They sold furniture at wrong price

[Kathy0201]

I purchased an entertainment center at a local furniture store. All sales final, no exchanges, no refunds. It's due to be delivered in 2 days & now they are telling me they sold it at the wrong price; it will be $500 more. Don't they have to honor the sales invoice at the price they sold it to me?

 

[JenniferH]

I would think so. You have the receipt, they can't go back and tell you other wise. I would tell them no: you sold it as the state price, it is on the sales ticket. If they don't give you possession of it then you will pursue legal remedy. I.e. take them to court for compensation. The court most likely, if you won, will award a money amount, since they usually can't award property back to the winner.

See what they say to this. ( I would tell them and send a certified RRR letter outlining the situation, giving them a specified amount of time for response and after that time expires, take legal action.)

Really the only thing they probably will do is refund your amount of purchase due to their error. But, I wouldn't stop their.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

I purchased an entertainment center at a local furniture store. All sales final, no exchanges, no refunds. It's due to be delivered in 2 days & now they are telling me they sold it at the wrong price; it will be $500 more. Don't they have to honor the sales invoice at the price they sold it to me?

My response:

In "Recorded Picture Company [Productions] Ltd. v. Nelson Entertainment, Inc. 53 Cal.App.4th 350, 61 Cal.Rptr.2d 742", the court stated:

"We have previously recognized that "[a]n owner (the store or corporation) who entrusts his property to another (the salesperson) bears some responsibility for creating a situation whereby an innocent purchaser (you) is led to buy goods from an agent (the salesperson) who is acting in excess of his authority (selling the furniture at the wrong price). The law sometimes protects the innocent purchaser's title against the defrauded owner, depending upon the circumstances." (Naftzger v. American Numismatic Society, supra, 42 Cal.App.4th at pp. 429-430, italics omitted.) "Where one of two innocent parties must suffer because of the fraud of a third, the loss must be borne by the person whose negligence or misplaced confidence made the injury possible." (Miller v. Wood (1963) 222 Cal.App.2d 206, 209 [35 Cal.Rptr. 49]; accord, Correa v. Quality Motor Co. (1953) 118 Cal.App.2d 246, 252-253 [257 P.2d 738]; Carter v. Rowley (1922) 59 Cal.App. 486, 489 [211 P. 267]; Civ. Code, § 3543.)

In the case of "Lewis v. Superior Court (1994) 30 Cal.App.4th 1850, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 63",
the court relied in part on Jewett v. Palmer (1823 N.Y. Ch.) 7 Johnson's Chancery Reports 65, where the court explained, " 'A plea of a purchase for a valuable consideration, without notice, must be with the money actually paid; or else, according to Lord Hardwicke, you are not hurt. The averment must be, not only that the purchaser had not notice at or before the execution of the deeds, but that the purchase money was paid before notice.' " (Davis v. Ward, supra, 109 Cal. at p. 190, italics omitted.)

Assuming, from your post, that you had already paid the "asking price" stated by the salesperson, and you were merely waiting for delivery, then you are able to demand performance of the contract for delivery of the furniture.

However, if this was a C.O.D. sale, in whole or in part, then you cannot demand the contract be performed because you are now on notice of a mistake, and therefore, are not harmed. You would only be entitled to a refund of your downpayment. But, like I said, you can demand full performance of the contract if you paid the contract price in full BEFORE you received notice there was an error in the selling price.

If they fail to abide by the aforementioned concepts, don't get upset . . . you take 'em to court !!

IAAL