WHSmiths Sale - What a Con!!!

Pepzofio

I recently saw a WHSmiths ad for their current 'sale' that included Star Wars Lego so thought I'd have a look at what was on offer...

Turns out that their 'original prices' are roughly a 50% mark-up on Lego's own prices (which is also what most other retailers sell it at), so even with 25% off, their Lego is still more than the full price if you bought direct from Lego!!!:eek::eek::eek:
e.g. items retailing at £24.99 via Lego are listed with an 'original price' of £36.99 @ WHSmiths and a sale price of £27.74, items which are £9.99 are £14.99 down to £11.24... (Non-SW Lego seems to have a slightly lower mark up, but even so the WHSmith's 'sale' price is still the same or slightly less than regular Lego price.)

Now to be fair, our local department store stocks Lego at around 10% above the standard price of Lego, but (a) it's one of those department store where you expect to pay a little bit of a premium and (b) at least when they run a 10% sale it brings prices down to the standard Lego prices!

I know it's up to the consumer to shop around, but I for one would assume that a 25% discount at WHSmiths would mean that I was saving at least something over the manufacturer's standard price, even if it wasn't 25%!! I know shops have been known to artificially inflate prices in a few shops prior to a 'sale' to exaggerate the savings, but 50% above normal sale prices takes the biscuit...

(I know this might go better on the Praise, Vents & Warnings board, but I thought more people that are researching Xmas shopping bargains would see it here.)