Tahoe Ski Resort Glitch Leads To $1 Season Tickets, Offer Voided And Replaced With Half-Off Deal

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Skiers thought they got a big deal, skiing on the slopes for a whole season for just $1.

Then Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows realized the mistake, leaving those skiers furious after the deals were voided.

Nick Cahill thought he hit the jackpot with the deal after getting an email confirming his order. But just hours later, he was informed by the resort that a programming error caused the mistake in pricing.

CBS13 received the following statement:

The erroneous pricing was corrected shortly after we were made aware of the glitch and purchases are now being made seamlessly. Transactions processed automatically at the erroneous price are void and refunds were issued by the end of the day.

Now the resort is offering those customers season passes for roughly half of what they usually go for this time of year.

CBS13 wanted to get answers from a consumer attorney about whether the resort has the right to void the discounted price.

Nancy Peverini says there is a longstanding state law that says they don't have to.

"Although they are not legally obligated to honor those contracts under current California law, they may choose to do it for customer benefits and customer relations," she said.

Cahill agrees and believes the resort missed its chance to capitalize on good customer service.

"Imagine the amount of good PR they would get if the headlines would read 'Squaw Valley honors $1 pass for X amount of people' versus the entire polar opposite," he said.

A similar situation happened last year when United Airlines' website offered airline tickets around the world for next to nothing. In that case, United honored the discount.