Promotion end date - always tomorrow as a 'call to action'.

[PastorOfMuppets]

Hi business minded PHers

I was just wondering about the practice of using a snippet of code on a website to perpetually change the end date of a promotion to the following day.

Is this kind of thing legal? Or is it frowned upon? Would you say it is immoral or more than that?

Or would you say that it is simply a business technique that is perfectly acceptable?

I would be very interested in input re the legality (from someone in the know) if it is indeed illegal.

Many thanks

Matt

[Amateurish]

Probably illegal. The Consumer Protection regs prohibit:

"7. Falsely stating that a product will only be available for a very limited time, or that it will only be available on particular terms for a very limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision and deprive consumers of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice"

[Simpo Two]

Fail; deception.

[PastorOfMuppets]

Thanks for replies chaps.

I probably should have said that I'm not planning on doing this myself, I'm trying to build a sensible case for a refund from a bunch of cowboys.

[Simpo Two]

Refund on the grounds you felt forced into making a wrong buying decision? Trading Standards might tell them to stop doing it in the future, but I can't think you can force a refund.

[PastorOfMuppets]

I agree, but it's only an additional angle to apply pressure to the situation.

Edited by PastorOfMuppets on Wednesday 4th June 22:32

[MrSparks]

The way to get around this is to have continuous sales, maybe seasonal or events base, that's how DFS etc get away with it. Check out betterbathrooms.com they've always got a sale on but it'll be seasonal, gives you "deadlines" to encourage a purchase but then often they change the winter sale to the summer sale and rinse and repeat.... I don't think there is anything dodgy about it, it's just a form of promotion, takes a bit more work than a script though unfortunately!