WEX - offers that don't exist

abdoujaparov

abdoujaparov

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Twice in the last week I've searched on Google for a camera and an advert from WEX has been in the sponsored links section, showing a special offer for the camera in question. Each time I've clicked on the ad I've seen no mention of the offer on the resulting page. I forget what the last one was, but this time I Googled for an E-P3, and WEX's ad offers "Olympus E-P3 from £449 - with Free £249.99 Olympus Zoom Kit‎". Clicking on the ad shows the E-P3 for £449, but no mention of a zoom kit in the bundles or promotions.

Has anyone else seen this? I'm sure there must be some form of lag for them in removing their promos from Google AdWords, but after seeing two in a week I'm wondering if it's more bait-and-switch than inefficiency.
 
abdoujaparov said:
Twice in the last week I've searched on Google for a camera and an advert from WEX has been in the sponsored links section, showing a special offer for the camera in question. Each time I've clicked on the ad I've seen no mention of the offer on the resulting page. I forget what the last one was, but this time I Googled for an E-P3, and WEX's ad offers "Olympus E-P3 from £449 - with Free £249.99 Olympus Zoom Kit‎". Clicking on the ad shows the E-P3 for £449, but no mention of a zoom kit in the bundles or promotions.

Has anyone else seen this? I'm sure there must be some form of lag for them in removing their promos from Google AdWords, but after seeing two in a week I'm wondering if it's more bait-and-switch than inefficiency.
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I seriously doubt there is a deliberate intention to deceive from WEX they are possibly the best regarded camera retailers in the country :thumbs: so something must have gone wrong some ware
 
this happens often with many retailers where they promote offers, it comes to an end and the prices/offers still appear when you do a search. I do not see this as the fault of the retailer its a problem with the internet and how searches work.
 
No it's not. Sponsored ads are paid for and can be turned on or off with the click of a mouse.

A) if this is a timed promotion then wex could set the ads to run from a certain date to a certain date
B) wex could turn the ad off the day the promo finishes.

Report the ad to google and they will remove it.
 
I've contacted WEX via their website to ask which dates the offer was valid. I'll report back when they reply.
 
The reply - "There are currently no special offers on this camera with a free zoom kit, so it looks like google has brought up an old cache page showing an old offer which has now ended im afraid"

Nonsense, of course, because it was a Google AdWords advertisement, not a link to a cached web page. I pointed out that either Google are charging WEX for ads that they no longer require, or WEX are requesting ads from Google for offers that don't exist, and that in either case it needs to be fixed.
 
or it could be one of those smart google ad that pics up what you are talking about - amazon have them

if you typed ' exploding mutant aardvark' into search you'd almost certainly get a result that says "buy exploding mutant aardvark at amazon"
 
"Olympus E-P3 from £449 - with Free £249.99 Olympus Zoom Kit" is what it says. That's very specific, don't you think? If it offered me an "exploding mutant aardvark" for £449 with a free post-explosion clean-up kit, I'd expect the offer to exist. ;-)
 
abdoujaparov said:
The reply - "There are currently no special offers on this camera with a free zoom kit, so it looks like google has brought up an old cache page showing an old offer which has now ended im afraid"

Nonsense, of course, because it was a Google AdWords advertisement, not a link to a cached web page. I pointed out that either Google are charging WEX for ads that they no longer require, or WEX are requesting ads from Google for offers that don't exist, and that in either case it needs to be fixed.
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Found it, looked at it, - its an old cache of a google ad - pretty much like they said
 
There's no such thing. Google charged WEX for serving that ad when I clicked on it. If Google served up ads that their clients no longer required, don't you think that would be a breach of contract? Don't you think Google's systems have to be a little more mature than that?
 
To be honest why do you care so much ?

just accept that its an old ad and move on
 
Because I dislike bait-and-switch. I was induced into clicking on two advertisements by offers that don't exist. If WEX can't explain it, and won't do anything about it, I'll report them to the ASA.

"Why do you care so much?" is classic passive-aggressive forum behaviour, by the way. I have a topic I want to discuss. If you aren't interested, don't read it.
 
