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Dublin Live
National
Sophie Collins & Kim O'Leary

Brown Thomas customers left fuming over 'pricing error' that saw runners on sale for €10

Online customers at Brown Thomas were left fuming this morning after a "pricing error" saw high-end runners on sale for just €10.

Those who noticed the error jumped at the chance to bag the bargain saving them €110 on the popular Veja runners. However, customers were left disappointed after Brown Thomas quickly became aware of the error.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Brown Thomas said all orders of the popular runners that were sold at the reduced price "will be cancelled." They wrote: "To our customers, please note we experienced a pricing error on our website this morning. Orders sold at an incorrect price will be cancelled as per our terms and conditions. We are investigating this technical issue and apologise for any inconvenience."

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Some customers were left unimpressed and took to social media to vent their frustration, demanding that purchases be honoured by the department store in line with customers’ statutory rights.

One Twitter user wrote: "These orders should all be honoured by Brown Thomas, not the customer's fault they had a “pricing” error. Brand reputation and customer satisfaction should be more important to a company like Brown Thomas."

Another person added: "Surely this should be honoured? It was up for a substantial amount of time." A fourth commented: "These purchases should absolutely be honoured. Very bad form to cancel."

In response to this, Brown Thomas posted a link to their own terms and conditions, which says that non-acceptance orders may be due to any one or more of their non-exhaustive reasons, including if they have "identified a pricing or product description error."

Citizens Information has published what customers can expect if a retailer makes a mistake with a price. Under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, if a trader makes a mistake and the actual price is more than that displayed, you must be told the correct price before you pay.

It reads: "The trader does not automatically have to sell to you at the lower price, however, they must correct the mistake as soon as possible. It is an offence for the trader to knowingly charge more than the price displayed.

"Generally, if you are told the correct price before you pay, you do not have the right to demand that the product is sold to you at the lower price. You can either choose to buy the product at the higher price or not go ahead with the purchase. However, if you are charged incorrectly (at a higher price than what is displayed) and you notice this error after you pay, you should bring this to the trader’s attention to request redress (for example, they may provide a full refund or a difference in the price)."

"When you buy online, you should always be aware of any terms and conditions that form part of the contract of sale. Detailed terms and conditions are often set out at the bottom of the relevant webpage. These terms often reserve the right to cancel the transaction where there has been a genuine or obvious error in respect to price."

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