UK supermarkets deceiving customers
20/05/2015
UK supermarkets are still misleading customers via deals and offers and are breaking government guidelines, according to consumer group Which?.
Which? has said that it has found examples of reduced prices when the shop claims there is an offer being sold for longer than the higher “original” prices of the products. They also found misleading multi-buy offers, where products on the offers did not actually save customers any money and sometimes cost them more, and instances where products actually reduced in size in a bid to save money. For example, a box of 100 Twinings Assam tea bags was £4.40 in Tesco but when the pack shrunk to 80, the price increased costing £4.49. In Sainsbury’s the price of the tea bags remained the same (£4.50) despite the loss of 20 tea bags.
Last month, Which? approached the regulator over "confusing and misleading" supermarket prices, and launched a "super-complaint". This move means the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) must respond within 90 days.
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said:
“Retailers are continuing to pull the wool over shoppers’ eyes with dodgy discounts that just don’t stack up. Our super-complaint has the backing of tens of thousands of concerned shoppers and is calling on the regulator to take action to put an end to misleading pricing practices.”
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