Local Online Bike Shop - Bad Experience

[An3]

I am not going to name the specific bike shop but here is the background to a recent experience with a local online bike shop:

 

Saturday night I searched local bike shop websites for a new bike for my son.

 

My eye caught a high end Road Bike (adult) in the "Weekly Specials" section for the bargain price of R0.00.

 

I immediately ordered two bikes as R0.00 is always a very good price to pay.

 

Yesterday I received an email stating:

 

"Your order has come through to us. You have chosen items that are marked

>"coming soon" and we do not yet have official pricing or stock."

 

This morning the same person phoned with the same story.

 

I checked the website and the Bike was still advertised in the "Weekly Special" section.

 

I replied via email that I would like to continue with my order as the Bike was still on special.

 

I used my work email address as my Banking Details are linked to this address.

 

I received the following email from this person, who obviously checked my details with my company, a few minutes ago.

 

 

"Hi ***

 

Any person using logic including someone like yourself in IT would know that a zero next to an item does not mean it is free.

 

It was posted in “coming soon” our contracted IT company erroneously included the *** bikes

In weekly special (only should be one bike). The fact is as the importers, we will not be bringing in complete *** bikes.

 

If your intention is to test the legal aspects then please let me know and I will forward all detail to our legal team as well as to a personal friend of mine who sits on the board of directors of *** (My company name) to get his view on this.

 

I await your reply so that I can understand where you are going with this.

 

Kind Regards

***"

 

The bike's price was updated in the meanwhile.

 

I am not a difficult person. A simple "sorry my bad, I'll fix the website" would have sufficed.

Why did this person had to belittle my "logic", checked up on me and threaten me with his legal team and somebody on my company's Board of Directors?

 

Any suggestions for a response to this person?

Edited September 8, 2014 by An3

[Reg Lizard]

Aitog

[ChUkKy]

[Smartie]

Please name the online bike shop. That reply is total BS.

[Vangar]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6OdeJ5lFV84/Tzp3DFb__hI/AAAAAAAAAyE/Fz2NlpTLMtQ/s320/dis-gon-b-gud.gif

[Rocket-Boy]

Im pretty sure you didnt expect to get them for free so Im not even going to address that part

The response would have really had me worked up though.

[DIPSLICK]

ITS CALLED SMALL MAN SYNDROME

[Beast Tech]

They are in no legal way bound to sell you the product at the incorrect price advertised (The digital laws are weird)

 

But as I work in advertising we always advise our clients that if this happens it is normally best to honour the price or to compromise as the error was not yours, but theirs for not managing their website correctly.

 

And as we are seeing now their reputation may be at risk (What is about to happen here)

 

So the uneducated person on the other side of this email really has just rubbed salt on a wound and has made a bad situation 10 times worse...

 

I would not accept an email like that lightly and if I were you I would take action against someone higher than him in his company. As I am sure his boss would question his actions

[An3]

If a product is marked R0.00, it should be free:)

[the nerd]

That is ridiculous...

[Metzet]

if this happened in an actual shop you would never have got that response to your face.. why should it be any different while shopping online..

[kosmonooit]

A lot of local on-line shops (esp. IT) don't actually keep stock, no matter what the "in stock" indicator might read, they just publish suppliers price lists (often verbatim) and hope they are in stock when an order does come through.

[ChUkKy]

If a product is marked R0.00, it should be free:)

 

Can you do an EFT for such an amount, your answer lies within.

[eddy]

They are in no legal way bound to sell you the product at the incorrect price advertised (The digital laws are weird)

 

Not digital laws, it applies to all adverts, irrespective of the medium

[jugheaddave]

I think the response was really un professional from the company, but as mentioned previously, I doubt that you will get a free bike out of this.

[karlvand]

Name and Shame, personally attacking you is complete BS