9 ms·

Disgusting? So if you see a sign on a car for sale that says $19,95 because a digit fell off, the dealer is obligated to sell it to you at that price? People an

Disgusting? So if you see a sign on a car for sale that says $19,95 because a digit fell off, the dealer is obligated to sell it to you at that price? People and systems make mistakes, that doesn't mean it's "disgusting" that they protect themselves financially from those mistakes.

51lver 8y ago
Totally different issues. Making a bad sale and then later backing out, vs advertising a price that is not able to be confirmed at the time of sale resulting in no sale.
- ticmasta 8y ago
  Lots of grocery stores give you the product for free up to a limit (say $10) if it is priced incorrectly or rings through different from advertised
  - FireBeyond 8y ago
    That was a consumer protection issue from the introduction of scanners, to assure customers that the scanner wasn't a black box that would rip them off.
cesis 8y ago
It's more like - dealer sold you the car for $19.95, then came after you and demanded the rest $19k because of the error.
- dumbfounder 8y ago
  If you bought it online you bet they would come after you.
  - 51lver 8y ago
    Which is completely different than a digit falling off a window, right?
    - dumbfounder 8y ago
      No, it isn't. It's still a mistake. A programmer could have dropped a digit just as easily as a person failed to properly tape a digit to a window.
      - mikeash 8y ago
        When you go to buy that car where the digit fell off the price, the sales person will tell you that the erroneous price is wrong, and tell you the correct one. If for some reason the sales person does not do this and goes through with the sale at the erroneous price, sucks to be them. They had their chance to correct it and they failed to do so. This is the same situation, except instead of a sales person, it’s a computer. It seems to me that this is yet another instance where companies automate processes that previously involved humans, then compensate for the newly introduced errors by blaming the customer. If you don’t want software bugs resulting in sales at absurd prices, maybe you should have a human review each order to make sure the numbers are sensible.
        shawnz 8y ago
        > this is yet another instance where companies automate processes that previously involved humans, then compensate for the newly introduced errors by blaming the customer In either the digital or analog cases of your example, the end result is that the customer ends up paying the intended price. The only difference is that with the digital case, they might find out about it slightly later. How is this a "newly found error" in that case and how is it "blaming the customer"? It sounds to me like the potential for error has always been there and nothing about the assignment of blame has changed whatsoever between the two examples.
        mikeash 8y ago
        That’s not the end result at all. There are three possibilities: 1. The error is corrected before the sale and the customer pays the corrected price. 2. The error is corrected before the sale and the customer changes their mind. 3. The error is not corrected before the sale and the customer pays the erroneous price. Companies are trying to change a 3 into a 1 by blaming computers and saying the error should have been clear to the customer, when in fact it’s their own fault for not noticing the error before completing the transaction.
  - tk75x 8y ago
    I once saw a price for a car listed on a dealer's website that was much lower than the car was worth. Turns out when it was entered into the system, it was entered as the base model instead of the upgraded version with more options. The dealer offered to sell it to me at the lower price anyways if I put a deposit down.
- lgeorget 8y ago
  Once I went to recredit my public transportation badge in a shop mandated by the city to do the transaction and they mistakenly charged me something like 15€ instead of 150€ (I don't remember the exact figure but it was a 0 missing). Two days later I got my badge blacklisted (and earned myself a loud and obnoxious buzz from the badging machine in the bus). I had to make a call and go to the transportation office to settle the matter. They told me the shop was likely to suffer repercussions after the incident.
- ticmasta 8y ago
  Reminds me of the story from SparkFun's founder where a nightly currency conversion batch process failed and set all prices to $0. If you had ever bought anything from them before I believe they honoured the purchase and sent out the order for free. If you were a first timer I guess you were S.O.L.
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    Seems reasonable to keep good faith customers happy while rejecting those who wanted to pile on.
deleted 8y ago
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tom_ 8y ago
The price sticker is an advertisement, not a binding contract. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat
- jkaplowitz 8y ago
  A lot of places have consumer protection laws about price signage and labeling which take precedence over contract law.
  - tom_ 8y ago
    I was under the impression that this was the case in America and Australia as well, but it's possible it is only true for the UK.
    - jkaplowitz 8y ago
      I know from first hand experience that it's true in NYC and in the Canadian province of Quebec. I think it's true in many more countries and many more places in the US and Canada, but as those two examples show, it's not always legislated at the top level of a county, even when there is a law or binding regulation about it.
- Kim_Bruning 8y ago
  This is true in some countries, but not in others. Eg. in the Netherlands it is binding the moment a customer indicates they accept it. (On the other hand -relevant to the topic- an agreement may be declared void in the case of "obvious error"; so Fanduel could possibly have been off the hook if they had been operating in .nl .)
corobo 8y ago
The bet was already made, the details agreed upon. In your scenario if the dealer said "Yerp, whatever's on the window is whatever you're paying" and you hand over your $20 and they accept it as payment then yes, I would expect them to honor it. Would FanDuel void your bet if you misread the odds?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

