MYRTLE BEACH -- You may have seen their commercials on NewsChannel 15 and other Grand Strand TV stations. The ads from G & C Electronics promise great deals on brand name electronics and other goods. The company's liquidation sale is a temporary business operating on weekends out of the former A.C. Moore store in Myrtle Beach.
But as we first told you last month, some customers complain that they weren't told in advance that they'd have to pay a $5 "membership" fee before they were allowed to shop. And if they paid the fee and went in, some people told us the merchandise being offered was poor quality and not what had been advertised.
The Better Business Bureau is well aware of G & C Electronics and has given the firm an F rating, on an A through F scale.
"They're based out of Ohio and they bounce around the country and they do this," said Kathy Graham of the BBB of Coastal Carolina. "Some people have even gotten caught with broken computers, computers with pirated software, things that just simply don't work. And then they don't give you your money back."
Graham said the company got the F grade because the BBB received many complaints from G & C customers, all of the same nature, and the complaints were not resolved.
"They're promised something that they didn't get, they were surprised they had to pay at the door. It's the exact same thing, it doesn't change from state to state."
Graham said the business practice is unethical, but not illegal.
Horry County Solicitor Greg Hembree agreed. For example, Hembee said the company can advertise an Ipad (http://www.apple.com/ipad/) for as little as $100. Once a customer is in the store, he may be disappointed to find that particular deal is no longer available, but if the company can prove it once had that item for sale in its building, for even a tiny amount of time, that's good enough to avoid prosecution for bait and switch.
"It was offered for a very short time, maybe just 15 seconds, but it was technically offered for that period of time. As ridiculous as that sounds, it sort of touches the base," Hembree said.
As for notifying the public that customers must pay a $5 fee to get in, Hembree said that also does not violate any notification laws. It's advertising, he said, not a contract.
"It's not a requirement that every condition be advertised in any kind of advertisement."
Hembree said the business practices may be unethical and offensive, but not in violation of any law.
"Certainly not the first time we've experienced it in the free market system and it won't be the last."
Because the company is not doing anything illegal, WPDE cannot censor the commercial running on our station.
