Watch out for lucrative discounts this festive season, you might be buying outdated, unsold products
During Deepawali last year, the e-tailers took the market by storm and the retailers were totally unprepared to deal with their advertising and marketing onslaught. But this year, the brick and mortar stores seem to be better prepared to take on the competition. So, now, you have both online and offline shops trying to entice consumers with a variety of offers this festival season.
There are goods at great discounts and many of them come with free gifts. Then there are ‘new for old’ exchange offers, lucky draws and ‘scratch cards for assured gifts’. It’s interesting to see that this time, most brick and mortar stores are offering not one, but several ‘free goodies’, besides easy loans to help you buy what you want.
Well, this is just the beginning and the coming weeks are sure to see even more exciting offers. So splurge by all means and make the best of the season. But do due diligence on whatever you buy, beginning with the fine print in the advertisement. In fact, whether it’s a promise of assured gifts and ‘easy’ EMIs by brick and mortar stores or discount offers and cash back promises by online stores, almost all of them have a tiny asterisk on top of these offers and the disclaimers in even smaller print.
It is equally important to check the models that come with big discounts - it’s possible that the price was hiked just prior to the sale and then marked down. Or the discount might be on an outdated, unsold stock. So whether you are buying online or offline, check the model and its price at different sources. Never get pressured by short-time sale offers.
A couple of days ago, I asked a young die-hard online shopper, Ishan Patel, what he was planning to buy this time. He told me that he found an offer of a television set costing `1,30,000 for a discounted price of `85,000 to be very good. However, when he checked up on the model on the manufacturer’s website, he found that it was outdated and listed in its ‘archives’! A similar check on a mobile phone that was offered at a very big discount showed that it was a model that the manufacturer had stopped making.
Similarly, the interest free loans always have a hidden cost. A shopaholic on condition of anonymity said she ended up paying `1000 towards ‘transaction fee’ on a purchase of a mobile for `9000 on an ‘interest free’ loan.
It is equally important to check on the ‘free gift’. Is it really free? Is it of good quality? Does it carry a warranty? A recent case decided by the apex consumer court showed how a manufacturer, who offered two watches as free gifts, had actually recovered their cost by overcharging on household appliances!
I must also point out that the Consumer Protection Act prohibits adoption of any unfair or deceptive practice for the promotion or sale of goods. It mandates that when a seller offers goods on a discount, it must be genuine and such an offer should be for a ‘reasonable period’ of time and on a ‘reasonable quantity’ of goods. Similarly, if the price of a ‘gift’ is either fully or even partially covered by the amount charged in the transaction as a whole, then claiming it to be a ‘free gift’ constitutes an unfair trade practice.
Likewise, any contest, lottery, a game of chance or skill, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, the sale, use or supply of any product or any business interest constitutes an unfair trade practice. Consumers who are victims of such unfair trade practices can seek damages from the consumer courts constituted under the Consumer Protection Act.
CONSUMERS WHO ARE VICTIMS OF SUCH UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES CAN SEEK DAMAGES FROM THE CONSUMER COURTS CONSTITUTED UNDER THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT