Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

I am just curious about whether a recent series of events was legal on the part of a retailer from which a purchased a bike.

I submitted an order about a week ago to an online retailer due to a sale they were having and purchased a bike using the provided coupon code to take a percentage off of their retail price. I received an receipt detailing this and all of the order details.

At the beginning of this week I emailed the store about not hearing anything back from them as I would expect, such as where my order stood in terms of preparation or shipping, etc.

Today I received an email from them telling me that they had lost/not processed my order, didn't have the bike I ordered, that it wasn't subject to the original coupon, and that I could buy a different size at a different price or back-order what I purchased for the original non-discountedp price.

My question then is whether the seller can issue an order invoice, or what I would assume is an agreement, and then go back and say that they cannot honor that price on the item.

Just seems fishy that I could receive their company receipt without them successfully getting my order, as well as applying the coupon when I placed the order and then taking it back after the fact.

Thank you for your time and any advice you can lend.


Asked on 7/08/10, 2:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

We study a case much like yours in law school in first-year Contracts class. It involves a mis-advertised fur coat sale. It stands for the proposition that a retail sale is not consumated until the seller actually accepts the order. I suspect that you will find that in the terms of use for the site there is a provision that the confirmation screen does not create a contract until the order is actually received and accepted by the seller. As you said, you didn't hear from them. Had you received a confirming email it probably would be a different case, but your confirmation screen is probably not sufficient to create a contract.

Read more
Answered on 7/08/10, 8:46 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Consumer Law questions and answers in California