When is it False Advertising?

[TheEduKATor]

My Advance students were given $290 to purchase whatever they wanted for the classroom. After some research on the web they decided on a drawing tablet to help out with photoshop. They shopped around for prices and found a good price so I ordered it online with my school's credit card on Sunday. The total came out to $269 and was to be shipped in 5 days. I get an email today from the company appologizing for the error, but the price was $389. I just called the place but they are back east so they are closed. Not once during the transaction did the price say $389. They ran the order for $269 then cancelled it today. No phone call, just an email. The crappy thing is that Sunday was my only day to order because other teachers needed the card during the week, and Sunday was also the last day to make any purchases. So now I have to tell the kids that we lost out on all of our money because of some mistake. So I emailed the company back telling them they were falsely advertising their product. Friggin Biznitches!!!
The email is as follows:
Dear Customer,
We apologize for the delay in your order. There was an error when we listed the price of the Wacom Intuos2 9x12 USB Tablet - Platinum that you order. The correct price is $389. If you would still like this item you need to place a new order from our website at. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Your order has been voided.

[Scream]

That's not necessarily legal. The legal way to get out of it would have been to simply tell you that they were out of stock on that item and do not backorder. You may have grounds to have that looked at by a previously know to me government agency. Lol,
I can't for the life of me remember who deals with that type of problem. I want to say the FTC, but I doubt it. Oh well, if you look up the Dept. of Commerce they'll have the info. Also, the BBB is a great way to get results.
IMO
Scream <--- with CRS Cant Remember Shiznit

[Ziggy]

That ain't right--Call Turko!:D
Doubt you'd have much recourse unless you have printed docs..I'd make them aware that this was purchased by a School for and by the kids after their hard research...See if tugging on the morality string would help.
Sorry to hear it happen...but it could be a good lesson of reality for the kids too..turn the misfortune into a lesson for them.
BTW- I'm assuming this place is an on-line agency, but if its an actual retail store you'd have much better luck having it resolved. Hope it gets worked out for the kids' sake.

[GlastronGuy]

Undoubtedly they have some type of verbiage on their website that says they are not responsible for errors.

[TheEduKATor]

I printed out all of the documents as I was ordering. The order confirmation page, the delivery information, etc.. So I will see what I can do tomorrow when they are open.

[572Daytona]

It sounds like they had the price of the 6x8 mixed up with the 9x12. Maybe they can ship you the smaller version in its place. All stores reserve the right to correct misprints and mistakes so I highly doubt it would be considered false advertising unless they continue to advertise it after they've been made aware of the wrong price.

[TheEduKATor]

Thanks for the info 572 Daytona. Problem is I can't even do that now because Sunday was the last day to purchase. If they would have called me, I could have went that route of them switching it to the smaller version, before they voided the transaction today. Now it looks like we just have to eat the $290.

[ssmike]

Originally posted by TheEduKATor
My Advance students were given $290 to purchase whatever they wanted for the classroom. After some research on the web they decided on a drawing tablet to help out with photoshop. They shopped around for prices and found a good price so I ordered it online with my school's credit card on Sunday. The total came out to $269 and was to be shipped in 5 days. I get an email today from the company appologizing for the error, but the price was $389. I just called the place but they are back east so they are closed. Not once during the transaction did the price say $389. They ran the order for $269 then cancelled it today. No phone call, just an email. The crappy thing is that Sunday was my only day to order because other teachers needed the card during the week, and Sunday was also the last day to make any purchases. So now I have to tell the kids that we lost out on all of our money because of some mistake. So I emailed the company back telling them they were falsely advertising their product. Friggin Biznitches!!!
The email is as follows:
Dear Customer,
We apologize for the delay in your order. There was an error when we listed the price of the Wacom Intuos2 9x12 USB Tablet - Platinum that you order. The correct price is $389. If you would still like this item you need to place a new order from our website at. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Your order has been voided.
That is the classic internet "bait and switch" used by e*tailers.
Legal - no. But, you will not be able to do anything about it. Did you check out anything like
www.resellerratings.com ? There are literally handfuls of companies that falesly advertize in this manner on the internet.
Just curious, but was it a grey market item?
(Did it come with a full manufacturers warranty - and did the mfg. verify that this seller is an authorized reseller?)