Battle of Forms
Norman Traffic Controls needed a new customized printed wire board, and the request for quotes the company sent out to several potential suppliers stated that any purchases would be by means of purchase orders, the terms and conditions of which would override any inconsistent terms in the offer. In response, Bates Electronics mailed an offer to sell Norman 20 boards for $1,900 apiece, to be delivered within six weeks. The offer contained a 90-day warranty and provided that the terms of the offer would take precedence over any terms proposed by Norman. Don Norman responded in a phone conversation in which he told Phil Bates that he was accepting the offer and that a formal purchase order for all 20 boards would follow. Don followed up the phone conversation two weeks later with a letter authorizing Bates to begin production of all 20 boards and repeating that a purchase order would follow. The actual purchase order was mailed two weeks after the letter. When the boards arrived, Norman tested them for conformity to its specifications. The testing was protracted because the boards were highly complex, and Norman's inspectors were busy. So it was not until six months after delivery that Norman returned the boards claiming that they were defective. "You can't return these now," Phil told Don when the boards arrived back at the Bates plant. You had 90 days, and it's been six months." "Look at the PO," Don advised him. "There wasn't any time limit." "We'll see about that in court," Phil replied. You decide: who wins? Click on "next" below for the answer and our analysis.
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