bait-and-switch is still around

About two years ago I feature several examples of what is known as 'bait-and-switch' [ see 1, 2, 3 ]. The idea is that you attract the unwary customer with some bait [say, a low priced product] and then 'switch' them to higher-priced goods when they respond to the bait. Whilst this is an acceptable form of promotion it becomes unethical - and in the UK, illegal - if the bait product does not exist for the customer to purchase.

Well, it's not gone away - as these two images show. The first is an email I received, the second is the web page I got when I clicked on the 'more details' link.

bad practice [no, make that very bad practice] - Travelocity

While having a cup of tea, I thought I'd check to see if there were any cheap holidays available when my wife is off work in July [us lecturers, we're always off]. As an email had just come in from Travelocity, I thought I'd give them a chance to take my money. So I completed their 'seach' form, as shown below:

And the top of the returns was this:



1 For those of you who don't know [which obviously includes everyone at Travelocity] Gatwick is SOUTH of LONDON - it is NOT in the North East or Yorkshire.

2 Wednesday 2nd of May is not within three days of the 6th of July.

Did Travelocity think that I would change the dates and place of departure of my holidays to snap up this bargain? Frankly, I do not know what they are thinking. One thing is for sure, that was the end of my search for a holiday in that site. Probably forever. To Travelocity's marketers - how much did you spend on various forms of promotion to get me to your search form? Whatever the cost - IT WAS WASTED

A very poor example of bait and switch ?