1c beer: Tesco won’t honour website orders

TESCO will not honour orders placed on its website for 1 cent beer because it has run out of stock.

An error on its shopping website last week resulted in cans of Harp larger being offered for 1 cent.

However, just 600 cans of Harp were sent to customers and any orders placed after this stock ran out will not be honoured. This has resulted in hundreds of cans not being delivered to customers.

When Tesco was first alerted to the website error on Friday it said all the cheap cans of Harp would be delivering as ordered without quibble.

But the retailer said it has decided not to continue to stock Harp and, as a result, customers who placed orders will not receive them.

Chief executive of the Consumer Association, Dermott Jewell said it is unacceptable that Tesco would not follow through with the orders. He said the contract to purchase the cans of Harp should be binding as the offer to sell the cans at the price advertised was accepted and payment was made.

“When Tesco make an offer to a consumer they should ensure that they have the stock and if they do not they should provide the consumer with a date when the stock will be available. This is unacceptable,” said Mr Jewell.

Tesco said the cans in question were end-of-line stock and should never have appeared on the website in the first place.

It said the Harp offer was due to a computer glitch.

It refused to say how many people did not receive their order but said the number was small.

One office worker in Dublin who didn’t want to give his name said he placed an order for 100 cans of Harp at 9am on Friday and was told by Tesco later that day that he would not be receiving his order.

“I don’t think Tesco have dealt with this issue properly. I have made a complaint but still haven’t received a proper explanation as to why my order wasn’t delivered,” he said.