Subject:
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Re: Informal WB Store Survey
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.shopping
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Date:
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Thu, 3 Feb 2000 02:53:26 GMT
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Viewed:
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1683 times
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In lugnet.market.shopping, Steve Martin writes:
> Did anyone read the TERMS OF USE on the wbstore.com website? Here is an
> extract. Now it all makes sense. They don't promise to do ANYTHING!!! I'll
> never buy from them again!!! Boycott wbstore.com !!! • [SNIP]
> The receipt of an e-mail order confirmation does not constitute the acceptance
> of an order or a confirmation of an offer to sell. WBSS reserves the right,
This may be straying into something for the L.M.Theory group, so I'll try to
keep it brief :]
Okay, I'm not a lawyer, but as an engineer have to be loosely familiar with a
range of laws. One that comes to mind here is in contract law, and has to do
with conditions surrounding "offers". Many laws will stipulate (in Canada and
the US anyhow, more or less) that once an offer has been made it cannot be
withdrawn. The person on the receiving end is allowed to accept or decline
but the offer must stand. Now there are a wide variety of limits that will
prevent offers from being forced to remain open for eons. Everything is case
by case ultimately...
The WBStore.com site can be taken to be making an offer to sell a given
product at a given price. The final summary it shows you before taking credit
card info also includes quantities, shipping, taxes, etc. Thus it is a very
concrete offer. In proceeding to provide credit card information, we are
accepting their offer and providing payment on the spot. WBStore's following
fiasco would then be withdrawing an offer after it's not only been made, but
accepted as well. This could be argued to be a legal no-no. :]
The legalese quoted above from their "Terms" is basically saying that they are
never actually making any offer to sell. They're weasling it around to imply
that we are voluntarily providing them credit information and a preference for
a product that should they ever decide to sell they may give us a ring :]
Potential contract law violations notwithstanding, I think the WBStore has
more likely crossed the line in the area of "false advertising". They are
saying they have a product available at a specific price and quantity.
They've then denied it's sale, twice. End result is they've twice solicited
confidential credit card information without delivering any product. To say
it's "computer error" or "mistakes that happen" is not good enough. They
repeatedly (ie, for many many customers) did the same thing. This borders on
negligence. Any physical retail store would never get away with that.
There's no reason the virtual store front should either.
Question becomes has any of us suffered damages as a result? I didn't receive
my single Indy Storm and Countdown Corner, but I didn't lose anything either.
Or did I? How much is confidential credit card info worth? That's where the
courts would look...
Just some ramble,
KDJ.
________________________
Kyle D. Jackson
LUGNETer #203
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Informal WB Store Survey
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| Interesting. Arguably if their offer meant that I missed out on buying product elsewhere, they've caused me harm. Not sure how one could prove it, or how much harm it is, though. Personally I tend to view all of these sites as mere possibilities. I (...) (24 years ago, 3-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.shopping)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Informal WB Store Survey
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| (...) Did anyone read the TERMS OF USE on the wbstore.com website? Here is an extract. Now it all makes sense. They don't promise to do ANYTHING!!! I'll never buy from them again!!! Boycott wbstore.com !!! -Steve PRICE, PAYMENTS AND ORDER ACCEPTANCE (...) (24 years ago, 2-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.shopping)
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