Yahoo News Chinese phone company Xiaomi slammed for 'click-bait' £1 mobile sale 'scam'
Major Chinese technology firm Xiaomi has apologised after a "crazy deal" on its website sold a handful of mobile phones for £1, angering customers.
The brand took flack when it advertised a "flash sale" offering phones for £1 each, and it emerged only two or three phones were actually sold at this price before the website said it was "sold out".
The UK's ads watchdog said it had received a complaint and was deciding whether to open an investigation.
The "misleading" ads prompted backlash on social media, as some users called the company out for the "clickbait scam".
@xiaomi UK 1£ event! What a scam! All sold out in less than a second! Wow!
— George Ivanov (@george_i81) November 11, 2018
Xiaomi said it hoped customers would not be discouraged from taking part in future campaigns.
"We've held flash sales all over the world since our first one back in 2013 as a way to give a lucky few customers a chance to get their hands on our smartphones at incredibly low prices," said a spokeswoman.
"[This] was our first in the UK and attracted enormous levels of demand, far beyond what we were expecting.
"We're sorry so many Xiaomi fans missed out this time round but we hope they'll take part in future flash sales as and when we announce them."
@xiaomi what a dissapointing UK £1 mobile phone promotion. As soon as the counter went to zero it also became out of stock. Such a scam to get people to view their shopping portal.
— Wasif Mehdi (@wasif_mehdi) November 9, 2018
Xiaomi has regularly held similar promotions, attracting consumer attention by selling its hardware at low profit margins to gauge demand.
Last year a promotion in space offered 50 units at €1 (88p), and in this latest spate of promotions in the UK, only two or three phones were sold at the advertised price.
Users needed to click on a link to its terms and conditions to read the fine print of the sale.
@XiaomiUK_ out of stock in precisely 1 sec? What kinda rubbish click bait was this? #Xiaomi #failure pic.twitter.com/9W3YNyl80u
— IMRANO © ⚒ (@1mrano) November 9, 2018
Xiaomi denied accusations that no phones had been sold at the promised price.
UK sales manager Wilkin Lee said a lottery had taken place made up of those who had pressed the button closest to the set time.
The "£1 flash sale" used our flash sale mode. Of the thousands who clicked "buy" simultaneously, the tie-breaker is done by selecting the winners randomly. Winners will access inventory to add to cart and proceed, which is why there was no call to check stock limit on the page.
— Wilkin Lee (@WilkinLee) November 10, 2018
"Of the thousands who clicked 'buy' simultaneously, the tie-breaker is done by selecting the winners randomly," he tweeted.
The Advertising Standards Authority's rules state that consumers must be informed "clearly and in a timely fashion" about the limited availability of a product.
An ASA spokeswoman told the BBC: "If the ad didn't include significant conditions and the terms and conditions were changed part way through the promotion, then that could potentially be a problem."
