Shopper’s rage over ‘misleading’ detail on store’s for-sale sign: ‘You’ll only notice it if you look closely’
- Sale sign appears to advertise 80% off sale
- A tiny ‘until’ was hidden at the beginning
A frustrated shopper has complained about a “misleading” sale sign she saw at Australian cookware store House.
The Melbourne mum was lured into the store by a banner out front that appeared to advertise “80 per cent off the entire store” at a Southlands store.
However, he later realized that the sign included the words “up to” in “lowercase” font, which means that the sale prices of each item can range from one percent to 80 percent off.
It is not known if clearer signage was displayed throughout the store or not.
“I thought this sale was fantastic until I got to the register to pay,” she said in a Facebook post.
“Personally, I think it crosses the line of being misleading when the fine print is so small you can barely see it when you walk into the store,” he said, encouraging members to enlarge an image of the sign.
A Melbourne mum was excited to shop the House cookware store’s deal after seeing a banner that seemed to advertise all stock at 80 per cent off, but that wasn’t the case.
Many users were confused because they couldn’t even detect the fine print when enlarging the image on their devices.
‘I came closer… What am I missing?’ one woman wondered, and another said, ‘I still don’t see the fine print. Totally misleading.
After spotting the ‘misleading’ detail, buyers were outraged.
“They have definitely crossed the line three times over between misleading and misleading advertising,” said one member.
‘Gee wiz, that’s pushing the envelope, isn’t it?’ a second exclaimed, and a third wrote: ‘Bait advertising. I don’t understand how it’s allowed for so long.’
A tiny ‘up to’ was hidden in the ‘lowercase’ writing, meaning that the sale prices of each item can range anywhere from one percent to 80 percent off.
‘Awful marketing. Whoever thought this was a good idea, maybe they shouldn’t be in marketing,” laughed a fourth.
‘Poor staff. Imagine working there, facing abuse,” someone pointed out.
Some noticed another small detail hidden in the sign.
They detected ‘RRP’ or recommended retail price after ‘switch off’, which means the discount was only applied to the full cost of an item instead of any previous reduced rates.
‘See the RRP near the F as well. No way would I shop there,” one mother said.
Many said they would have discussed with House’s seller to get the 80 percent discount.
‘I’m not a Karen, but I would have discussed it, and then I vowed never to shop there again!’ commented a woman.
But not everyone was bothered by the “blatant” marketing tactic, arguing that 80 percent is a generous discount and that home sales prices are “very low.”
A House spokesman said signage at the Southlands store (pictured) was corrected ‘immediately’
‘If you want things, buy them, if not, move. Does this really matter when you can get something at a great price? asked a customer.
A House spokesperson told FEMAIL that the Southland store is undergoing a major sale in anticipation of a temporary closure to renovate and restock the store.
‘Yesterday, it came to our attention that signage at our Southland store did not clearly indicate that discounts were up to 80 per cent. As soon as this came to our attention, the signal was immediately corrected,” they said.
“At all times, the scope of the discount was clearly identified on the product within the store.”
