Argos 'out of stock'

alerton123

Earlier this week i wanted to order an item (403/9369) which was not available to collect from any argos store or for delivery anywhere in the UK. At the time the item was 'reduced' presumably to match the offer that amazon had on the same item. You can imagine how surprised i was to find that the day the offer ended and the price returned to 'normal' that miraculously argos had stock available for delivery again. Now baring in mind that amazon make / distribute these things and were out of stock and remain out of stock of this item in the UK i don't see how argos managed to secure a delivery on this item. I can only assume that they did actually have stock but were simply not prepared to offer them at the new reduced price. This seems a bit underhand to me, why bother to reduce the price in the first place if they were never going to sell the item at that price.

HampshireH

They may only have set aside an allocated amount of stock for the offer at the reduced rate.

[Deleted User]

alerton123 said:. I can only assume that they did actually have stock but were simply not prepared to offer them at the new reduced price. This seems a bit underhand to me, why bother to reduce the price in the first place if they were never going to sell the item at that price.

The danger in assuming is that you just don't know.

 Argos may well have bought a very large amount of "403/9369", but only set aside a certain number they wanted to sell at a reduced rate. 

Argos may well have had very few of  "403/9369" and their supplier increased the wholesale price of the item forcing them to sell at a higher price. 

Argos could even have been completely out of stock of "403/9369" and genuinely took a new delivery just as the offer ended. 

As I say, you just don't know and (short of contacting their Head Office and getting them to disclose potentially sensitive business information) you never will.

alerton123

Moneyineptitude said:

The danger in assuming is that you just don't know.

 Argos may well have bought a very large amount of "403/9369", but only set aside a certain number they wanted to sell at a reduced rate. 

Argos may well have had very few of  "403/9369" and their supplier increased the wholesale price of the item forcing them to sell at a higher price. 

Argos could even have been completely out of stock of "403/9369" and genuinely took a new delivery just as the offer ended. 

As I say, you just don't know and (short of contacting their Head Office and getting them to disclose potentially sensitive business information) you never will.

you are quite right any of your suggestions could be true but since the only supplier is amazon who are out of stock in the UK i think its safe / fair to assume that the stock argos have now they also had at the time of the 'offer', i suppose my point is that if argos are not going to sell an item that is on special offer or price match then why reduce the price at all, just leave it at the original higher price and give people the option to buy at the higher price if they want.

[Deleted User]

alerton123 said:

you are quite right any of your suggestions could be true but since the only supplier is amazon who are out of stock in the UK i think its safe / fair to assume that the stock argos have now they also had at the time of the 'offer

It's never 'safe' to assume anything of this nature. Amazon may well be 'out of stock' of whatever this item is, but this could be because they fulfilled an existing order to Argos prior to re-stocking themselves. Or the stock earmarked for Argos  could already have been at sea when Amazon went out of stock. 

This item, as well you must realise, is sourced from abroad of the UK and deliveries from same will have been impacted by the Covid Crisis. That's also a reason why the wholesale price could increase and so reduce the amount of stock available at the offer price. 

 

So, unless you have significant actual evidence of wrong-doing, it's unwise to assume or accuse this retailer of  using any sharp practice at all

alerton123

Moneyineptitude said:

So, unless you have significant actual evidence of wrong-doing, it's unwise to assume or accuse this retailer of  using any sharp practice at all

im not accusing anyone of anything here, my point is that IF argos had continued to sell the item even at the higher price some people, probably including me, would still have had the chance to buy an item they wanted / needed rather than having to source the item from smaller less reputable sellers or even worse possibly stolen or amazon blocked items.
on the face of it seems that argos (and no doubt other retailers too) are too hell bent on featuring on price comparison sites, despite not actually selling at that price more than giving customers an opportunity to actually buy a product. argos (and any other retailer) are of course well within there rights to choose to sell an item or not.

[Deleted User]

alerton123 said: 

im not accusing anyone of anything here,

You very  clearly are accusing them of falsely stating they were out-of-stock based solely on a very spurious assumption. 

No real point discussing this further IMHO...

alerton123

Moneyineptitude said:

No real point discussing this further IMHO...

i couldn't agree more, if you are unable to understand my point and insist upon spinning the intended meaning by using language like 'accusation'  and  'sharp practice' then it does seem pointless indeed.

[Deleted User]

alerton123 said:  you are unable to understand my point 

I think I understand your "point" very well.

 I just don't agree with your point of view because you can provide no evidence for your assertions..

Sorry. 

askeym

There used to be a consumer protection law which stated the item had to be on sale at the higher price for at least 28 days before reducing to the sale price. Now, whether this applied to a 'sale' or just a reduced price I'm not sure.

JJ_Egan

It is still the law . But that has nothing to do with your post as it only requires one outlet  to have sold at a higher price .