The Voice - Dear Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice

I saw an advertisement for a Sony PlayStation Portable that said it was on sale for P1,900, a discount of P700. When I got to the store they were indeed selling it for P1,900 but the original price was actually P2,200. The store was also selling another PSP for P2,700 but that also included a selection of games in the price.

Was it fair for the store to advertise a discount that wasn't real?

No, it wasn't fair at all. More than that it was possibly even a breach of the Consumer Protection Regulations. Section 17 (1) (a) of the Regulations says that it is a deceptive practice and an unfari business practice if a store makes “false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions”.

In their advertisement this store said that the price of the PSP had been reduced from P2,600 to P1,900 when in fact it had only been reduced from P2,300. The fact that there was another PSP on offer at P2,700 including some games sounds like an excuse for claiming a much bigger price reduction to me. In fact the real P2,700 PSP wasn't comparable to the reduced price P1,900 version because that didn't come with the free games.

Seems like a very good example of a “false of misleading statement” to me.

I suggest that you write to the store manager asking him or her to explain how this discount actually worked and to explain why the numbers don't add up. There's very little you are likely to achieve but you can at least make them work a bit.

Meanwhile don't shop there again until you get a suitable response from them. Vote with your feet and your wallet.