British shoppers face tricky-deals during this years Black-Friday sales according to a new study. Which? consumer group found that many so-called discounts dont match their marketing claims
The department store John Lewis with its well-known price matching promise came under fire for price manipulation: a high-end Nespresso machine listed at £499.95 (marked down from £699.95) was actually cheaper for over a month before the sale and cost just £479.95 last summer
Black-Friday‚ which started as US post-thanksgiving tradition has become a major shopping event in Britain. Last year UK customers spent about £13.3bn during the sale period; however the research shows that nine out of ten deals werent real savings
Here are the main issues found in the investigation:
- Most higher “was“ prices stayed active less than half the year
- Several items had fake original prices
- Many products became cheaper after Black-Friday
- Some deals were available multiple times throughout the year
Consumer expert Martyn James points to regulation problems — “theres a million and one different agencies dealing with this; but no ones enforcing it“. Meanwhile Currys responded by saying they changed their approach: implementing new standards after last years findings
We want retailers to drop the sneaky pricing tactics so consumers are not misled about the deals on offer
A John Lewis rep defended their practices saying they offer good deals year-round and their price-matching system (which compares prices with 25 other shops) helps customers get fair prices