Xiaomi slammed over £1 phone UK sale

Chinese phone giant Xiaomi has been criticised after a sales promotion for its UK launch sparked a backlash online.

The company, which officially entered the UK market last week, advertised two of its new handsets on its online store for £1 each as part of a "crazy deals" promotion.

However it appeared that only a couple of devices were ever on sale at that price, with Xiaomi setting their site to flash a "Sold Out" banner after two or three devices were sold. 

Consumers and phone fans were left upset, venting their frustrations on social media, with the UK's advertising watchdog saying it was deciding whether to investigate the company after receiving a complaint.

Xiaomi UK launch

In a statement, Xiaomi said it hoped the incident would not make customers avoid 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," a spokeswoman for the company told the BBC.

"[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."

The company's UK sales manager said that a lottery had been drawn for the £1 devices, with everyone who clicked the buy button being entered, and the winner being drawn randomly. But one website user found that the code on Xiaomi's website was set to say the devices had been sold as soon as the sale began - without checking to see if this was the case.

However Xiaomi may still fall foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), whose rules state that consumers must be informed "clearly and in a timely fashion" if a product has limited availability.

"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," said a spokesman for the ASA.

Via: BBC