It’s frustrating enough when an online retailer makes a typo that leads customers to think an item is on sale. It doesn’t help when the retailer subsequently brushes you off when you bring this error to their attention. And even after the media has pointed out the mistake to the corporate office, it will inexplicably take more time for the price to be corrected.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

Consumerist reader J. recently encountered what we call “discount letdown” when he and his son came across an Acer Revo mini desktop computer for $299.99. A heck of a deal, or so J. thought.

He tells Consumerist that he’d bought an earlier model of the Revo that had been serving him well for years. So when he came across the this model for what appeared to be the bargain price of $299.99 — on Acer’s site, no less — he was understandably interested in upgrading.

Then he scrolled down from the top of the listing, which prominently displays the “$299.99” price, only to find another set of prices “below the fold,” all linking to retailers selling the mini desktop for around $449.99, including another link to Acer’s online store — where it’s also $449.99.

When J.’s son reached out to Acer on livechat on July 29 to find out what was going on, it seemed to them that the company wasn’t too worried about $150 pricing error.

Acer Rep: Welcome to Acer eCommerce at Sutherland, how may I help you today?
J.’s Son: I was wondering why on your page at http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/DT.SPMAA.001 it is $299.99 but in your store it is $499.99?
Acer Rep: There might be a misprint on one of the pages. You will pay the $449.99 if you order from the Acer Store.
J.’s Son: That is a pretty big misprint.
Acer Rep: May I assist you with anything else?

The customer service rep apparently didn’t want to linger on that misprint thing, and moved on.

J. wrote to us on Monday, noting that the lower price is still sitting at the top of the listing on the Acer site. The screengrabs above were taken by us in the late afternoon on Aug. 3, four days after J.’s son tried to alert the company to the error.

“I can understand if it’s really a mistake, but once notified of the mistake, shouldn’t they make some effort to fix it?” J. asked.

We asked Acer HQ about the price confusion, and a company representative thanked us for the heads up. But the typo will remain until Wednesday, Aug. 5, now a week after J.’s son contacted Acer about it. We just checked the site again in the hope that maybe someone would sense some urgency, but nope.

Perhaps the internet store has run out of numerals for the moment, and Acer will have to place a special order for more “4”s.

“This was in fact a mistake – the MSRP should have been $449.99,” the rep told Consumerist. “Our web team just changed it and it will be live tomorrow.”

J. says that though he used to be a happy Acer customer, this “business of multiple prices on the same page (with the most prominently displayed one being unavailable) leaves a very bad taste” in his mouth.

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