4 ms·

Under Australian law this would have had to be honored by HP

by i386 3y ago

jszymborski 3y ago
Same in Canada, as I understand it.
s1artibartfast 3y ago
why do you say that? Under UK law, this deal should have been honored too, but wasn't. Are you saying that nobody breaks the law in Australia?
- unixhero 3y ago
  Dude how did you extrapolate that?
- monkeydreams 3y ago
  Oh, they will try ( I'm looking at you, Dell), but you can quite easily stick by your guns and refuse to accept anything other than product delivery. If they have taken your money they have to provide the goods or an appropriate replacement. If they keep refusing you can start reporting them to various authorities such as ACCC and they start wearing penalties and have to deliver anyway.
- gumby 3y ago
  > Are you saying that nobody breaks the law in Australia? That’s right, we got it out of our system more than a century ago. (TBH for a country settled by supposed crims, Aus is a surprisingly law abiding place)
londons_explore 3y ago
Under UK law it's the same. If OP fought in court, they would get that laptop.
kleiba 3y ago
Under German law, I think HP would have been fine. I think the important part is that (apparently) HP made a mistake when they put out that special offer. Whether or not a customer should be able to recognize it as such is secondary. Everyone makes mistakes and that fact is recognized under German law for situations like that (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkl%C3%A4rungsirrtum https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkl%C3%A4rungsirrtum). But of course, the customer should then be reimbursed.
- Teever 3y ago
  The problem is that this is only a one way street. All too often large companies can make these kinds of 'mistakes' while the consumer can't.
  - dehrmann 3y ago
    In this particular case, if you bought an overpriced laptop and realized it quickly, you could return it.
    - gumby 3y ago
      So if I accidentally buy a laptop with Windows in Germany I can return it? Fantastic consumer protection laws!
      - dehrmann 3y ago
        I'm not sure about Germany. In the US, probably. It's not usually laws as much as stores having very generous return policies. To be fair, this was in the UK, so customs and laws are different.
      - pinkgolem 3y ago
        That depends, did you buy it online? Then you can return the laptop basically no question asked for 14 days. There are some exceptions for custom orders, but I have never seen those enforced for anything not majorly custom build. Offline you do not have this right, but a lot of retailers still have money back/voucher guarantees for 14 days.
aaron695 3y ago
[dead]
rootusrootus 3y ago
To my understanding this would also be required in the US.
- tzs 3y ago
  There's a good summary for the US here [1]. The most relevant parts: > Assuming that an incorrect advertised price is truly an error rather than an attempt to deceive, companies are only obligated to honor it if a customer makes an offer at that price and the company accepts it. This exchange creates a contract between buyer and seller. > In a store, customers make an offer simply by indicating they want to buy an item – for example, by bringing it up to the register – and the company accepts the offer by ringing up the sale. In the brick-and-mortar world, contracts don't get formed around pricing errors because the store just won't ring up the sale. But online selling, in which transactions are processed automatically, has added a new layer of complexity to the issue. and > When an e-commerce website has had an incorrect price entered into its database, it can end up not only advertising that price but also accepting orders and charging customers' credit cards for that amount. The central issue here is whether retailers can void the contract created when orders were accepted. > The easiest way for a company to deal with such situations is to have website "terms of use" that clearly state the company can cancel orders and refund customers' money because of pricing errors (or for any reason). Otherwise, a common law doctrine known as "unilateral mistake of fact" applies. This doctrine allows a party to a contract to set aside the contract if honoring it would be "unconscionable," or if the other party could have reasonably assumed it was a mistake. A $1,000 item advertised for $10 likely would meet this definition. [1] https://smallbusiness.chron.com/company-advertising-price-wrong-responsible-mistake-73117.html https://smallbusiness.chron.com/company-advertising-price-wr...
grishka 3y ago
Under Russian law, too. IIRC you must sell the item at the price you displayed even if it's wrong. You can add an * and thousands of words of small print though.

