten more for these" we priced them to low, not "oops we priced them to low" if that makes sense.
 
Talk to the shop owner and show him your email confirmation. Then tell him you know that it was under cost and you would like to split the difference. You still get it for a deal and he doesn't sting so badly. If he stays put on the new price he refunds your money (assuming you used a credit card) or he cancels the sale. If he wants a customer and good advertising he will split the difference.
 
I have had similar situations happen to me before. My first question is was it priced below cost. If so, then I want to be shown their cost, and I then decide whether to accept that cost or to cancel. I don't want them to lose money, but want to be treated fairly.
 
Not in the firearms business, but I have made a sellers mistake like that before more than once. Honored the mistake every time without being asked to.
My mistake should not be my customers problem.
Eating crow is a way to learn.
 
The dealer controls their website and posted an offer to sell this item at this price, and programmed their order-taking system to sell the item at that same price. You accepted the offer, and their system confirmed your purchase. Regardless or profit or loss, they are bound to honor the deal.

Merchants sell products below cost for a number of reasons - the term is loss leader. It's usually done to build traffic to the store, where every effort is made to add profitable merchandise to the sale.

This isn't a case of a cost changing after the dealer sent the ad to the printer. This is THEIR website - and their responsibility. They had to make at least two mistakes (one on the item page, and a matching one in the order system). Once the "mistake" was discovered, it's quickly rectifiable, unlike a print ad. They should honor the deal, and I'd bet the State Attorney General would agree.

If you are going to be in business, you have to honor your agreements - and you had a sales agreement.
 
Morally, they SHOULD honor the price. Legally they probably don't have to so long as they give you a full refund. Realistically you've already laid down the cash. You could have used that to buy a different gun, or you may have passed up other potential transactions based on your belief that you'd already secured the item you wanted. Bottom line - a merchant backing out on a sale isn't just a harmless mistake.

That said, most merchants honor such mistakes so as to not lose future business from the customer. If they don't honor it, I'd make sure that they no longer get that business. They'd have lost my trust in the future.
 
First of all, cost is somewhat meaningless. If you base your pricing consistently off cost you are dead meat. Its about value. Get what the item is worth no matter what you have in it for better or worse. Once you figure that out you will be far more successful.

That being said, this is a customer acquisition and retention issue, something the gun industry and LGS's in particular are notoriously bad at. So this situation does not surprise me for a second. If the price was reasonable than he is a typical LGS idiot. If it was missing a digit then he is probably in the right. I bought World Series tickets in 2005 for $500 that were supposed to be priced $5000. The guy pretty much told me the same thing this guy told you and I dont blame him. No hard feelings. But if they would have been priced $4500 and he pulled back after payment I would have been irate.
 
jdex said:
I have the conformation email of the purchase and order number,but have nor recieved a cancellation email.
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They agreed to the purchase price - there was a "meeting of the minds" of the contract - both parties agreed to the purchase price. Once they confirm your order they must fulfill that order at the agreed upon price unless exigent circumstances make it impossible to do so (say a hurricane destroys a warehouse destroying the products they offered for sale). Basic law of contracts and agreements.

Now - if they advertise a price, and you place an order, and if they say, "We are sorry, we cannot accept your order for that item at that price because it was a mistake" that is a completely different situation. But once they accept your order and send you a confirmation of that order, with the agreed upon price, they must legally honor it.
 
Thanks guys, I think I will take my email up there and ask where it is.
 
jdex said:
got a story that basically said "sorry, that was a computer glitch, we don't have them in stock, and besides the price is lower than our costs"
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They said they don't have them in stock. You're going to try to make them give you something they don't have?

I'll sell you a brand new aircraft carrier for $10 if you're stupid enough to send me your money. That's quite a deal, they're currently going for about $12,000,000,000.

Just because I don't have one and can't get one is no reason for you to stop trying to force me to honor my internet offer.
 
I'll sell you a brand new aircraft carrier for $10 if you're stupid enough to send me your money. That's quite a deal, they're currently going for about $12,000,000,000.

Just because I don't have one and can't get one is no reason for you to stop trying to force me to honor my internet offer.
Click to expand...

$10 is an obvious pricing mistake and you don't normally sell aircraft carriers. You can't use shock value to get around the base issue.

If you DID normally sell them, and had posted a price within a feasibly normal margin of what they normally would sell for (say within 20%, so $10 billion for the carrier), then I'd expect you to honor the agreed upon price and provide the item the next time you have them available.
 
mgmorden said:
$10 is an obvious pricing mistake and you don't normally sell aircraft carriers. You can't use shock value to get around the base issue.

If you DID normally sell them, and had posted a price within a feasibly normal margin of what they normally would sell for (say within 20%, so $10 billion for the carrier), then I'd expect you to honor the agreed upon price and provide the item the next time you have them available.
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This.
 
Why do people expect to be free from the consequences of their mistakes?

If it was advertised that is one thing, but money changed hands. They should hold up their end of the deal, eat whatever loss they incur, and learn to be more careful next time.
 
Update- stand up company they offered the gun to me at just a bit more ($30) than I paid, which I feel is fair.
 
they offered the gun to me at just a bit more ($30) than I paid,
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So they just shook you down for 30 bucks... i don't think that's good business practice.

"A man's only as good as his word." is a phrase that comes to mind.
 
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