National sofa retailer fined over claimed savings in Black Friday sale

A national sofa retailer, SCS, has been fined £6,000 after it admitted misleading customers over claimed savings in a ‘Black Friday’ sale.

Parent company A Share & Sons Ltd admitted the charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 of engaging in an unfair commercial practice which was misleading to consumers. This related to the display of misleading posters throughout a store in Aberdeen.

The price of three of the sofas monitored by the Trading Standards service at Aberdeen City Council had been increased by hundreds of pounds just three days prior to the sale, it was discovered.

The service had monitored the prices instore as part of a nationwide investigation coordinated through the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland.

The company had sought to rely on voucher books offering £25 off a sofa to justify its claim, the council said.

While sentencing, Sheriff Ian Wallace told the court he did not view the practice as an oversight but rather as a planned act.

Aberdeen City Council Trading Standards manager Graeme Paton said: “I am very concerned that this retailer appeared to have been ignoring the law relating to unfair trading in this manner by engaging in misleading sale practices.

“In one instance the company had increased the price of a sofa by £800 three days prior to a Black Friday promotion offering a £25 discount. Such practices are unfair, not only by misleading consumers in Aberdeen and the north-east but also by placing the many local and national retailers who trade fairly at an unfair disadvantage.”