Trade Descriptions Act In Europe? Advice Needed

Andy

I ordered a Hockey helmet off a german website. The product page said it came with a full face cage but the helmet turned up without one. I've emailed them about it and they have said -

Dear Andrew,

there was a mistake in the description at our homepage. The cage is not included. We are
sorry for that.

The helmet with cage would be the following product.
http://shop.hockeyzentrale.de/mission-h ... itter-reb-
iii/shop/shop1prodview_iRH1014.html

We offer two possibilities. We will pick up the helmet free of charge and would refund the
money or you transfer the difference to the following account and we will ship the cage.

<SNIP>

We apologize for the cirumstances.

Best regards,

Torsten

Where do I stand with this? Can I tell them I want the cage at the price I paid for the helmet? Obviously this is a german website so I'm a little unsure what I can do?

nicklouse

link to page you bought from?

Andy

http://www.hockeyoffice.com/mission-hc1 ... C3816.html

That was the page but they item description was changed today.

http://www.hockeyoffice.com/mission-m15 ... H1014.html

The description on that second link was the one that was listed with the first helmet

Andy

http://www.hockeyoffice.com/shop/h/tob.html

Arkady001

Our (that is UK consumer Law) is superceded by European Law - might be your best bet.
CAB would be my foirst port of call - someone who knows EU selling regs.
I'd be of the same opinion as you - their mistake, they take the hit - in the name of 'goodwill' they should make good.
Also point out you're a regular contributor on this site and the amount of negative publicity their stance will generate for them...

...of course they are German and as I know to my cost they can be such intransigent bar-stewards...

bails87

I'd imagine all they're obliged to do is to offer you a refund and they'll arrange collection. Seems reasonable to me, but that's just a guess.

Arkady001

Somthing to do with misrepresentation under the sale of goods act as I recall - I was in Boots a couple of weeks ago and they had a baby bottle steriliser on offer, so I bought it.
Turns out the offer had expired and clearly said so on the shelf-label, but because it was still on display as being 'on offer' they had to sell it at the discounted price.
Which I knew full well as I stood at the counter smiling at the floor manager.

Because the seller is trading across Europe (including to UK customers) the same laws will apply - however you'll need to know the specific EU ruling that has been contravened in order to make your case.

They advertised it as having a grid - their mistake., not yours - you bought the item in good faith based on their description.
It would help if you'd saved a screen-grab of the original advertisement: without that evidence it'll be harder to make a case. It sounds like they've admitted to their error in the email chain, so save all of that as well...

supersonic

I think they have done everything they need to. Mistakes happen, and they have offered a refund. There has to be some protection: if a £3000 bike was accidently up for £3.00, and you bought it...

Goodwill though is a different thing ;-)

As for shelf edge labels, you have no right to the price on display: it is 'an invitation to treat', and they can decline this at the selling point (in the UK at least)

The Northern Monkey

bails87 wrote:

I'd imagine all they're obliged to do is to offer you a refund and they'll arrange collection. Seems reasonable to me, but that's just a guess.

+1

GPierotti

The small print when buying stuff online even in this country usually allows for seller mistakes like that and these mistakes happen a lot. there isnt any smal print when buying in person so they need to stick to their prices if they make mistakes.

PXR5

supersonic wrote:

As for shelf edge labels, you have no right to the price on display: it is 'an invitation to treat', and they can decline this at the selling point (in the UK at least)

This ^

The better half is qualifed in purchasing etc...the prices shops show are considered by law i believe "invitations to trade"
You could offer them more and they could refuse (but a bit unlikely) you could offer them less and they could accept, but again if its not your store you're not going to sell stuff cheaper than the boss asks you to...

I'm with SS on this, in that they've offered to recover the item at their own cost and refund your money, you could make a counter offer however, eg you send me the guard and i'll pay postage etc.....

But that offer and counter offer stage has a great tendance to drag on a bit...