Sony BDPS350 for £129 including delivery from Amazon

[Anonymous]

I've just emailed them again asking about this point, though it was secondary to my main point.

Their pricing policy page says this evil stuff only applies to goods sold by Amazon.co.uk. My order confirmation says it was Amazon EU S.a.R.L. Since it's Amazon's choice to differentiate between those two on their product pages, it seems to me like the policy doesn't apply -- or else they'd say it, right? And I don't think it's unreasonable of me to consider them separate entities, an EU subsidiary with cheaper suppliers or what have you, which made the price possible.

I still don't expect to get anywhere, but I'm so angry I'm not stopping just yet.

 

[Anonymous]

An excellent point and worth noting I think. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Anonymous]

Latest response is a load of patronising fawning about how great a customer I am, followed by a few paragraphs that could just have been replaced with "no dice".

 

[Clare Newsome]

I'll refer this thread onto Amazon's PR and see if they have anything to add

 

[Anonymous]

Just to update (and a big thanks to any of the What Hi-Fi team to try and get any response from Amazon) I have emailed them twice today both times very (exceptionally really) politely and nicely saying in essence:

I'm a good customer, your cancellation cost me £50 as I avoided Laskeys deliberately as I thought you were the better retailer, that your terms and conditions refer to Amazon UK rather than EU and that perhaps as gesture of goodwill you would make good the £50 difference and I'll continue being a good customer.

On both emails I have had a generic email back blahing on exactly the same about terms and conditions. Neither has addressed my concerns as an individual at all. The 2nd one might as well have completey ignored the first email. Its like dealing with a brick wall. I am now a very very unhappy customer of Amazons. The generic type email response has actually made me feel more unhappy. How to proceed ? Well I was considering if there is a Trading Standard complaint here?.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Amazon's PR has promised it'll get back to me on the issues of both the deal being withdrawn and the differences between Amazon UK and EU in this instance - i'll keep you updated.

 

[John Duncan]

Sale of Goods Act guys. Come on - if it had been £3 it would have been an obvious mistake but at £129 it's not? At what point does it become an "obvious" mistake? £128? £127?

They have acted perfectly reasonably IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

I can really understand how frustrating it is that this has happened, but it does happen. Morally right or not, the retailer has every right to refuse the sale. Mistakes happen. The fact you received poor customer service afterwards is another issue and I hope Amazon read this and learn from it, but due to the scale of the operation I doubt it will make any difference.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Clare - much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi JohnDuncan - I do understand your view but don't forget Laskeys were also selling it at exactly the same price of £129 and have said it wasn't a mistake and have indeed delivered them to those who ordered. Hence the view from me and many others was the Amazon offer was also "deliberate" and not a mistake. Without the Laskeys offer I would be more inclined to see it as a genuine mistake.

 

[Anonymous]

Was it not that Laskeys made a mistake but then did the exceptional service of honoring it, whilst Amazon chose not to?

 

[Anonymous]

Well if true that adds a new pespective - from reading other forums that wasn't my general understanding but I could have come away with the wrong impression and if so I will happily stand corrected (I will refrain from the Alan Partridge orthapaedic shoe joke).....either way Laskeys has come out of this very well and I will consider using them in the future.

 

[matengawhat]

JohnDuncan:Sale of Goods Act guys. Come on - if it had been £3 it would have been an obvious mistake but at £129 it's not? At what point does it become an "obvious" mistake? £128? £127?

They have acted perfectly reasonably IMO.

The discount seemed reasonable to me - completely believable - this is happening far to often these days and they all hide behind the until we charge your card no contract exists rubbish - I have had loads of stuff cancelled recently due to so called misprices.

 

[John Duncan]

But that's the law, and at least Amazon will refund you if you buy something and the price is subsequently reduced - can't have it both ways, to my mind.

 

[Anonymous]

Something else that riles me is this: anyone who saw the price but passed on it for whatever reason, to them Amazon look like they're a retailer that occasionally has amazing deals. They come out looking good, in the absence of a public admission that they published a price they subsequently didn't honour.

 

[matengawhat]

JohnDuncan:But that's the law, and at least Amazon will refund you if you buy something and the price is subsequently reduced - can't have it both ways, to my mind.

they don't do that anymore stopped it as of 1st September 2008

 

[dryan]

I think Amazon should just come out and honour those people who bought it @ £129 merely for the PR side of things, it's forums like these that would turn people away from a certain retailer or even product! , I've been after this player for a while bought thought i'd wait for the price to drop, but when I checked my email this morning Amazon were showing it at £162.99 but clicking on the link brought it back to the £179.00, I believe Amazon offer an excellent online shopping experience but they should just hold there hands up and say sorry we made a mistake and ensure that price listings are always correct.

 

[Clare Newsome]

OK, here's the official comment from Amazon:

"We can confirm that there was a price discrepancy on the site with regard to the Sony BDPS350 Blu-Ray Disc Player. It was quickly rectified and affected a small number of customers. Despite our best efforts, with the millions of items available on our website, unfortunately pricing errors can occur.

In keeping with our Conditions of Use and Sale, we did cancel orders made at the incorrect price. As the Conditions of Use and Sale state, there is no contract between Amazon.co.uk and the customer for an item until Amazon.co.uk accepts the customer order by e-mail confirming that it has dispatched the item. Until that time, Amazon.co.uk is within its rights to not accept any customer order.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. "

As regards Laskys also offering the player at £129, Amazon said it can't comment on the policies of other retailers.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks again Clare

 

[Anonymous]

Received mine today - v.impressed =P

 

[Anonymous]

Yes I have mine too - its very good for £179 and I think if you subtract £20 for the 2 (or maybe 4) free blu rays you could call it £159.....that said still miffed I avoided the £129 Laskeys deal consciously to deliberately give my custom to Amazon at £129 also only to have to reorder it later for £50 more. I have yet to hear of anyone getting the £50 other than those who used the price match guarantee argument which ended before I ordered it. Back to the player its still very good value. My wife commented on how attractive it was too.