KRCS UK demanding £500 extra or cancellation on a Mac Studio ordered in May

[remus_ku]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on a consumer rights situation that I think others may be experiencing too, given Apple's recent price increases.

I placed an order with a UK Apple Premium Reseller (KRCS) on 5th May for a Mac Studio M4 Max. The order was confirmed on 6th May at a set price, and I paid a deposit to secure it. Due to the RAM shortage, delivery has been pushed back multiple times, now expected in July.

This week, I received an email from the retailer saying that Apple has announced a price increase and they're now asking me to either accept the new price (around 20% higher) or cancel the order. I've since spoken with Apple directly, and they confirmed that the revised pricing applies only to orders placed from 25th June onwards.

The retailer's own T&Cs contain no clause allowing a price increase to be applied to an already-confirmed order, and as far as I understand, UK consumer law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) means the agreed price at contract formation is binding.

Has anyone been through something similar? Particularly:
- Did you manage to get the retailer to honour the original price?
- If the retailer cancelled unilaterally, what happened?
- Any advice on the most effective next steps without going straight to legal action?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wedlock]

I found this by searching but no idea if this is relevant to consumer products though :

Under English law, a supplier is not entitled to unilaterally increase prices under an agreement that it has entered into with a customer if that agreement does not contain an explicit right to do so. English law generally requires contracting businesses to perform their contract as agreed, even if it becomes difficult or unprofitable (Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi, and ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67). In the absence of a price adjustment clause, any increase in price would need to be mutually agreed between the parties as a variation to the terms of the existing agreement.

I would get some legal advice from a lawyer and see what comes out of that. My thinking is that the seller already placed an order with Apple for the product within days after you bought the item and therefore got the older Apple prices as well. So get legal advice and take the next steps after that....

 

[PaulD-UK]

In the UK the B2B (business to business) supply chain has, since the widespread Mac pre-press and printing industry in the 1990s, always been handled by a few big Distributors - Ingram Micro is the one I know of but there are at least one other.

KRCS, and others like Jigsaw, as B2B resellers, get their stocks from the Distributors.
They don't order 'from Apple'.

Apple will allocate stock to the distributors as and when...
So it may be that KRCS had placed your order with a distributor, but the distributor will only get stock at the current prices when they get a new allocation of stock from Apple.

Moral: If you want 'consumer' service (with appropriate Consumer Rights), then buying through an Apple Store is a better bet, rather than through the B2B network.

Of course 'Consumer Rights' will probably be enforceable in your case (unless you are a further 'reseller'), but enforcing the law may be costly, since the problem comes down to Apple, and KCRS probably aren't benefitting from the situation.

 

[MarkC426]

I see on their website, they are currently offering 10% off ANY Mac (ends today).
Either way, they should honour the order price.

OP what made you order from them instead of Apple, when the delivery is just as long….🤔
I have bought Macs from Jigsaw24 before because they had an earlier (more stable) version of MacOS installed.

 

[remus_ku]

I found this by searching but no idea if this is relevant to consumer products though :



I would get some legal advice from a lawyer and see what comes out of that. My thinking is that the seller already placed an order with Apple for the product within days after you bought the item and therefore got the older Apple prices as well. So get legal advice and take the next steps after that....

Thank you, Wedlock for your comment. They cinfirmed me that the order was placed with Apple a day after I placed my order with them. I'll contact Citizens Advice tomorrow morning and let you know what the outcome is.

 

[remus_ku]

In the UK the B2B (business to business) supply chain has, since the widespread Mac pre-press and printing industry in the 1990s, always been handled by a few big Distributors - Ingham Micro is the one I know of but there are at least one other.

KRCS, and others like Jigsaw, as B2B resellers, get their stocks from the Distributors.
They don't order 'from Apple'.

Apple will allocate stock to the distributors as and when...
So it may be that KRCS had placed your order with a distributor, but the distributor will only get stock at the current prices when they get a new allocation of stock from Apple.

Moral: If you want 'consumer' service (with appropriate Consumer Rights), then buying through an Apple Store is a better bet, rather than through the B2B network.

Of course 'Consumer Rights' will probably be enforceable in your case (unless you are a further 'reseller'), but enforcing the law may be costly, since the problem comes down to Apple, and KCRS probably aren't benefitting from the situation.

Thank you PaulID-UK, for your comment. KRCS confirmed me that they placed the order with Apple (not sure now how true that is). No, I am not a reseller. I'll get some legal advice and see what I can do. I'll keep you updated.

 

[remus_ku]

I see on their website, they are currently offering 10% off ANY Mac (ends today).
Either way, they should honour the order price.

OP what made you order from them instead of Apple, when the delivery is just as long….🤔
I have bought Macs from Jigsaw24 before because they had an earlier (more stable) version of MacOS installed.

Thank you MarkC426 for your comment. The reason I bought from KRCS is that the machine was around £200 cheaper and accepted flexible payment with Klarna at a good rate (better than Apple).

 

[StrollerEd]

I had a very similar disappointing experience with KRCS, and now I have received a full refund, I feel comfortable adding to this thread.

"Hurry, save 10%!" says KRCS, describing themselves as an Apple Premium Reseller.

I ordered the 16in M5Pro MBP 48GB model on 23 June, KRCS confirming the price offered and taking my money via my card. The silver model that had to be ordered, with delivery expected the next week.

