Best buy advertised pre-order Geforce4 at wrong price!

[Arris]

The inquirer has an article about this slight pricing error by the US chain "Best Buy". Really their people can't have their fingers on the computer market pulse when they set the price for GF4s at $129 US dollars :giggle:

From www.theinquirer.net :
BEST BUY - the name says it all really - has become a US doppelganger for Kodak, here in the UK, after it advertised and sold boards for $129.99 as a result of what it claims is a mistake.
Unknown numbers of customers ordered the VisionTek Geforce 4 TI 4600 from Best Buy over the last few days and now the company has said it was all just a terrible mistake and the real price should have been $399.99 ($400 if you eliminate the daft sales spin).

Was anyone lucky enough to reserve one at this price?
Should be interesting if Best buy honour the price or not.

Supposedly according to the article they are sending out the following correspondence to customers:

From www.theinquirer.net :
Dear Best Buy Customer,

Thank you for your recent graphics card order.

A recent systems error on our web site allowed you to purchase the VisionTek GeForce4 Ti 4600 Graphics Card at $129.99. The actual price for this item is $399.99. Due to the nature of this error, we have canceled your order for this item. We apologize for any disappointment this cancellation may cause.

I know that here in the UK if you see something on a shelve in a shop at the wrong price then the shop is legally bound(I am not sure to what degree) to sell that item to you at the advertised price. Not so sure about the US laws or even if the UK ones apply to online purchases...?

From www.theinquirer.net :
But Best Buy is likely to face similar pressures to Kodak, which offered a camera as a "special offer" and then said it was all a terrible mistake and should have cost much more, as first revealed in the INQUIRER.

After a few weeks of attempting to tough it out, Kodak became bewitched bothered and bewildered after the Sun, the Mirror, the Grauniad and the BBC took up cudgels on the consumers' behalf.

Eventually, probably sensibly realising it was all turning into a terrible PR disaster, Kodak decided to honour the original offer.

The consumer laws no doubt differ in the US, but here in the UK it became obvious pretty quickly that an important part of consumer law - buying online - is completely untested.

 

[Christinepa]

Wrong Price buying

My son bought 30 TVs at the weekend worth £499 each for .49p each, yes 49p, the company have acknowledged his order and have taken his money £29.96 including delivery (over the net and via his credit card).

They do say that errors can occur online and that if there is an error they will contact the buyer ASAP and let them know.

Today is Wednesday, they still have his money, he has not heard from them and they have not cancelled the order. Is this order good or not, once they have taken your money and acknowledged the order surely if they have not cancelled it after 5 days it must be an accepted order.

Does anyone know anything about something like this?