Complete and Utter Zebu

It’s been so long since we heard an MP do anything other than complain that everyone is being beastly to them that it took a while to realise that David Taylor, Labour MP for North West Leicestershire, did something useful today.

He called on the Government to clamp down on furniture retailers and their “limited” sales on sofas and armchairs which, as he points out, appear to be perpetual. “Despite some caveat in tiny print indecipherable to the naked eye, the discounted products are virtually impossible to find retailing at full price. So there is no way of knowing whether the discounted price represents a real saving for the potential consumer or just whether it is a cynical, deceitful come-on.”

“There is no way of knowing whether the discounted price represents a real saving for the potential consumer or just whether it is a cynical, deceitful come-on.”

All this was supposed to have been ended by 2008’s snappily-titled Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act. Despite this, Business Minister Kevin Brennan said – surprise surprise – that there was yet another White Paper in the pipeline that would sort it out for once and for all.

It’s nonsense. There are clear guidelines. They just aren’t being enforced. As David Taylor pointed out, the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld two complaints against DFS over “misleading” half-price claims in the past year alone. DFS have form in this area, also being rapped over the knuckles for superimposing actors on domestic settings in such as way that the sofas seemed bigger.

There’s plenty more on retailers’ wiles in Complete and Utter Zebu.