Home » Double balances and offers not to be missed, but they are deceptive campaigns: 1 million fine to Poltronesofà

Double balances and offers not to be missed, but they are deceptive campaigns: 1 million fine to Poltronesofà

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MILANO – Double discounts “on the whole collection”. “What are you waiting for, there is time until tomorrow”. Aggressive messages to push consumers to purchase sofas & CO. which cost a 1 million euro fine to Poltronesofà by the Antitrust Authority.

The Competition and Market Guarantee Authority has ascertained that “in 2020 the company disseminated misleading and omissive advertising campaigns regarding the characteristics of the offer, especially as regards the duration, the extension of the promotions and the extent of the promised discounts “.

The catalog of misconduct proposed by the Authority is vast. Here are the examples given: in the case of the promotion “Double balances double savings – 50% discount + up to 40% on the entire collection + 48 months without interest”, spread over the period January 4 – February 9, 2020, there are two things that are not they work. “First, it emerged that the actual conditions of sale limited the application of the advertised discount percentages to only certain sofas in the catalog and with the composition and upholstery displayed in the store. Secondly, the company issued messages in which the “48 months interest-free” offer was initially promoted with a maturity of 9 February 2020. Subsequently, Poltronesofà first brought it forward to 19 January 2020 and then resubmitted it with the original deadline of 9 February. of a behavior that can make the consumer think he has to hurry to buy because the offer is about to expire, thus depriving him of the time necessary to make an informed decision “.

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The Authority also had something to say about the promotion “We supervise your sofa up to 1,500 Euro”, spread over the period May 14 – June 15, 2020. In this case he “verified that it was actually a fixed percentage discount (up to a maximum amount of 1,500 euros) already included in the sale price shown on the tag; the discount was guaranteed to all interested consumers, regardless of the evaluation. of a possible used sofa “.

Finally, the deceptiveness of the promotion “25% discount + another 25% on the entire collection”, distributed in the period 3-27 September 2020, was ascertained, with reference to the amount of the promised discount, to the effective applicability of the discount. to “the whole collection” and the advertised deadline of the promotion. For this last aspect, in particular, the repetition – during the period of validity of the promotion – of statements such as “what are you waiting for, there’s time only until Sunday” e “what are you waiting for, there is only time until tomorrow”, appeared suitable to convince consumers that it was necessary to hurry to purchase for the next promotion deadline.

According to the Antitrust Authority, explains a note, these messages are an “unfair commercial practice” that violates the Consumer Code and generates the 1 million fine, in addition to the obligation to publish an extract of the measure in newspapers.

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