NewsLittlewoods' blunder results in £1,400 leather sofa on sale for £32

Littlewoods’ blunder results in £1,400 leather sofa on sale for £32

LITTLEWOODS sent hundreds of customers into a frenzy after mistakenly offering a £1,400 leather sofa for the bargain price of £32.

The retailer advertised the luxurious corner unit on its website for the bargain price of £32.50 last night – saving customers a staggering £1366.50.

Delighted online shoppers flocked to the website to snap up the Lesina Premium Leather corner chaise – with some even buying in bulk.

Hilariously, the sofa also came with the option of insurance for £250 – meaning the premium was almost eight times the cost of the furniture.

 

Customers were quick to spot the bargain offer

 

But within hours the webpage was listed as unavailable and details of the sofa have since been removed from the site altogether.

Customers have since taken to social media to share screenshots of confirmation emails and estimated delivery dates for their new purchases – hoping the retailer will honour the blunder.

The bargain was spotted by online shopper, Faye Harrison from Gisburn, Lancashire who shared a link along with several shock faced emoji icons asking, “Anyone need a new sofa?!?! £32.50!!!”

She added: “I don’t need a sofa but just sharing it incase anyone else does. It will go through checkout. I think they have to honour prices?”

The post has since been shared almost 300 times and attracted over 700 comments from keen shoppers.

Matt Carter wrote: “Just bought two for £65. No need for insurance.

“Will see if they come on the 6th may between 7-7. Don’t need them though. Free delivery…”

 

 

The offer presented customers with the chance to make a massive saving

 

Kayleigh Watts said: “I’ve just ordered one for the sake of it so if anyone needs one give me a shout. Saying delivery is by 26th April.”

And Becky Wilcock wrote: “Me and the fella have both just ordered one each so we’ll see how it goes.

“Fingers crossed. Worst that can happen is we get our money back or we get mega cheap sofas. Worth a go.”

However many doubted early on that Littlewoods would refuse to honour the price discrepancy.

Suzanne Trowell wrote: “All a price is, is an invitation to buy. They can charge you anything at the till.

“Comet once had a computer for sale at £399 but at the till it was £599 and I was told it had been marked wrong.

“Trading standards agreed they had no obligation to sell at the lowest price. It’s a misconception that the store needs to honour the price.”

Craig Thomas Dugdale said: “Always worth a pop though I bought a guitar valued over 1000 for 200 last year which was wrongly priced and that got honoured but this seems a bit over kill.”

And Wendy Cross wrote: “If you’ve all got a transaction receipt you should contact trading standards with screenshot of transaction receipt and original offer and see what they say.”

As predicted, customers have since shared images showing account notifications from Littlewood’s stating: “We are sorry but your item is no longer available.

“The amount that you have available to spend on your account will be updated overnight.”

Littlewoods today confirmed they would not be honouring the rock-bottom prices offered, which were as low as £16 for some products.

A spokesman for Shop Direct, which operates Littlewoods, added: “We’d like to say sorry to customers inconvenienced by this mistake.

“We know it’s disappointing to get excited about a purchase and to find out the order won’t be fulfilled.

“We are contacting customers to explain and apologise, and let them know that their orders for the incorrectly priced sofas have been cancelled and they will be refunded.

“We’re now looking into the circumstances surrounding this error and will take any necessary steps to help make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen in future.”

A source close to the company explained that five products from the Lesina sofa range were incorrectly priced between £16 and £49.50 – instead of the intended sale price of £299 to £1399.

Three products from another sofa range called the Astor were also affected by the blunder and were repriced at between £16 and £24.50 instead of £899 to £1299.

The company confirmed they corrected the errors yesterday and took all the items off sale after becoming aware of the situation.

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