SEATTLE -- A product is advertised at a price that's almost too good to be true. Then, the retailer says, "sorry. That's a mistake."

It happens every year, especially around the holidays. But what can you do about it?

It's a touchy issue for consumers and retailers alike, because there is no specific law for errors in advertising.

With literally millions of ads involved, a mistake here and there is inevitable. Unfortunately for Target, someone made a whopper of a mistake on one of the most popular car seats on the market.

Talk to most any mother, and you'll learn Britax is the 'king' of car seats, and they're not cheap. The typical prices range from $200 to $300. So, when word spread of an online price of $42.99, hundreds of women snapped them up -- or so they thought.

Katie of Sedro-Woolley placed her order and even got an automatic confirmation. It said she'd be charged $46.43, including shipping and handling, and it'd arrive in early January.

Then Katie got a e-mail from Target.com stating they'd cancelled her order and refunded her money because due to an unexpected error, the item was incorrectly priced at the time of her order.

The correct price of the car seat is $279.99.

"Target is unable to offer the item for the incorrect price," continued the email...

Katie and other moms are fuming. They feel Target should be bound by the advertised price. But that's not how it works.

According to Charles Harwood, Regional Director of the Federal Trade Commission in Seattle, "the law is concerned about retailers making intentionally untruthful claims about the price, availability, or features of a product. However, when the untruthful claim is the result of a genuine mistake, law enforcement agencies, including the FTC are unlikely to take any legal action."

The State Attorney General's office says retailers can be penalized if they show a pattern of deceptive behavior, but with few exceptions, there is no law that legally forces them to uphold a price offer, when there's clearly been an honest mistake.
For their inconvenience, Target is offering Katie and other customers a $25 e-gift card toward future shopping on Target.com, but Katie's says, "no thanks."

She feels Target didn't catch the mistake soon enough. Based on the flurry of entries on popular mommy blogs, at least one customer reportedly got that pricey car seat for $42.99. Katie says learning that was what prompted her to place an order.

According to Target.com's email, the pricing error was caused by an "unusual technical issue" discovered during a price verification which is a routine part of the company's shipping procedure.

For more details on consumer protection laws:

www.leg.wa.gov

www.ftc.gov

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/baitads-gd.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt081.shtm