Supermarkets have been accused of hoodwinking shoppers with a series of false and misleading pricing claims that could leave them open to prosecution, according to a damning report. An investigation into pricing and offers at Britain's four major supermarket chains found that all were guilty of making erroneous or untrue assertions, some of which breach consumer regulations. Bogus price drops, promotions which offer no savings and larger ‘value’ packs which are relatively more expensive than smaller alternatives were uncovered by the report. The study by the BBC's Panorama programme comes a year after the Office of Fair Trading told supermarkets they must stop attempting to mislead consumers, or risk ‘enforcement action’. Deborah Parry, an expert in consumer law, said some of the practices being undertaken were potentially illegal. The Office of Fair Trading said it would ‘welcome’ the chance to view the report.
Pray: that in this time of austerity, retailers should be honest and transparent in all pricing of goods. (Lev.19:11)