The 'unbelievable' Makro deals which proved unattainable

Scores of people rushed to snap up “unbelievable” bargains on a Makro sale at the weekend, with high ticket items such as Macbooks, inverters, coffee machines, TVs and gaming laptops selling for just R55.

Naturally, they were furious to learn on Sunday morning that it was not to be — the prices were a mistake.

Some had placed and paid for multiple orders — one of them 25 items, Makro confirmed — and almost half of them (46%) were first-time customers.

The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) gives retailers an “out” when it comes to advertised prices which are what it terms “an obvious error” — in such cases the retailer does not have to honour them.

That’s what Makro initially told affected customers — after auto-sending them notices confirming their bargain purchases. It initially promised them refunds within 48 hours. But that notification was followed by another, blaming the purchase cancellations on lack of stock and advising they’d have to wait up to 10 days for a refund.

That plunged the Massmart group, which owns Makro, into crisis management.

“The pricing error was unintentional and obvious,” the group said on Monday.

“We have subsequently apologised to affected customers and Marketplace sellers, who have also been notified that the affected portion of their orders will not be fulfilled.”

About the “mixed messaging”, Massmart said: “The stock unavailability message is an automated system message that was generated when we suspended the stock items affected by the pricing error.

“The system identified this stock was unavailable as it was no longer listed on our online platforms.

“The [original] price error message, which included a commitment to a customer refund within 48 hours, was issued by the Makro customer care team as a direct response to the technical issue that resulted in the underpricing of certain products on the Makro App and websites.”

The company said it is committed to processing affected customers’ refunds within 48 hours.

“The decision [to cancel those R55 deals], which was not taken lightly, is supported by section 23 (9) of the Consumer Protection Act which covers obvious and unintentional pricing errors.

“We are sincerely sorry this situation has occurred and are working hard to identify and learn from the underlying causes to avoid similar future incidents.”

Several people have questioned whether the R55 prices can be construed as “obvious errors”, given that they were offered on a payday weekend when Makro is known for selling sought-after products at huge discounts.

The sale was called Weekend Mania, with the promise of “unbelievable deals”.

“How does the CPA define [an] obvious [error]?” asked “hd” on X. (It doesn’t.)

In an email sent to Makro and copied to TimesLIVE about the issue, Raeesa Moosa said: “The prices listed during Makro’s 'unbelievable deals this weekend' promotion were not immediately recognisable as errors by a reasonable consumer.

“The marketing context led consumers such as myself to believe these prices were part of the 'unbelievable deals' promotional campaign.”

It’s an interesting question in the same month that FlySafair sold 50,000 tickets for just R10 each on its 10th birthday sale.

• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via email: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.

TimesLIVE