Belgian State Secretary Alexia Bertrand orders investigation into Fnac discounts

The Belgian State Secretary for Consumer Protection, Alexia Bertrand, has called for the Economy Ministry to investigate a discount gone wrong at Fnac around Black Friday, which left dozens of consumers feeling cheated.

43 complaints

Fnac has come under fire for a Black Friday discount promotion: a speaker that normally costs 119 euros was on promotion for 39 euros (a 67 % discount). However, customers who ordered the product were left disappointed as the retailer suddenly withdrew the promotion. Some customers were told there were stock problems, others were told there was a human error. The retailer apologised and gave a voucher worth ten euros, and hoped that was the end of it.

However, Consumer organisation Testaankoop has grouped 43 complaints, leading State Secretary Bertrand to ask the Economic Inspectorate to open an investigation. “If a shop wants to lure people in with discounts, then these promises must be kept“, she told Belgian newspaper HLN. The consumer organisation was satisfied with the response: “We are also all the more confident that the Economic Inspectorate will come to the right decision, which means that Fnac will have to supply the speakers at 39 euros”, spokesperson Laura Clays added.

Just last week, Fnac got itself caught in a similar situation with a discount for a Sony Playstation 5. In this case, the discount was 90 % and was clearly a mistake. The retailer is now implementing new internal measures to react faster to similar errors.