Argos - sale stock disappearing and reappearing when the sale ends!

giraffe69

This sort of trick is a good reason not to use Argos. The number of times an item is not available
a. at all
b. within 150 miles
and 
c. it was in a sale or discounted in some way
means it is deliberate and even if I miss the possibility of a bargain I would rather shop elsewhere.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

noitsnotme said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

KatrinaWaves said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

KatrinaWaves said:

Jessie8787 said:

Yes I suspected that might be the case. The sale figures showed they only sold 3 during the sale period - pretty poor to only make 3 available for sale.  

They could choose to make 0 available, so to let three people have a shot at a cheap one isn’t poor, it’s nice.

No point letting a good seller go into a sale, but it doesn’t mean they have to scrap the sale on other poorer sellers. You only noticed this item because you were watching it. There was probably tonnes of other items that didn’t go in the same either. It happens a lot with SpaceNK who do a frequent £20 off £60 offer. All the skincare I use mysteriously disappears off the site when it comes around. But there’s no obligation to put anything on sale. 

I'm sure running a sale on zero items available would be classed as misleading, difficult to prove or get anyone to do anything about it but given the EU Directive on misleading actions states any action which may alter the economic behaviour of the consumer can be deemed misleading I don't think it would be hard to argue that offering a sale of something that effectively doesn't exist isn't misleading. 

Zero of the item the OP wants. The rest of the site, mostly, was on sale. 

I understand, what I'm saying is to include a high ticket item in a sale to draw customers in without any actually being available would be classed as misleading. 

I'd agree if there was never any available at the discounted price in the first place, but once the sale items are sold out then there is nothing misleading in showing no stock left.  The sale would have been programmed in to their system to run over a set time for a set number of units - if they sell out in that set time period they will show as zero stock until the end of the sale period.

Great thing about forums is you can go back and see everything that was said before  

My comments were only in relation to: 

"They could choose to make 0 available, so to let three people have a shot at a cheap one isn’t poor, it’s nice."

wesleyad

This is verging on bait and switch, which is against the law. Had they sold 0 it almost certainly would be. Even selling just 3 across the entire chain (if that's what you are saying) is dodgy and they could be deemed not enough for them to advertise the product in the sale. Of course it's nigh on impossible to get anything done about it.

noitsnotme

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

noitsnotme said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

KatrinaWaves said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

KatrinaWaves said:

Jessie8787 said:

Yes I suspected that might be the case. The sale figures showed they only sold 3 during the sale period - pretty poor to only make 3 available for sale.  

They could choose to make 0 available, so to let three people have a shot at a cheap one isn’t poor, it’s nice.

No point letting a good seller go into a sale, but it doesn’t mean they have to scrap the sale on other poorer sellers. You only noticed this item because you were watching it. There was probably tonnes of other items that didn’t go in the same either. It happens a lot with SpaceNK who do a frequent £20 off £60 offer. All the skincare I use mysteriously disappears off the site when it comes around. But there’s no obligation to put anything on sale. 

I'm sure running a sale on zero items available would be classed as misleading, difficult to prove or get anyone to do anything about it but given the EU Directive on misleading actions states any action which may alter the economic behaviour of the consumer can be deemed misleading I don't think it would be hard to argue that offering a sale of something that effectively doesn't exist isn't misleading. 

Zero of the item the OP wants. The rest of the site, mostly, was on sale. 

I understand, what I'm saying is to include a high ticket item in a sale to draw customers in without any actually being available would be classed as misleading. 

I'd agree if there was never any available at the discounted price in the first place, but once the sale items are sold out then there is nothing misleading in showing no stock left.  The sale would have been programmed in to their system to run over a set time for a set number of units - if they sell out in that set time period they will show as zero stock until the end of the sale period.

Great thing about forums is you can go back and see everything that was said before  

My comments were only in relation to: 

"They could choose to make 0 available, so to let three people have a shot at a cheap one isn’t poor, it’s nice."

Apologies, my mistake.  The forum is a bit annoying where it hides most of the previous quoted thread unless you click on the drop down arrow.

jon81uk

wesleyad said:

This is verging on bait and switch, which is against the law. Had they sold 0 it almost certainly would be. Even selling just 3 across the entire chain (if that's what you are saying) is dodgy and they could be deemed not enough for them to advertise the product in the sale. Of course it's nigh on impossible to get anything done about it.

It depends on what was advertised. If it is 20% off all Lego sets, then it seems reasonable that some will go out of stock. There is no obligation for them to keep the sets in stock.

But if they had an offer of 20% off this set only, I would expect reasonable stock to be maintained and the advert withdrawn if it sells out.