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The countdown timer said the deal ended at midnight. The price was the same the next morning

Qurexa Editorial Team18 October 20266 min read 0 0
The countdown timer said the deal ended at midnight. The price was the same the next morning

What happened

On 14 October 2026, the Competition and Markets Authority fined three companies a total of £6 million for misleading sales tactics. Around £440,000 will go back to customers as refunds. All three admitted breaking the law and settled early. That earned each of them a 40% reduction in the fine. The largest fine, £4.8 million, went to the furniture retailer Wayfair. The CMA found it used "Daily Deals" and 24-hour "Flash Deals", with countdown timers and urgent slogans, to suggest offers were about to expire. Many of those products stayed at the same price, or went lower, after the stated deadline passed. Appliances Direct was fined £1.2 million and will refund around £432,000, an average of about £25 per customer. The CMA found two problems. Customers were automatically signed up to two paid extras, "Remove & Recycle Your Old Appliance" and "Installation on Delivery", without proper consent. And pop-up countdown banners offered limited-time discounts of £10 to £25, using codes that in fact reappeared over many days. Gold's Gym (UK) Limited, a franchise running four London gyms, was fined £45,000. It left the compulsory joining fee out of the total price shown for annual and Direct Debit memberships, or showed it unclearly. It will refund £9,220 to 726 customers, either £50 or £10 each depending on the membership type. Hayley Fletcher, the CMA's Senior Director for Consumer Protection, said: "The time is up for this kind of behaviour."

Why this matters

These tricks have a name. Designers call them dark patterns: interface choices built to push you into a decision rather than help you make one. A countdown timer works on you because of a real quirk of human psychology. Scarcity makes things feel more valuable, and urgency crowds out careful thinking. If a clock is ticking, you stop comparing prices. The whole point of a fake deadline is to remove the pause in which you would have thought about it. The automatic opt-in works differently. Most of us accept whatever a form has already filled in, because changing it takes effort and we assume defaults are sensible. Pre-ticking a paid extra turns that reasonable habit against you. And leaving a compulsory fee out of the headline price does something simple: it makes one gym look cheaper than another gym that was honest about the same cost. What is genuinely new here is enforcement. Until recently the CMA usually had to go to court to penalise this kind of thing. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, it can investigate and fine directly. These are among the early cases where that power has been used on familiar household names, and the fines are large enough to notice.

What the evidence actually says

The legal detail is worth getting right, because it tells you what your rights actually are. Falsely claiming an offer is time-limited, to pressure you into deciding, is banned outright. It is treated as unfair in all circumstances, which means a company cannot argue it was harmless in a particular case. Mandatory charges must be included in the upfront price. That obligation sits in section 230(2) of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. If a fee is unavoidable, it belongs in the price you first see. Automatically opting customers into paid extras is prohibited under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. That rule is over a decade old; what has changed is the ability to enforce it quickly. The maximum penalty available is up to 10% of a company's global turnover, or £300,000 if that figure is higher. Set against that ceiling, £6 million across three firms is a real but moderate outcome, which reflects the 40% discount all three received for admitting the breaches and settling early. Two honest caveats. First, a countdown timer is not automatically illegal. A genuinely time-limited offer, that genuinely ends, is fine. The breach is in the pretence. Second, these findings cover specific practices in a specific period at three specific companies. They are not a verdict on every retailer that uses a timer.

Practical advice

**Treat a countdown clock as a reason to slow down, not speed up.** If an offer is real, thinking for ten minutes rarely costs you anything. If ten minutes ruins it, that tells you something. **Screenshot the price before you buy.** Then check the same page a day or two later. If the "expired" deal is still there, you have evidence, and you may have grounds to complain. **Read the basket page line by line before paying.** Automatic extras show up there, not on the product page. Removal, installation, insurance, warranties and priority delivery are the usual culprits. **Compare total prices, not headline prices.** Ask what the full cost is including joining fees, delivery and any compulsory charge. For gym memberships, ask specifically about a joining fee. **Complain in writing to the company first.** Say what was misleading and what you want. Most disputes end there, and you need this step before escalating. **Escalate if they refuse.** Report misleading practices to the CMA, and get free advice from Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133. If you paid by card, your bank may be able to help through chargeback or, for purchases over £100 on credit, section 75. **Be especially careful when you are tired or unwell.** Pressure tactics work best on people with the least energy to resist them. If you are buying medical equipment, mobility aids or health products online, that is a good moment to ask someone else to look at the basket with you.

What to know

The CMA has fined Wayfair £4.8 million, Appliances Direct £1.2 million and Gold's Gym (UK) £45,000, a total of £6 million, for misleading sales tactics. Around £440,000 is being refunded to customers, including about £432,000 from Appliances Direct at roughly £25 a head, and £9,220 split between 726 Gold's Gym members. All three admitted the breaches and received a 40% reduction for settling early. The practices were fake or recycled deadlines, paid extras added without proper consent, and compulsory fees kept out of the advertised price. All three are unlawful under consumer rules the CMA can now enforce directly, without going to court, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The practical lesson is small and useful: a ticking clock on a shopping page is a prompt to pause, check the basket line by line, and compare total prices rather than headline ones. If you think you were misled, complain in writing, then take it to the CMA or Citizens Advice. Sources: Competition and Markets Authority, "CMA fines firms £6 million for misleading sales tactics", 14 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-fines-firms-6-million-for-misleading-sales-tactics; Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/13/contents; Citizens Advice consumer helpline and guidance, https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/ This article is for general information and is not legal or financial advice. For advice on your own situation, contact Citizens Advice. It also does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional if you are buying health-related products.

#consumer rights#CMA#online shopping#dark patterns#digital markets#refunds

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