Call the Better business Bureaus. They can't make you pay for what was obviously their mistake.

You are in the right, but that does not mean you will win.

They aren't 'allowed' to do that. But they did. Get your money back, talk to the manager and make sure he/she knows you will be telling everyone you know how they bait and switched you. Then go and pay $250 more for it at one of the other stores.

The only other option is to try and sue them and have a Judge order them to uphold the contract. Not worth it.....

I agree with Texas Dad -- your time and the costs of going through any contractual fight are far greater than the $250 savings that you're entitled to only because they screwed up.

I can't actually believe they intentionally did this because they had to know they would lose your business by doing it.

I can take this to small claims court for a small fee ($30). The UCC states that if the seller breaches the contract, I am entitled to the difference between the market price ($380) at the time I learned about the breach and the contract price ($129), along with any incidental and consequential damages (including a refund of what I already paid). I have proof (Emails) of their quotes, proof that I paid (So I upheld my end of the contract). I can't believe they are doing this either.....$8000 worth of other appliances rides on this. They will not get any more of my business and will get a complaint filed against them with the BBB.

Did you talk to the manager or the CEO?
That was misleading!

I have not talked to the owner yet. When I talked to the woman who called me to break the bad news, she told me that the owner told her that when he priced the appliances, the prices were good only if I bought them all. I told her the quote did not say that, and that she accepted my money for the hood. I told her paying more for the hood was unacceptable. She said she would have the owner call me, and he has not. So maybe he knows he does not have a leg to stand on. I will give them a few days to get back with me, then I'll call to find out when I can expect my hood to arrive. And I'll go from there.

I don't really see the big deal. You are not out anything but a little time. Either they made a mistake or they intended the price to be part of a package. Either way, it was clearly a misunderstanding, not bait and switch. B&S makes no sense since obviously you'd figure it out, get your money back, and go elsewhere.

So while I understand you are disappointed that your too-good-to-be-true deal isn't true, I don't get why you seem to be so angry at the vendor and ready to stick it to him.

I don't know your legal rights in this situation, but I think the right thing to do is to either (1) talk to the owner, without rancor, and if the $129 is part of a package price and you want the package, great, or (2) if it is not part of a package or you don't want the package, get your money back and go pay the fair price for the hood elsewhere--$380.

Do you really think it is right for you to reap a $251 windfall for nothing but a simple misunderstanding?

I don't think they were/are trying to take advantage of you if there is no problem getting your money back. I do think, I'm sorry, that you are trying to take advantage of the situation by trying to get what you know is a $380 hood for $129.

You are not out anything but a little inconvenience caused by a misunderstanding. If it were me, I'd take the package if it is a good one or take my money and walk away if it's not. Either way, I wouldn't berate the owner personally or to anyone else beyond "this put my schedule back a bit, you need to be more clear with customers."

I agree with hadley. If it was homedepot or some uber large corporate company, I can see sticking it to them. If it was an honest mistake, I do not see it as fair to make them eat crow.

As I stated before....this is a DIY build on a VERY tight budget. I needed the hood for cabinet construction. I only had a limited amount of money to spend, and the money I saved on this purchase is gone now...on cabinets. That is why I questioned them on the price. I thought maybe they had a special deal with the distributor or something. I DID give them the chance to correct their error, if it was an error, and they stated that the quoted price was correct, so I bought it. How is that wrong on my part? I do not have the additional funds to go buy a different one now.

it is in no way wrong on your part. but mistakes do happen. I hear where you are coming from as I am in the same situation. DIY and on a tight and shrinking budget.

I got my skylights from our local window place (we are a small town). The owners adult son was the one who helped me, I paid for them and installed them and got a "awesome" price. Over a month later, I spoke with the owner and heard that his son gave me the deal of the century and he lost money on the deal. He did not want any more money, but I offered to pay at least enough so that he broke even on the deal. He was insistent that I did not have too, but I felt bad and did anyways.

Sometimes mistakes happen.

As I stated before....this is a DIY build on a VERY tight budget. I needed the hood for cabinet construction. I only had a limited amount of money to spend, and the money I saved on this purchase is gone now...on cabinets. That is why I questioned them on the price. I thought maybe they had a special deal with the distributor or something. I DID give them the chance to correct their error, if it was an error, and they stated that the quoted price was correct, so I bought it. How is that wrong on my part? I do not have the additional funds to go buy a different one now.

