Wayfair hit with £4.8m fine after watchdog exposes fake countdown deals that never actually expired
Wayfair was fined £4.8m after its countdown-timer "Flash Deals" were found to remain on sale at the same or lower price after deadlines passed.
The Competition and Markets Authority has fined Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Gold's Gym a total of £6m for cheating shoppers with bogus sales tactics and hidden fees. Wayfair ran 'Daily Deals' and 'Flash Deals' with countdown timers, but products reportedly remained on sale at the same price or lower after the deadline passed. All three firms admitted breaking the law and received a 40% fine reduction for settling early with the CMA.
Appliances Direct, fined £1.2m, also secretly auto-enrolled customers into paid-for extras they never asked for.
Appliances Direct and Gold's Gym customers will receive roughly £440,000 in refunds — averaging £25 each for Appliances Direct shoppers and up to £50 for Gold's Gym members.
CMA consumer chief Hayley Fletcher warned: 'The time is up for this kind of behaviour.'
