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52-Inch Sharp Aquos HDTV for US$38.45 (Or Not Really)

Posted by Jesus Diaz at 12:12 PM on September 7, 2008

Right now, one of the stores at Amazon.com--myOfficeSource--is selling a 52-inch Sharp Aquos 1080P HDTV for US$38.45 (thirty-eight dollars and forty-five cents). That's US$2,261.54 off its list price. New, not refurbished. Obviously, something wrong--or fishy--must be happening because, right now, you can buy a bunch of products with this discount. Giz reader Cliff, who gave us the heads up, actually bought the 52-inch Aquos and got a confirmation email from Amazon in which they say his order will arrive in mid-september. Update: One reader is giving a word of caution, so proceed with caution because this may be an scam.


 

They charged him exactly what the catalog says. Nevertheless, this must be a bug but, in any case and since they are not charging the original price, I guess it's worth trying.

The question is: if a mail order company is advertising and actually confirming the purchase at these prices, are they obligated to honour the advertised price and send the product? Somewhere in my mind, a couple of advertising law clauses I took while in college are saying "yes, they may have to do exactly that". But then again, I may have had a hangover back then and got the whole thing wrong.

Update: a reader has sent us a heads up about a customer review in Amazon.com that says that someone who bought the Texas Instruments calculator got his order switched in his account page for a CD. Cliff says that his Amazon account still lists the Sharp in his order. If this is the case, I don't really know how Amazon can keep such an allegedly shady store in their site. In any case, proceed with caution if you really want to try your luck.

[Amazon Sharp deal and Amazon TI deal]

Tags: aquos | bugs | dealzmodo | gadgets | screens | sharp | tvs

 

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)

anonymous

Posted September 7, 2008 2:43 PM

I ordered one and I still as the Sharp Aquos TV so far. I shall update the progress.

duo

Posted September 8, 2008 6:36 AM

Ok boys and girls, here's the d.l. from a law student.

1) The company CANNOT change the price on you. They cannot say "t.v. for $100," you buy it, then they change it to $1000. CANNOT DO IT, STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT.

2) NY state law states that once something has been bought (in this case, your account has been charged, as in my case)for a set price aka $100 t.v., the BEST a company can do is OFFER a refund. YOU CAN REJECT IT, and they have to give the item to you, at their loose. However, this more than likely does NOT apply to out of states, sorry folks not in NY.

I'm just hoping this sh*t is all automated, and they send it out, easiest possibility. Someone f*cked this up hard, either myofficesource, or amazon. Again, if Amazon did, they would have to pay myofficesource the remainder of the price. Myofficesource would only HAVE to ship the items, if it's their mistakes to NY residents, as long as the customer rejected the refund, which I would do before they even said it.

Hope all works out!

JordanG

Posted September 9, 2008 4:26 AM

I too am a law student. Duo, you should probably read your contracts book again...it's a whole new ball game with online companies not to mention we have to deal with an Agency/Principle relation with Amazon and MyOfficeSource. Who takes the hit when things go sour? Amazon or MyOfficeSource? Do we, as users of Amazon, have a separate TOA saying that Amazon has the right to cancel any order for any reason? I'm sure as hell not reading that full service agreement.

update for me since I had to try to buy the TV just to see how they would cancel it:

http://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=amazoncancel1wn6.jpg

http://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=amazoncancel2zc5.jpg

jeremy

Posted September 9, 2008 10:38 AM

im scared because i havent recieved a cancellation email, but amazon says i have no current orders on my account....but my card is still being charged