Hundreds of online buyers believed they had purchased the sale of the century when the Dell Australia website advertised a 250Gb hard drive at $8.80AUD. With a saving of $583.20AUD it's no surprise punters were ordering up to sixty units at a time.
Consumers who had ordered the hard drives and had money deducted from their credit cards are now being told by Dell the 'clerical error' on their webpage will not be honoured. Dell have announced customers can either have a refund or pay the difference for the full amount of the hard drive.
Angry customers are claiming Dell are illegally refunding their accounts without prior notification or agreement. According to the New South Wales Office of Fair Trade as seen in The Age
August 11, Dell has an obligation to provide the hard drives to consumers it has collected payment from.
"Our interpretation of the Sale of Goods Act is that the consumers who have had their credit card debited have entered into a contract with Dell," a spokesman said. "The transacting of the money constitutes a contract for sale." (The Age 11.08.05)
All I can say is I really need to keep my eyes peeled for some damn good online bargains!