Come on guys, you are clearly not idiots, so why do you think it is ok to engage in misleading advertising tactics to score a few email clicks and possibly screw a few unsuspecting customers out of $800?
Groupon.com.au today advertised an iPad 2 with Wi + 3G and a docking station with delivery for $169.00 knowing full well that the actual price for well over $800! This is not ok. Having already apologised for dodgy Bait and Switch advertising I’m surprised at their willingness to ramp it up a notch with misleading offers.
Groupon defended its actions via Smart Company by saying that they had “a technical limitation”, they said “we are one of a very few sites that can do multiple deals. But what we cannot do is show that in the email – it’s simply not possible.”” which meant they couldn’t accurately reflect the real price of the offer and were somehow forced to show a misleading one instead?
This is exactly the type of behaviour we will aim to stamp out through participation in the Group Buying Industry Code of Conduct – let’s hope we agree to a Code before this burgeoning industry’s reputation is irrevocably harmed by tactics like these.
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