they change day to day. I bought something on sale for £9.99 last week that is now on sale for £17.99.

although i have to admit, thir definition of a bargain needs reviewing, all of their 30-40% off blu-ray deals are £17.99, based on an rrp of £29.99!

Because of two misleading offers on their site which claimed, in one case, that they had goods on sale for much less than they actually were, and in another, that certain goods were on offer that turned out to be.

I did try and talk to play.com myself, but the customer service representative I spoke to was arrogant, rude, and unhelpful, and insisted that the advertising was not misleading and had already been cleared with the ASA - I now have a letter from the ASA which proves that she was lying through her teeth.

In any case, I ended up getting a much better deal from amazon.co.uk, which I received within 2 days of ordering, less than a week from Christmas, despite using their free super-saving delivery option and the goods being shipped from Jersey.

On pretty much every item they list, the price claims a saving against the RRP! What exactly are play.com doing wrong here?

How is this any different than places like GAME selling me a game for £34.99 when the RRP is £49.99 despite no one else ever selling it for more than £39.99 and then GAME telling me I've saved £15 when in reality I've only saved like £5 realistically.

They do this even on pre-orders of unreleased games. GAME isn't alone in this though, a lot of places do it so why has Play been singled out? Just because they did it in a newspaper rather than just online?

"based on an rrp of £29.99!"

that is the rrp of a blue ray disc check around you'll see it.

I don't see the problem with them using the RRP for products not on sale, because I thought that the RRP was the Recommended Retail Price, not the price that other people are selling it at

says 'laptops from £159.99' -follow the link, sort by price - cheapest one is £329

BASTAAARDDDSS!!

because unlear and outright lying are different. Saying up to 50% off and discounting it 10% is very different to saying 50% off and just marking up the original price so it looks like there is 50% off.

"Pick something is £30, and press the Euro button. Play will convert it to around €45, rather than the $33 it should be."

If you are lucky- Some of their conversions are as high as €2 to £1- especially on their special offer stuff. I've long since moved to cdnow.com- Faster service and realistic prices.

if you read the small print for eye lash thickener (or whatever the right term is) it says the model in the ad is wearing false lashes. How can that not be misleading?

Or that Spanish sounding girl doing hair adverts where the small print says she's wearing hair extensions?

*SHOCK* - adverts exaggerate???

Pretty much every retailer does this in one form or another. Argos are particularly inventive with (e.g.) their console packages - "SAVE £54.99!!!!" on a package - or buy the pieces individually from Game (hardly the cheapest place in the country) for about twenty quid less than this hyped sale price. Furniture places, anyone?? "One day only, save 40%!!" - every other weekend!

Let's face it, anyone with half a brain will look at the actual price and compare that to what they can get elsewhere, rather than comparing to the obviously-inflated price quoted by that retailer trying to make their discounts look better than they are.

That said, I use Play.com sometimes, they're often cheaper than the high street (though not as much as they claim to be). I have no problem with their advertising being complete lies, it's no different to pretty much any other advertising on the planet.

All websites do this in one way or another, as do too many shops. I came to learn that comparing product prices to their RRP's was a pointless thing to do a long time ago...

I compare actual prices between websites, RRPs are always about double the selling prices anyway.

Here:

http://www.find-dvd.co.uk/

Play is usually up there on price, but it doesn't excuse them sending misleading email ads.

Copypastad from play.com

"£9.99 Free Delivery | RRP: £19.99 | You save: £10.00 (50%)"

How is that misleading? The RRP is what it is. Yes, nowhere actually sells things for the RRP, but what do you expect? Them to list price comparisons with every other retailer?

If you're willing to buy it, you think the price is alright. If you find it somewhere cheaper afterwards, you probably should have checked first.

I think the point the ASA were trying to make was something to do with preorders, where the RRP may be subject to change.