ISP slams TV consumer expert's site over coupon redemption advice

by James Quilter, Promotions & Incentives 18-Mar-09, 14:50

LONDON - Consumer savings site MoneySavingExpert.com, run by consumer advisor Martin Lewis, has been panned by the Institute of Sales Promotion (ISP) as 'irresponsible and reckless' for encouraging consumers to malredeem coupons.

MoneySavingExpert was founded by Lewis, who has dispensed the advice on both the BBC and ITV, and has around 8m unique visits a month. However an article on the site titled 'Supermarket Coupons', advising consumers they can make savings by redeeming coupons regardless of what they are for, has angered the ISP.

The piece states: "Sometimes supermarkets allow you to use coupons like cash, so you can use them to get money off even if you’re not buying those products."

It also rates what supermarkets are amenable to the misuse of coupons, naming Tesco, Asda and Waitrose as the most malredemption-friendly.

Coupon malredemption has become a major problem for brands who have to pay up for redeemed coupons even though the intended product has not been purchased.

Speaking about MoneySavingExpert's advice, ISP chairman Clive Mishon said: "We've kept a track on the site as it’s positive for consumers. However on this point we've expressed the view the idea is reckless and irresponsible."

Since 2007 the ISP has been in discussion with retailers about doing more to tackle coupon malredemption and has said the practice is potentially fraudulent.

However in response Lewis dismissed the view consumers were committing fraud and said it was an issue between retailers and brands.

"You need to differentiate between false and fraudulent redemption and business-to-business on how coupons are used.

"If someone is passing off coupons and lying about it then that is fraud but from the consumers perception if I were to write a 50p-off coupon and take it to Tesco and tell them what I'd done, then it's Tesco's choice whether to give the discount or not."

Lewis said it was not the intention to hit brands and said the ISP needed to deal with retailers over the problem.

However Lewis did concede that he would be happy to run a comment on MoneySavingExpert from the ISP detailing how much malredemption costed brands and let the consumers decide for themselves.

Comments

selina howells - 20/03/2009

The site's motto is 'We spend our lives being screwed by companies for profit, this site is about how to screw them back.'

Steve Twidell - 20/03/2009

Quite. It's a bit like seeing something on someone's desk and saying I'm going to take that and if no one stops me then that's alright. Or that a bit steep?

martin lewis - 23/03/2009

Yes that's a bit steep. It's worth reading the article on my site in question. What it says is that some supermarkets will accept coupons when you're not getting the product. However it ensures customers ask the supermarket and not try and go through self-service check outs. Now this is a retailer - consumer transaction. if the supermarket then tried to pass it to the manufacturer I can understand the issue for ISP, yet thats an issue for the industry. Supermarkets often advertise "we will accepts Xs coupons" even when they're not vaid "ie sainsbury accepting tesco coupons" so this has come from the supermarkets. To follow your analogy, its like seeing something on someones desk, ASKING IF YOU CAN TAKE IT, and when they say yes, taking it. However as noted in the guide, i am happy to put the ISPs concerns to my users and let them decide for themselves once they know the impact on manufacturers. Full info and letting the consumer decide, is a goal. As for the sites motto, yes it is a consumer revenge site, but that is within the law, not outside it. In society as a whole when i set up the site there was a misbalance between consumers and companies, in terms of resource, info and education. That is changing, and partly the internet is doing it; and this is the context - our job is totally pro-consumer and hopefully it gets the message across. Ultimately this seems to me to be an issue for the ISP and the supermarkets; if they didnt accept the vouchers when asked then there would be no problem. Yet if they are prepared to give consumers who honestly show them vouchers discounts \(effectively just like haggling) then to not tell consumers about it - would mean I wasnt doing my job. Kind regards Martin