Price goes up after making payment

Our company recently purchased a new Laptop from PC International. The item was priced reasonably and on their website it showed the product as "In Stock" or 1-2 days delivery. We asked for a written quote and received it promptly. We accepted the quote and asked for the invoice. After we did the EFT and sent Proof of payment, we were informed that the unit was now "out of stock" and that we could get two other models by paying more, or I could wait 1 or 2 days for delivery, but that its price has also gone up.

I then did some research and found another user Bronwyn complaining about the very same issue just a few days prior on Hello Peter. Price had also gone up immediately after doing the EFT and sending Proof of Payment.

We then threatened them with police action for ***** and attached the Hello Peter review from Bronwyn and demanded our money back.

They quickly offered to supply the exact same model that was "out of stock" with double the memory at the same price, which we accepted. I insisted on getting it in a sealed box, after also reading about other customers who bought new equipment only to receive it in an opened box.

Their defence: On all their emails and quotes they state that prices can change "at any time" due to exchange rates. I guess this especially applies after you have been invoiced and paid for the goods. I can appreciate that prices can change after a quote was generated, but once you have invoiced and confirmed stock can be supp**** within 1 to 2 days, then it no longer applies. It is highly unprofessional and raises serious questions about the outfit.

We are a large company that spend hundreds of thousands on IT equipment annually. I intended to buy from them on an ongoing basis due to the good prices on their website, but unfortunately after this experience we will remove them from our supplier list.