Are Thorntons breaching trading standards?

bananacakes

OK I could be over reacting but this just seems very naughty to me.

I've been looking at this hamper online for the last couple of weeks as I figured a christmas hamper (especially when on offer) was the cheapest way to buy my christmas choccies for gifts etc.

http://www.thorntons.co.uk/product/A-Christmas-Cracker-of-a-Hamper/987.uts

The hamper has been on sale for £100 and last week they had a special "deal of the day" to get it for half price. I missed out on that one and was quite gutted so decided to hold out for the inevitable second round of deals in the run up to Christmas. Lo and behold, today it is "half price" again, which is fantastic, BUT I decided to add up the actual value of the hamper if you bought all the items separately, as usually this would be even more than the usual selling price, and to my surprise it's actually LESS. If you bought the contents of the hamper individually it would only cost £91.73. So how on earth can they justify charging £8.27 for a cardboard box? Especially when other hampers actually highlight the fact that it is cheaper to buy the hamper than the chocolates individually, for example, this one:

http://www.thorntons.co.uk/product/Christmas-Gifts/Christmas-Hampers/Christmas-Gift-Mega-Bundle/pc/2407/c/2409/1028.uts

It says "*Items worth more than £54 when sold separately" and its selling for £30.

Am I being pedantic? Surely this is cheeky tactics by Thorntons trying to make it look more of a bargain than it is? I wonder how many they actually sold for £100...

hollydays

Thorntons are always having offers, I keep on eye on morrisons for them at Christmas and hukd.companies struggling isn't it?
This just reinforces my thoughts on hampers which I've never had or understood the attraction of, unless it's as a business freebie . A salutary lesson to all. Yum do they still do thortons continental , that round one in the foil!
Seems naughty to me.. But nice..:)

maninthestreet

What exact law or regulation do you think they are breaking?

wiogs

Yes you are overreacting.

If Thortons want to put together a pile of goods that cost £10 for example then charge £50 for it, then good luck to them.

hollydays

The op was asking us!if she knew the exact law , she wouldn't have posted..:santa2:

unholyangel

Unless they state that the items in the hamper cost more to purchase individually/state they're worth more than they are individually, they're not breaching anything as far as I understand.

There are pricing guidelines on what they're supposed to tell you though (cant remember the exact guidelines but its to do with when you need to inform the consumer that the item has previously been on sale and at what price and that they can only use a full price comparison if its been on sale at that price for a certain duration and under certain circumstances).

They were brought in to stop companies putting an item up in price in one store for a week before "slashing" the price across the country, using the higher price it was sold at in only one store to make it seem like a better deal than it actually is. And also to stop those companies who claim a higher RRP than is actually the case to make their discounts seem better value.

bananacakes

Thank you! That's exactly what I was thinking of unholyangel. I keep reading about supermarkets over inflating RRPs to make it look like a good deal and I guess this seemed similar!

Hmmm still a sweet deal but the tactics behind it has left a sour taste...

stephen77

the increased costs come from
1) cost of the hamper
2) cost of assembling putting the ingredients into the hamper


With out checking other hampers, I will guess Thornton's are not alone.