PLEASE READ THIS, JESSOPS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MIND
On 5th March I undertook a Google search on ‘Panasonic TZ5 jessops’ the advert at the top of Google was telling me “Buy the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 Camera from Jessops Online Only £229.99!” However when clicking through from the Google advert the website is expecting me to pay £299.
The Google advert clearly told me that I could buy the product for £229 and obviously I wanted to purchase/pre-order this product at this price.
The correspondence with Jessops has resulted in them refusing to offer me the product at this price and as such I have made a complaint to the ASA. The email I sent to Jessops.com customer service is detailed below
My email
Hello
I have just done a Google search on ‘Panasonic TZ5 jessops’ the advert at the top of Google is telling me “Buy the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 Camera from Jessops Online Only £229.99!” However when clicking through from the Google advert the website is expecting me to pay £299.
The Google advert clearly tells me I can buy the product for £229 and I would like to purchase/pre-order this product at this price. Please can you let me know how I can do this? I have screen grabs of said web pages as evidence of this, please see attached.
Jessops Response
Thank you for your enquiry.
Unfortunately search engine websites and other price comparison sites are often not updated as regularly as Jessops.com.
We would therefore not be able to offer you this camera at this price, and you would need to pay the full price of £299.99.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Regards
Customer Support
I have since pointed out to them that the listing I saw was not in the natural search index of Google but in Google adwords, and as such it was an advert.
There has been other correspondence since this, but they are sticking to their guns and are not wanting to offer me the camera at that price. After asking around on forums I have been told I should not get my hopes up, mainly because they do not have to sell the camera to me. I find this quite surprising considering all the banks have been getting hammered by fucking idiots who can not manage their money, how come they are having charges refunded, charges that were laid down in their terms and conditions. But a retailer can falsely advertise a product and get away with it? To me this is nonsense.
This old link on the BBC website goes some way to explaining why. If this is the case I am surprised for the sake of £70 that Jessops did not want to keep me as a happy customer and just honor me the purchase. As such they did not, so I will go to great lengths to not buy from them in the future and also spread the word that Jessops sucks.
6 responses so far ↓
Matt Hanson // March 9, 2008 at 1:00 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Matt Hanson
Jessops poor customer service - an update « amorangutan // March 11, 2008 at 2:48 pm
[...] Xbox 360 ← Jessops poor customer service – Panasonic TZ5 – false advertising [...]
Jessops - Excellent customer service « amorangutan // March 13, 2008 at 9:19 pm
[...] March 13, 2008 · No Comments Well if you have been bothered to keep up with my rantings on my blog over the past week, you will have read that I was challenging Jessops on some Internet advertising. [...]
Jessops complaint ongoing // November 26, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I bought a Fujitsu Siemans laptop from Jessops Edinburgh on 18/03/2006. The laptop never functioned properly from purchase. Jessops would not deal with it, and referred me to Fujitsu Siemans for servicing 3/2007. After the 1st service the laptop still had the same faults, froze, and reverted to the French Alphabet randomly. After the 2nd service the laptop was noisy, overheating, and the screen was red on startup. I cut the power, and phoned Fujitsu Siemans again. I was told ‘ something has been left inside by mistake’ ‘just pack it up now, don’t use it’ ‘ .After the 3rd service the laptop was returned outside its years guarantee with the same faults. Meantime I used my home PC and had to purchase a reliable laptop elsewhere. 9/2008 I switched on the Fujitsu laptop. After startup the screws and components could be seen as the screen turned black. There was a burning smell. I cut the power. Fortunately I had not left the room, and was able to deal with it.. I complained ‘Sale of Goods Act’ . Jessops letter… average lifespan of a laptop 60 months, divide £1199.99 by 60 = £19.99 x 26 months usage = £520.00 = partial refund of £679.99. Laptop to be collected, then payment by cheque. I contacted Barclaycard for a refund of £1199.99 since I have Fujitsu Siemans 3 service reports, and an independent PC engineers report stating the motherboard was always faulty. Components were replaced , on each service, the laptop was further damaged due to their error on the 2nd service, damaged components changed again, then the laptop was returned to me, posing a fire risk in my home. The Laptop involved Fujitsu Siemans AMILO M3438G / BU M3438G/ PM 760. Jessops said this is our final offer. A manager said it should have been a third party sale, sent to your home not the store. Fujitsu Siemans computers in the catalogue, but nothing to do with Jessops! Quality service indeed. Not No 1 in customer service guaranteed. Fujitsu Siemans? Can anyone trust their servicing standards?
Dan // January 9, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I went to Jessops in Meadowhall at Sheffield to check if the Canon D1000 had been reduced in the sales. Sure as anything a big POS sign saying “Winter Sale” was behind the camera but there was no reduction in price. It was the same as the last few months to be exact as I’ve been loooking to buy this camera for a while. I complained in store and the gentleman told me that there was numerous cameras with POS sale boards but had not been reduced in price. I feel this is misleading the public and is tantamount to false advertising. I contacted Head Office who said “they would contact the marketing dept and have this looked into. I said “what are you going to do for the customer who alreted you to this”? – You can guess what I got.
Jessops needs to understand that they are not a law unto themselves, and when they try to mislead the public, the public will turn on them and eat them alive. Just like what going on here.
There no wonder Jessops share price is dropping like a lead balloon when they deliberately try to mislead and decieve people into thinking they are getting something cheaper than they would normally.
Jessops customer service then tryed to explain it away when I rang for the second time saying the camera had gone up in price. How many of you are buying that? I for one am not, its lies.
I hope they get publically crucified and go bust so some other camera company can have a chance and get their share of the market.
Down with Jessops.
D // January 21, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I have been trying to buy a Sony camcorder HDR-SR12e which they were selling at £880, the same product was selling for £730 in Argos and John Lewis. They said they cennot price match as I had insurance vouchers due to my camcorder being stolen, so I called their customer services to question why their price was so much higher than other stores. I was told by their customer services team leader (a most useless twat by the name of Mr Christian Liquorish) and I quote “We are in the business of making profits we can sell the camera at whatever price we want, it is up to us. If you don’t like it go elsewhere” I explained to him that I cannot as I have these vouchers and his response was to contact my insurance company and get a cash equivalent. I was unable to do this as Jessops have already received the cash amount from them. Resigning myself to the fact that I will have to pay full proce, they have withdrawn the product from the website and have now informed me that they will not be stocking this item. I am now stuck with nearly £1000 worth of vouchers.