On social media, Mr Villarreal's posts received mixed reactions.
A typo on Cartier's website that incorrectly priced a pair of gold-and-diamond earrings ended up being a costly mistake for the luxury jewellery maker and a happy surprise for a customer. Rogelio Villarreal, a Mexico native, was scrolling through Cartier's web page when he came across the shockingly low-priced pair of earrings. "I was amazed to see how much the necklaces cost and so on and I said: 'Someday,' until I saw the earrings," he wrote in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on April 20. According to CBS News, the earrings, in this case, were a pair of 18-karat rose gold stud hoops embedded with 142 brilliant-cut diamonds that were retailing on the site for $13.85. This was before the luxury brand changed the price to $14,000.
Mr Villarreal had snagged the deal and bought two pairs. "I swear I broke out in a cold sweat," he wrote on X. He relished in the satisfaction of scoring the designer pieces at a low price. However, his happiness was short-lived as Cartier attempted to cancel his order and offered him a consolation prize instead of the jewellery. But Mr Villarreal did not budge.
According to CBS News, the man raised the issue with Mexico's federal consumer protection agency, following which Cartier was summoned. After months of back and forth, Mr Villarreal said that the luxury brand eventually capitulated and fulfilled his order for two pairs of earrings - one for himself and another for his mother.
On April 26, Mr Villarreal shared a photo on X of his neatly wrapped boxes, indicating that the earrings had arrived. On Instagram, he also posted a photo of himself wearing the jewellery.
When asked why he was so determined to hold Cartier accountable over a pricing error, the man told the outlet that the company's initial response rubbed him the wrong way. "At first they said two things when I contacted them after they cancelled my order. One, they said the earrings were mispriced by accident. Then they said they couldn't fulfil the order because the earrings were out of stock. Their reasoning was difficult to understand," he said.
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Meanwhile, on social media, Mr Villarreal's posts received mixed reactions. While some celebrated his win over the luxury brand, others criticised him for taking advantage of what they saw as an honest mistake by the company. Some users even claimed that he should give the earrings back or pay taxes on them.
Mexican Senator Lilly Tellez also weighed in, saying in a post on X that she didn't think Mr Villarreal should have been entitled to keep the earrings simply because a retailer had made a mistake.
Mr Villarreal, on the other hand, stated that he was "very happy" when the earrings arrived. "I was very happy when the earrings arrived, but the reality is they don't just represent a purchase," he said. "I was familiar with my rights as a consumer, but not everyone is. So this case helps make Mexican people aware of their basic rights, including those protected by consumer law," he added.