If Auctionworld do not comply with all OFCOM regulations with immediate effect their licence to broadcast will be revoked.
They have been fined £450,000.
They must broadcast the following statement at 1200, 1600 and 2200 each day for the next 21 days:
Quote:
“Ofcom, the communications regulator, has found Auctionworld
in breach of the Advertising Standards Code for its customer
service and misleading viewers about its guide prices for
diamond jewellery and loose diamonds.
Ofcom considers these continued and repeated breaches to be
extremely serious and has fined Auctionworld. It has also
required Auctionworld to remedy these failures.
Could there finally be an end in sight for totally unrealistic guide prices?
Ofcom report posted:
Auctionworld continued to maintain that the guide prices were fair, despite Ofcom’s expert opinion that some loose diamonds had been valued at a guide price, for example of £19,360, when in fact in his opinion they were worth £3,580.
I know it's not on a scale anywhere near as excessive as Auctionworld, but I was flicking through the channels and stopped at Price Drop the other night. They were selling a Scalextric Demon Flyers racing set. Was tempted to buy for my cousin for Christmas. Guide price £113. Did an internet search and couldn't find it over £55 on the internet - that's even from local toy shops selling online.
That's why I don't buy - you genuinely can't trust the guide. Then there's the postage. I mean, if it was a £20-£30 saving I'd think that was okay, but to claim such huge savings is probably doing them more harm than good. It just gets unbelivable, and it is. Maybe they should just change tact and claim to be competitively cheaper, and focus on the convenience of TV shopping or something rather than stupid 'claimed' savings.
My mum always said "If it looks too good to be true, it proabably is."
Advice for life. Thanks mum.
I bet all those presenters that jumped ship from Bid-Up to Auction World are kicking themselves.
Is Chase-It.tv included in this ruling or will that be able to carry on?(though as they never seem to sell anything, I can't see it being around much longer anyway)
They must broadcast the following statement at 1200, 1600 and 2200 each day for the next 21 days:
Quote:
“Ofcom, the communications regulator, has found Auctionworld
in breach of the Advertising Standards Code for its customer
service and misleading viewers about its guide prices for
diamond jewellery and loose diamonds.
Ofcom considers these continued and repeated breaches to be
extremely serious and has fined Auctionworld. It has also
required Auctionworld to remedy these failures.
Well they didn't broadcast it a few minutes ago, and are showing no signs of doing so, and the Ofcom ruling says 'with immediate effect'. They did have a slightly tacky slide apologising for "customer service issues", but I imagine that's been around for some time. (I only tuned in because of the Ofcom decision).
If only it were Ideal World or whatever it's called, then at least we'd have one less shopping channel and a free space on Freeview.
Good to hear that this is being clamped down on, though. IMO shopping channels are a waste of time and money - you're far better off buying on the internet. You'd have to watch them 24 hours a day to find something worth buying, anyway...
