Conviction Of M.f.i.

EDM number 152 in 1992-93, proposed by Alan Williams on 02/06/1992.

That this House congratulates West Glamorgan Consumer Protection Department for successfully exposing sustained dishonest trading practices by M.F.I.; calls upon consumer departments to take similar action at 173 other M.F.I. stores to protect the public from conduct which the prosecutor said was `beyond sharp practice and bordered on sophisticated fraud'; warns that it is standard policy of M.F.I. to buy out manufacturers with a high reputation for quality only to ascribe their name to inferior products produced by others; thinks it contemptible for it to be the police of M.F.I. to hold promotions based on cuts in alleged original prices whereas the goods have ever been on sale at the higher prices, in particular cites the case of a suite with a price of ú1,169.99 crossed out and a promotion price of ú799.99 although that suite had not only never been on sale at the crossed-out price but actually was on sale at ú100 below the `promotional' price after the promotion ended; urges customers to be cautious of a company guilty of false newspaper advertising; condemns M.F.I. senior management for deliberately and continuously cheating its customers; and believes that at a `blitz' of prosecutions is needed if the public is to be saved from the calculate planned dishonesty of this disreputable firm and its equally disreputable policy-makers.

This motion has been signed by a total of 23 MPs.