Shopping Discussion

Brick wants customers to refund it for website discount error

  • Last Updated:
  • Jan 9th, 2014 4:55 pm
Deal Addict
Dec 16, 2011
3097 posts
1514 upvotes
QC, Canada

Brick wants customers to refund it for website discount error

http://argent.canoe.ca/nouvelles/canada ... t-27122013
http://www.canoe.ca/Canoe/Money/News/20 ... 61106.html
http://www.cjad.com/cjad-news/2013/12/2 ... -a-mistake

[QUOTE]An error on The Brick's website has left customers fuming because the furniture store wants them to pay back the huge Boxing Week discounts they received.

Customers who bought The Brick items online Tuesday night and Wednesday morning received an extra 50% discount on their purchases at checkout and are now being told it was a technical error and the Brick wants more money.

In a statement on its Facebook page the store writes, "The advertised price in the flyer and on the product pages was correct when these customers added the item to their shopping cart and did not reflect this additional discount until the shopping cart was checked out. The Brick apologizes for the confusion and is currently working to contact all affected customers to advise of correct pricing."

The store also said it will offer customers 10% of their affected online purchase as credit toward their next purchase.

If the comments on its Facebook page are any indication, The Brick can expect plenty of complaints.

"Congrats on finding an original way to lose clients," wrote David Chabot. "You should have bit the bullet and sent out a memo saying you made a mistake but merry Christmas. You should fire everyone in your marketing department."

Many other shoppers posted comments expressing disappointment and anger, calling the store "a total joke" and telling it to "honour the incorrect pricing." Some wrote they plan to just cancel their order, and one woman said she "will probably never buy from The Brick again."

Some customers supported the store and suggested others stop being "greedy" and just give the store what it's owed.

The company's terms and conditions expressly state that all orders are subject to, among other things, "errors that may be made on pricing such as the one that was readily apparent to those customers," Greg Nakonechny, VP of legal for The Brick, told QMI Agency.

The Brick reserves the right to "correct any error, inaccuracy or omission at any time without prior notice or liability to you or any other person" and "reject, correct, cancel or terminate any order, including accepted orders for any reason," read the terms available on the website.

"We're doing exactly what the customer wanted us to do, and that's honouring the purchase price that they selected to purchase that item for," he said.

Nakonechny would not provide an estimate of how many customers were affected but said the company would contact every one of them and offer them the choice to pay "the price they saw advertised" and receive the 10% discount on their next purchase or cancel their order altogether.

Real Coallier, who works for Quebec's office of consumer protection, said such online transactions can't be modified after the fact and said customers should file complaints if The Brick asks them for money.[/QUOTE]

What a joke !
77 replies
Deal Addict
Dec 16, 2011
3097 posts
1514 upvotes
QC, Canada
(but why we didnt heard about this sale on RFD ?)
Deal Addict
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Aug 12, 2006
4473 posts
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Ontario
Futureshop and others would just cancel the order altogether. How is this any different than price errors that are not honoured? It happens all the time here on RFD.

Maybe a retailer can't ask for more money, but I bet they can cancel the order, how does that help anyone?
Deal Guru
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Jun 1, 2006
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The Brick is cancelling orders, not asking for people to refund.
Have a nice day!


Deal Fanatic
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Aug 14, 2001
5231 posts
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Yesva Scotia
What's the story on the $2 TV? :-)

and.. Poor Brick.. haha
Deal Addict
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Apr 7, 2012
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Toronto
LonesomeDove wrote: The Brick is cancelling orders, not asking for people to refund.
They talked about this in CP24
Member
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Dec 29, 2005
415 posts
179 upvotes
Victoria
Ignore the fact that The Brick aren't honouring the error for a second. That to me was expected since I found out that the glitch was happening from a post on RFD...

Take it from a perspective from a random consumer that doesn't have a Facebook account.

Say you received a confirmation email of the placed order you placed Christmas Eve when the glitch happened. You have a Brick.com account and it shows the order in your order history as "Order status: complete". You think you've made your Boxing Day purchase and don't bother buying from competing stores because you got confirmation. Then on Boxing Day The Brick posts a Facebook status that they're not honouring the orders but you hear nothing. No email, no phone call. Then suddenly you hear on the radio, see on TV or maybe on a newspaper online about The Brick reneging on the the orders. How would you feel?

