MATALAN shoppers were sent into a frenzy when a glitch reduced a £400 double pram to just £40 on its website.
Parents went crazy after the error price on the My Babiie Black tandem pushchair was posted to a bargain-hunting Facebook group, causing hundreds to deluge the Matalan site in a bid to nab it.
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Some managed to place orders for £40, but the item swiftly went out of stock and the price was corrected.
Customers then received emails telling them the wrong price would not be honoured, while it’s not clear if any early orders were successful.
The email said: “Due to a pricing error on our website, some customers were able to purchase the My Babiie Black Leopard Print Dani Dyer Tandem Pushchair at £40 instead of the correct price of £400.
“As this was a clear and obvious mispricing, your order for this product has been cancelled in line with our Terms & Conditions.”
It goes on to explain that if items are listed for the wrong price, the customer will be contacted and given the option of purchasing at the correct cost, or cancelling the order.
If the customer failed to respond, the order would be voided.
The decision was met with disappointment, with one shopper saying; “Gone are the days where they would honour a price mess up!!!! Back in the 80s and 90s it was fair game!!!!”
Another added: “If it was advertised at 40 quid then they should honour their mess up.”
A third wrote, referencing the email: “After all the flurry of excitement of the £40 double pram from Matalan, I ordered 2 (one for me one for my sister we both have twins! ) I received this today oh well god loves a trier I suppose!”
The error was originally posted to the Facebook group “BARGAIN LOVERS Poundland, Home Bargains, B&M, Primark, The Range & More”, sparking hundreds of comments – many from parents with young children.
Money-savers in the group also debated what consumer law actually says, with many believing that if a product is advertised at a certain price, then the retailer should honour it.
Expert Martyn James explained the rules around online price glitches can be complicated.
He added: “Where a contract exists the business usually has to honour it if you’ve bought or received the goods though there may be exceptions in the T&Cs.
“That sounds rather complicated – but in most cases the retailer’s website will confirm the point the order has been accepted. If that’s the case, they should honour the price you paid.”
Crucially he added: “One final warning though, if word gets around that a website has mispriced certain goods and loads of people rush to buy them, then you are all aware that the business has made an error and chances are the retailer won’t have to cough up.”
Matalan’s terms and conditions state obvious mistakes will not be honoured, adding: “Our site contains a large number of products.
“It is always possible that, despite our reasonable efforts, some of the products on our site may be incorrectly priced.
“If we discover an error in the price of the products you have ordered we will contact you in writing to inform you of this error and we will give you the option of continuing to purchase the product at the correct price or cancelling your order.
“We will not process your order until we have your instructions. If we are unable to contact you using the contact details you provided during the order process, we will treat the order as cancelled and notify you in writing.
“Please note that if the pricing error is obvious and unmistakable and could have reasonably been recognised by you as a mis-pricing, we do not have to provide the products to you at the incorrect (lower) price.”
The Sun has approached Matalan for comment.
This comes as hundreds of Tesco customers were unable to finish their online shopping after a glitch.
Users were reporting large numbers of items suddenly being marked as unavailable in their basket, despite being listed as available on the retailer’s website and app.
Many took to social media to complain of the issue, with even basic items including fruit and vegetables said to be affected by the issue.
One person said on X (formerly Twitter): “Doing food shop online from scratch – go to checkout five minutes later and now saying 27 unavailable items which it allowed me to select less than five minutes earlier!”
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