How companies make you spend more online ......
| Related: | Entertainment & Leisure•Shopping•Scams & Fraud |
Just read this report today where a group-selling site has been slammed by the OFT after promoting cut-price iPhones to thousands of people when it only had eight available.
Groupola got caught practising this scam by offering £99 iPhones to thousands when there were only eight phones available. Apparently its called 'Sales Baiting' and ropes you into their database where they will use heavy sales techniques to sell you an alternative or ply you with mailshots and spam until you are sick of it.
Baiting sales is against consumer protection rules, and hence the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has taken enforcement action against the company that owns the site; Markco Media. Groupola has also apologised and said that those responsible for this bait pricing no longer work at the site.
More likely, I suggest, is that the staff were 'mobilised' to another associated site to retain their tawdry expertise.
WE all know that this kind of trick has been aimed at the public for years but do any of you have any definitive experience here? Two years ago I wanted to but an iPod Touch and Currys sent me an e-mailshot offering me one at a £65 discount ( and at that time no one discounted as they we so popular ). But guess what? I searched every Currys branch around the country and there was not one available. So I phoned their customer service line for help. The discussion was awkward to say the least ( from their point of view ) and they promised to email me or phone me when they could source one for me. I never heard anymore.
Let's hear personal experiences please ....
Responses (2)
M&S £10 champagne and TK Maxx's cheap iPads are just 2 examples that spring to mind. They sounded like great deals but alas I couldn't find any anywhere.
No personal experience, as I would avoid such things like the plague, but I have heard stories like this before.
Me too, Feline, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so leave well alone...that's my maxim!
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I have some inside information on the M&S champagne deal and event the staff couldn't believe it until they realised there was only a thirty bottle allocation per store ... enough for the first 30 minutes trading! A veritable loss leader at a loss to the bulk of customers!