A man recently celebrated his victory against the high-end French luxury brand Cartier after purchasing two pairs of earrings at a significantly reduced price due to a pricing error. The earrings, originally priced at nearly $28,000, were bought by Rogelio Villarreal for just $28 through an online transaction in December.
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While scrolling through Instagram, Villarreal found an advertisement the mispriced earrings while scrolling through Instagram and couldn’t believe his luck. “I was amazed to see how much the necklaces cost and so on and I said: ‘Someday,’ until I saw the earrings, I swear I broke out in a cold sweat,” the 27-year-old wrote on social media. Despite completing the purchase, the excitement soon became a months-long ordeal when Cartier refused to honor the sale, citing the pricing error. “The earrings that I had ordered were not at the correct price, which is why they wanted to cancel the purchase, and that because of the inconvenience they would give me a gift,” Villarreal explained.
Initially, the brand offered a refund along wifh a bottle of champagne and passport holder and Villarreal reportedly took his case to Mexico’s consumer protection agency. The legal battle lasted for four month until the agency ruled in favor of Villarreal, ordering Catier to comply with the original sales terms. Cartier, eventually acknowledging the decision, proceeded to deliver the earrings. Villarreal joyfully announced the resolution of the dispute on his social media, stating, “War is over. Cartier is complying.”
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According to the consumer protection law in Mexico, if the company is at fault, they are required to impose fines or other penalties but cant force a company to follow by a price it listed. If no agreement is reached, either party can ask for a judge to resolve the complaint. The law is very well known in the country that customers on social media will create posts about the outrageous pricing of goods on Amazon and other retailers.
In a report by the New York Times, the consumer agency asked customers to join a class-action lawsuit against Sony who canceled orders for a Playstation 5 console that was offered on its website in Mexico for a 30 percent discount.