Tesco slammed by retailers over ‘cheap’ PlayStations

Three of the UK’s biggest computer games retailers have run national press ads hitting back at Tesco’s “misleading” claims that it was selling cheap Sony PlayStation games consoles.

Dixons, Comet and Toys R Us have run separate full-page ads in national titles including The Sun, the Mirror and the Express on Friday and Saturday, pointing out that their higher-priced Playstations contain accessories, which Tesco’s do not.

In a pointed reference to Tesco’s advertising, one of Comet’s ads contains the endline: “Every little might help but at Comet it’s the extras that count.” The ads make like-for-like price comparisons, explaining the difference in packages offered to consumers.

The row broke when Tesco ran a series of comparison ads last Wednesday, saying it was selling a Sony PlayStation for 99.99 compared with the Dixons price of 129.99. Tesco is understood to have sourced the consoles on the grey market in Germany.

The ads failed to mention that the console did not include accessories, which the Dixons package offers. Dixons says these are worth 52.97, and give consumers a cost benefit over the Tesco price of nearly 23.

Tesco has pulled the ads and has apologised for misleading consumers.