You are building a house and you don't have an extra $250 to purchase the same hood somewhere else? I hope you are completely finished with the house because if you can't spare $250 you've got some real headaches coming your way!

this month, no I do not have an extra $250. You ever build a house and pay for it all, as you go? It's taken me 5 years so far and I am nearly done. I have all my flooring sitting here, waiting for me to install it. I just paid for all my cabinet, sinks and faucets. So no.....I do not have an extra $250. But unlike many (most) of you who are building a house, when I DO get done, there will be no mortgage. Never mind. I'll handle this myself. I don't need any more "advise" who want to judge me for not having deep pockets and monthly bank draws to rely on.

ccoombs1--I'm sorry, I'm not trying to judge you personally, just view the situation objectively. People get swept up in the emotion of disappointment, but if the bottom line is that you're not actually out anything, then it doesn't seem worth sticking a local retailer with a $250 loss over a misunderstanding.

Anyway, I still don't really get it. You seem to be saying, "hey, if they gave me the low price on this thing, I'd buy the $8000 package." Likewise, they are saying, "if you buy the $8000 package, you get that price."

Isn't there a meeting of the minds in there, somewhere? I hope that there is, and that you and the owner come to an agreement that fits your budget and schedule. Surely that would be better than court.

I disagree with Hadley. The whole thing about bargaining is that both sides take responsibility for what they say to the other. It is not like the retailer merely mistyped an email and you are now insisting they honor a typo. You brought the amount to their attention and very specifically asked if it was correct and they reiterated it. You then paid the amount requested and got a receipt... all that remains is for them to deliver the item purchased. IMHO you have acted entirely properly and do not deserve to have your motives questioned just because you want the value of the bargain you were promised and that you paid for.

WHY did the retailer give such a low quote? Who knows. Maybe it was a honest (but stupid) mistake. Maybe they figured that once you were in the store you would purchase other things. Maybe they figured that once you had already paid out $129 you would agree to pay more in order to actually get the item - and that if you didn't they weren't really out anything.

My guess though is that they are likely to tell you that it is going to take some time to get your money back to you but that they will compromise with you by selling it to you for $380. If you accept that "deal" it will mean that by low-balling their bid and then pulling the switcheroo, they will have won the sale over the more up-front retailers. That kind of thing does happen and it is amazing how many people fall for it! Don't do it.

They advertised the price as $129 but quite obviously did not intend to sell it for that amount. Depending on what state you are in, you may have a cause of action under your state's "Deceptive Trade Practices Act." In Texas, "advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised" a violation of the DTPA. Your state probably has a very similar statute but is may be called by a different name such as "Consumer Protection Act." Again, in Texas, the DTPA allows a consumer who suffers economic damages due to a DTPA violation to be awarded up to 3 times his/her damages.

Assuming that all you say is true and that there isn't more to the story, the store may have made a mistake but even if so, if they don't make good on their advertised price, they could be found in violation of the DTPA.

If the item is retailing at other places for $380, the retailer probably paid around $200 to $300 for it wholesale. It shouldn't put the store out of business to honor the price they quoted to you not once but twice! And they should have to do so if for no other reason than to learn to be more careful.

Still, going to court over a few hundred bucks (even if you can win 3X damages) generally isn't really worth your time/effort. Someone in the midst of building a home definitely does not have time to waste sitting in court. Perhaps you could threaten the owner with an action under the DTPA (after looking up your on state's laws) unless he agrees to a compromise whereby you purchase the item from them at 10% BELOW wholesale cost. (I would however insist on seeing thier wholesale receipt.) You would still save money - albeit perhaps not as much - and the store would not make any profit on the sale and would suffer a small penalty. If they just "made an honest mistake" it might teach them to be more careful and if they were trying to pull some kind of switcheroo, it might be enough to teach them not to do it again. I bet they would go for the deal if they were convinced that there was a good chance that they would otherwise wind up in court and could wind up paying 3X damages.

This is pretty easy to figure out.

What do you make per hour at whatever it is you do for a living?

How many hours will you spend pursuing this in court, and in the time getting to that stage?

What are the odds of the magistrate awarding you triple damages, or their simply asking the store to refund your money and pay court costs (not your costs, but the actual stenographer/room/wig dusting/etc)?

What are the odds of a speedy settlement if you do get awarded money--or, if the store ignores the judgment, how much will it cost to pry the money loose via collections, and how much of the prize will you have to pay to the agency that does that?

Will you be losing business elsewhere to pursue this action?

Does your house sit while you wait for this to be resolved?

The $250 difference between sucking it up, getting your money back, and buying at the regular retail vs. pursuing the original price in court isn't the world's biggest budget for this adventure. That would not even fuel my truck twice at today's gas prices--you could use up a significant fraction of the price difference just driving around to cross all the T's and dot the I's on the paprework needed to get this before a judge.

I also hope you aren't expecting the hood in the next short while, the wheels of justice generally grind slowly.

Frankly, and this isn't meant to be insulting, but couldn't you see this coming? If the regular retail on an item, quoted from several different vendors is $400, and one guy quotes $150, you've got to believe that a mistake has been made. When I was a lad I worked retail, and this happened from time to time. No matter how careful you are, sometimes a mistake happens, even when you double-check the price (I once quoted the customer wholesale twice on a rifle, but he knew it was too good to be true and checked with my boss, who had a few words for me).

