Panasonic website errors. TV's for a penny!

tinker · 14 February 2009, 12:15

Panasonic website errors, Not sure if they will honor the prices but its worth a try, I have spent £35

chewy · 14 February 2009, 12:34

Hmmm will be interesting to see what happens?

Bigmuz7 · 14 February 2009, 12:58

There was a story in the news yesterday, about them being about to post some bumper losses this year, and how they are ordering their managerial staff to only buy Panasonic products

treerat · 14 February 2009, 14:02

We'll see what comes - I've just ordered a camera, or 2 with housing.

They haven't as yet taken payment.

JABS · 14 February 2009, 14:19

Perhaps it is a disgruntled employee whos is messing with the site?

OR a total scam to get credit card details???

simmons0 · 14 February 2009, 15:07

Ordered a fax machine or 5.

Then read the terms and conditions,

"Whilst we try to ensure that all prices on our website are accurate, errors may occur. If we discover an error in the price of goods you have ordered, we reserve the right to cancel the order and invite you to place another order for the goods at the correct price. If we cannot contact you we will treat your order as cancelled. If you cancel the order and you have already paid for the goods, we will give you a full refund."

With no knowledge of pricing law at all, i'd speculate that they've covered themselves.

H

chewy · 14 February 2009, 15:12

I don't think I'll get anything at all, ordered about 12 TV's a few camcorders basiscallt anything that was a penny. If they cancel the order and refund me I've lost nout.

fred bolton · 16 February 2009, 17:01

Guess what Panasonic website under maintenance!!!!!! see here

https://shop.panasonic.co.uk/bin/ven...reen&trrfext=1

Nos4r2 · 16 February 2009, 17:16

I haven't had a cancellation email yet-has anyone else?

tinker · 16 February 2009, 18:07

I have, all canceled

. Will keep an eye on a few other forums to see what the outcome is, but the generally consensus is they will cancel them all. Like Xmas day for a few hours on Saturday though, oh well. Fingers crossed you get yours.

chewy · 16 February 2009, 18:58

Yep mine cancelled too. Still ain't lost anything.

Bigmuz7 · 16 February 2009, 19:28

I wonder why the sale of goods act hasnt caught up with the internet yet, because after all,.. a fax is good enough for a signature for a finance company, and thats an electronic copy of intent

chewy · 16 February 2009, 19:52

Imagine the hassle if I'd accidently ordered 30 TV's at full prive and the hassle I'd have cancelling them.
If you advertise something at a price thats the price you sell it for.

Still never mind.

Poly · 16 February 2009, 20:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

I wonder why the sale of goods act hasnt caught up with the internet yet, because after all,.. a fax is good enough for a signature for a finance company, and thats an electronic copy of intent

Not sure what you mean.

Panasonic's t&c's are quite clear, and they reserve the right to refuse such orders. Most companies have similar terms, e.g. I think it was Argos who made an error in advertising a while ago - and didn't have to complete the sale - as their T&Cs were clear - you were making an offer to purchase, which they could chose (but were not bound) to accept.

Bigmuz7 · 16 February 2009, 20:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

Not sure what you mean.

Panasonic's t&c's are quite clear, and they reserve the right to refuse such orders. Most companies have similar terms, e.g. I think it was Argos who made an error in advertising a while ago - and didn't have to complete the sale - as their T&Cs were clear -

Sure .. but you cant continually mislead customers that you are selling something for a price that in fact you are not, whilst vendors might claim 'errors and ommissions excepted' knowingly false pricing is hoodwinking buyers of potential discounts.

Why a web site cant get this right is also beyond me, its not some vague stab in the dark with some numbers, if the guy who coded the page enters £0.01 pence, thats what get displayed on the site ? which means they knew they were wrong and therefor mis selling a product. IMO I can understand the issue of being short of stock .. but not displaying a false price

Poly · 16 February 2009, 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Sure .. but you cant continually mislead customers that you are selling something for a price that in fact you are not, whilst vendors might claim 'errors and ommissions excepted' knowingly false pricing is hoodwinking buyers of potential discounts.

but they didn't they pulled the website as soon as the problem was spotted.

Quote:

Why a web site cant get this right is also beyond me, its not some vague stab in the dark with some numbers, if the guy who coded the page enters £0.01 pence, thats what get displayed on the site ? which means they knew they were wrong and therefor mis selling a product. IMO I can understand the issue of being short of stock .. but not displaying a false price

since apparently everything was at 1p I would guess someone didn't enter the prices wrong (unless it was malicious) but rather some setting/config file/coding error was to blame. Other people's sites have had issues with decimal points etc... so £299 gets listed as £2.99

...at the end of the day websites are coded by and databases populated by humans who make mistakes.

chewy · 16 February 2009, 21:00

Not everything was at £0.01, granted most stuff on each page was but not all of it... I nearly bought a full price camera!

Bigmuz7 · 16 February 2009, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

but they didn't they pulled the website as soon as the problem was spotted.

Nope it was up for a day .. but thats irrelevant anyway

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

since apparently everything was at 1p I would guess someone didn't enter the prices wrong (unless it was malicious)

Now ya gots me

.. but If I see you right .. it shouldnt matter,.. as per sale of goods, you must display the actual sales price, not some nebulous offer without terms

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

but rather some setting/config file/coding error was to blame. Other people's sites have had issues with decimal points etc... so £299 gets listed as £2.99

Any plonk web designer knows,.. you check your site after you uploaded it back to your host so it fits all web browsers and all screen sizes, and not least of all .... the content is accurate

However I could see an issue if some back room squad develop the site world wide and it takes a day or so to roll it out that way in all languages.

Poly · 16 February 2009, 22:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Now ya gots me

.. but If I see you right .. it shouldnt matter,.. as per sale of goods, you must display the actual sales price, not some nebulous offer without terms

I could see your grumble if they had been actively advertising elsewhere but they weren't. I think your are talking trade descriptions rather than SoG Act.

the idea of the legislation though is to prevent people being drawn in by plausible but "unfair" offers. And to stop people being exploited by devious marketing departments - not to screw over businesses because a some junior member of staff was too busy talking to their mates about X-factor to do their job properly.

Realistically no one expected the orders to be accepted. indeed those who propagated the "offers" on forums etc guaranteed that one or two transactions wouldn't slip through unnoticed.

Quote:

Any plonk web designer knows,.. you check your site after you uploaded it back to your host so it fits all web browsers and all screen sizes, and not least of all .... the content is accurate

yes but it may not have been the plonk web designer. it could be the guy (or gal) who updated the price list, saved the file with the wrong name, or who typed the prices into the database who did something wrong. Or someone who didn't realize that their "back end stock database" was actually linked to the web, and so not entering a price had a front end impact. i agree good management systems should have spotted it - panasonic are now paying the price with the admin burden of canceling loads of transactions. But bad management is not restricted to online sales.

If google can take out their site for an hour with human error then I accept anyone can cock up/

codprawn · 16 February 2009, 23:16

Back in about 2000 I decided to order some carpet tiles from the B+Q website. They were priced at £2.29 for a pack of 20. I had no idea at the time how much carpet tiles were so I ordered 40 packs.

When the tiles arrived I only had 40 singles. It turned out they were £2.29 each. I complained as it clearly stated in the T+C that once an order is accepeted it was a legally binding contract.

i expected some hassle but they willing admitted their mistake. They told me they didn't have enough in stock but would send them out ASAP. Fair play a week or so later 2 pallets of carpet tiles arrived - enough to do about 6 houses - not bad for less than £100!!!