Group buying website lying about items sold?

[Croatian]

I recently got my business offer featured in a group buying website based in the UK. (e.g. Groupon, LivingSocial, Groupola, Wowcher...) I have the impression that they sold many less than they say they sold...maybe their own staff is clicking on the "buy" button.

They have to provide results and wire the money next week, and if I am right they'll give me some kind of excuse by which only a tiny part of the money that should be there is there, because they probably lied about the whole thing, and the number of items sold.

I have screenshots of their website featuring my offer and the section where the "buy now" button was, then displaying "Offer ended, XX (people) bought".

Do I have a case if I want to sue them based on providing false information? Is this called misrepresentation or does it have another legal name?

Can I demand privately the money according to items sold regardless of their giving me some false excuse such as "only a fraction of the buyers had valid credit card numbers" (theoretically the system would not/should not allow the website to display "item sold" if the card was not valid)

And in case I sue them

- How much could this cost and
- What kind of lawyer would do it?

They have made me waste my time and change my business strategy to adapt and now it may not have been worth it...

Thank you in advance

 

[kulture]

First you do not yet know haw many are sold. They have not yet told you. Impressions are all you have so far.

On what basis would you sue? Do you have a contract with them? Does the contract guarantee sales? Did they misrepresent what can be achieved to you? Can you prove misrepresentation? What is to stop them saying that they deliberately inflate the numbers on screen to give the impression that it is a popular offer in order to encourage more customers?

It is probable that any contract would have small print saying that sales volumes cannot be guaranteed.

As for suing, what is your loss, and can you PROVE that this loss is directly their responsibility and NOT your over eager ambition. (Because that is what they will say)

 

[Croatian]

>>First you do not yet know haw many are sold. They have not yet told you. Impressions are all you have so far.

Correct, and that's exactly what I said.

>>On what basis would you sue?

I am not a legal expert. This is the core of my question to you

>>Do you have a contract with them?

Yes

>>Does the contract guarantee sales?

No, and I am not saying that this is what I am claiming. I am claiming that they may be posting false information on their website

>>Did they misrepresent what can be achieved to you?

Again, this is not the point. I am not demanding sales. I am wondering if it is legal to pretend and show to the world that more sales have been made than actually have been made.

>>Can you prove misrepresentation?

I am not sure if misrepresentation is the issue I should deal with. That's one of my questions to you all

>>What is to stop them saying that they deliberately inflate the numbers on screen to give the impression that it is a popular offer in order to encourage more customers?

Would not this be ilegal? Can they do that? On that basis I could set up a similar website tomorrow and pretend, for example, that I have 10.000 followers on Facebook and that I sold x10 the numbers of items that I actually sold. Are you telling me that anyone can do this legally?

>>It is probable that any contract would have small print saying that sales volumes cannot be guaranteed.

This question is not about their guaranteeing me sales volumes, but I would expect that if the item actually sold only 3 units, that's what I would see on their website, not 200 sold

>>As for suing, what is your loss, and can you PROVE that this loss is directly their responsibility and NOT your over eager ambition. (Because that is what they will say)

Yes, good point. How should I prove this? What kind of information from me would they require to PROVE it?

Your reply left me with more questions than answers, but thanks anyway.

 

[kulture]

In order to sue them it would be best if you could prove breach of contract. You have a contract with them, have they breached it?

Regarding the alleged over-inflation of displayed orders on their web site. What loss have you incurred directly by using these displayed values? What reporting mechanism did you agree with the supplier? Were you encouraged to use these displayed numbers?

If you have incurred a loss because of an overeager sales person saying how great it will be, then you need to look to the contract. It will probably have a clause guaranteeing nothing. If however you were told to use these displayed figures and you did use them and they turn out to be fiction, then you may have a claim.

 

[Croatian]

Interesting. Thank you Kulture! We'll see what happens