They confirmed that the "offer price" in some commodities exceeds the "original price" by up to 65%.
Consumers demand harsher penalties for "fake sales"
Consumers are required to check prices at various outlets.
Photography: Eric Arazas
Ibrahim Al-Bahr: "The presence of fake offers, unacceptable exploitation of consumers, and lack of control encourages this."
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Consumers demanded harsh penalties, including temporary closure, on outlets offering fake offers.
They told Emirates Today that outlets offer fake discounts on consumer goods, and they later discovered that the offer price in some of them increased by up to 65% compared to the original price.
In turn, two experts in the retail sector stressed that the presence of fake offers is an unacceptable exploitation of consumers.
Consumer reviews
In detail, consumer Salem Obeid said: "The outlet finally offered an offer for a camping chair at a price of 129 dirhams."
He emphasized that "he noticed the presence of the original price poster before the offer, under the new price poster, which shows that the original price is 89 dirhams, meaning that the offer price is 45% higher than the original price."
Ebeid called for strengthening oversight over sales outlets, imposing heavy penalties, up to temporary closure, and publishing the names of the violating stores and penalties so that they are a deterrent, and a guarantee that the violation will not be repeated.
For his part, consumer, Mohammed Rashid Abdulaziz, presented his experience, saying: “The outlet put up an offer on a rechargeable device at a price of 495 dirhams, and discovered through the original poster that the price was 299 dirhams, an increase of 65.5% of the price within the offer,” confirming that he had bought the device The same previously from another outlet for 280 dirhams.
Abdulaziz agreed on the importance of tightening supervision and imposing harsher penalties on sales outlets that practice these behaviors, put out fake offers, and mislead consumers.
In turn, the consumer, Noura Al-Ameri, stated that the outlet offered an offer for a household electrical appliance for 166 dirhams, noting that she bought the same device three months ago for 135 dirhams, meaning that the offer price is 23% higher than the original price.
Unacceptable exploitation
In addition, the expert in retail affairs, Ibrahim Al-Bahr, confirmed that the presence of fake offers is an unacceptable exploitation for consumers, pointing out that the lack of control encourages some sales outlets to do so.
Al-Bahar called on the sales outlets to take deterrent measures against their employees if they were responsible for these offers, and also called for the names of the violating sales outlets to be announced in the media and social media to deter them, and to force them to take measures not to repeat this again.
It also required consumers to check prices at different outlets, and compare them through their websites.
For his part, the retail expert, Davy Nagpal, agreed that deterrent measures must be taken against sales outlets that prove false price offers, stressing that taking these measures and announcing violators guarantees that the violation will not be repeated in the future, stressing that consumer confidence is essential for outlets. .
As for the sales official at a sales outlet, Othman Ismail, he pointed out what he described as "unintended errors" that occur as a result of the similarity of models of a certain commodity with other models of the same commodity or with another commodity.
And he asked consumers to inform the outlet management in the event of an error, to conduct an internal investigation.
"The Economy": the responsibility of local departments
The Ministry of Economy previously stated to Emirates Today that verifying the validity of the offers presented by the sales outlets and approving them after verifying their validity is the responsibility of the local economic departments in the state.
The Ministry called on consumers to compare goods before purchasing, keep invoices for these goods, and submit complaints to local departments or the Ministry of Economy, in order to investigate them, and take the necessary measures against the violating sales outlets.
Unintended errors
"The price tag before the offer may be specific to another good or another model," said a sales official at a sales outlet, Rajiv Tamara, stressing that the occurrence of unintended errors in the offer prices on the part of employees is a matter of the question with the large number of offers.
He pointed out that "confusion" may also occur on the part of some consumers, due to the similarity of some models of some commodities with models of other commodities, despite the difference in the brand.
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