It's always OK to hope, but it's not too wise to bet the house (zing!) on it.

Sorry I don't have more sympathy, sounds like you're doing your project the right way (wish I could, I'm one of the "monthly draw" people you despise)--but running a small business is tough, and if you're forced to eat too many honest mistakes, you go under.

greenbank - Just my opinion but, if a store makes this kind of "honest mistake" so often that eating their mistakes would cause them to go under, then frankly, that store deserves to go under!

You are correct however about the wheels of justice grinding slowly... which is precisely why unscrupulous businesses deliberately pull this kind of stunt. They hide behind the claim of "honest mistake" when someone calls them on their practices and most people give it up because the amount isn't worth pursuing.

A truly honest businessman who makes such a mistake WILL offer to honor the price quoted even though he loses money on the deal. That gives the customer the option of doing as mikeyvon said he did when a local window company made a similar mistake - that is, he paid the seller the wholesale cost so that the seller wouldn't actually lose money on the deal.

When a seller quotes you a price, takes your money, gives you a receipt and then unilaterally says "no deal", my radar goes up that maybe we're not dealing with an honest businessman here. And if that is the case, he needs to be forced to eat the loss so as to discourage him from using such practices on other customers.

What I don't understand is why mikeyvon would be willing to stick it to a big business but would let the little business man off the hook. Big businesses are run by human beings too and those human being are just as subject to honest mistakes as the human beings at little stores. The employee at a big box store is much less likely to deliberately quote a low ball price however because he probably has nothing whatsoever to gain from it.

Regardless however, if you think an honest mistake was made that should simply be forgiven, why wouldn't that forgiveness apply at a big store just as much as at a little one? My guess is that it is because we find it hard to care about big corporations and figure no one gets hurt if we "stick it to them." However, at a big box store, an employee who makes a big error that costs the company money is very likely to wind up getting fired immediately. At a smaller store (such as the one greenbank said he made a similar mistake at) the employer is more likely to just chew him out because it is harder to fire someone you actually KNOW and work with on a daily basis than someone who is just one of a thousand faceless company employees. So, if you think someone made and honest mistake and you care about the PERSON who made the honest mistake, seems to me like forgiving the mistake is just as important if it was made by someone at a big box store as by someone at a small mom&pop shop.

Ultimately though, I really think ccoombs ought to be able to work out a deal whereby he pays wholesale (or something slightly less than wholesale) for the hood. The store should NOT profit.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Ccoombs1 please do keep us posted on how you resolve the issue.

Small claims court is no big deal. The hearing are informal and the decision is rendered quickly. With the fact scenario you have, I think you'd probably win. I say this both as a lawyer and as a consumer who won a somewhat similar claim against a merchant in small claims court. BTW, the small claims court victory came before I even started law school.

I also agree that the store blew it royally. You went out of your way to point out their mistake to them and they didn't bother to follow up on it, as any responsible merchant should have. Too bad for the owner, but he shouldn't run his business that carelessly, IMHO.

Thank you to those who support me on this. Building a house on a tight budget is very hard and crap like this makes it harder. Greenbank, I don't despise anyone who is building with bank's backing....I just chose not to go that route and never said one word about having any ill will towards those who did not.

I do feel like I gave this seller more than a fair chance to correct their mistake. They have been in business for many years and should have a good idea what a 36" wide stainless hood retails for, without my bringing it to their attention. And when a customer says their price was too low, you'd think that would send up a lot of red flags that maybe they should check out what I was saying!! But no....they repeated the price, and accepted my payment. Like feeding frenzy said, small claims court is not a big, long drawn out thing. It will cost me maybe $50 to file the case, and an hour with the judge to settle it, at the most. If it even comes to that!! They may just realize they screwed up and do the right thing.....deliver my hood. I'll let ya'll know the outcome.

Cindy

Feedingfrenzy has given you good advice. I too believe you've got a good case and the facts are on your side. Whether you believe it's worth the headache to pursue is a personal decision.

I'd recommend talking face-to-face with the owner as soon as possible in their private office (where employees aren't listening in). I'd also recommend talking to the owner as calmly and pleasantly as possible (despite what you may be feeling!) and giving them the benefit of the doubt. Expect the best of people and you often (not always) get it. Maybe the owner has no idea. Maybe one of their employees goofed and the employee doesn't want the owner to know. If you come across as friendly and reasonable, your odds of getting what you want are much, much better. When people feel accused or attacked, they often just dig in their heels. Having said this, if the owner won't budge, you can explain that you feel obligated to report them to the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, and your local newspaper (particularly if you have an ombudsman column in your local paper). Most business people know that one bad story will cancel out many good ones, so that's not something they want. This would also be the time to tell them you're serious about small claims court, if that's the case.

