A complaint had been lodged with the Commerce Commission after a Sony TV worth more than $7000 was advertised online for just $99.99.
Shaun Millin ordered the bargain 75'' TV after his wife sent him an advertisement showing the $99 price, through sony.co.nz. Its normal price is $7497.
"I immediately thought would be a scam. Where you click on it and it takes you to another website. But I went through to the Sony online store and there it was listed as $99," he said.
Millin said it reminded him of the promotion BMW ran in 2015, when they gave away a free $50,000 car in a 'reverse April Fool's joke'.
"I thought it was probably an issue with pricing, but it also could be a marketing stunt or something along those lines – so I thought I would try to order it and it was successful."
But the next day he received an email from Sony cancelling his order as there "was a pricing error" and the $108.00 charged to his credit card would be refunded in the next few days.
This was not enough for Millin, who has now lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission.
'If you offer it, I expect you to deliver," he said.
"It might be a bit optimistic to expect a new TV to show up, but I would like clarity on what the rules are around cancelling services and for [Sony] to take a bit more care with their online promotions."
A spokesperson for Sony apologised for the pricing error on its online store.
"Orders have been cancelled and we are processing full refunds. We offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused to customers by this error," a spokesperson said.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Consumer Protection website said if a price is advertised or displayed incorrectly at a substantially lower price; the trader usually doesn't have to sell at that price.
However, if they regularly advertise products incorrectly they may be breaking the Fair Trading Act by misleading the consumer about the true price.
"The situation is less clear when you have an online sale, so it's best to get advice and put appropriate measures in place to avoid getting into difficulties in the first place," MBIE said.
With the first All Blacks match of the Rugby World Cup being played yesterday, Millin said he would have to make do watching the Rugby on his current television.
"A 75'' TV for the RWC would've been pretty good, but we do have a TV to watch the games on."
