Leroy Merlin cancels 11€ AEG drill orders after listing error

Leroy Merlin cancels 11€ drill orders as customers file complaints

A 12V AEG cordless drill —reference 17912720— appeared on Leroy Merlin's website for 11 euros. On eBay, the same model was listed around 200. The absurd difference led many to assume a bargain before thinking twice: order, card payment, and store pickup. The result was a cascade of cancellations, silent refunds, and consumer complaint forms for a product that almost no one ever received.

The price error: 11€ for a 200€ drill

The model was no toy. 12 volts, 25 Nm torque and two batteries inside a case. Those who compared prices before buying saw the figure made no sense: on eBay, the same device was around 200 euros. The immediate conclusion was an error, yet the order went through.

The purchase logic explains it. A low-end lithium screwdriver, like the FIXA sold by IKEA for 9 euros, is different: low voltage and weak torque. This is not that. It is a 12V machine with two batteries, and still, 11 euros seemed a plausible clearance price to those who did not compare voltages.

"Pending payment" with money already charged

The next chapter was not the cancellation, but the order status. After paying, the order showed as "processing" and then "pending payment," while the charge was already on the card. Several people confirmed they had been charged 11 euros with no status update reflecting this.

Confusion was total. Had they been charged or not? Did they need to pay again? Some waited days to see the refund, while others found no cancellation email: the notice appeared in the inbox or directly in the spam folder. One forum user suggested they would be charged the missing 100.18 euros to complete the theoretical price.

Can Leroy Merlin cancel a paid order?

It depends on whom you ask, and that is the core of the issue. The majority view among those trinc the case is that such an error is obvious and no store is obliged to sell at a ridiculous price. There are rulings, as cited in the thread, supporting this reading: retailers need not accept glaring discrepancies.

The opposing view holds the opposite: the advertised price is binding, and the "typographical error" clause is worthless unless the discrepancy is insulting. A car for 20 euros is absurd; a drill for 11 when comparable models are 200 is debatable. No one has won this lawsuit yet, and the matter remains unresolved.

Complaint forms, OMIC, and the arbitration companies can reject

The dissatisfaction channelled in two directions. One, formal complaint: request the form in store, keep a copy, and take it to the municipal consumer office. The other, public complaint on social media and in stores.

Several people filed forms with their regional consumer office after store staff offered refunds instead of delivering the product. The response was always the same: online orders are managed by the platform, not the physical store. In some cases, the store manager checked stock and found no units available.

What is barely mentioned is the likely end of this path. One forum user recalled that the consumer system offers voluntary arbitration, which companies can refuse, considering refusal costs nothing. In his view, for the administration, a large supermarket is a taxpayer with high property tax, not an emergency, and the percentage of complaints resulting in anything other than dismissal is minimal.

Refunds without apology and the campaign no one made

As days passed, charges began to reverse. Without notice, without cancellation emails, without an apology line. Some learned they had been refunded only by seeing the money appear in their account.

Here concentrated the most repeated criticism: it was not the drill, but the manner. It was argued that another large platform, in a similar situation, would have honoured the price of paid orders or at least offered apologies. One forum user stated that a symbolic compensation —a discount, a note, any detail— would have cost little and been an invaluable image campaign. There was none.

And no, no one has confirmed receiving the device. A story circulated of someone claiming to have bought ten units and resold them, but no one appeared to verify it. The only verifiable reality is a product existing in the catalog, a price that did not, and a string of orders turned into nothing.

Eleven euros going in and out of accounts ruin no one. Striking is that a company the size of Leroy Merlin preferred this inconvenience to a couple of well-placed apologies.