I buy my shoes from J shoes in Wadebridge, Cornwall. Excellent store. Last December I picked up a pair of blue crocs for 20GBP, which I’ve raved about. A couple of days ago my sister went to get a pair too.
They now cost 30GBP at J shoes and I asked why are they more expensive. They said mine were on sale and besides they have received complaints from another store that J shoes were selling Crocs too cheap. Then they casually commented that Crocs HQ has now forced J shoes to sell at 30 GBP.
Ummm, isn’t that illegal to fix prices?
Staff immediately fell silent. I am really disappointed people let this happen. Show some backbone people.
8/6/2008 update: More than a year later I need my Cayman Crocs to be replaced. Still the shoe sales seem fixed on 30GBP. Even on sites like Amazon UK!
I have heard J shoes have been “getting around” the Crocs price fixing demand by offering a 5GBP gift voucher with purchases of Crocs at RRP. Very sad!
17/16/2008: I have taken up a complaint with the Office of fair trading. However the office have put the onus on me to provide evidence that Crocs are violating the Competition Act, i.e. proof that Crocs are:
* Anti-competitive
* Abusive
After talking with an employee of the Enquiries and Preliminary Investigations Centre at the Office of Fair Trading, she recommended I “shop around” for another type of shoe.
I have a loss of confidence in the services the UK government supply. Israel for example is taking action. Ultimately J shoes should be feeding the OFT information they need to prosecute Crocs.
