Have I got lucky?

Bonsoir (for Vero :slight_smile: )

S’il vous plaît…

Have I got lucky, or is French law the same as English law?

I have just purchased an item online at its website price of zero. I have no idea why this variant of the article is priced at 0 Euros wben I looked in tonight. But I followed it through and ordered. It’s not quite the same spec as the one I wanted and am saving for. But for 1200 or so euros less, I’ll compromise :slight_smile: .

There was a legally mandated 20 euro charge alongside for certification which I naturally paid. The item will be delivered to my chosen pickup shop in 48 hours apparently.

I wasn’t going to let it go by in case there is some promotion or other thing going on that I didn’t know about. Can you imagine me kicking myself the following morning if I didn’t order? But the most likely explanation would be mistake, such as a website data error.

In England the vendor can declare ‘mistake’ and make the sale null and void. But in France, can I dream?

I am going to see what they do tomorrow… Does anyone know if zut alors it’s a mistake ze order is annulèe, is what I can expect from the vendor?

Merci

Bonjour! Sorry no idea - I’d have thought if they advertise €0 then that’s what they can charge. Bonne journée :slightly_smiling_face:

I have heard of this sort of thing before as a straightforward scam. Basically the customer pays the (comparatively trivial) delivery etc charge and that’s the end of the transaction. No good, no delivery, no comeback as the website has vanished…

But if it was all done though a genuine merchant then you may just have struck lucky - bon chance!

Bad news, I’m afraid. As explained here, obvious pricing errors for online sales are not legally binding.

Si le prix est manifestement erroné et dérisoire, le vendeur internet a le droit d’annuler la vente. Il doit évidemment rembourser le consommateur s’il a payé.

Ce cas d’erreur de prix sur Internet s’est produite il y a quelques années. Des internautes ont profité d’un bug du prix sur internet (sur le site Micromania) pour acheter des consoles à 40 euros. Alors que le prix réel des consoles était compris entre 300 et 400 euros ! Micromania a donc été en droit d’annuler la vente ou bien de réclamer la différence de prix entre le prix affiché et le prix payé.

Il est donc dangereux d’exploiter ce genre de failles ! L’erreur de prix sur internet ne profite pas au consommateur dans ce cas !

This doesn’t seem terribly likely if the price is showing up at €0

Yeah, unlike in the UK, it’s illegal for retailers to sell stuff at ridiculously low prices hence the absence of BOGOF. IIRC the maximum discount retailers can apply in France outside les soldes is 34%.

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000037556675/

Have you paid by card? Got scammed last year and they had set up a continuous payment authority for 50 euros a month. Britline was useless but I managed to get my money back in the end by being persistent.

Where did you purchase from, was it from a website you have used before?

Yes it’s a very well known chain of specialist shops, reviews around 4.3 or 4.4 on Google, they’re big in Paris and have shops elsewhere. So no concerns about a scam.

There’s a message waiting on my phone now since 16.30 but I was doing a job interview. If it’s them claiming ‘mistake’ , and if you guys had confirned they can do this, my plan, if I had been able to take the call, was to be nice and ask would they give me a 10% discount when I do order. I’ve noted this looks to have got them to react late the following day. Whereas a query I raised with them about the product two weeks ago has still not received a response.

After the sad news about our Queen today, I’ll listen to the voicemail tomorrow. Surprised they haven’t actually sent an email, as I had received a total of 4 emails from them last night confirming and reconfirming the sale and specific collection arrangements.

I’ll post the outcome but I’ll bet they just left a message cancelling the order unilaterally by phone and that I won’t get an email revoking the confirmation emails I received

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Yes, please do keep us in the loop :slightly_smiling_face: