6 Furniture chains -'fake prices', 'not genuine', and 'tricked customers'

tinkerbell28

Furniture shock, displaying misleading prices. I am shocked, said no savvy consumer, ever.

j0nathon2

If this is news to the regulators, then it says a lot about them doesn't it.

(Perhaps the regulators missed this as they headed off to the DFS sale every day because it was definitely ending on the weekend).

Coopdivi

Computersaysno wrote: »

You are correct in that 'No one has even been prosecuted'.

The OFT said "accused of misleading their customers with fake prices.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said the stores had all advertised price cuts which were not genuine.

In particular, they advertised reductions from previously higher prices, which tricked customers into thinking they were getting a bargain."

Now I'd suggest that the above description of their activities falls broadly within 'fraud'....especially 'fake prices', 'not genuine', and 'tricked customers'.

However to keep my ar5e safe I'll state that [sadly] there have been no legal convictions for fraud nor any actual proven 'criminal' actions, and I was using it in its broadest sense.....namely getting someone's money through 'underhand' activity.

I would also make the point that the main reason there is no action is that it's too costly for the gov to take it and the regs/guidelines are not robust enough to be actionable.

I've posted this on another thread. Mattressman have been fined £7000 for misleading sale prices.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/norwich_bed_firm_faces_160_000_bill_after_admitting_misleading_customers_on_sale_prices_1_2319839

It's not just household furnishing companies who do this though. The likes of Sports Direct and Mountain Warehouse with their permanent 80% reductions employ similar misleading tactics.

Like Browntoa said, many of the more knowing consumers won't be taken in by this sort of marketing guff. Other buyers will be though and the retailers know their little white lies make money.

I like to think I'm quite a shrewd buyer but a few years ago when I bought a monitor from Play.com which had been 'reduced' from £280 to £130 I inwardly congratulated myself on getting a massive bargain. A couple of years later when it gave up the ghost after being a thorough pain in the a every time I used it and Play never put their price above £180 during that time, I realised that I'd been had by that 'massive' reduction.:rotfl:

Computersaysno

The point was made by TS that they had very few public complaints about this matter....not because people didn't 'feel' it was going on, but because it is difficult for Jo Public to identify the scam in operation[how many people track prices in ScS???]. Lots of people felt they was 'mischief' afoot but how do you prove it?

milliemonster

I bought a range of bedroom furniture from oak furniture land last xmas, after having tracked the prices for a good 6-12 months of the range, as during that time I was saving hard to pay for it all in one go.

During that time I noticed that the price of each item actually increased slightly, but was always advertised as a massive reduction in a sale that was only lasting 3 days, the price of each item was not once ever advertised at the 'original' full price.

It has shocked me how the OFT have only just picked up on these tactics when we have all known about these ridiculous 'sales' for years

prowla

The link on the BBC also pointed out that Tesco were recently fined £300k for their "half price" strawberries, which had been the "full price" for 2 weeks and then half price for 6 months.

Me, I just said they were expensive at that and didn't buy them.

Same with a sofa - you can't need too many of them, and shopping around makes good sense, so you can see whether the "sale" price is genuine. Those large retailers always seem to have a sale on.

hcb42

Magnet are another one, my kitchen was quoted as £15K in the sale, reduced from "£30K" and this was in their mid range. Needless to say we wont be buying at that price!

Pinkypants

Browntoa wrote: »

I've always taken the "sale" claims/prices with a pinch of salt

is anyone actually foolish enough to fall for it anyway ??

Yes of course they are, the shops need to give the customer a "reason" to purchase today, now, not later.

How times have you heard I got it in the sale or around Christmas especially I'll wait till the sales are on.

If the "sales" didn't work then the industry would try something else.

Comet years ago tired the Non sale route by having so called low prices all year. So did a sofa shop in the North that Mary Portas visited.

Comet went back to doing sales and went bust, the sofa company is now back doing "Sales".

http://www.csl-sofas.co.uk/ When Mary was there she tired to change their tactic to, this sofa is not worth £999, has never been £799 it's £499.

She interviewed a few people outside and one of the comments from a member of the public was "I'm going to DFS as they have a sale on!"

huskypupx2

I noticed when I went past my local Dreams shop that all the Sale, BOGOFs and 60% off signs had been taken down for the first time since they opened the store over 3 years ago. Looks a bit sad without them :0

Computersaysno

I guess absence of signs may well be an indicator of 'interest from the OFT'.

Wonder what ScS and Carpetright windows and stores look like at the moment?? Barren??