Everybody loves to find a bargain in the shops. So when you find a sofa that was originally £1000, but now is £499 you can’t help but think you have bagged yourself a good deal. But is it really as genuine as you think it is?
According to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) six high street retailers selling furniture products have been misleading customers with false prices. The main misrepresentation from the stores was referencing previously higher prices, which the product in question had never been on sale at. This made the customer think they were getting a huge saving.
So who is misleading their customers? The six companies under investigation by the OFT are Carpetright, DFS, Dreams, Furniture Village, SCS Upholstery and Steinhoff – which owns Benson Beds and Harveys. Some of these are notorious for sales, especially DFS which seems to have a sale or double sale on for the majority of the year!
Speaking of the investigation, Gaucho Rasmussen, Director at the OFT, said: “OFT research has found that reference pricing can mislead consumers into thinking the item they have bought is of higher value and quality, pressure them to buy there and then so they don’t ‘miss out’ on the deal.”
“This Bank Holiday sale season we would recommend that consumers ask sales staff when and for how long the reference price was used and also how many sales they achieved at this price. This will help them to determine whether they are getting a good deal.”
Do you think you may have bought a furniture item at a misleading price? Will you be boycotting the stores in the future?
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