Dick Smith Electronics under fire over fire sale

A fire sale at Dick Smith Electronics now has the retailer under fire, with staff accused of hoarding sale items and customers claiming the promised discounted items were not available.

Last week, the retailer slashed prices on a range of electronics, but angry potential customers have taken to social media to lament the lack of advertised products in stores.

Bacaltos Cabaluna took to Facebook when he went into a local Dick Smith Electronics store and failed to find any of the promised 40 to 60 percent off products.

"Was told no stock or stock ran out," he wrote on Dick Smith Electronics' Facebook wall.

"Was at the shop at 9am!"

Rowan Price uploaded a picture to Facebook of advertised Apple product specials that had been kept behind the staff counter.

"Staff hiding products for the sale after I've asked if there were any Apple products on sale," Mr Price wrote.

In a statement to A Current Affair, Dick Smith Electronics said staff are not allowed to hold any discounted products before they become available to the public and are now investigating these allegations.

However, a leaked email reveals that staff were able to purchase clearance lines at reduced prices.

The public relations nightmare is the latest in a string of problems for the retailer.

Dick Smith Electronics shares have nosedived in the last two years and consumer confidence has been dwindling.

Gerry Harvey believes the sale is a last-ditch effort to keep the retailer alive.

He says sales like this have a flow-on effect for Dick Smith Electronics' competitors.

"They're our competition out there and if they're doing silly things, then we've gotta do silly things to combat them," Mr Harvey said.

"But it is difficult when Dick Smith have gone broke once, now they're going to go broke again and you're out there competing with a really bad performer in the market."

Dick Smith sold the company to Woolworths in 1982. It was then sold to Anchorage Capital Partners in 2012, before being listed on the Australian Stock Exchange the following year.