Summer Sale - False Advertising!!

[RichG]

The banner on the website advertises "All Catalogue 30% Off Summer Sale"
Yet none of the more recent Matrix games that I am interested in have a sale reduction, including WEGO Stalingrad and CS Vietnam.
Is this "All catalogue" in reality a "most of catalogue" sale and marketing are being devious?

[gamerdoc]

yeah exactly. I was going to buy CS Vietnam but not paying $56 CD. AND, Matrix charges 1.45x Exchange rate whereas it's trading at 1.3. Another reason I buy games from Steam, not Matrix. It seems Matrix does everything to drive customers away.

[RichG]

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[Greybriar]

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Did you notice that the expiration date of the offer is the same as the date it was published?

[terminator]

Most of the catalogue would be a more appropriate term than all catalogue.

[RichG]

Did you notice that the expiration date of the offer is the same as the date it was published?

Yes I did notice this, but also found the countdown timer on the sale that shows 6 days + left to run:

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Looks like this whole sale has not been thought through very well at all!

[RichG]

It's now advertised on Twitter as ALL CATALOGUE. This is wrong!

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[Edmon]

Hey guys,

This may just be an error in the discount settings, I will bring this up with the right people asap tomorrow morning.

[RichG]

This may just be an error in the discount settings, I will bring this up with the right people asap tomorrow morning.

Thank you Edmon. I do hope this is just a genuine error.

[RichG]

Can I take it that the lack of response both here and from PMs to Erik and Iain that this is not a mistake and is infact intentional false advertising?

[altipueri]

I'm more concerned that they can't make up their spelling mind between Catalog and Catalogue.

But you are right - I now see an asterisk has appeared with a note that the offer excludes the most recent games.

[RichG]

I now see an asterisk has appeared ...

It's still the same false advert on Twitter amd I presume Facebook and elsewhere.

[Edmon]

There is an official statement on the website now about this:

"Hi! thank you for your feedback, as you can see we edited the news on the website, making clear that the discount is applied on most of our catalog: we are excluding from the sale the most recent games, like we always do for seasonal sales or promotional stunts like this one.

Games excluded from the sale are:
- Starship Troopers: Terran Command
- Warhammer 40k: Gladius – Escalation pack
- Field of Glory II: Medieval – Rise of the Swiss
- Distant Worlds 2
- Campaign Series: Vietnam
- WEGO World War II: Stalingrad
- Valor&Victory: Stalingrad
- Warhammer 40k: Battlesector – Necrons
- Panzer Corps 2: Axis Ops 1943"

As always, I don't think the intent to mislead was there but obviously, it probably should have specifically said that it was the back catalogue that was discounted. I will bring this up at a staff meeting so please give me some time...

[RichG]

Edmon

I appreciate you response but cannot find this official statement on the site - could you please provide a link?

I have, on numerous occasions, made good use of previous seasonal and other sales, which have never been listed as 'All Catalogue' and have not expected them ever to be so. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this one being shown as such and given my interest in a couple of recent games I was expecting to again make use of it - only to be very dissappointed.

Not dissapointed that I wouldn't be purchasing the game at a reduced price, but dissapointed that Matrix / Slitherine would allow this kind of marketing to proceed (intended or otherwise). I had initialy hoped that they may have made a mistake by not enabling reduced prices on the items I was interested in, but clearly now this was not the case.

Adding a disclaimer at this stage, after being called out, is hardly sufficient - the basic banner ad that proclaims "All Catalogue" is very much still in evidence around the both Matrix and Slitherine websites, Twitter and presumably a number of other sites.

The intent may not be to mislead but the reality is that is does. There are advertsing standards here in the UK that are in place to prevent this kind of misleading of customers. This is again very dissapointing from Matrix and fundamentally disrespectful of their customers.

[Lobster]

Matrix has a history of excluding more recent games from any sales. Upon seeing the lack of any message regarding newer games I simply assumed it was a typo given the history of Matrix sales. People are not perfect and mistakes can and will be made.

[RichG]

Matrix has a history of excluding more recent games from any sales.

Indeed, which I have mentioned.

People are not perfect and mistakes can and will be made.

Yes and I make plenty of my own. However the nature of advertising and marketing is such that it as very rare for something to go ahead without much scrutinisation and approval from mangement. Maybe that has failed here. Again dissapointing from Matrix.

[madflava13]

Imagine being this upset about a mistake. It happens, it was investigated and corrected. The sale is in-line with everything Matrix has always done, so this shouldn't be a surprise. Matrix still has the best customer service and dedication to their titles of any gaming company I've ever purchased from. If you think differently, you're not paying attention.

[TheGrayMouser]

There is an official statement on the website now about this:

"Hi! thank you for your feedback, as you can see we edited the news on the website, making clear that the discount is applied on most of our catalog: we are excluding from the sale the most recent games, like we always do for seasonal sales or promotional stunts like this one.

Games excluded from the sale are:
- Starship Troopers: Terran Command
- Warhammer 40k: Gladius – Escalation pack
- Field of Glory II: Medieval – Rise of the Swiss
- Distant Worlds 2
- Campaign Series: Vietnam
- WEGO World War II: Stalingrad
- Valor&Victory: Stalingrad
- Warhammer 40k: Battlesector – Necrons
- Panzer Corps 2: Axis Ops 1943"

As always, I don't think the intent to mislead was there but obviously, it probably should have specifically said that it was the back catalogue that was discounted. I will bring this up at a staff meeting so please give me some time...

Yeah but the banner still says All the Catolog , until you read the fine print….I’m sorry but doesn’t that still give an air of retail sneakiness? Why not just have it be clear in all aspects of your advertisement?

[madflava13]

"Retail Sneakiness" and "False Advertising." The armchair lawyers are thick in here.

Let's say you see the banner that says "All Catalog" but the game you really want isn't included. Okay, so you've lost what, three seconds of your day? How is that sneaky or false? Either you like the price or you don't. Nobody's sneaking into your wallet and making the purchase.

[TheGrayMouser]

"Retail Sneakiness" and "False Advertising." The armchair lawyers are thick in here.

Let's say you see the banner that says "All Catalog" but the game you really want isn't included. Okay, so you've lost what, three seconds of your day? How is that sneaky or false? Either you like the price or you don't. Nobody's sneaking into your wallet and making the purchase.

Calm down, it’s no skin off my back and I didn’t lose even 3 seconds. The question remains though why advertise all or everything when you don’t mean it and have it in the fine print. It’s just cheesy, a gimmick even, that’s all.