DOHA: An increasing number of customers is complaining that they have been taken for a ride by some shopping outlets giving wrong or misleading advertisements about their promotions.
Discounts are offered on a number of food and non-food items on a daily basis, but some of their offers exist only on paper, say the customers. Several outlets are allegedly advertising fake promotions only to attract more customers. “They would advertise something in the newspaper and when you rush to buy it you will not find the item there. If you query about it you will get the expected answer. The stocks have either finished or not arrived,” an Indian expatriate told this daily.
He said a leading outlet in Mesaimeer recently brought out an ad saying that a tablet computer was available for QR90.
“When I went there, they said stocks have not arrived and are on the way. I went again after a while and their reply was that stocks have finished,” he said.
Another expatriate, running a restaurant in Doha, cited a similar experience. He saw an ad by a leading hypermarket in Industrial Area saying black pomfret is available at QR7 per kg.
“We have a special dish with that fish and I thought I can buy a few kilogrammes for my restaurant since the prices are incredibly low. The same day it cost more than QR35 in other outlets. I immediately sent one of my employees to the hypermarket but he could not find the item,” he said.
“You have no way of verifying their claims nor you can challenge them since the newspaper ad says the offer is valid only until stocks last,” he added.
Another customer who went to buy the same item said the hypermarket staff apologised to him saying it was a printing error and the actual price was QR27. Surprisingly, the offer price was displayed in the ad in a very prominent way.
Many people get regular text messages from shopping outlets about their promotions. This is a more effective way to reach out to customers, since many won’t see newspaper ads. “Frequently I receive text messages from a hypermarket giving a list of their offers. Twice I went to buy king fish after seeing the message but I was told stocks will arrive only in the evening. Now if I want to go there, I call them first to make sure the items are available,” said a customer.
Another expat said he went to a hypermarket to buy fresh pomfret at QR10 per kg after seeing a newspaper ad only to see that what was on offer was frozen pomfret. “The ad does not specify whether it is fresh or frozen but every customer would think it is fresh the way it was given. This is tactic to mislead customers,” he said.
Many traders believe that such misleading ads would only malign promotions in general.
“It is true that some outlets resort to such tactics. But it is not good for the industry,” said a senior hypermarket official.
The Peninsula tried to contact officials of some shopping outlets concerned but they didn’t respond to calls.
The Peninsula
