Bait and Switch

Bait and Switch

Explain if this fact has any bearing on whether or not the dealer must perform in accordance with the published advertisement.

The car dealer is not authorized to sell the car to a person who had suffered difficulty in reaching the dealer. Advertisements are invitations to offers rather than being an offer. The dealership is not bound to accept Betty's offer just because she has faced difficulty in reaching the dealer. Betty, as a customer, might argue that she relied, on the dependency of loss, to make it for the purchase of the truck.

Betty was attracted towards the advertisement of truck placed by Tony. Therefore, she underwent difficulty of bearing heat and driving for an hour. She found offer of Tony worth to make such a complicated travel. The bait and switch may have been applied to customers by Tony. The bait and switch method refers to a low-price offer in advertisements by the car dealers to attract the customers for the dealership. According to the Insider's Guide to Car Buying, when an illiterate or uneducated customer arrives to the dealer and queries about the advertised car, the dealer present excuses. The excuses can be that the advertised car has been dealt with some other customer or, it is not available at the offered price anymore. Instantly, the dealer offers his variety of cars and offers them at high prices than usual (N.A., 2011).

In the video, Tony informs Betty that the truck, which was advertised, has been sold. He adds that there was only for sale and, now it is sold. Tony shows a print of the advertisement which stated that there was only one truck for sale. The writing was very minute and difficult to read normally. The Federal Trade Commission has stated that any conditions and terms in the advertisement must be clearly mentioned, disclosed and displayed. Though the writing size of the print shown by Tony was very small, but it stated that, at this price, only one is available. The invoice number of the truck was also mentioned in the print.

When Tony said over the phone “three thousand dollars firm,” explain whether or not he was making an offer that, if accepted, would bind the dealership in contract.

The statement made by Tony over the phone “Three thousand dollars firm” means that he was making an offer. He was not binding any deal or contract. This can be said because he did not use words as I would require seeing the car or the service manager would have a look at the car. He did not even mention approving the deal by him or his manager.

Though he made an offer and made a statement related to the deal, it did not bind him and the other party with the deal. The offer made by Tony can be counted as a verbal offer which would help in finalizing the deal in the future. A sales contract, signed by both seller and buyer, is a legal, binding ...