Page 1 of Gamecube bundle for £32.99 - Virgin and Tesco back down!

Okay guys,

Let`s start again...

As you know, there was a Pokemon Colosseum Black Bundle erroneously offered by a number of retailers at under £35 (including Woolworths, Tescos & Virgin Megastores). We all piled in hoping to get a bargain only to be refused on the basis that no stocks existed. Some people complained to higher places (Watchdog and Trading Standards) and now Virgin Megastores have relented and offered to cover loss of bargain up to RRP.

Okay...this much is known and the discussion on the other thread has sparked up again. To avoid another unnecessarily long discussion (whatever most people believe, I`m not interested in being able to claim that I started the longest thread in the history of these boards :D) I have updated the Pokemon Bundle page on my website including the full text of the email and my (hopefully level-headed) thoughts on the subject.

In particular, for those not wishing to scroll through the entire history on this page, you can jump straight to my discussion on the latest Virgin gesture of goodwill by cutting and pasting the following URL into your browser (it seems that active links using the [url] tag don`t seem to recognise the #LINK mechanism):

http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~lauriem/pokemon_bundle.html#VIRGINEMAIL

In addition to this, I have provided a choice of two retailers where I have managed to track down the same product for under £89.99 so that anyone who has been offered Virgin`s gesture of goodwill can take advantage of it while stocks still last. The article provides a choice of well-signposted non-affiliate and affiliate links direct to the product in question so that the reader can choose which type of link to use (regardless of which links you use, it makes no difference to the price advertised by the retailer).

However, I have duplicated the non-affiliate links here for those that do not wish to go to my site to get them:

Amazon £84.99
Electric Shop £89.99

Update (29/11/04 @ 20:50): Just added a note to my page about Tesco`s latest standpoint as a result of Watchdog getting involved. In short - If you have been issued a Tescos order number for this product, email Tescos, cite your order number and the watchdog offer, thank them for their gesture of goodwill and sign off by saying that you look forward to receiving your Gamecube atthe original price before Xmas. Then sit back QUIETLY and wait to see what their response is.

HtH
Reestit Mutton

This item was edited on Monday, 29th November 2004, 22:23

FWIW Tesco have finally responded to my winges

Quote:
I apologise that we were unable to fulfil your recent order.

This item was recently cancelled from our system due to a pricing
error, which has now been rectified.

I advise that any order placed on our website, is simply an offer from
a customer to buy goods from us. No actual contract exists until the
goods are despatched.

Therefore, we are not obliged to accept such an offer until this time,
and can decline to supply these goods without necessarily providing a
reason.

However, as soon as the goods leave the warehouse to be sent to the
customer, a contract is created, and we are then entitled to charge for
the order. This information is stated in our terms and conditions.

Well at least they own up that`s it a pricing error, if they did that at the start instead of claiming "out of stock" then maybe people would have just said ok and left it. Guess people who brought from Virgin got lucky, don`t think Tesco`s are going to budge. Personally I still haven't had a reply yet from Tescos from my email sent last Monday but guess it will be along the same lines.

Is anyone going to take Virgin up on their mistake?

Quote:
if they did that at the start instead of claiming "out of stock" then maybe people would have just said ok and left it.

personally that was my biggest complaint with tescos, not the fact they made an error and didnt complete my order ,I knew I was being hopefull.
just the fact they blatently lied to me,

If you want to come after me you`ll find me in Newport Pagnell but be warned I know karate, Judo, Kung-fu and several other dangerous words

Quote:
Is anyone going to take Virgin up on their mistake?

I would but I haven`t got the money to spend the initial £90 on the thing

Looks like this isn`t the only forum that spotted the mistake:

http://board.muse.mu/showthread.php?t=11422&page=1&pp=15
(they also had the letter from Virgin)

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=gen&Number=739180&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=2&part=5

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread/t-41392.html

http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Urgents;action=display;num=1100816037

http://www.theknowledgezones.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=72517

Oops!

It seems that a few rogue tags inserted by my editor without my explicit instruction caused the quoted text on the Pokemon Black Bundle archive page on my site not to wrap and hence some people might not be able to read my page without an inordinate amount of horizontal scroll.

Well, (I think) I`ve fixed it now.

If you still require horizontal scroll to read the page, even after clearing your cache and reloading the page, please let me know (I`m only on Linux here so I don`t have the ability to test the page across a wide spectrum of browsers).

HtH
RM

This item was edited on Monday, 29th November 2004, 17:08

Virgin back down and Tescos come tumbling after them, thanks to Nicky Campbell etal.
Just been on watchdog, Tescos will find the gamecube (or try I think were the exact words) at the original price as a special christmas gesture of goodwill.
What does everyone think- email them to ensure we are on their "special" list, or wait to hear from them?

see here

would advise everyone with a Tescos order number to email Tescos to let them know that you are happy to take them up on the offer that they advertised through Watchdog and look forward to your Pokemon Bundle being delivered in due course at the original price. It will interesting to see how they respond. Good luck!

ATB
RM