Typo gets man $14,000 rose gold Cartier earrings for $14

Rogelio Villarreal struck gold when he was shopping for a pair of earrings on luxury jeweler Cartier’s website. But Cartier said the price he saw was a mistake at that he couldn’t buy a $14,000 pair of earrings for the posted price of $14.

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But Villarreal, who is from Mexico, used his country’s consumer protection law to pay the published price, even if it was a mistake, The New York Times reported.

Villarreal said he didn’t know anything about Cartier, but saw the ad on his Instagram feed last December. Among the listings for purses, watches and necklaces with price tags of thousands of dollars each, there was a pair of 18-carat rose-gold cuff earrings that were lined with diamonds that were listed for 237 pesos. The exchange rate put the price tag at about $14, The Associated Press reported.

He ended up buying two pairs before the price was changed to the correct amount of 237,000 pesos or $14,000 a pair.

About a week after Villarreal purchased the earrings, Cartier tried several times to cancel the order, first telling him that the earrings were not available, the Times reported.

But he didn’t do anything to cancel his purchase, so Cartier started calling him.

He claimed that the company informed him, “the earrings that I had ordered were not at the correct price, which is why they wanted to cancel the purchase, and that because of the inconvenience they would give me a gift.”

The gift would be Cartier branded champagne and a leather passport cover, Barron’s reported. He said no, and cited Mexican consumer protection law that read that a company can be sued “by not respecting the terms and conditions under which” something was purchased.

He then filed a complaint with the Office of the Federal Prosecutor for the Consumer Matamoros branch, an agency similar to the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S., the Times reported.

The AP reported that Cartier should abide by the price and the jewelry company fulfilled the order. The earrings arrived on Friday, seemingly bringing the case to an end.

Several social media users supported Villarreal, but not everyone thought he should have gotten such an amazing deal.

Lilly Tellez, a senator from Sonora, wrote, “It is wrong to take advantage of a mistake to the detriment of another person even if the law supports you.”

Cartier did not respond to the AP or The New York Times for comment.

As for what Villarreal did with the earrings, he said he gave one pair to his mother, the AP reported.

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