Bait and Switch Advertising

Businesses sometimes advertise a product or service at an irresistible price that is impossible to get. The business then uses a hard sell technique to up-sale or substitute the product. You end up purchasing something you did not want or need or never intended to purchase.

Dell Computers paid $4M in 2009 to settle a charge by NY state that it was deceiving customers by advertising low prices that weren’t available to most people.

COSTCO settled a lawsuit as well for advertising handbags at a very low price to lure customers when few if any were available to purchase.