Angry punters slam Tesco for 'unavailable' laptops

Angry UK consumers who tried to buy special offer laptops and camcorders from Tesco have reported the retail giant to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after being told that no stores had the discounted goods in stock.

The punters were enraged by the Tesco advertisement that promised '20 per cent off all camcorders, laptops, digital cameras and sat nav'.

The ad featured an example model of each of the sale items including a JVC digital camcorder and an Acer Aspire widescreen wireless laptop. The ad stated: 'Offer ends Tuesday 14th February. Selected stores.'

But customers who tried to purchase the JVC camcorder and Acer laptop claimed that they were unable to find a store with the items in stock, and challenged the availability of the offer.

The ASA did not uphold the complaints, however, and found in favour of Tesco. The advertising watchdog said that Tesco had made "reasonable efforts to anticipate demand for the sale items and maintain stocking levels to satisfy that demand".

Tesco sent the ASA stock reports which it maintained demonstrated that it had increased the stock for both products based on a "reasonable estimate" of the increase in demand anticipated during the promotion.

The store's figures were based on previous sales and relevant previous promotions and sales of similar products.

Tesco claimed that the Acer laptops were available in 210 stores and JVC camcorders in 125 stores in the run up to the sale.

The company added that the general stocking figures they sent showed that it had a small but significant number of both items left over at the end of the sale period.

"Tesco pointed out that the Parkfarm and Ashford stores, where one complainant attempted to purchase a JVC camcorder, did not participate in the sale," the ASA reported.

"Tesco maintained that the 'selected stores' disclaimer made clear to readers that the offer was not available in all stores.

"Although we noted that Tesco was unable to explain why one complainant was unable to obtain an Acer laptop, we considered that the data sent showed that significant sales were recorded towards the end of the sale after the ad had appeared and that, overall, the allocated stock exceeded the number of units sold.

"We also considered that the data sent relating to the JVC camcorder demonstrated that Tesco had made efforts to anticipate demand for that item and ensure adequate stocking levels, in spite of a significant increase in demand during the promotional period.

"We concluded that, because Tesco had demonstrated that it made a reasonable estimate of the demand for the promotional items, and that it had sufficient stock to meet that demand, the ad was not in breach of the Code."