To tempt in new readers, last Sunday it offered readers a free pink travel hairdryer "worth £15" in an offer heavily trailed not just in the Sun, but also sister paper the Times.
The very same pink travel hairdryers, in fact, which were heavily trailed to be given away with the 10 July edition of the News of the World last year - until that turned out to be the last edition ever, and the offer had to be abandoned...
They have evidently been sitting in a warehouse somewhere ever since...fortunately...they featured the branding of the colour supplement 'Fabulous', which now accompanies the Sun on Sundays.
But, once again, things haven't quite gone to plan:
News Group Newspapers (NGN) has identified a potential safety issue with the Fabulous Travel Hairdryer (Model number FB-0307A) offered for free in The Sun between April 29th and May 12th, 2012.
Despite rigorous quality control procedures, it has been brought to NGN’s attention that in some instances this product may pose a risk of personal injury or even electrocution due to faulty wiring.
If you claimed this product from Tesco on Saturday May 5th, 2012, PLEASE STOP USING IT IMMEDIATELY and return the product via the following FREEPOST address.
(Via Tom Savage on Twitter)
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The only surprise is that the hairdryers didn't have a built-in bugging device
ReplyDeleteAll the info. tells you what to do if you have one of the 'Fabulous' hairdryers, what it doesnt say is what to do if you haven't redeemed your tokens ! I specially bought copies of the Sun in order to collect the tokens, only to feel ripped off now. There are no apologies or instructions as to what to do. Bin them I suppose and remember not to get involved again
ReplyDeleteI would be tempted to claim £15 compensation if I had bought a voucher: it was their choice to use that claimed value to induce sales of the vouchers, so it'd be an eneforceable loss of bargain as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the 'rigorous quality control' missed serious wiring faults, one has to wonder what their idea of rigorous is.
Yes Tom, what a good idea. It would encourage the media to check what they buy or put on offer in future. Let's face it these offers must clock up a fair bit of extra revenue in newspaper sales whilst our pockets become lighter! I am sure the hairdryer is genuinely faulty, but how many extra newspapers have been sold ??
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