WEX got back to me and told me that the offer expired June 1st. If you are happy that they're still advertising a two-month-old offer as current, then I don't know what to say.
 
perhaps because its an old cached advert :bang: :lol:

and before publicly accusing a respected retailer of bait and switch you might like to read up on the law surrounding defamation
 
this is why i always skim over the advertised links at the top of Google searches. they're mostly bobbins
 
big soft moose said:
or it could be one of those smart google ad that pics up what you are talking about - amazon have them

if you typed ' exploding mutant aardvark' into search you'd almost certainly get a result that says "buy exploding mutant aardvark at amazon"
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i just now did that and it doesn't. Upset now!!! :|
 
While I sympathise and to an extent agree with Keith my view is that it does the advertiser no good whatsoever.

The ad comes up (and yes Amazon usually figure), hm, that looks interesting, click and when you get to the website there's no such thing. Personally, it p***%s me off and I just click away from the site. It's months since I bought anything from Amazon and such dubious tactics keep me from buying. I use Amazon to see what's available and check reviews and that's about it.
 
Lynton said:
i just now did that and it doesn't. Upset now!!! :|
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odd - earlier I googled ' weapons of mass destruction' (we were talking about the unwiseness of exaggerating reports at work and I wanted an extreme example) and got a "buy weapons of mass destruction at amazon" ad

- if only sadman insane had known he could have saved a lot of grief
 
abdoujaparov said:
Because I dislike bait-and-switch. I was induced into clicking on two advertisements by offers that don't exist. If WEX can't explain it, and won't do anything about it, I'll report them to the ASA.

"Why do you care so much?" is classic passive-aggressive forum behaviour, by the way. I have a topic I want to discuss. If you aren't interested, don't read it.
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Blimey.. would you like me to refill the pram with toys to be thrown?
 
Play nice please ladies, especially those who should know better!
 
big soft moose said:
perhaps because its an old cached advert :bang: :lol:

and before publicly accusing a respected retailer of bait and switch you might like to read up on the law surrounding defamation
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That's rubbish. Adwords are not cached. End of.
I use adwords every day, in fact I spend thousands on Adwords every month. The advertiser is the only person in control of what ads are displayed and when.

At the end of the day wex are wrong whether on purpose or they have forgotten to remove an old ad, they should not be advertising an offer that doesn't exist. It's no different to a supermarket advertising an offer and when you get to store the price is more expensive.

Also not seen any defamation anywhere ::thinking::
 
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ecoleman said:
Also not seen any defamation anywhere ::thinking::
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apart from the bit where he accuses wex of bait and switch when there's no evidence that he was pressured or even encouraged to buy an alternative package.

having an incorrect advert isn't of itself evidence of bait and switch, even less so when its google referencing an old page (probably from a cached page of a price comparison website)

abdoujaparov said:
Because I dislike bait-and-switch. I was induced into clicking on two advertisements by offers that don't exist. If WEX can't explain it, ....
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I can't be arsed to argue about it, but I strongly suspect that the ASA will do Jack, - if we see WEX get prosecuted for B&S in the near future due to this i'll be happy to eat humble pie
 
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big soft moose said:
apart from the bit where he accuses wex of bait and switch when there's no evidence that he was pressured or even encouraged to buy an alternative package.
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Essentially it is bait and switch regardless of whether intentional or not. The bait is a false advert that lures you to their site based on an offer.
It would be all to easy for an unsuspecting customer to purchase the camera expecting the free offer to be included.

having an incorrect advert isn't of itself evidence of bait and switch, even less so when its google referencing an old page (probably from a cached page of a price comparison website)
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It's already been established that this was not a cached price comparison site. It was a sponsored link on a google search page.
These are not cached.
It common sense. As a paying advertiser do you think I would be happy paying for clicks on a "cached" advert. Google would be sued left, right and centre by advertisers being charged for discontinued ads.

I can't be arsed to argue about it, but I strongly suspect that the ASA will do Jack, - if we see WEX get prosecuted for B&S in the near future due to this i'll be happy to eat humble pie
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I'm sure they wouldn't get sued, but more a slap on the wrist. At the end of the day it is false advertising and they need to rectify it. It's more than likely an oversight by wex that still has an ad running that should have been stopped, but that doesn't make it okay. Rules is rules
 
I was going to just ignore this thread, but I don't like being misrepresented.

It wasn't a cached link to a comparison website. It was a sponsored link/ad from WEX in a Google search result, just like I said in the first sentence of my original post.

