Curry's Price Fixing

gasdiver

I went to the Curry's store in Coventry last Friday to buy the Samsung UE40F800 LED TV. Priced at £1349, I noticed Curry's do a price match, so I scoured the Internet and found a company in Birmingham doing the exact model @ £1027.00. I asked the store manager to look at the deal and honour the price match deal, but to no avail.
It would seem that Curry's have a price fix on their TV's where they offer a FREE 5 year warranty which is NOT free. In fact, this is a CON. All TV's come with a manufacturers warranty, and under the consumer act they should be fit for the purpose, even after the warranty has run out you would still have a claim against the manufacturer.
WE the consumers should not be FORCED to buy products with extended warranties, and this price fixing is against the law.
I sent an email to Curry's customer care on Friday advising them of this, and they did not respond, but no surprise.
My next action is to notify Trading Standards and the BBC watchdog to make them aware of their price fixing.

NEVER AGAIN will I purchase from Curry's

wealdroam

Duplicate post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/63099858#Comment_63099858

Should be on the Praise, Vent & Warnings board.


Oh, and this is totally wrong:

gasdiver wrote: »

All TV's come with a manufacturers warranty, and under the consumer act they should be fit for the purpose, even after the warranty has run out you would still have a claim against the manufacturer.

Once the manufacturer's warranty has expired, the manufacturer owes you absolutely nothing.

You may however have a claim against whoever sold the thing to you under The Sale of Goods Act.

whatmichaelsays

gasdiver wrote: »

WE the consumers should not be FORCED to buy products with extended warranties, and this price fixing is against the law.

You're not. You have several options:

• Buy from elsewhere
• Buy a different model
• Negotiate a deal with the retailer - although the retailer is under no obligation to accept your offer

And what you describe isn't 'price fixing' - unless you can evidence that Currys have colluded with other suppliers to restrict the free movement of prices.

Fosterdog

Good luck with trading standards and watchdog I'm sure they will take you very seriously and not roll their eyes and laugh at your expense at all.

In the mean time, try reading up on what price fixing actually is and what consumer law actually is.

Oh and good luck claiming off a manufacturer even after the warranty has run out, I'm sure they know all about this "consumer act" you speak of

shaun_from_Africa

gasdiver wrote: »

.
WE the consumers should not be FORCED to buy products with extended warranties, and this price fixing is against the law.

NEVER AGAIN will I purchase from Curry's

Forced?
Do they hold a gun against their customer's heads?
It is not price fixing and it is not against any law for a retailer to offer goods for sale as a package, and that is all that they are doing, offering a TV and a 5 year guarantee as one item.

bris

Try claiming on your tv after 18 months and see how far your comsumer rights get you.

spacey2012

Many of the Model numbers are unique to big outlets, hence they can promise to price match it all they like, it might look like the one they sell, but theirs is the ZBT5676/e the other one that looks like it is a ZBT5677/f this has a extra full stop on the writing at the back mate.

SuperHan

They match the deal, at a retail outlet within a certain mile radius. If Currys has a 5 year manufacturers guarantee and the other company's doesn't - it's not the same deal. In fact, it's almost certainly got a slightly different model number as mentioned above so the manufacturer can distinguish which models have the warranty and which don't. Had Currys offered the TV without the warranty it would have undoubtedly been at the same price.

If you don't like it, buy it from the company in Birmingham. I never really understand these price matches, just buy from the cheaper company! (Although I suppose the extra 10% does make it worthwhile...)

shaun_from_Africa

SuperHan wrote: »

I never really understand these price matches, just buy from the cheaper company!

For me, a lot depends on who the retailers are.
Earlier this year I was looking for a TV and found the one I wanted in John Lewis. After shopping around a bit, I saw the same one in Richer Sounds for £99 less, but having always received very good aftersales service from JL, I decided to stick with them.

All they had to do was to confirm that the TV was in stock in RS and they matched the price. (no 10% extra though).

Nilrem

spacey2012 wrote: »

Many of the Model numbers are unique to big outlets, hence they can promise to price match it all they like, it might look like the one they sell, but theirs is the ZBT5676/e the other one that looks like it is a ZBT5677/f this has a extra full stop on the writing at the back mate.

Very much true, although now days i suspect it's only really DSG who get the "special" models.

I remember when I was searching for TV's I noticed that DSG often had almost identical models but with a single digit changing (and in the case of Samsung TV's, often a single small but of the bezel was a different colour, or an led a different colour).

Personally I avoid DSG on the principle that every time I've had the misfortune of using them and something going wrong I've had massive problems with getting it sorted, even when it's gone wrong the same day as purchased and can be demonstrated to even the dullest sales assistant* in a couple of minutes.


*I still have memories of taking a device back with an obvious, easy to replicate error and having the store assistant (lol) spend about an hour comparing it to the instore unit about a dozen times with the fault showing up every time.

DCFC79

I anticipate we will get a few responses from the OP like " Does everyone work for Curry's ? or the secret EU rule will get mentioned.