Shady dealings in Cork showrooms

B

billb

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I was looking recently to buy a 2 year old car from a main dealer in Cork. Looking on the internet I noticed that all the prices were removed from the cars for sale.

I rang the dealer to ask what was going on and he said that they were having a special promotion for their regular customers but sorry he couldn't invite me - the special prices are only for their regulars.

Undeterred I popped into the showroom and noticed that the price tags all showed a "previous price" that was at least €1,000 higher than had been listed on their website and an "offer price" that was slightly lower than the previous price.

Is it legal to mislead your "regular customers" that you are getting a special discount when you are not and in this time of financial strife how shortsighted to turn away new business.

Is there a body responsible for cleaning up sharp trading like this as I have taken photos of the cars in question and would like to raise the issue with someone ?
 
Yes. The National Consumer Agency would be interested.

If it's a main dealer, the car brand e.g. Ford or Toyota, might be interested as well.

Brendan
 
I've seen other retail outlets use similar practices. They will list a product for sale at a price for a period of time, called the control period. After this period they reduce the price. In subsequent sales or special offers, they display the control price as the 'previous' price.

Argos are one of the few who are open about this, and tell you if a product has previously been on sale at a lower price than the current special offer.
Leo
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Yes. The National Consumer Agency would be interested.

If it's a main dealer, the car brand e.g. Ford or Toyota, might be interested as well.

Brendan
Click to expand...

Good idea, I will contact the importer and see what they have to say

It wasn't Ford by the way...
 
didnt tesco get told off for that with their 1000 prive cuts recently, the item were cheaper at the start of the year, then went up in feb/march, and dropped down now again for the big price drop !!
 
'Tis probably BMW .... I got a special invite from them to a special customers only prices weekend.
 
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