Silly goose, featherless bedding bedlam all down to a mistake‚ apparently…

18 August 2015 - 16:54 By Wendy Knowler
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Image: Gallo Images/ Thinkstock

Last week‚ I had a word with Mr Gosling about goose down duvets.

No‚ really. Wayne Gosling is the CEO of Groupon‚ the country’s leading group discount buying scheme‚ and on Facebook the company placed an advert for a Protea Collection “goose down duvet” for the bargain price of just R499 including delivery - a claimed “44% off”.

Having just bought one of those from a rival online retailer‚ for far‚ far more than that‚ the advert caught my attention.

Firstly‚ it quickly became clear that the wording ought to have been “from R499” because that price applied to the single “goose down” duvet‚ there being six sizes available with the most expensive‚ Super King‚ selling for R1799.

The prices of the various sized duvets were all revealed on the next page‚ each one being described as a “goose down duvet”.

The true story came below that‚ under “What You Need to Know”.

Point 1: “Hotel quality microfibre offering the supreme comfort of goose down”.

Microfibre is a man-made fibre typically made of cellulose or polyester. Under benefits‚ the advert included this: “No feathers poking through”.

That’s because these duvets don’t contain a single feather - those soft fluffy‚ heat insulating‚ natural things which make down duvets so sought-after - despite being described as “goose down duvets".

Priceless.

As was sending an email to a Gosling to query the astonishingly misleading goose down duvet advert.

Gosling said it was "an editorial mistake from our side”.

“The merchant gave us the details correctly‚ and we gave the deal the wrong title - the specs on the deal are correct. We picked up the mistake after launching the deal and changed it but obviously not quickly enough.

"We're also reaching out to those who purchased them to offer to pick up the duvet from them and offer them a refund or exchange.”

For the record‚ it wasn’t just the eye-catching title of the advert which described the offer as a “goose down duvet”.

Whoever was responsible for drafting that advert would have had to type out the words “goose down” seven times.

–RDM News Wire, The Times

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