Alexandre decided, shortly before the holiday season in December, to have fun by buying a Playstation 5 at the MediaMarkt de la Médiacité in Liège. “My Christmas present from me to me “, he smiles.
Lover of video games, this sales representative plays there “for his pleasure, when he has time. “A time that he has less for five months and the birth of his first child.
A rare gift as the latest Sony console is out of stock all over the world. “I am in a Facebook group called ‘PS5 stock Belgique’ and every week, we see people who put pictures of pallets to say that there are consoles on the shelves “, confides the 29-year-old from Liege. “I saw that there are pallets which arrived and I went to the store where a salesman told me that there would be tomorrow “, he adds.
Bad surprise
But when it comes time to checkout, Alexandre is disillusioned. He learns that a compulsory omnium insurance of 30 euros applies for the second controller of the pack he is about to buy. Insurance that would be “typically for Liège “, thinks Alexandre. “I talked about it with people in my group and the others also had to buy the console with a pack, that’s classic, but they had an additional accessory, like a helmet, that I didn’t have..”
Angry, Alexandre decides to contact the brand’s headquarters to tell them about his mishap. And there is another surprise that awaits Alexandre on the phone. “They don’t even know what’s going on in their branches because they were amazed to learn that there were PS5s in stock. “, the buyer is surprised. “Apparently there are waiting lists of people who have paid for their console for months “. “I have the impression that there is a business behind, in any case there is something which is not clear “, still suspects Alexandre who speaks of a practice “illegal “, according to him.
“I filed a complaint with MediaMarkt to be reimbursed for this omnium “, he said again.
An illegal practice?
“What struck me was when I read an article that talks about a totally similar case in France with Micromania. The equivalent of Test-Achat in France has filed a complaint for this type of practice which is apparently illegal “, notes Alexandre.
Indeed, the French company was condemned by the justice to “stop deceptive marketing practices“, can we read on their site. Among the condemned practices, the channel is accused of “falsely present a guarantee named ‘Extended Warranty’ as a commercial guarantee offered and sold by Micromania, whereas it turns out to be an insurance product managed by an insurance broker“. Exactly Alexander’s situation.
Insurance is never compulsory
Contacted by us, the spokesperson for Médiamarkt already reveals a contradiction to what was said to Alexandre. “There is no waiting list, that’s for sure “, declare Janick De Saedeleer. “You cannot reserve a Playstation for a long time. As we couldn’t guarantee our customers when they would have their order, we had supply issues like all other chains and we didn’t want customers to be angry or disappointed so it hasn’t been possible for a long time to to reserve “, further details the spokesperson.
“Insurance is never compulsory “, continues the spokesperson. “We offer it, the customer can take it if he wishes, but I have checked the accounts and given the number of Playstations that have come in and have been sold, less than 20% of buyers have took out the insurance The customer can go to the store to have their insurance reimbursed with their receipt.”
A happy ending but suspicions persist
The next day, Alexandre calls us to tell us that he has returned to the store to be reimbursed. Again, he will be surprised. “I made a reflection to the seller on the fact that it is questionable as a way to proceed“, he says. To which the seller would have replied that they increase the prices of the packs with insurance in order to avoid resales on the internet.”Can’t you do without a console? “, would have also launched the salesman, strongly annoyed.
“Proof that it was illegal to impose insurance, the store manager called me to apologize and say that indeed it was not normal and that he was going to let his staff know “, Alexander gets angry.
Finally reimbursed for his insurance, the 29-year-old dad was even able to return the 2e controller of the pack, which he did not want. Now he is free to explore the worlds of God of War, The Last of Us Where The Witcher on his console.