He’s a loud mouthed, 26 year-old publicity seeker who’s already attracted the attention of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for misleading advertising, now Ruslan Kogan, the CEO of the Kogan web site has been labelled “a con”, a fly by night retailer and a person who sells “inferior products” by no other than Gerry Harvey, the head of Harvey Norman.
The put-down, by one of Australia’s largest retailers, follows yet another publicity stunt by Kogan who claims his made in China TVs are better than those sold by Samsung and LG via Harvey Norman stores.
In a blunt assessment of Kogan and his latest TV offering, Gerry Harvey told the Sydney Morning Herald: “This bloke won’t go away; he’s a con,” Harvey said.
In a reference to Kogan’s advertising and marketing, Gerry Harvey said: “He words it in such a way as if he’s buying from the same factory – he’s not. All of these big brands, they don’t let their products go out to someone like him. Why would they do that? They’d be setting themselves up for someone like him to launch against them.”
The war of words erupted after Kogan tried to get publicity for his online web site which sells cheap, made in Asia TVs, which Kogan tried to claim were cheaper and better than those sold in Harvey Norman stores.
Earlier this month, Kogan had his new in-house publicity agent issue a press release claiming that a new 46 inch LED TV was cheaper than models sold in Harvey Norman stores.
Kogan, who has been pulled up in the past for misleading advertising, is claiming that similar models to his TV models at Harvey Norman are “nearly double the price of the Kogan 46inch [television]”.
The only problem was that Kogan did not mention that JB Hi Fi is selling 50 inch HD Plasma TVs for sub $1,000 and a Panasonic 50 inch NEO Full HD Plasma for sub $1,500, which are cheaper than the 46 inch TV that Kogan is trying to flog to consumers as being better than models from Samsung and LG.
Last year SmartHouse Magazine asked Kogan to supply one of his flat panel TVs for review. Initially he agreed to the proposal, however he failed to deliver a TV for comparison. Our offer still stands, especially as Kogan is making wild claims about his current TV offering.
Two years ago SmartHouse established that a certain Korean manufacturer was taking “rejected” panels from both LG and Samsung and using them to manufacture cheap TVs. These TVs were then offered to online web sites, including a web site part owned by myself.
The panels were rejected by the big brands because of pixilation issues.
SmartHouse understands that the panels used in the Kogan TVs are manufactured in China.
During an interview with the SMH Gerry Harvey claimed that Kogan was not comparing apples with apples, and that Harvey Norman also stocked TV sets from lesser-known brands that were just as cheap as those offered by Kogan.
Harvey claimed that with the bigger brands you were “paying for quality and guarantee” and that the Kogan products were an “inferior product”.
“When he says he’s cheaper, if he is, it’s very marginal and sometimes he’s dearer – but it’s all unbranded shit, it’s not the quality product,” Harvey said. “We’ve been around for 50 years. You don’t stick around long if you sell shit. I don’t buy anything that’s not a brand – even toilet paper.”
In response, Kogan told the SMH: “We’ve been around now for four years, sold over 100,000 products and are growing month-on-month – sorry Gerry, but we’re here to stay.
“Our customers are posting these reviews and they’re saying that they’ve compared it to the big brands and Kogan goes pound for pound with any of them,” Kogan said.
This is not the first time that the litigious Kogan has found himself in hot water over his marketing claims.
In the past Kogan Technologies has been forced to provide the ACCC with court-enforceable undertakings after being accused by the ACCC of misleading conduct relating to the marking of products via his online web site.
Solicitors acting for Kogan negotiated undertakings which saw Kogan Technologies agree to not advertise its goods at a discount unless that product has been advertised for sale or sold in reasonable quantities at the higher price.
If you’ve purchased a 46 inch Kogan LED TV, we would love to hear from you: email dwr@4squaremedia.com