Then add The Brick's "solution" of offering 10% of the order's value as credit for a future purchase rather than 10% off the actual order at the price it should have been. Unacceptable right? 10% is nothing. And on a supposed future purchase? What confidence do you have they'd honour that if they're not honouring the original order?

Then you hear on the news about Delta Airlines glitch that made some flights up to 90% off and that they're honouring the price. Boom. Instant outrage by joe blo consumer.

It's been almost 4 days and I still haven't received any direct communication from The Brick on the order I made. So I'm sure there are hundreds also in the same boat. That's the reason The Brick is in PR hell right now. They've failed in all avenues. Not only are they not honouring the orders. They offered a solution that pissed people off even more rather than trying to offer a compromise on the actual order. They didn't cancel the orders nor contact the affected customers with any urgency. And they look like douches in the media after their story coincided with Delta Airlines looking like saints.
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Dec 3, 2009
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Although I have read most of the Brick horror stories here, and think of the company somewhere between a cockroach and the stuff that accumulates at the corner of your lips when you get really thirsty, I dont think they should honour the price error.
Remember to be an RFD-er and NOT a degenerate.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 13, 2012
8501 posts
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Occupied Ottawa
I am not speaking in a legal context, but I think that if a retailer makes a price error and the average consumer would think that it was actually meant to be the price, then the retailer should honour it. For example, if they put a sales price of $850 on a $1000 TV then someone could actually think that it was mean to be sold for $850.

If it is an obvious pricing error, though, I see no reason why the retailer should honour it. If they put a sales price of $85 on that $1000 TV then people should realize it was never meant to sell for that.
Deal Addict
Dec 16, 2011
3097 posts
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QC, Canada
If I made a mistake, I PAY FOR IT, THAT IT
That how life work !
From a legal point in quebec, they MUST honor it because of the law
Walmart honored their 2$ price error and even the store manager came to me with apologies about the bad behavior of the walmart website staff
later, the head office called me apologising too
Deal Expert
Jun 30, 2006
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Toronto
Don't expect The Brick to honor 50% off a $2100 tv. But they could have provided a discount on the purchase at least
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Jan 30, 2007
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koontzy wrote: If I made a mistake, I PAY FOR IT, THAT IT
That how life work !
From a legal point in quebec, they MUST honor it because of the law
Walmart honored their 2$ price error and even the store manager came to me with apologies about the bad behavior of the walmart website staff
later, the head office called me apologising too
So, if the mistake was one that charged you too much money, would they be able to keep that extra money? According to your argument, they must, because "that how life work!"
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Deal Expert
Jun 14, 2001
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iamnotamerican.com wrote: So, if the mistake was one that charged you too much money, would they be able to keep that extra money?
According the article that's whats happening in a way.
The Brick items online
Tuesday night and
Wednesday morning
received an extra 50%
discount on their
purchases at checkout
and are now being told it
was a technical error and
the Brick wants more
money.
It's one thing to cancel orders but to tell customers to pay MORE money because of their mistake is uber sleezy.

You wont see WalMart, Target or Costco do that. Oh and they all also happen to sell furniture.
Deal Addict
Feb 26, 2003
4248 posts
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GVA
iamnotamerican.com wrote: So, if the mistake was one that charged you too much money, would they be able to keep that extra money? According to your argument, they must, because "that how life work!"
You have a point but you don't need to pick on his grammar, he's from Quebec and likely conversing in his second language.
Deal Addict
Nov 15, 2009
1985 posts
161 upvotes
So the customers intended to purchase the product at the advertised price, then completed the sale after the website goofed up and showed a reduced price.

Anyone who thinks the customer should get the reduced price is out to lunch.

I don't see any intent to purposefully mislead consumers here.
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Jun 27, 2004
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iamnotamerican.com wrote: So, if the mistake was one that charged you too much money, would they be able to keep that extra money? According to your argument, they must, because "that how life work!"
That's not the same at all. If the store charges you too much money, it is still their mistake. The original statement was "If I made a mistake, I PAY FOR IT, THAT IT. That how life work !"

Now, if you were keying in the amount of a tip, and you entered $200 instead of $20, then that is your mistake. That would be the valid counter-argument.

The Quebecois dude says that it is law in his province to honour price mistakes, so if he's correct, then The Brick has to honour it.
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Jan 30, 2007
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rommelrommel wrote: You have a point but you don't need to pick on his grammar, he's from Quebec and likely conversing in his second language.
Wasn't picking on his grammar. I quoted him. I would have done exactly the same thing if he had written it in flowing English.
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