Confusion over online book offer

I went to place an order from online retailer Zavvi for a book called Walking with Giants, which was on offer for £16.50. I had a voucher to get an extra 10 per cent off so the price came to £15.20.

I received an email thanking me for my order and giving me the order number. The next day I was sent another email telling me that no money had been taken from my account but my order was cancelled.

Zavvi’s said this was because “we had a limited amount of stock available at the promotional price, which has since sold out.” I will now have to pay £20.14 so Zavvi obviously has stock.
Mick Bell

Mr Bell was pretty angry about this and felt duped, because it appeared to him that Zavvi had the necessary stock to fulfil his order. He asked if he should report what he called “sharp practice” to Trading Standards.

However, the key issue Mr Bell must first consider is if he was made aware that this was a promotional offer. Under the Consumer Protection Regulations (CPRs) Zavvi should have stated that the amount of stock for this book at the promotional price was limited.

The CPRs came into force in 2008 to protect shoppers from unfair, aggressive and misleading sales practices. Running special offers and not indicating limited stock is called 'bait advertising' and Trading Standards does investigate complaints about breaches of the CPRs.

If a reader is concerned that a retailer is practising ‘bait advertising’, we suggest that they take a screen grab of the web page. They can then contact Consumer Direct, which will forward the matter to Trading Standards.

We contacted Zavvi to get its view, because the stock limitations may have been made very clear. As yet, we have not heard back from the retailer so we will update you later.