What Are The Ethics behind Offering Just Full Refund when Retailers Make Mistake?

justwii on 23/05/2018 - 00:33
Last edited 23/05/2018 - 10:29

We have seen a lot of mistakes from retailers big and small (the OW projector "price error" a few days ago), it seems the community in general is OK with just a full refund. I mean a full refund does NOT resolve the matter fair and square. If you think about it, what if you were choosing between shop A and B to buy the same product, because of shop A being cheaper, you bought from there but ended up being told "price error" and provided just full refund. You turn your head to buy from shop B and its sold out now. What if you are sent a second hand one when you bought a brand new item and be told it was a typo/wrong description?

What if you queued for a limited edition of a product hours or even days to secure a place, you finally got the chance to buy it, you clearly saw the system still have stock, but was told "wrong stock" later on that the product was in fact sold out a few people before you. Same goes for pre-orders, you thought you were going to get the item first hand first day on release, but was told "over committed". You obviously can get your full refund, but good luck for a second chance of buying it or at least not until the next shipment.

Consumers have a simple wish before any of these happen: get what they pay for. Do buyers need to pay for the careless of retailers? In what situation can buyers lawfully get what they pay for instead of a full refund?

General Discussion

Comments

  • skazclaw on 23/05/2018 - 00:45
    +7

    When it's an obvious price error, it's the purchaser's fault because he wants to take advantage of an obvious mistake.

    Edit: It should be satisfaction enough being called "a professional" by Gerry Harvey himself.

  • Detective Pikachu on 23/05/2018 - 00:48
    +8

    Everyone makes mistakes including businesses. A full refund is the most efficient way to restore you back to the position you were in before you made the purchase (minus time and frustration). Expecting more or the item itself will be up to the store's policies/value in reputation (e.g. Woolworths Terms & Conditions 5.1 - Right to reject order & 19(a) - Fresh or Free Guarantee) and Australian Consumer Law.

  • payton on 23/05/2018 - 01:12
    +5

    the % of discount on a price error is usually huge

    If you think about it, what if you were choosing between shop A and B to buy the same product, because of shop A being cheaper
    You turn your head to buy from shop B and its sold out now.

    The scenario you describe is non existent, wishful thinking
    Price errors gets detected quickly for obvious reasons and the chance of Shop B offering a large discount at the same time is unlikely

  • [Deactivated] on 23/05/2018 - 05:04
    +7

    I feel it is a very entitled opinion to believe people should receive more than a full refund.
    If you think it through, a scenario could arise where a business was put out of business for a simple error with no ill-intent & no major harm caused.

    My friends and I once obtained Malvern Star bikes from a Telstra dealer for 'free' (worth $299 each), after they mis-wrote their terms & conditions stipulating the bike was free on mobile plans, they didn't intend that to include a $10 casual plan active for only one day providing zero revenue for their business but hadn't excluded such a thing from their promotion. My friend found it & actioned it first, and then sent all of us to do the same, I now (as a business owner) wouldn't be so mercenary. My understanding was that they lost upwards of 300 bikes by people around the country abusing the promotion.

    Complex & high value sales include signed contracts & lengthy terms & conditions, often stipulating penalties & remedies for the purpose of resolving incidents of serious consequence & error where significant loss can be incurred by either party.

    For simple over the counter transactions the cost of enforcing a law for providing more, especially if it were to vary based on actual time lost & other nebulous factors involved would make the average consumer significantly worse off (expectations of occasional error penalties would have to be built into general pricing, just as stock loss is).

    I think the current system is the right compromise and I am normally not a status quo guy ;)

  • ihbh on 23/05/2018 - 06:07
    +4

    Why don't you boycott the likes of OW, etc., and let that be the end of it, and let other reasonable people continue to give the shops with humans behind them a second chance when they make a mistake.

  • Ryanek on 23/05/2018 - 08:05
    +11

    I'm willing to bet your opinion would change if you were a business owner.

  • try2bhelpful on 23/05/2018 - 09:10

    We seem to have an "entitled' bunch of people nowdays. I'm sure the OP would be appalled if his mistakes at work were taken out of his paypacket. As indicated by others the mistakes that are "backed out" are usually very obvious. If the seller is out by a few bucks they usually let it ride, it is only the ludicrous ones they back out. You roll the dice and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose - at least you are getting your money back. There are plenty of scammers out there who will take your money and run.

