Just a warning to anyone out there who is thinking of buying tax books from Bloomsbury Professional (previously Tottel). I was sent an invitation to buy at £125 for the full set of core tax books and accepted that invitation and ordered on that basis. The invitation was accompanied by a letter saying that they had frozen the prices at last years levels. The books were duly delivered, with an invoice for £175. Bloomsbury say they changed their mind on the price at the very last minute just before delivery and will not revert to the quoted and advertised price. We must draw their own conclusions as to what this means about Bloomsbury.
Terry Smith
Replies (8)
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Whatever you do - dont pay them £175
Pay them the £125 and invite them to sue for the balance.
They made an offer - you accepted that offer thereby forming a contract. By sending you the goods they confirmed that contract & accepted your offer.
They should have written to you (contacted you) and informed you of the change of price BEFORE dispatching the goods to you.
Alternatively, since these books are not what you ordered (you ordered books costing £125 NOT books costing £175) you can treat them as unsolicited goods. Hold onto them for 6 months (its up to the compamy to collect them, you are under no obligation to even walk to the postbox to send them back). If after 6 months they havent collected them - they are legally yours.
Pay £125 only
I'm with C_D.
If you ordered books for £125, and they accepted your order, then that's what you owe them - £125 and no more.
Bloomsbury
Hi
Re Bloomsbury - this morning I received a renewal notice for the tax pack at £175 - we have never had the tax pack - looks like sharp practice for the unsuspecting
May change
This is not good. I hope the power of social media makes them change their current practice.
Me too!
I too ordered them at £125 and have seen the bill for £197 odd.
Considering I ordered them back in April 2010, I had forgotten on the agreed price, which is of course, what they are banking on. Cheeky chappies, eh?
Thanks Terry for pointing that out!
Same here
Fortunately, we kept a copy of the "Special Offer Order Form" which we signed and sent off in the Freepost envelope. The "standard" price was quoted as £150, but the "fantastic pre-publication price" was stated as £125 + 9% VAT (£136.25). Our invoice had £3.95 of postage added, so we will be sending them a cheque for £140.20, not the £194.70 invoiced, and enclosing a copy of the order form.
What I find confusing is that we ordered the core tax annuals from Bloomsbury Professional in Haywards Heath, received them from CPI Wm Clowes in Beccles and have been invoiced by Marston Book Services in Abingdon, whom I assume we are expected to pay.
Mine came at £125 plus VAT
I ordered a set (I haven't seen them before so I'm interested to see what they're like - especially VAT as it isn't one of my 'specialist' subjects!). They came a couple of days ago. I haven't had time to actually look at the books yet but I looked at the invoice after reading this post - and I'd been charged £125 plus VAT - which was the pre-publication price I'd signed up for. So maybe it is a just incompetence rather than anything more sinister. I'd try phoning again, Terry, and see if you get someone who knows what they're talking about!
Cathy
Here's what to do
Phone Bloomsbury (not Marston) on 01444 416 119 and quote your document number.
They'll give you a sob story about increased paper prices etc, which you should ignore. They'll then offer you a £50 voucher, which you can offset against the original invoice, and the job's done.
Apparently they are getting a lot of calls about this issue. I wonder why............