Can you advise Ben as to his legal position? Does a contract exist?
Ben and Carl went for a surf on Saturday and decided that it would be great to go to Hawaii to enjoy a holiday and to source merchandise for their on-line surf wear business. Theyresearched accommodation options and flight deals online. On Monday morning, Ben saw an advertisement for a new accommodation website, "Sun and Surf Holidays" on television. He visited the website and subscribed to receive their "hot deals" via email each day.
Later that day Ben received an email from "Sun and Surf Holidays" advertising one week's accommodation for two people, in a five star luxury beachside villa in Hawaii for only $300. Realising that this was an exceptionally good deal, but not surprised because he knew that "Sun and Surf Holidays" had only just opened and were running a number of good opening specials, he clicked on the special and pressed "Reserve my accommodation" and made a booking.
That evening Ben received an email from "Sun and Surf Holidays" explaining that there had been a mistake and the website should have said $3000. "Sun and Surf Holidays" explained that this was still a good price because normally a week's accommodation in a five-star beach-side villa would have cost $4000.
Ben replied by email immediately, telling "Sun and Surf Holidays" that he was very frustrated, as it had taken him several phone calls to his mate Carl to decide if they'd make the booking. He said that if he'd had known it would cost $3000, he would never have made the booking. Ben then turned off his computer and went out for a jog to calm down.
"Sun & Surf Holidays" replied to Ben's email Tuesday morning. They apologised for the confusion and said that they wanted to keep their customers happy so Ben could have the accommodation package for $1500, but that the deal was for a limited time and Ben would need to notify them by the close of business that day to confirm he wanted to proceed with the booking.
Ben called Carl immediately to check what Carl wanted to do, and they agreed that they'd book the accommodation at the discounted rate of $1500. Ben emailed "Sun & Surf Holidays" Tuesday afternoon saying he'd like to make the booking for $1500. "Sun & Surf Holidays" didn't receive Ben's email until Friday morning. "Sun & Surf Holidays" emailed Ben immediately upon receipt of the email stating that regretfully, the accommodation had been booked by another customer on Wednesday and the deal had lapsed.