Anyone else feeling totally ripped off by a Black Friday 'bargain'?

[Pliudev]

I probably am being U because if I'd read the small print this might never have happened. I splashed out on buying a suede jacket for my DS as his only present. It cost well over £100 but was reduced by £18 for B F. It arrived today. I was horrified to find a plastic bag, 12" x14" on my doorstep and the jacket stuffed inside. The suede is stiff and smelly and the jacket isn't the shape it appeared on the website. It came from Pakistan, though that isn't a problem, but it was unexpected as no mention of it was made in their website which says it's a UK family firm. Anyway, I've opened a dispute on PayPal but the company said they won't refund because it was 'in the sale' and offered me £20 as a goodwill gesture. I'm pretty hard up this year and this has sickened me. I feel so foolish.

I second this. I do all my Christmas shopping in September. I check the prices again over black Friday sales just out of curiosity and it's always more than it was back in September. The whole thing is a con.

That should be illegal.

I’ve never actually seen a decent bargain on Black Friday.

Usually they increase the price and then reduce it so it looks like a bargain but it really isn’t.

Sadly its not uncommon
Places like amazon change price all the time, my partner bought me perfume ( slightly random, but only a few UK place can buy it.) by the time it arrived the price had changed three times, up twice then back down to a new bargain price (more than he had paid!)

Boots are doing "Better than half price" on some electric toothbrushes

I bought an Oral B Io8 (reduced from £349.99 to £149.99) and some brush heads (£27, reduced from £54) and brought it home all excited to try out my new toy

Reader, it came with a 2 pin plug

I'm going to have to go out tomorrow and get an adaptor, then charge it up, read the instructions, download the app and try to use it tomorrow

This used to be a common con, I thought the law now stated that an item had to have been on sale at the higher price for a set period of time.

Every electric toothbrush I’ve ever bought has come with a 2 prong plug. I assumed it was because those bathroom shaving sockets have 2 holes. Adaptors are really cheap if you don’t have those (I don’t).

They all come with a two pin plug! 😆

@Henrythehappypig I was just writing that! It's standard

I agree, I got a few items much cheaper 2 weeks before black friday. You are more likely to get a bargain if you know what exactly you want and keep a track of it over a period of time.

If you are buying from Amazon I recommend to check price history on camelcamelcamel.com, you can see the price changes over time and tell if it is a real bargain.

Amazon do refund the difference if it goes down further than you paid on Black Friday week, I have had refunds before and they appear a few weeks later.

Bought some very posh socks for a Christmas present from HoF reduced by 20% in black Friday sale.
£37.40 down to £30.00
Took the price off to wrap them yesterday and underneath was the original price £30...

@RedRiverShore5 thank you I didn't know that!

Just to say, don’t be put off by this - an adapter can be picked up for £2-3, making your purchase still a good deal. Boots, Superdrug etc will have one.

Every Oral B brush I’ve bought has a 2 pin plug. My new Philips is keeping up with the times and has a USB charger.

i had a piece of luggage in my amazon basket for ages. keeping an eye on up or down price fluctuations. it didn't go on sale BUT same brand same color slightly different shape did...i got the twitch and indeed pressed buy a 30% savings.

@Henrythehappypig ,@Oreosareawful and @LigamentBandy - This is my first electric toothbrush. I didn't know 😪

It goes in your shaver socket...in your bathroom....!

That's standard for an electric toothbrush, I think. Don't you have a shaver socket in your bathroom?

Oops, sorry - looked away and before I pressed send half a dozen people had already pointed this out!

There is a time limit, I think when BF time ends but if you buy something at the start as BF seems to be 1 to 2 weeks and it goes down by a certain date you get the difference back. I have had refunds before from cleaning stuff.

Because MN has a "reputation " 😎

I bought DD a coat for her birthday from Barbour, was £249. Then on Black Friday it was reduced to £169, I nearly cried. So bless her she told me to send the original back and she'd wait for the new one to arrive (bought from different places). But it's about the only thing I've seen.

Aaaah, black Friday. Epitomising the art or reducing previously inflated prices, creating misleading 'deals', only selling limited stock at sale prices to get a few good reviews and to bump up full cost sales, pressure tactics 'better bloody buy it now while stocks last', and hope you'll buy a few other bits whilst you're there (because let's face it, you're getting a bargain so why not!)... it's.a.scam!

Well of course it did. That is standard as in UK bathrooms should only have 2 pin sockets, the type that electric shavers use. It is a safety thing and has been that way for years. Anything that would be plugged into a UK bathroom socket can only be sold as 2 pin.

I have had BF bargains in the past, a refurbished Dyson hairdryer which was brand new in cellophane from Dyson refurbished on eBay which was about £150 after all the discounts and a Smeg bean to cup coffee machine which I had my eye on for less than half price.