Online shopping

THE EDITOR: Legislation needs to be enacted or enforced to regulate online sales by local commercial entities with a view to offering e-shoppers meaningful redress when unscrupulous businesses attempt to exploit the medium.

I shopped online on Cyber Monday at a major furniture and appliance retailer that was offering a terrific forty per cent discount. After hours of trying to complete my transaction on an overloaded website, I was successful. However, I received an e-mail that evening stating that my payment was under review because my credit card provider had not authorised the payment. I called my bank the following day and they assured that they had indeed authorised the transaction but the retailer had not as yet accepted the payment.

Further conversations with the retailer informed that there were no funds on my card and then, that the item was out of stock. Both were not true. The item was still up for sale on their website at the regular price.

All that I am left to infer from this experience is that from the outset, the retailer had no intention of honouring purchases made during that sale. I have been told to await a call from the company’s online sales department. This is so frustrating as I could have shopped elsewhere on that day. Who compensates me for the opportunity that I lost because of the retailer’s unethical actions?

Darren Flanders, Princes Town

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