Breach in Law of Contract ?

S

samfarrell

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I recently went to purchase floor tiles in a Dublin shop. The tiles i choose displayed at a price that i thought was very cheap. I asked the sales assistant and they assurred me that this price was correct. I then agreed to buy €2000 worth of these tiles . However when i went to pay a week later they told me that the price displayed was wrong and they invoiced me for the larger amount
is there any recourse i can have here, i assumed we had a verbal contract on offer/acceptance ?
 
No, the Sale of Goods Act covers this. Section 4.1 of 1893 Act states that, to be enforceable, sale of goods contracts for sums over £10 must be evidenced in writing (part performance can also enforce) .

You don't need to pay the bigger sum of money though.
 
Superman said:
No, the Sale of Goods Act covers this. Section 4.1 of 1893 Act states that, to be enforceable, sale of goods contracts for sums over £10 must be evidenced in writing (part performance can also enforce) .
Click to expand...

Did they really not update this in the 1980 Act (I haven't time to read it all but a quick skim looks like maybe not)? Seems a bit silly to be updating an almost 90 year old piece of legislation and not increase the monetary limits to modern day equivalents.
 
From my days doing BCL, I remember that the price displayed is only an "invitation to treat" so is not binding. If you are told before purchase the correct price of the goods then you either enter a contract or walk away from the good.
The fact that you were assured that the price of the goods was as displayed then IMHO you have a strong case, the only difficulty being proving that the shop actually confirmed the lower price of the goods.
I'd definitely query it with the shop in question then maybe try Consumer Affairs office.
Then again on reflection was the display price still an invitation to treat until you pay for the goods, as you were told of the correct price before you paid then no contract was entered into?
 
Dam009: No it was not updated - yes, it is amusingly outdated. If I remember correctly, they upped it in Australia to $500, and removed it altogether in the U.K.

Norfbank: this is covered by Commercial Law not Contract Law per se.
Whether there was or was not a contract is irrelevant, because even if there were, it was not binding because of the Sale of Goods Act as outlined above.

The only other question that arises is the liability of the sales assistant regarding a breach of warranty of authority, as he was acting as agent on behalf of the company. Not too sure regarding quantum in this, or whether one would actly want to start threatening the poor guy/girl with legal stuff.
 
I think in fairness the shop should have honoured the price they quoted at as it was their mistake
But i will not be threatening anyone with legal action

I assume that in this case where thwe price changed , then i was never obligated to pay the higher amount ?
 
Correct - not only for this reason (i.e. there was no meeting of minds regarding the price, and therefore no contract) but also under the Sale of Goods Act £10 Rule as outlined above - it works both ways.
 
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