Eight out of ten consumers in Spain believe that most stores falsify the price of goods advertised in the sales
Consumer rights organisation, Facua, has detected various irregularities in stores such as announcing a discount on a product that is sold at the same price or even raising prices days before and then lowering them on sales day.
A survey carried out by Facua revealed that eight out of ten consumers believe that the vast majority of businesses falsify discounts on part of the products they advertise as discounted.
Specifically, 83.6% of consumers believe that most establishments advertise discounts that are not real during the sales season, while 9.1% believe that this practice is carried out by half of the businesses, 5.5% believe that very few do so and only 1.8% think that no business carries it out.
Irregularities in shops
The consumer organization detected various irregularities in shops, including advertising as discounted a product that is sold at exactly the same price as before the start of the sales or raising prices in the days before and then lowering them and boasting discounts.
Facua also points out that there are shops that “exaggerate” their sales, announcing on the labels or the signage placed next to the items discount percentages that are much higher than the real ones or that advertise as discounted products that had not really been on sale before.
Along with the “false discounts”, the consumer organization complained that, during the sales season, many businesses refuse to take responsibility and issue refunds when there are clear manufacturing defects.
In addition, he points out that there are establishments that advertise discounts of up to 70% that are only applied to a few items that disappear in the first few days or that extend the sales season up to two months when after several weeks there are hardly any discounted items left on their shelves.
Regional consumer authorities did not carry out inspections
” These are practices that involve consumer fraud and an unfair competition practice with establishments that apply real discounts in all cases,” criticized Facua, who regretted that the regional consumer authorities did not carry out inspection actions before and during the course of sales to impose fines.
In the event that a store ensures that a product has a discount and it does not really exist or its percentage reduction does not conform to reality, Facua advises consumers who can prove it that, in addition to advertising the facts through social networks to alert other customers, file complaints with the regional consumer protection authorities so that they apply sanctions.
Likewise, the association recalls that if the products purchased during the sales have a manufacturing defect, whatever their discount percentage, they still have a legal three-year guarantee.
