I managed to pick up one of the special offer MSI boards from ebuyer on Tuesday. All seemed to be fine, goods allocated, due for delivery today. About 20 mins ago, I got an e-mail saying they were out of stock. They have already taken payment for the item. Are they obliged to sell me the item at the contracted price, or are they allowed to just give me a refund. This is very annoying, as I have agreed to sell my mobo etc. to my brother, and the components for his PC and my processor and RAM arrived today, so I kind of need to get a P55 motherboard. This is a right pain in the arse. Needless to say I am pretty pissed off, and will add my voice to the chorus of discontent surrounding the poor handling of this promotion. It's been handled worse than the making of the Max Payne film. GARRRRRRRRR!!!!111oneone
Hi Mate, If they took your money then they have entered into a contract of sale with you under the Sale of Goods Act 1979. They can't even use the 'out of stock' argument as they took your money, and this should be covered by the future sales clause, namely: 5 Existing or future goods(1)The goods which form the subject of a contract of sale may be either existing goods, owned or possessed by the seller, or goods to be manufactured or acquired by him after the making of the contract of sale, in this Act called future goods. (2)There may be a contract for the sale of goods the acquisition of which by the seller depends on a contingency which may or may not happen. (3)Where by a contract of sale the seller purports to effect a present sale of future goods, the contract operates as an agreement to sell the goods. Point 2 is particularly apt in this case (ie the supply of the promotional item). I suggest you write to them explaining that they entered into a contract of sale with you (evidenced by them taking your money) and that they are therefore legally obliged to honour their side of the contract (as you honoured yours by paying them). State that you will take further action if necessary, and ask (nicely) for them to sell you that board at that price - as agreed. Keep copies of everything, as you will need them to take the next step, which is.... ...make a claim against them using the HMCS Money Claim Online site (link), formerly the small claims court. It will cost you 25 quid, refundable if you win (which you should) and it's all done on-line - this is why you need to keep everything to present to the court. Most large companies will give you what you want to shut you up - if they lose it's effectively a County Court Judgement against them which most companies will want to avoid. If you lose, well you've lost 25 quid but still got your pride intact for having a go. It's quite a painless process from your perspective - all done online, you don't have to attend court or anything like that, and it's very satisfying if a company is messing you about. I've done it once with a trailer company in Norwich who tried to rip me off with a dodgy axle. M'Lud, the prosecution rests there. Take him down.
Thank you very much for the advice. Very useful and informative. You sir, are an honour to this community. +Rep