Three days later I received similar email from KRCS, with new price (up 16%) or to "cancel the order at no charge" alternatives.

I insisted on supply at the price agreed, but the best offered was "a further £200 off the repriced amount."

Although considering taking this further under law, I felt obliged to cancel by requesting a full refund.

The positive is that I did manage to source a better deal with MacFinder - although having to commit to that before the refund from KRCS showed up on my CC.

 

[m1maverick]

Unless you have a no or very low cost resource to pursue this legally my recommendation is to cancel the order and buy from someone with integrity. What I wouldn't do is give in to their extortion and pay the increased price.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Given that they haven't shipped the order yet, you will find their T&C's quite detailed and allows them to cancel any order for any reason before it's been shipped. All businesses have T&C's that protect them in this way, in the same way that companies now protect themselves against accidental pricing of say £100 typed instead of £1000 - the T&C's will protect them from having to honour any such order.

You aren't winning this one. You either pay the increase or cancel the order, they aren't shipping at the previous price.

If you want to do anything about this you'll have to sue them by commencing a small claim in court. Then they will point to their T&C's, you'll lose, and you will have lost even more money on court fees and potentially some of their costs too.

Walk away. That's all you can do.

 

[StrollerEd]

Given that they haven't shipped the order yet, you will find their T&C's quite detailed and allows them to cancel any order for any reason before it's been shipped. All businesses have T&C's that protect them in this way, in the same way that companies now protect themselves against accidental pricing of say £100 typed instead of £1000 - the T&C's will protect them from having to honour any such order.

You aren't winning this one. You either pay the increase or cancel the order, they aren't shipping at the previous price.

If you want to do anything about this you'll have to sue them by commencing a small claim in court. Then they will point to their T&C's, you'll lose, and you will have lost even more money on court fees and potentially some of their costs too.

Walk away. That's all you can do.

I see that the OP stated

"The retailer's own T&Cs contain no clause allowing a price increase to be applied to an already-confirmed order, and as far as I understand, UK consumer law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) means the agreed price at contract formation is binding."

 

[AdmiralKirk]

I see that the OP stated

"The retailer's own T&Cs contain no clause allowing a price increase to be applied to an already-confirmed order, and as far as I understand, UK consumer law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) means the agreed price at contract formation is binding."

He's not a lawyer, he's looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place, and misunderstanding how the law actually works too.

There will be no clause that says exactly "we reserve the right to increase prices between your order and delivery". It will just be something like "we reserve the right to cancel orders for any reason prior to shipping", which is boilerplate and covers everything they need it to more simply.

That's entirely separate from the law, that does not force retailers to to complete transactions. It largely deals with the transaction once it's completed and the goods have been delivered.

If for example a retailer accidentally lists a £1000 item for £100, and you order and pay for it, they are allowed to cancel your order and give you your money back. They are allowed to sell an item, and then at the point of shipping realise they don't have that item in stock, and cancel your order and refund you with apologies.

In this case it's obvious the retailer doesn't have the computer in stock or they would have shipped it already. So it's possible they were just told by their suppliers they would need to pay more for future deliveries, and OP's order no longer makes commercial sense for them. Therefore they have asked him whether he wants to pay the increased price or they can cancel his order.

There is no law or term and condition that will force them to complete this order to an ordinary consumer like this.

I'm a lawyer.

 

[StrollerEd]

"He's not a lawyer ... I'm a lawyer" 😉

Thanks for that free legal advice ...

As mere consumer, perhaps the only recourse is to leave [an unfavourable] review of a retailer behaving badly.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

"He's not a lawyer ... I'm a lawyer" 😉

Thanks for that free legal advice ...

As mere consumer, perhaps the only recourse is to leave [an unfavourable] review of a retailer behaving badly.

Basically correct, if they aren’t breaking the law and there are no T&C’s you can use (there never will be, these have been drafted in a way that protects them, not the customer), then go on trustpilot and call them out.

I do have some sympathy for the company here though. They clearly don’t have stock and are waiting for it from their supplier/Apple distribution channel, and they were very likely to have been quoted increased fees for the stock, so completing this order wouldn’t have made financial sense for them.

I remember about a decade ago there was a bug on the Manchester United website where changing the store to America and then back to the UK would result in much lower UK prices. It went viral and there were massive orders for shirts that were then 75% off.

Manchester United honoured the “glitched” orders, but there was an acknowledgment that this was goodwill their side, and they had every right to cancel every one of them.

 

[remus_ku]

An update from KRCS

The director sent me a long email saying that Apple don't accept cancellations anymore, and after long discussions with distributors, they agreed not to cancel my order and honour the initial price.

This is great news for me. The only downside is that there are further delays of my order. Due to this disruptive situation, the wait for my order has been extended. No date provided yet.


I appreciate all your advice.

Thank you.

 

[Droid13]

That's entirely separate from the law, that does not force retailers to to complete transactions. It largely deals with the transaction once it's completed and the goods have been delivered.

Here's my idiot question as a non-lawyer. Would the scenario be any different if the order had been paid for in full from the outset, rather than being taken as a deposit?

 

[StrollerEd]

Here's my idiot question as a non-lawyer. Would the scenario be any different if the order had been paid for in full from the outset, rather than being taken as a deposit?

As I did 😉