Dell accidentally sells 140,000 monitors for $15 a pop

By Hum
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Grand Master

Hum

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Taiwan consumer regulators have ordered Dell to honor an online pricing error that offered 19-inch LCD monitors for only NT$500 (US$15, ?9).

News of the supposed bargain spread quickly over the internet when it was posted June 25 at 11pm. Within the eight hours before it was removed, more than 26,000 customers placed orders for nearly 140,000 monitors, according to Taiwan's Consumer Protection Commission.

The agency said in a statement (in Chinese) it received 471 complaints after Dell corrected the listing to the intended price of NT$4,800 (US$148, ?90).

Dell has been ordered to make good on the erroneous price for customers who placed an order on one monitor and offer diminishing discounts on additional monitors ordered.

According to the statement, if Dell doesn't follow the directive, Taipei will consider it a violation of the country's fair trade laws and seek legal recourse.

Dell has issued a statement on the matter apologizing and claiming it will compensate the buyers for the mistake.

source

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+KibosJ Subscriber²

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I find it highly unlikely that Dell will end up having to honour it. I mean really... it's more likely that the regulators are one of those 26,000 customers. :whistle:

If the law says they have to they have to lol. I know in the UK, if you order something that is incorrectly priced and they 'accept and process' the order, they can't change it.

Grand Master

-KJ

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Dell really needs to have better preventive measures for these stupid price mistakes. They've been having way too many of them compared to other online retailers.

In fact, I tried to jump the 32" Sharp HDTV just last year for $150, but I was 20 minutes too late. Some of the folks who ordered early with fast shipping got their TV's (some who bought as many as 3 of them for $150 each and posted pictures on the forum as proof)!

I mean $15 for a monitor?! Surely they'd have an automated price check for the average/min range for these monitors.

Grand Master

Argi

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If the law says they have to they have to lol. I know in the UK, if you order something that is incorrectly priced and they 'accept and process' the order, they can't change it.

Isn't that what the disclaimers in the terms of use/site agreement cover though? By using the site you agree that there may be pricing mistakes and that Dell doesn't have to honour them. (note: I haven't looked but that's a pretty generic clause for any online retailer)

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+KibosJ Subscriber²

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Isn't that what the disclaimers in the terms of use/site agreement cover though? By using the site you agree that there may be pricing mistakes and that Dell doesn't have to honour them. (note: I haven't looked but that's a pretty generic clause for any online retailer)

I'm not sure how that works :/ but I've bought something at the wrong price, they then changed the price, I complained and they honoured the price.

Grand Master

hdood

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Ridiculous. Everyone makes mistakes. They should have to apologize for the error to those that ordered, that's fair, but they shouldn't have to send out a single display. The government isn't protecting consumers when they do stuff like this. In fact, it might force a smaller company to close, thus reducing the competition.

Grand Master

Miuku.

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I find it highly unlikely that Dell will end up having to honour it. I mean really... it's more likely that the regulators are one of those 26,000 customers. :whistle:

Well they don't really have a choice in the matter - either they honour it by sending the materials or they'll pay the fee via the court, either way they'll lose the money - at least sending the equipment would a) get them more customers that may in the future actually pay full price for their hardware and b) they could get good PR by saying ;"Yes, we made a mistake and we're honouring the contract because we care about our customers".

Grand Master

WelshBluebird

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If the law says they have to they have to lol. I know in the UK, if you order something that is incorrectly priced and they 'accept and process' the order, they can't change it.

I'm pretty sure that's not true.

IIRC, if the pricing is obviously a mistake (which this case is, as no one would ever be selling the monitor for ?9), then they do not have to honour it.

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smithy_dll

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Laws vary around the world.

However website terms of service do not override the law, even if they conflict. Unenforceable terms will be used to dissuade buyers from complaining. However, often when you threaten to involve fair trade they will back flip as they know they don't have a leg to stand on. It's just a means test to try and save money from their mistakes. Again, laws vary around the world, from false advertising, to fair trade laws.

Grand Master

cork1958

Posted
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Dell really needs to have better preventive measures for these stupid price mistakes. They've been having way too many of them compared to other online retailers.

In fact, I tried to jump the 32" Sharp HDTV just last year for $150, but I was 20 minutes too late. Some of the folks who ordered early with fast shipping got their TV's (some who bought as many as 3 of them for $150 each and posted pictures on the forum as proof)!

I mean $15 for a monitor?! Surely they'd have an automated price check for the average/min range for these monitors.

"I mean $15 for a monitor?! Surely they'd have an automated price check for the average/min range for these monitors."

You'd think, huh?

Veteran

DDStriker

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If the shop have made an error.. they have to keep promise. its somewhere in the books :p

i ordered a monitor before the market crashed and its price increased by $300 they didn't honor my purchase they claimed they were not able to get the product in

so i made another order under another account and they emailed me the next day saying it came in i went down there and asked them if they had the monitor i turned around and showed them the other product order for $700~ and said "now how about filling this order?"

didn't work but was worth a shot *******

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The2

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I'm pretty sure that's not true.

IIRC, if the pricing is obviously a mistake (which this case is, as no one would ever be selling the monitor for ?9), then they do not have to honour it.

Not sure about other countries and their laws - but this is generally true

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