Can a retailer hike up the price of a product a few days before a BOGOF offer?

[nigglewiggle]

I know for an item to be reduced in a "Sale" it has to have been sold at the higher price for 30 days, but do the same rules apply for "Buy One Get One Free" offer?

Ocado has Surcare washing liquid on a BOGOF offer. Just prior to the offer it was £2.79 and it is now £3.90. Can they do this?

You can get round the 30 days by using a disclaimer so probably they can say the week has established that higher price or maybe it was sold at that price last month, but it must say so on the promotional literature.

Thanks Lizs. No disclaimer though. They also claim to be price-matching Tesco but there product is a more concentrated version.

I have complained and I'm waiting to hear what they say, but I wanted my ammunition ready.

I sound really sad I know , but these things annoy me and I buy loads of this stuff because it is the only one that doesn't aggravate my DD's eczema.

I dont know if its legal or not, but I'm pretty sure that Tesco do this sort of thing too. I have noticed it particularly with wine, where the pre-offer price seems to vary depending on what special offers they have on.

I think part of the point of BOGOF promotions is that they aren't subject to the same rules as sales, so I suspect this is perfectly legal. I don't have specific legal knowledge, though.

Their product

I've seen this happen at tesco ALOT.

Sometimes prices are kept low for a long time to compete with other supermarkets so it's hard to tell what the normal selling price is. Maybe £3.90 is their normal price and £2.79 is their long-term discounted price.

They have replied to my email! They've ignored the question about hiking up the price and apologised about the Price-Match 'error.' They have passed it on to the relevant department to investigate.

Will keep at em!

Glad to see it's not just Ocado.

Hocus, I see your point, but it is deliberately misleading.

they also do the same with fruit especially berries...

They've reduced the price! Back to £2.79 and the offer's still on! Consumer power

Disney do it with their DVDs. They're usually various prices from around £7 to £14 then when they are BOGOF they're all £17.99!

As far as I'm aware, shops can charge what they like for goods providing they're not subject to any legal price restrictions. What they are not allowed to do is misrepresent a former price. So, they cannot say "Washing powder 50% off" if they've only just hiked up the price - but they CAN say "Buy one get one free" which implies 50% off but doesn't actually say it and of course isn't. I think!

I thought all retailers put products on the highest possible price when on BOGOF.

The thing is it was never priced at £3.90 but had always been £2.79. The higher price was for a similar product which is more concentrated.

I had a further email apologising for the "mistake" in price-matching with a different Tesco product. As a goodwill gesture they have refunded me the difference for the bottles I ordered. RESULT!