Some days ago the GRTU director-general complained that sales during the Christmas period had dropped dramatically. He gave various reasons for this, but failed to mention the most important one.

Quite a few retailers and businessmen treat their clients like morons. This happened to me recently when I received some 'One 4 All' gift vouchers as a Christmas present. As soon as the January sales began, I decided to use these vouchers to buy a gift so I went to an outlet in Valletta.

After choosing some items from there, I informed the salesgirl that instead of paying cash I was going to use these vouchers. At this point she informed me that I can use these vouchers during the sale, but on condition that I lose 10 per cent of the discount (for example, if an item was displayed with a 20 per cent discount, I would have had only 10 per cent).

Obviously, I did not use these vouchers at this particular outlet or others related to the same company. Instead, I called the company issuing these vouchers to ask for further details.

The person responsible insisted that this was against the agreement between the two companies and that I was definitely right. But the only alternative I was given was not to use these vouchers during this sale.

I am now convinced that more Maltese consumers will buy directly online from foreign companies to avoid being ripped off by local retailers.