Good luck!

definitely talk to the owner. as one, when an unhappy customer gets past the reps, supervisors, managers, vps and gets to my ear they end up being a very satisfied customer...

We recently went up to our build for two weeks only to discover the stucco crew put on the wrong color coat. It turns out that it is the suppliers mistake, not the stucco contractors. Both met with us onsite and agreed it is wrong. Because the contractor is making it right with us and has in no way tried to dodge us, we are going in halves with him on the labor to re-color coat the house with the supplier providing materials. We feel we really dont owe anything, but i understand the stucco contractor sending a crew back up to set up scaffolding and all to re- coat the house and to keep things good between us and them simply because he was more than willing to go the extra mile to correct the situation rather than fight us on it.

If your hood supplier is willing to alleviate this situation, you might consider the "going in halves" route and meet them halfway. This isn't our first experience with problems of this sort, but going this route as long as the party is being honest and freely fessing up to the mistake seems to keep the hate and discontent level down and is somewhat of a win-win for all even though in reality it's not a win-win for us, the supplier, or the contractor, but is less of a drawn out hassle and the problem gets resolved sooner so everyone can move on.

if it was the stucco co.'s fault then the company should be paying the installers to reinstall...

my take on this is you said "give me a quote on XXX hood and these other appliances." the dealer did just that, quoting it as if would be a package deal. you then bought ONLY the hood from him. and yes, if it were a package deal he should have expressly stated it as such in writing.

we sell communications systems to governement and private parties. when we do a quote it is for what is on the paper as a package. if any special discounts are given, that is listed as well. the reason we started doing this was a similar situation to yours. i quoted a customer 50 units on a single sale. they issued the PO for 10 units but at the 50 unit price! at that quantity our per unit cost was more than what their PO was for. they tried to force us to give them the quoted price, but 2 things saved us 1 the different quantity and 2 the quote was valid for only 30 days and they took 60 to get us the PO. since that time we lay the terms out clearly on each quote.

sorry this happened to you, and i agree they screwed up(the girl should have verified the price since it was being sold seperately). but if the owner does not want to sell it to you for that price, just get your money back and move on. go buy an el cheapo model to do until you have the 400.00 to get the one you want, then donate the el cheapo to charity and take a tax write off.

Davidandkasie - The situation you describe is exactly my take. Sounds like an honest mistake on the part of the appliance dealer and Ccoombs1 is not being very forgiving. As Sierraeast said, going halves seems like the ethical way out for both parties.

If you cherry-picked one single item that was obviously priced too low, that'd definitely be poor form.

Assuming that's not the case...

As a vendor, I'd sell the product for the price we wrote the sales order for. It'd be ~nice~ if the customer let me back out in the event of a mistake, but ultimately a good vendor will supply the product as quoted. So, the question is, do you ~force~ a vendor to be a "good" vendor? For a $400 hood, I'd say not. I'd get a refund of the deposit money and move on. It's better you find out the vendors true colors on a cheap item you can buy from multiple stores rather than thousands on an item supported only by the bad vendor.

Have any of you ever shopped on Ebay for bargains? I see no difference in shopping for bargains with a local store and on Ebay. I DID give them the chance to recheck their price....and they insisted it was right. They had another chance to back out before I paid them....but again, they said the price was correct, so I bought it. I doubt there is a person on this entire board who would pass on a bargain. Where is the crime in that?? I do need a lot more appliances, but I needed this now so the cabinet guy could do the cabinets over the hood. I was planning on splitting the rest of the order between this vendor and another one. Now the other one will get all the order, and this vendor will be getting a visit from the local news channel. They do a nightly segment on poor business practices and this one is right up their alley. Sorry....but this vendor has been downright rude to me. They refuse to answer my phone calls, and owner has yet to call me back, even though I have asked him to. Why should I offer to pay more?? A contract is a contract! If they had acted professionally about this from the beginning instead of being so rude to me, maybe I would have a different attitude towards them. But now?? I'll let the news media report how this business operates.

update.....I was on the news today. It was a very good report. The reporter first went to the Department of Consumer affairs and video taped an attorney there saying that the seller was in breach of contract. Then they went to the store, where the owner would not appear on camera and blamed it all on the Broan representative. Then they came to my house to interview me. In the end? The Broan rep is taking responsibility and is providing me with the hood for the money I already paid for it. As for the seller....I will not be buying anything from them in the future. He had a chance to make this right, and all he wanted to do was ignore my phone calls and Emails and blame someone else.

Good for you! I would have loved to see the look on the owner's face when the news crew showed up!

Congratulations!

Here's the story:

Here is a link that might be useful: WIS News 10 Story

....Wow!
Good for you!
Congratulations