  • mskeggs on 23/05/2018 - 09:53
    +2

    You already have the redress that you seek.
    If the business you entered a purchase contract with caused you demonstrable damages, you can commence legal action against them to restore your position.
    If you feel the loss to yourself was so trivial that you aren't prepared to go to court, it is likely a good sign you have suffered no substantial damages.

  • Changskies on 23/05/2018 - 10:12

    feeling entitled? you remind me of those 40 yo bogan screaming I deserve… this because 'insert reason'.

  • Ocker on 23/05/2018 - 11:03

    Complain to the ACCC

  • Eeples on 23/05/2018 - 11:26
    +1

    The ethics are about getting something for almost nothing when someone makes a mistake.

    If you made a mistake and overpaid (for anything, to anyone, even your family, friend or enemy or shop or gov't) would you really expect not to get the difference back?

    Think about it.

  • Almost Banned on 23/05/2018 - 11:28

    What about when they allow you to order, take your money, send you confirmation, then make you wait for days/weeks/months (all while holding your money) - then suddenly decide that they no longer want to go through with the deal simply because they can't be stuffed honouring it anymore (although they will claim stock/pricing issues)?
    Is a simple refund sufficient then?
    What if the product cannot be secured anywhere else for the same or better price?
    Doesn't anyone believe a contract should be honoured anymore, even if it costs one party?
    If I made a deal with someone - even if it turned out to be a bad deal - I would expect to have to honour it.

    • Eeples on 23/05/2018 - 11:34

      The contract includes the terms and conditions which often includes full refund for mistakes. If you don't accept those t&c then do not enter in to the contract.

      As for the situation in which you are describing maybe complaining on social media and doing a charge-back might be the go.

      • Almost Banned on 28/05/2018 - 20:48

        A contract that allows a unilateral cancellation for any reason is the very definition of an unfair contract term and would be unenforceable.

    • dazweeja on 23/05/2018 - 12:07
      +1

      Would you really always honour the deal? What if you were selling a car for $20000 and you made a typo and accidentally left off a '0' and someone agreed to buy it for $2000? What if you were a business and you had orders for 50 cars at $2000?

      Some of the deals the OP are referring to are missed zeroes. Sometimes they accidentally leave a '1' off the front so it's $200 instead of $1200. People - and businesses - make mistakes.

      • Almost Banned on 28/05/2018 - 20:48

        If you had paid in full, and I had taken the money, then sent you confirmation, then held on to the money for weeks - yes, I think I would.

        • dazweeja on 29/05/2018 - 02:22

          Please tell me the URL of your business so I can monitor it for typos. I'll be sure to tell thousands of my OzB friends about it too.

          This isn't some grand conspiracy you know. It's just that payments are handled automatically for businesses with an online presence while refunds are processed manually, often by a single staff member. There's nothing remotely unusual about that.

  • bobbified on 23/05/2018 - 18:07

    If you ask nicely, the manager might give you a massage!

  • Nutrino on 23/05/2018 - 18:57

    What a round about way of asking for compensation, really.

  • Ridiculous Panda on 23/05/2018 - 23:28

    Well, some businesses will offer you a $10 voucher or something. Stick with those businesses if you're after free money that you get from others' misfortunes. There must be a term for that behaviour!

  • hasher22 on 28/05/2018 - 21:37

    I work in retail and sometimes our tickets does not match the price of the item. We have to manually scan all the items and manually put the right price tag. But sometimes, the products increase in-price of decrease.

    Had a customer that wanted an item, our price tag stated $50 but it scanned at $55. Due to this human error in price tagging, I had to discount it by $5 which is fine but I also had an item that was tagged at $30 but scanned at $45, I was shocked, the price went up within a couple of days. The customer wanted it at $30 and unfortunately, our system won't give a high discount and need AREA managers approval. Unfortunately, our area manager is not lenient and had to tell the customer that it was human error and I was honest that the price went up within a couple of days. I offered to discount another similar item within my discount range but the customer said no and decided to rage and yell and threaten to go to the ACCC etc etc…. called the area manager again and stated the customer is kicking up a storm, area manager said no. Funny thing is, within the next 2 weeks, I got a message from the area manager that the customer did go to the ACCC and the area manager said to give the discount.

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