Consumer association keeping an eye on Black Friday cheaters

Buyers have already fallen victims of fraud by various companies that falsely advertised discounts ahead of Black Friday, the consumers association warned on Thursday.

In the last twenty-four hours, two complaints of discounts on products where the percentage of the discount was not calculated at the checkout have come to the attention of the association, it said. Thus, according to the legal officer of the Cyprus Consumer Association (CCA), Virginia Christou, the consumer bought the product without the advertised discount.

For both cases for which complaints were filed, the Cyprus Consumer Association contacted the two companies, which, as Christou told Reporter, “with good will, admitted their mistake, apologised and returned the money to the consumer.” Therefore, for these cases, the association did not consider it necessary to take further action.

Another consumer complaint concerned unfair commercial practices. Specifically, on a website of a particular company, a product was presented at a discounted price due to the Black Friday period. After a buyer provided their personal information, and paid for the product, the company informed him after two days that there was no stock.

“We are awaiting further information from the consumer to investigate this complaint,” Christou said.

Other complaints filed to the CCA had to do with misleading prices on products. Essentially, consumers complained that days before, they had been monitoring the price of a product, which for example was at €39, and while today the product is presented at a discount, it remains at exactly the same price.