Can Argos raise the price of items listed online?

QI recently went on to Argos’s website to buy a shed, which had a price of £229.99. On entering the catalogue number to check if it was in stock, the price came up £70 more expensive at £299.99. When I went into the store and asked the manger, he said the catalogue price was only an “invitation to trade”, and that exchange rates with Ireland meant the price had gone up. I’d love to hear your views on this.

AArgos hasn’t done anything illegal selling the shed at the higher price, but we think the store’s manager could have done a better job of explaining why, rather than using the technical term “invitation to trade”. It’s actually the wrong term anyway – any price displayed in a shop, advert or catalogue is an “invitation to trade”. This means the retailer is merely inviting you to enter negotiations to buy the goods, but it’s not legally bound to sell them. This is a common misconception.

Of course, what normally happens is that the customer buys the goods at the displayed price. In simple terms, this stage of the process is known as the ‘offer’ by the customer and the ‘acceptance’ by the retailer. Once ‘consideration’ happens – usually money changing hands – a legally binding contract is formed. In Graham’s case, because Argos refused his ‘offer’, no contract was formed.

However, we’ve asked Argos to clarify why there was such a significant rise (around 30 per cent) in the price of the shed. The store manager may be right to blame changing exchange rates, but it seems unlikely. In most cases like this the fault lies with human error, normally in the wrong price being displayed. We’ll let you know what Argos says.

How much compensation should ISPS give customers if their broadband goes down? EE appears to think that £1 a day is enough.ugh. After initially blaming BT Wholesale for the problem, it has now paid Computeractive reader Steven Asquith £30 for the 30 days he was without broadband (read his case in Issue 504). It also reimbursed him the £85 he had to pay to access the web through mobile broadband.

If EE hadn’t done this, Steven could have taken his case for compensation to the Communications Ombudsman. To win he would have needed to provide evidence that being without broadband left him out of pocket, and outline the inconvenience he experienced. He would also have been able to cancel the entire package without incurring any charges.

In future, though, frustrated customers may not need to provide such evidence. Telecoms regulator Ofcom has just finished a consultation with the broadband industry to discuss customers receiving automatic compensation rather than having to go through “a potentially lengthy and difficult claims process”. It is proposing that internet service providers pay customers £6 for every day their broadband is down, which would have netted Steve around £180.

The report is expected by the end of the year. We’ll cover it in detail to explain your new rights.