See the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 at
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/pdfs/uksi_20081277_en.pdf
where in Schedule 1 Section 5 they define bait advertising, and Section 6 where they define bait-and-switch, neither of which requires pressure. Advertising a camera with a free lens, and then sending me to page that offers the same camera with no free lens, seems to fit both Section 5 and Section 6a/b. EDIT: The reason why this matters is that their £449 is STILL a good price, but the only reason I clicked on the ad was because of the supposed free kit zoom.

I've submitted my complaint to the ASA. Yes, Jim, I'll be sure to keep you updated. No, they won't be "prosecuted" for it - this isn't the movies. I hope they'll tell WEX to tighten their lax AdWords procedures and to stop advertising offers that aren't available. I don't think that's unreasonable.
 
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chances are they'll laugh and do jack tbh

you can't make a stand up case for bait and switch without some intent to actively sell you something - clicking on an ad for one price, which then turns to an ad for another may be irritating - but theres no compulsion on you to do anything other than click away

it doesn't meet 5-2 because you are presented with the right price before you come to a transactional decision

and it doesn't meet 6a/b because it neither hides nor omits material information - in fact it directs you directly to the material info

if you don't like being misrepresented (even though you haven't been) how do you think wex would feel about being accused of fraudulent practice just because you've seen an out of date ad ?
 
a) I didn't see an out of date ad. I saw a new ad, supplied to me at various points during the last two days, advertising an offer that hasn't been available for two months. Analagously, this wasn't me seeing an ad in a two-month-old newspaper, it was me seeing a two-month-old ad in today's newspaper.

b) The Consumer Protection statutory instrument I quote is not the basis of my complaint to the ASA. That was made on the basis of Misleading Advertising, specifically section 3.4 of the advertising codes. I quoted the statutory instrument to point out that bait-and-switch needs no pressure or compulsion.

c) Fraudulent is certainly not my word. The statutory instrument describes it as an unfair practice, not a fraudulent one. I'm surprised that someone who accused me of defamation would put words in my mouth . . .

d) Imagine that the three ads I saw when I searched for E-P3 were
Olympus E-P3 - £449 awesomecamerashop.com
Olympus E-P3 - £449 supercamerashop.com
Olympus E-P3 - £449 with free £249.99 lens! marvellouscamerashop.com

which would you click on? And maybe when you get there and find out it's £449 with no lens, which is the same prices as the competition, you decided to buy it anyway? That's what ads would look like if nobody gave a toss about this. Eventually the competition would have to "accidentally" supply out-of-date offers, even if marvellouscamerashop.com had genuinely made a cock-up of their AdWord buy. It's certainly possible that the ASA will "laugh" at me, but somehow I doubt it.
 
Just did the same search and it still comes up with the offer
 
Bait and switch or not, it's false advertising and the ASA would certainly not laugh at you. They will investigate and ensure the ads are taken down.

Obviously as wex have been made aware of the advert and have still not bothered to do anything about it, it looks more like they are doing it on purpose instead of a simple oversight of leaving and old ad running.
 
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There appear to be a number of people here who are intent on defending a dealers unscrupulous actions.

I really don't see why, the OP has a point, it is a form of bait and switch and a decent company shouldn't be doing it.

There really is no excuse for it.
 
WEX replied to me once more, showing that they really don't have a clue what the issue is, let alone how to fix it, so hopefully the ASA will have better luck with them. The advert really needs to be withdrawn.

I'm happy to say it looks like incompetence rather than policy, though. I Googled for the GF6, and WEX's Google Ad offered me the opportunity to pre-order it for £479. On the site it's available now for £399. That ad must be even older than the E-P3 one, as the camera was released in May I believe.
 
As much as I understand the OP's annoyance - I think there are more important issues with the world than an out of date google advert.. I see it all the time from lots of retailers, ebay, gumtree the lot. I just carry on with what I'm looking for and find the best deal I can.. If an offer has expired - then I just move on to find something else...
 
Fully agree with the op's point on this and good on him for taking a stance. It seems like we have a few loyal subjects for the retailer who don't get his point.
 
cymruchris said:
As much as I understand the OP's annoyance - I think there are more important issues with the world than an out of date google advert.. I see it all the time from lots of retailers, ebay, gumtree the lot. I just carry on with what I'm looking for and find the best deal I can.. If an offer has expired - then I just move on to find something else...
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Quite, I've never bought from Wex, probably never will,life's too short to be bothered about out of date offers,there's a sickness in society that expects everything 100%,won't happen.
 
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What a crap life and a crap world we would be living in if people had not bothered to stand up for what they believe was the right thing to do over the years
 
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