Should I be "miffed"?

[Bobby1Note]

Hi folks, I had a bit of an experience today, and thought I'd share it with you, to get some opinions.

First off, I "almost" bought a Yamaha CP5 today. Why "almost"? Well, I went to a website (L.A. Music, in Brampton Ontario Canada). While browsing digital pianos, I came across what seemed to be a very good deal on a brand new Yamaha CP5;,,,, at $1979.99 That struck me as quite a deal, so I called the store to place my order. As I spoke to the sales-rep, I checked up on another item I had ordered from them back in May (Vox AC30HW2x amplifier, w/Alnico Blue speakers). Those are currently back-ordered btw. As we turned our attention to the CP5, and "availability", the rep noticed that the price was "kinda low, considering the list-price of $3299. He asked me to wait a minute, and he'd check something out,,,,, I waited. When he came back, he told me that the price of $1979.99 was an "error". Hmmmmm. He then re-classified the item as $0.00, so that it couldn't be bought on-line. A few hours later, the item re-appeared at $2699.

My question to you is, should they have honoured that price of $1979.99? Do I have a right to be miffed, and, do I have potential recourse?.In the last few months (since May), I've ordered four guitar amps from these folks, totalling $4000. I've been very pleased with their service so far, but I'm really disappointed with how things went today.

Thanks for reading,

Bob

 

 

[JeffLearman]

I think you should have been miffed at yourself for not simply ordering it online. If they catch the error before confirming the sale, it seems reasonable to me. Of course, there may be consumer protection laws making me wrong, but this clearly isn't a "bait and switch", which would be illegal in most states.

[Bernard]

 

 

---

Bobby1Note wrote:

 

 

Hi folks, I had a bit of an experience today, and thought I'd share it with you, to get some opinions.

 

First off, I "almost" bought a Yamaha CP5 today. Why "almost"? Well, I went to a website (L.A. Music, in Brampton Ontario Canada). While browsing digital pianos, I came across what seemed to be a very good deal on a brand new Yamaha CP5;,,,, at $1979.99 That struck me as quite a deal, so I called the store to place my order. As I spoke to the sales-rep, I checked up on another item I had ordered from them back in May (Vox AC30HW2x amplifier, w/Alnico Blue speakers). Those are currently back-ordered btw. As we turned our attention to the CP5, and "availability", the rep noticed that the price was "kinda low, considering the list-price of $3299. He asked me to wait a minute, and he'd check something out,,,,, I waited. When he came back, he told me that the price of $1979.99 was an "error". Hmmmmm. He then re-classified the item as $0.00, so that it couldn't be bought on-line. A few hours later, the item re-appeared at $2699.

 

My question to you is, should they have honoured that price of $1979.99? Do I have a right to be miffed, and, do I have potential recourse?.In the last few months (since May), I've ordered four guitar amps from these folks, totalling $4000. I've been very pleased with their service so far, but I'm really disappointed with how things went today.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

''Should I be "miffed"?''  Yes ;-)

 

''Do I have a right to be miffed,''  Yes again ;-)

 

''and, do I have potential recourse?'' Going by UK law (your country may well differ), you need to have entered into a contract, basically ordered it and received a confirmation of order. If they had tried to up the price at that stage, you could ask they sell at the advertised price and they would be expected to under law unless the mistake was obvious in which case the law would not seek to benefit either party.

 

e.g. If your item was advertised New stock no special offer at 100 dollars online and you ordered it, the law would probably allow them to expect you to pay they real amount as the mistake is obvious as long as they gave you the option to cancel your order as they had caused you inconvenience by their mistake. That would be fair for both parties.

 

If they keep advertising stuff at 10% lower and hiking the price when you buy that could be reported as sharp practice. You should cancel such an order and report them if they have a reputation for that. If they refused to cancel you would have a strong case if you kept evidence of their pricing.

 

I long suspect some traders drop the advertised price on slow movers and may be hiking during orders hoping people will not cancel. By a person flagging a low price they may actually be covering up changing it only when spotted.

 

Alternatively in your case you may have just helped them correct their error be asking about the product..

 

I recently saw a rare expensive second hand product sell privately, be resold privately and seemly end up suddenly advertised as display stock at a retailer that did not have it listed before. That seems to be a favorite, if they receive an immaculate second hand piece of gear they resell it at profit but say they had it all along on display.. Without being able to prove what I saw I will not name the store...!

 

Some UK major stores go further on small items they sell and will actually refund fully and still give you the product if they make a mistake or double the difference for a price issue. Saves them checking their stock and display and keeps good Customer relations. Problem is less savvy people could be paying excessive amounts and not be aware to the stores profit.

In any case most people here expect a major retailer to sell at the marked price in store. Most will and then rapidily remove the old price ;-)

[Bobby1Note]

You're absolutely right, Learjeff,,,, on all counts. I think I'm more disappointed than anything.

Regarding the price "error"; I'm new to keyboards, so I was only somewhat familiar with pricing for the CP5. I had checked only a couple of websites before going to L.A. Music's site. The price I saw was obviously very good, but not ridiculously low, (roughly 10-20% lower than others). I just assumed the price was legit.

I guess it's time to keep shopping. I don't play keys myself;,,, I was simply looking for a good digital piano for my music-room/studio. I've been told by a few players, that the Yamaha keyboards have great piano sounds. I'm tryong to find a used P-90, but so far, no luck in my regional Craigslist or Kijiji.

[delaware dave]

Back in 2001 I purchased a Gem Equinox 88 from Sam Ash. Advertised price was $995. I asked at least three times if the price was right; the salesman each time said yes. I gave him a deposit over the phone via a credit card and the salesmen sent me both a confirmation via email and hard copy. They ordered the keyboard and called me when it arrived about a week later. I picked up the keyboard and at checkout the discrepancy of price came up, it should have been $1995 not $995. The manager came out and attempted to back out of the deal but I had the confirmed order with a downpayment. After much bickering they honored the price. Less than a week later the salesman was fired and later I found the salesman working at Guitar Center.

[Bernard]

---

delaware dave wrote:

 Less than a week later the salesman was fired...

---

 

His employer was ''miffed''

 

Well done Sir

[Darkstorm]

Generally a store is supposed to honour the advertised price. They would then change the price to right one after the sale where recognized bad price. So in all reality they should hae sold it to you for advertised price, then changed price after that.

[Ghostpaw]

A store would honor a mismarked price when the price difference is not as significant. A business would rather keep a customer than lose a relationship with that customer that would yield more money over the long-term. But I wouldn't expect a seller to put themselves over a barrel like that over a probable data-entry mistake representing such a significant amount of money. They'd have very little chance of making up the difference over time.

[Bobby1Note]

 

---

Darkstorm wrote:

 

 

Generally a store is supposed to honour the advertised price. They would then change the price to right one after the sale where recognized bad price. So in all reality they should hae sold it to you for advertised price, then changed price after that.

---

 

In this case, the advertized price was roughly 15%-20% lower than what I had seen other vendors were charging,,,,,, not a huge "error". At the very least, a compromise should have been offered IMO,,, example; "let's split the difference".

As it turns out, they got "no sale",,, which of course, earns them nothing. I on the other hand, shopped the used market, and found a 6-month old CP-50 for half of what they were asking for the "incorrectly-priced" CP-5. The CP-50 ended up costing me $1080., and it's still warrateed for another 2 1/2 years.