- Nov 30, 2000
- 3,400
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They're always talking about lawsuits... someone actually tried it.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/106251_amazon29.shtml
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/106251_amazon29.shtml
Common sense may have told online shoppers that they wouldn't really get a $1,000 television for $99.
But out of 6,000 disappointed Amazon.com customers whose orders were canceled because of a pricing mistake last summer, one still wanted the cheap television.
The Internet retailer was summoned to a Seattle courtroom yesterday by a customer who claimed the company broke its promise to sell the 36-inch RCA color television at a huge discount.
Though Amazon won, company officials say it was the first time they'd been dragged into small-claims court, often the primary venue for consumer justice.
The dispute started last August, when the company offered the $1,049 television for $99.99.
Barry Sweet, a retired Seattle business writer and frequent Amazon customer, said he ordered the item and gave Amazon the usual private information, including his credit card number and an authorization to use it.
Two days later, Sweet said he received an e-mail from the company notifying him that his order was canceled due to a pricing error, but he could still buy the television for the real sale price of $849.99. "I got mad," Sweet said. "Here I was thinking I was getting a new television, got a good deal on it, bought it. I was excited about getting it, then they pull the rug from under me."
King County District Court Judge Eileen Kato ruled that because Amazon didn't complete the charge on Sweet's credit card, the sale was never consummated and the company didn't have to honor it.
The judge decided that the botched offer wasn't a "bait-and-switch" tactic, or tease.
Amazon's pricing policy, listed in the fine print on its Web site, also saved the company in court. The contract gives the company the discretion to deal with each sale on a case-by-case basis. As long as customers aren't out any money, Amazon doesn't have to honor offers or compensate customers for canceled orders.
The company has that policy, common throughout online retailing, because errors occur often and there are millions of items to keep track of, according to David Zapolsky, an Amazon vice president.
Most customers would have known that the TV sale was too good to be true, he said.
Sweet argues that it's not unusual to find great deals, especially when manufacturers and retail stores heavily compete with sales, coupons and rebate offers.
Competition is even heavier on the Internet where consumers look to a variety of sites that compare prices by the hour and refer hundreds of people to online stores when a super low price is spotted.
Those people message their friends and, suddenly, thousands of customers are flocking to the site trying to take advantage of an obvious mistake, Zapolsky said.
"Despite our best efforts, errors will happen again," he told the judge.
Online pricing errors happen so often that Internet retailer Buy.com offers a daily low-price special called the "Price Mistake of the Day."
The Washington Attorney General's Office has looked into complaints about pricing problems at Amazon but hasn't found anything illegal about it, said spokesman Chris Jarvis.
Whenever it checks into a complaint about the online retailer, the matter always turns up as an honest mistake, Jarvis said, adding that the company's policy has protected it from breaching sales contracts.
Whether the policy translates to good customer relations is another thing, he said.
Price confusion is one of the biggest causes of customer dissatisfaction, so traditional stores advertise carefully and fix problems quickly. But when mistakes do happen, most store managers honor the wrong price, as well as offer an apology, though they don't have to.
"The customer's experience is worth more than the difference in money," said Douglas Kline, spokesman for national retailer Target. "There is a strong directive here that we always try to be accurate in pricing," because confused customers who have an unpleasant experience likely won't come back.
Target and its affiliated stores sell merchandise online through a Web site operated by Amazon, so their online pricing policies almost mirror Amazon's.
But those sites probably have not experienced the kind or volume of price mistakes happening at Amazon, the largest online retailer. Anti-Amazon sites and chat rooms are filled with gripes about mispriced items, canceled orders and bad customer relations.
"They have a responsibility for what they post on their Web site," Sweet said after losing his case. "Maybe they'll be more careful now. Obviously, I'm not the only one who felt taken by this offer."
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