Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP / Getty Images
A man in Mexico City got the deal of a lifetime on a pair of Cartier earrings. Rogelio Villarreal was browsing the luxury jeweler's website when he noticed a pair of 18-carat rose-gold Clash de Cartier earrings listed for just 237 pesos ($14). He couldn't believe the deal, so he purchased two sets.
However, when Cartier processed his order, they realized their mistake. The company said the earring should have been listed for 237,000 pesos ($14,000) and refused to fulfill the order.
Villarreal said the jewelry company offered him a bottle of Cartier Cuvée champagne and a leather Cartier item for their mistake. He refused and filed a complaint with Profeco, Mexico's consumer protection agency. After several months of back-and-forth with Cartier, the company sent him both pairs of earrings just a few days before his hearing with Profeco.
Now that Cartier has sent him the earrings, the matter is closed. However, Jorge López Zozaya, a corporate lawyer from Mexico City, told The New York Times that Mexico's consumer protection laws do not force companies to honor a listed price if it was clearly a mistake.
"If this case had gone to a court of law, it probably would have resolved favorably for Cartier," Zozaya said.
Villarreal said he is glad the ordeal is over and is happy he could give his mother the rose-gold earrings.