Under Australian law this would have had to be honored by HP

by i386 3y ago

Under Australian law this would have had to be honored by HP

jszymborski 3y ago

Same in Canada, as I understand it.

s1artibartfast 3y ago

why do you say that? Under UK law, this deal should have been honored too, but wasn't. Are you saying that nobody breaks the law in Australia?

unixhero 3y ago
Dude how did you extrapolate that?
monkeydreams 3y ago
Oh, they will try ( I'm looking at you, Dell), but you can quite easily stick by your guns and refuse to accept anything other than product delivery. If they have taken your money they have to provide the goods or an appropriate replacement. If they keep refusing you can start reporting them to various authorities such as ACCC and they start wearing penalties and have to deliver anyway.
gumby 3y ago
> Are you saying that nobody breaks the law in Australia? That’s right, we got it out of our system more than a century ago. (TBH for a country settled by supposed crims, Aus is a surprisingly law abiding place)

londons_explore 3y ago

Under UK law it's the same. If OP fought in court, they would get that laptop.

kleiba 3y ago

Under German law, I think HP would have been fine. I think the important part is that (apparently) HP made a mistake when they put out that special offer. Whether or not a customer should be able to recognize it as such is secondary. Everyone makes mistakes and that fact is recognized under German law for situations like that (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkl%C3%A4rungsirrtum https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkl%C3%A4rungsirrtum). But of course, the customer should then be reimbursed.

Teever 3y ago
The problem is that this is only a one way street. All too often large companies can make these kinds of 'mistakes' while the consumer can't.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  In this particular case, if you bought an overpriced laptop and realized it quickly, you could return it.
  - gumby 3y ago
    So if I accidentally buy a laptop with Windows in Germany I can return it? Fantastic consumer protection laws!
    - dehrmann 3y ago
      I'm not sure about Germany. In the US, probably. It's not usually laws as much as stores having very generous return policies. To be fair, this was in the UK, so customs and laws are different.
    - pinkgolem 3y ago
      That depends, did you buy it online? Then you can return the laptop basically no question asked for 14 days. There are some exceptions for custom orders, but I have never seen those enforced for anything not majorly custom build. Offline you do not have this right, but a lot of retailers still have money back/voucher guarantees for 14 days.

aaron695 3y ago

[dead]

rootusrootus 3y ago

To my understanding this would also be required in the US.

tzs 3y ago
There's a good summary for the US here [1]. The most relevant parts: > Assuming that an incorrect advertised price is truly an error rather than an attempt to deceive, companies are only obligated to honor it if a customer makes an offer at that price and the company accepts it. This exchange creates a contract between buyer and seller. > In a store, customers make an offer simply by indicating they want to buy an item – for example, by bringing it up to the register – and the company accepts the offer by ringing up the sale. In the brick-and-mortar world, contracts don't get formed around pricing errors because the store just won't ring up the sale. But online selling, in which transactions are processed automatically, has added a new layer of complexity to the issue. and > When an e-commerce website has had an incorrect price entered into its database, it can end up not only advertising that price but also accepting orders and charging customers' credit cards for that amount. The central issue here is whether retailers can void the contract created when orders were accepted. > The easiest way for a company to deal with such situations is to have website "terms of use" that clearly state the company can cancel orders and refund customers' money because of pricing errors (or for any reason). Otherwise, a common law doctrine known as "unilateral mistake of fact" applies. This doctrine allows a party to a contract to set aside the contract if honoring it would be "unconscionable," or if the other party could have reasonably assumed it was a mistake. A $1,000 item advertised for $10 likely would meet this definition. [1] https://smallbusiness.chron.com/company-advertising-price-wrong-responsible-mistake-73117.html https://smallbusiness.chron.com/company-advertising-price-wr...

grishka 3y ago

Under Russian law, too. IIRC you must sell the item at the price you displayed even if it's wrong. You can add an * and thousands of words of small print though.