The Consumer & Market Authority (ACM) must act against Seats and Sofas, which has a total of 21 shops in the Netherlands. That is what the Dutch Consumers' Association, Consumentenbond, wants. The retail chain, which also operates in Belgium (8) and Germany (17), deceives consumers when selling furniture. The company uses fake discounts, puts pressure on consumers and misleads them with incorrect information, research shows.
Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumentenbond: "Seats and Sofas continues to use dirty tricks just to sell furniture. The company has already been warned several times in recent years, by the Advertising Code Committee (RCC), but also by the Authority Consumer & Market (ACM), and others. The latter even fined the chain. But despite everything, the chain continues to ignore the rules. This really has to stop now. And that is why we informed the ACM about our findings and asked it to intervene. We have also started complaint proceedings at the RCC. The hearing is on 24 October."
Seats and Sofas Amersfoort.
Under pressure
On its website, Seats and Sofas exhorts visitors to hurry with a countdown clock. But when the clock ticks down after an hour and a half, the offers for the sofas remain the same. And in shops, too, employees put customers under pressure by creating a sense of scarcity. For example, by threatening that a sofa might not be available the next day. This is not allowed.
Fake offers
Seats and Sofas, which mainly sells sofas, corner sofas, lounge sofas and recliners, further promises discounts of up to 60%. For instance, a sofa of the Bellagio type is on sale for €399. But that is the same price the sofa cost all four previous months. With that, the discount is fake and that too is illegal.
Impossible
Buying the Bellagio sofa for €399 and taking it home straight away as promised by Seats and Sofas, also wasn't possible according to the Consumentenbond's investigators. For starters, the two-seater sofa pictured in the ad actually turns out to be a more expensive three-seater model. In addition, the two-seater variant suddenly costs €725 in shops. The advertisement price of €399 appears to apply only to a sofa with a cheap basic fabric and not the leather-like upholstery shown in the picture. Moreover, it turns out direct takeaway is only possible when buying two sofas.
Not for the first time
Several years ago, the Consumentenbond already established that Seats and Sofas does not take the rules very seriously. And consumers also regularly complain about the company's sales excuses. Seats & Sofas' sales methods are aggressive, the Consumentenbond concluded at the time. 'I want a yes or no now,' the salesperson tells a mystery customer. When she asks if she can think about it anyway. 'No, you can't!', she is told. This form of aggressive selling is banned, the Consumentenbond concludes.
More information:
Seats and Sofas
www.seatsandsofas.nl
Consumentenbond
www.consumentenbond.nl
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