For Lionel Maugain, a journalist with 60 million consumers, certain brands are involved in tied selling and “it is prohibited in France”, he reminded Wednesday on Franceinfo.
Lionel Maugain, journalist for 60 Million consumers, has carried out an investigation into the sale of masks for the general public in stores. “There are certain supermarkets that allow people to buy other products to get the masks”, he denounced Wednesday May 6 on Franceinfo. For him, it’s tied selling, “it is prohibited in France”, he reminds. It alerts on the price of masks which is not always respected and on the possibility of being tricked by buying on the internet. “We have all the elements for the scam”, assures the journalist.
franceinfo: What do you think of the justifications of Intermarché, which says that the reservation of masks by customers holding the Cherbourg-en-Cotentin store card is a mistake? Are stores trying to turn masks into a marketing argument?
Lionel Maugain: There is not just one Intermarché that behaved like this. Unfortunately, there are several points of sale, and not only in the Intermarché network, which have forced people who wanted to buy masks to have the card. There were quite a few refusals if you did not have the store card, especially at Intermarché, but not only. It’s a big failure. Hopefully the message from Mr. Cotillard [le président d’Intermarché qui assure que cette pratique est une erreur] will be well disseminated in the Intermarché network. Right now, we have lifts like that. We also have rising tensions with customers. There are tensions, even though we are not in a period of deconfinement. What will it be next week? There are also some stores that allow people to buy other products to get the masks. It is still incredible to force the purchase of other products. It is tied selling and it is prohibited in France. We also have bugs on VAT. The VAT is no longer 20% but 5.5%. There are, in particular in the Intermarché network, cashier IT systems which have not been corrected. There are a lot of worries.
In your opinion, is there a lot of tension on the sale of these masks in stores and so should we be careful?
We can understand that there is a lot of tension because it is a product that nobody had at home, or almost, two months ago. We are forcing people to buy large quantities since we will need masks today, but probably in the weeks and months to come. It is very special as an operation what will happen on the purchase of the masks. We can understand certain things. There will also be an impact on the household budget which is very important and which we are currently assessing at 60 million consumers. We must be very careful, especially on the offers that are offered on the Internet. We really risk being scammed. We have all the elements for the scam. It is a product that is very much in demand. The price of the disposable surgical mask has been calculated to have increased 600% in the past two months. He is the subject of incredible international speculation. We pay the price in supermarkets since 60 cents is still very expensive, even if it is likely that the brands sell without margin as they are committed to. In any case, it is very high.
How much do you estimate this household masks budget? Is the ceiling price of 95 cents for disposable masks well respected?
We are evaluating it. We will publish figures on Thursday, but it depends if we use cloth masks or disposable masks. With the fabric, for a family with a child who goes to college, we can be between 40 and 60 € per month. If we buy disposable masks, we are beyond 100 €, we can even go up to 115, 120 €. It will be necessary to calculate with use. Each family will have to establish the number of uses they have each week. Depending on that, they will have to choose between a fabric mask, a disposable mask, depending on the prices that are offered. We have a few cases of stores, not in large food retailers, but selling beyond this price ceiling. Again, I hope things are back to normal. Consumers who experience this kind of problem can report it on the official Signal Conso site and then report it to us. [60 Millions de consommateurs], because we will also take turns. Everyone absolutely has to play the game. It is a very sensitive product, so let’s hope that these failures will be short-lived.
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