CMA fines three firms £6m over fake deadlines and pre-ticked boxes

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fined three businesses a combined £6 million on 14 October 2026 for misleading sales tactics. Online homeware retailer Wayfair must pay £4.8 million, appliance seller Appliances Direct £1.2 million, and Gold’s Gym, a franchise running four gyms in London, £45,000. Two of the three must also hand money back: around £432,000 from Appliances Direct and £9,220 from Gold’s Gym.

What exactly did these companies do wrong?

Three different practices, each banned outright. Wayfair advertised products as ‘Daily Deals’ and 24-hour ‘Flash Deals’ with countdown timers and lines such as ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’. The CMA found that many products stayed available at the same price or lower after the stated deadline passed, so the time limit was false.

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Appliances Direct ran the same trick with pop-up banners offering £10 to £25 discounts “for a limited time”, while the same discount codes reappeared over many days. It also automatically opted customers into two paid services: ‘Remove & Recycle Your Old Appliance’ and ‘Installation on Delivery’. The law requires express agreement before charging for optional extras; pre-ticked boxes are not allowed.

Gold’s Gym left a mandatory joining fee out of the total price shown for annual and Direct Debit memberships, or showed the total in a way that was unclear and unlikely to be seen. Mandatory fees must be in the headline price from the start.

Who gets a refund and what do they need to do?

Nothing at all — the businesses will contact affected customers by letter or email. Appliances Direct is refunding people who were auto-opted into paid services on its website between 6 April and 17 November 2025, with an average payout of about £25; all refunds are due by 11 March 2027. Gold’s Gym is refunding 726 customers who bought memberships on its website between 6 April 2025 and 7 May 2026: £50 for those who paid for an annual membership upfront, £10 for 12-month Direct Debit members, with a deadline of 29 March 2027. Wayfair customers get no refunds — that case ended with a penalty only.

The CMA keeps a single page listing every business it has ordered to pay redress. Alongside today’s two, it already covers AA Driving School and BSM (more than 80,000 learner drivers, around £9 each), appliance retailer Marks Electrical (nearly 40,000 customers, around £15) and ticket platform StubHub UK (more than 50,000 fans, around £10 per transaction). The CMA does not pay the money itself — the businesses do.

Why have these fines only become possible now?

Until 6 April 2025 the CMA had to go through the courts to penalise a breach of consumer law. On that date the consumer provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force, letting the regulator decide itself whether the law has been broken and impose fines and redress directly. In eighteen months under those powers the CMA has issued more than £12 million in fines and secured nearly £2.4 million in refunds.

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All three businesses admitted breaking the law and settled early, which earned each of them a 40% reduction in the penalty. Agreeing not to appeal was one of the settlement conditions. Wayfair received its Final Infringement Notice on 12 October 2026; the investigation into it had opened on 17 November 2025.

How can you spot the same tactics elsewhere?

The three signals the CMA worked from are easy to check yourself. First, the countdown clock: note the price and come back a day or two later — if it is unchanged, the “limited offer” was false. Second, pre-ticked boxes for paid extras in the basket: insurance, installation, removal of an old appliance, priority delivery. Third, a price that grows at the final step because mandatory charges are added: a joining fee, a service charge, a booking fee.

Hayley Fletcher, the CMA’s Senior Director for Consumer Protection, put it this way: whether buying a sofa, a washing machine or a gym membership, people should see genuine, accurate prices and offers and decide for themselves whether they want optional extras.

Where do you complain if a price misled you?

Free consumer advice comes from Citizens Advice: 0808 223 1133 in England and Wales (0808 223 1144 in Welsh), Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. In Scotland it is Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000; in Northern Ireland, Consumerline on 0300 123 6262. These services refer complaints to local Trading Standards and share the data nationally with the CMA and other regulators — which is how investigations like today’s begin.

If a dispute with a company is stuck, an ombudsman can investigate for free; the Ombudsman Association helps you find the right one. For anything to do with money, MoneyHelper gives free, independent help.