http://www.laptopstuff.co.uk/p/Celly_Model_A_Series_Laptop_Bag.htm

It was priced at £29.99 and delivery was around £3.50 – total including delivery and VAT was £33.98.

This should have dispatched Monday but didn’t appear to have done so when I checked.  I logged into the site on Tuesday to find that the price of the bag had been reduced to £24.99, my order said that it was still awaiting dispatch at the warehouse.

So I sent them a message:

Hi there -

The laptop bag I ordered at the weekend has been reduced to £24.99 and my order hasn’t yet been dispatched – can I have a refund of the difference please?

Many thanks,

Matt

To which they replied:

Dear Matt Charlton

Unfortunately your order has been dispatched. It left for delivery on 15/06/09.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Kind regards

Vicky

LaptopStuff

PO Box 298,
Twickenham,
TW1 9AU

I was a little perplexed – the site said it was still awaiting dispatch and besides, the price had been reduced by a fiver and it was less than 48 hours since reduction.  A refund would have been nice.

I sent this message back

Hi Vicky,

Whilst that might be the case, I still feel that a £5 price drop the day after I order something warrants a refund for the difference – I’m quite within my rights to return the bag under the distance selling act within 7 days for a full refund and re-order at the lower price – I’m sure that your returns team doesn’t need the hassle putting the bag back into stock when a simple £5 reimbursement would resolve the situation.

I’ve dealt with online retailers in the past that offered a 30 day price difference refund – if their price dropped 30 days following your purchase they would refund the difference – I know that this isn’t one of your policies and were this a matter of £1-£2 I wouldn’t be sending this message but it’s near enough a 20% price reduction.

Many thanks,

Matt

And received this message this morning:

Dear Matt Charlton

Unfortunately we are unabelt o offer you the £5 refund that you are requesting.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Kind regards

Vicky

LaptopStuff

PO Box 298,
Twickenham,
TW1 9AU

I’m not the happiest bunny in the world but I really don’t know if I can be arsed to follow this one through.  I can send the bag back, get a full refund and then reorder at the lower price but it’ll cost me £2 or so to send the bag back recorded delivery.  It’s only a fiver so I’ll only end up around £3 up, still that’s £3 in my pocket rather than theirs.

Am I just being anal or do I have a point?  I mean Amazon used to offer a 30 day price reduction policy but they stopped it a few months ago – that was fantastic and it meant that I used Amazon for pretty much anything and everything that I could.  It’s just annoying that the price had been reduced on an item that I’d ordered and as far as I was concerned hadn’t shipped.  I came back to my desk this morning to find the bag waiting for me – I guess it came yesterday and with a 2nd class postage label it was probably send Monday.  Still, if the price reduction happened on Monday I still feel shortchanged.  Most companies would probably honour a price difference refund.  I don’t know whether to order it again and send this one back or what.

Can I be bothered? For the sake of £2-£3, I don’t know.

What I do know is that I won’t be using laptopstuff again.