51lver 8y ago

Totally different issues. Making a bad sale and then later backing out, vs advertising a price that is not able to be confirmed at the time of sale resulting in no sale.

ticmasta 8y ago
Lots of grocery stores give you the product for free up to a limit (say $10) if it is priced incorrectly or rings through different from advertised
- FireBeyond 8y ago
  That was a consumer protection issue from the introduction of scanners, to assure customers that the scanner wasn't a black box that would rip them off.

cesis 8y ago

It's more like - dealer sold you the car for $19.95, then came after you and demanded the rest $19k because of the error.

dumbfounder 8y ago
If you bought it online you bet they would come after you.
- 51lver 8y ago
  Which is completely different than a digit falling off a window, right?
  - dumbfounder 8y ago
    No, it isn't. It's still a mistake. A programmer could have dropped a digit just as easily as a person failed to properly tape a digit to a window.
    - mikeash 8y ago
      When you go to buy that car where the digit fell off the price, the sales person will tell you that the erroneous price is wrong, and tell you the correct one. If for some reason the sales person does not do this and goes through with the sale at the erroneous price, sucks to be them. They had their chance to correct it and they failed to do so. This is the same situation, except instead of a sales person, it’s a computer. It seems to me that this is yet another instance where companies automate processes that previously involved humans, then compensate for the newly introduced errors by blaming the customer. If you don’t want software bugs resulting in sales at absurd prices, maybe you should have a human review each order to make sure the numbers are sensible.
      - shawnz 8y ago
        > this is yet another instance where companies automate processes that previously involved humans, then compensate for the newly introduced errors by blaming the customer In either the digital or analog cases of your example, the end result is that the customer ends up paying the intended price. The only difference is that with the digital case, they might find out about it slightly later. How is this a "newly found error" in that case and how is it "blaming the customer"? It sounds to me like the potential for error has always been there and nothing about the assignment of blame has changed whatsoever between the two examples.
        mikeash 8y ago
        That’s not the end result at all. There are three possibilities: 1. The error is corrected before the sale and the customer pays the corrected price. 2. The error is corrected before the sale and the customer changes their mind. 3. The error is not corrected before the sale and the customer pays the erroneous price. Companies are trying to change a 3 into a 1 by blaming computers and saying the error should have been clear to the customer, when in fact it’s their own fault for not noticing the error before completing the transaction.
- tk75x 8y ago
  I once saw a price for a car listed on a dealer's website that was much lower than the car was worth. Turns out when it was entered into the system, it was entered as the base model instead of the upgraded version with more options. The dealer offered to sell it to me at the lower price anyways if I put a deposit down.
lgeorget 8y ago
Once I went to recredit my public transportation badge in a shop mandated by the city to do the transaction and they mistakenly charged me something like 15€ instead of 150€ (I don't remember the exact figure but it was a 0 missing). Two days later I got my badge blacklisted (and earned myself a loud and obnoxious buzz from the badging machine in the bus). I had to make a call and go to the transportation office to settle the matter. They told me the shop was likely to suffer repercussions after the incident.
ticmasta 8y ago
Reminds me of the story from SparkFun's founder where a nightly currency conversion batch process failed and set all prices to $0. If you had ever bought anything from them before I believe they honoured the purchase and sent out the order for free. If you were a first timer I guess you were S.O.L.
- village-idiot 8y ago
  Seems reasonable to keep good faith customers happy while rejecting those who wanted to pile on.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

tom_ 8y ago

The price sticker is an advertisement, not a binding contract. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat

jkaplowitz 8y ago
A lot of places have consumer protection laws about price signage and labeling which take precedence over contract law.
- tom_ 8y ago
  I was under the impression that this was the case in America and Australia as well, but it's possible it is only true for the UK.
  - jkaplowitz 8y ago
    I know from first hand experience that it's true in NYC and in the Canadian province of Quebec. I think it's true in many more countries and many more places in the US and Canada, but as those two examples show, it's not always legislated at the top level of a county, even when there is a law or binding regulation about it.
Kim_Bruning 8y ago
This is true in some countries, but not in others. Eg. in the Netherlands it is binding the moment a customer indicates they accept it. (On the other hand -relevant to the topic- an agreement may be declared void in the case of "obvious error"; so Fanduel could possibly have been off the hook if they had been operating in .nl .)

corobo 8y ago

The bet was already made, the details agreed upon. In your scenario if the dealer said "Yerp, whatever's on the window is whatever you're paying" and you hand over your $20 and they accept it as payment then yes, I would expect them to honor it. Would FanDuel void your bet if you misread the odds?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]