21st Mar 2014 07:51
LONDON (Alliance News) - The Office of Fair Trading, the UK's antitrust regulator, said Friday it has closed an investigation into misleading prices by furniture and flooring retailers, including flooring retailer Carpetright PLC, bed retailer Dreams and sofa and carpet specialist ScS, as they have now agreed to change their pricing practices.
The OFT told Alliance News in August 2013 it was investigating whether the retailers had breached consumer protection law by using misleading reference pricing. The regulator said it was looking at practices that may lead customers to think that they are getting a good deal when in fact that's not the case. It highlighted slogans such as 'Was £800, Now Half Price £400' or 'Now £400, After Event Price £800'.
The OFT said Friday the furniture and carpets retailer involved- Carpetright, Dreams, ScS, Furniture Village, Harveys and Benson Beds - both owned by Steinhoff International- confirmed their commitment to using genuine reference prices and, without any admission of liability, have made changes to their reference pricing practices.
The UK regulator said it is happy with the commitments, and has closed the investigation.
"We are pleased the OFT has publicly welcomed Carpetright's commitment to open and transparent pricing. When customers visit Carpetright they can be confident of getting good quality products at a competitive price, which is supported by our price promise," said Philip Harris, Executive Chairman of Carpetright in a statement Friday.
In January, Carpetright issued its second profit warning, by saying it expects its full-year underlying pretax profit for the financial year ending April 26, to miss the lower end of current market expectations, due to further weakness in its Dutch business, which already had swung to a loss earlier in the financial year.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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