By Tim Richardson for The
Register.
This article has been reproduced with permission.
The computer retailer - part of DSG International, which
includes Dixons and Currys - ran a national press ad that told
punters they could: "SAVE UP TO £140 ON LAPTOPS ... Packard Bell
... MODEL: R4650 ... USUAL IN-STORE PRICE £639.99 ... TAKE HOME
TODAY! VOUCHER PRICE* TAKE THIS INTO STORE INC VAT £499.99".
Snag is, a punter from Merseyside was unable to buy the £499.99
lappy in PC World's Birkenhead and Chester stores because both were
out of stock. Instead, the punter was told the laptop could be
snapped up from PC World's website - but for £100 more.
In response to a complaint to the Advertising Standards
Authority, DSG explained that sales "rose beyond expectations
during the promotional period", and that 500 laptops were sold in
the first two days of the promo.
But although DSG said that it always tried to forecast demand
for its promotions, the ASA was not convinced, noting that: "DSG
had not sent evidence to show it had tried to forecast demand."
Ruling that the ad was misleading, the ad watchdog said: "We
considered that DSG had not shown that it had made a reasonable
estimate of demand based on previous similar promotions, or that
sufficient stock of the product was available to meet that
demand.
"We concluded that the ad was misleading and told DSG to take
greater care with future, similar promotions."
© The Register
2006
