God. I feel like such an idiot.
Last month I bragged to my neighbor about snagging a "£500 off" TV from Currys. Felt pretty smug about it, honestly. Turns out I might've been played harder than a fiddle at a country fair. Which? just dropped this investigation that's making me want to crawl under a rock and never shop again.
They analyzed over 1,600 TV deals across five major retailers and found something that'll make your blood boil. More than half—56% to be exact—of those "was" prices weren't even the most recent prices before the so-called discount. Like, what the actual hell?
Lisa Webb from Which? put it perfectly: "Shoppers deserve clear, honest pricing – not smoke and mirrors." Couldn't agree more, Lisa.
Very Is Playing Games (And Not the Fun Kind)
Very emerged as the absolute worst offender in this mess. Nearly nine out of ten of their TV deals used "was" prices that weren't the most recent. That's 87% if you're keeping track at home.
Here's where it gets really maddening: they had this LG OLED65B46LA 65-inch TV advertised with a "was" price of £2,499 and a "now" price of £1,499. Sounds like a steal, right? Wrong. That £2,499 price hadn't been charged for FIVE MONTHS and had been replaced by seven different lower prices during that time.
Five. Months.
My friend Sarah (who works in retail, ironically) texted me after seeing this: "This is why I have trust issues with shopping." Can't say I blame her.
Currys Isn't Much Better, Unfortunately
Three-quarters of Currys' 608 TV deals featured these dodgy outdated "was" prices. Plus, they had the highest rate—68%—of TVs where the higher price was in place for less time than the discounted price. That's just backwards logic right there.
Take their LG UT73 50-inch TV example. "Was" £399.99, "now" £299.99. The higher price? Only in place for 25 days compared to 207 days at the lower price. That's like me claiming I "usually" eat salad when I had one salad in January and pizza every other day since then.
The whole thing makes me feel like a ghost at a family reunion—completely out of place and questioning everything.
Some Hope in This Retail Wasteland
Not everyone's playing these games, thankfully. Argos came out looking like saints in this investigation. Nearly all their "was" prices actually reflected the price immediately before the promotion. Imagine that—honest pricing! Revolutionary concept.
AO wasn't perfect (a third of their deals used intervening prices), but at least they're transparent about it. They publish the dates of their "was" prices and acknowledge when lower prices might have applied. It's not ideal, but it's honest, which counts for something these days.
Amazon does their own weird thing where "was" prices reflect the median price customers paid over 90 days, excluding promotions. It's different, but Which? still thinks it could confuse shoppers. Fair point.
What This Means for Us Regular Humans
Listen. I'm not a pricing expert or consumer law genius. I'm just someone who wants to buy a TV without feeling like I need a PhD in retail manipulation tactics.
Which? recommends checking price tracking sites like CamelCamelCamel or Price Runner before making big purchases. Smart advice that I wish I'd followed before my Currys adventure. Live and learn, I guess.
The Competition and Markets Authority could step in with enforcement action against retailers pulling these stunts. Here's hoping they do, because this smoke-and-mirrors approach to pricing is getting old fast.
And apparently this isn't just a TV problem—Which? also found Sports Direct doing similar shady pricing tactics earlier this week. Makes you wonder what other "deals" are actually just elaborate illusions designed to separate us from our money.
Poor us, thinking we were savvy shoppers when we were just playing their rigged game all along.
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https://hellofaread.com/money/icelands-pulling-the-plug-on-two-more-stores-and-yeah-people-are-mad
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