Am I being unfair to Lakeland?

[Deleted User]

I welcome any constructive criticism because I am not sure if I am being unfair to Lakeland.

I received a mini booklet in the post which included, as part of the booklet itself, a page of date limited money off tokens.  I was unable to use the first 20% off token as I had other bills to pay at that time but I wanted to use the second token which was for 10% off. The voucher was valid until 28 February and could be used together with any other offer.

I noticed a GTech vacuum in the booklet with £100 off and, as I have no working vacuum, I was eager to accept this good offer, especially since I could also have another 10% off.  When I tried to order the GTech vacuum I was told that the offer had expired on 31 January.  There it was, at the very bottom of the page in the booklet, in very pale grey with an extremely tiny pale asterisk and such tiny font that it could hardly be read and was difficult to notice at all.  It was the most pale and tiniest print in the whole page.  The paragraph above, which looked like the last line of the offer, was in bright green normal sized font and was easy to read.  I assumed that, that was the last piece of information about the GTech vacuum.

When discussing this with a Lakeland Supervisor, he agreed that it was almost too small to notice, was contrary to the information on the token and said that he would bring it to the attention of their Marketing Team. I genuinely could not read it wearing just my glasses but, when pointed out to me, I could read it with the help of a magnifying glass, as well as my glasses.

I referred to the voucher details and, to me, conflicting information including the difference in the date, font size and colour. It made no difference as, although not clear to see, the offer had expired on 31 January.

The Supervisor offered me a 20% off voucher for a future purchase.  If I still wanted the GTech vacuum the price had gone up by an additional £100.

Unfortunately the increased cost was too expensive for me and I said that I thought the marketing was misleading and unfair.  The text on the voucher was clear and easy to read but the note at the very end of the page for the GTech vacuum was, as I mentioned, almost impossible to read as it was so tiny and was in very pale grey almost merging into the colour of the page. 

I expressed my disappointment and, as a very long standing Lakeland customer, I felt as if the marketing was inconsistent and misleading - not in keeping with their normal good standard of marketing.

I welcome your comments in case my respoinse to Lakeland is unreasonable.

baser999

Unfortunate perhaps, although you have been given a 20% voucher off a future purchase 

Vectis

It seems to me that you haven't lost anything, but have gained a 20% off voucher to use in the future. As you say you're a very long-standing Lakeland customer, this must be a useful bonus?

I'd just double-check to see if there's a date on the voucher though...

Ena123

I am not familiar with Lakeland and prices, but use that 20% off voucher in the future and try to get a vacuum somewhere else, for the price you can afford. 
And yes, it may have been dodgy advertising tactics. 

[Deleted User]

Thanks Ena123.  I'm afraid, although I did not refuse the 20% off voucher, I did not specifically accept it.  I still have the 10% off voucher but the problem is that the vacuum had gone up in price by an additional £100 and, even with the voucher, I'm afraid it was more that i could pay.  Thank you for replying.