Kinda
Except the contract formed when Amazon offered the product at a price and the customer accepted and offered payment has been broken. Contracts, unfortunately, underpin the whole economy, and breaking contracts tends to be frowned on by courts etc. So naughty naughty Amazon.
The outrage, I think, is more that Amazon are stonewalling everyone, deleting orders from customers' history, refusing to discuss the matter with customers who phone or try to chat to their reps online and (now) deleting anything bad said about them.
Sad thing is, they may have it right (for them) - doing business like this will affect their profits not one bit and all the upset people will burn themselves out in a few days and no one will remember or care.
(, Thu 30 May 2013, 13:55, Share, Reply)
Depends..
There's case law to say that if a shop offers something at a particular price, they're under no obligation to sell it at that price..
It's someone vs Boots, CBA to google it but I think the crucial point is that Amazon aren't making an offer, they're making an "invitation to treat". Acceptance of such does not form a binding contract.
Edit: Turns out I could be bothered..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat mentions:
A shop owner displaying their goods for sale is generally making an invitation to treat (Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953] 1 QB 401). They are not obliged to sell the goods to anyone who is willing to pay for them, even if additional signage such as "special offer" accompanies the display of the goods.
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mugwump In summary then, oh no. Chris., Thu 30 May 2013, 14:10,
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Nice find!
That's a bit slippery though, if the online checkout process is "acceptance to treat" and they can still cancel the order and not take the money, even though you have / think you have given it.
I'll have to remember that one, it may come in useful one day.
/Edit - ah, hang on though, their offer is an "invitation to treat", but that offer was accepted (surely?) by the checkout process, and it was very clear on what you get -
"For an offer to be capable of becoming binding on acceptance, the offer must be definite, clear, and final. If it is a mere preliminary move into negotiation which may lead to a contract, it is not an offer but an invitation to treat. "
(, Thu 30 May 2013, 14:19, Share, Reply)
If you take a child to the counter of a shop, a child who was accidently labelled 1.99, the act of going to the counter does not finalize the action
also, in law, you can buy a mislabelled product or the shopkeeper may accidently give you too much change, but you are under legal obligation to make sure you pay the right price unless you only have knowledge of the fact after leaving the store premises.
There's no law of 'getting away with it as long as they accept ya money'.
(, Thu 30 May 2013, 14:41, Share, Reply)
It's all a little unclear..
But they don't actually take money until it's despatched, do they? The checkout process is you making an offer to pay and I don't think there's a contract until they take your money.
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mugwump In summary then, oh no. Chris., Thu 30 May 2013, 14:43,
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and then the contract gives obligations and rights to you as well rights and obligations to the business
if you were charged £4000 for a dvd boxset that you thought was actually £40.00 the business could not say 'you paid, therefore you accepted, we're keepin ya money'
and so you can't get away with gettin somethin mega cheap because of a shop's accident
(, Thu 30 May 2013, 14:49, Share, Reply)