In a development that will shock absolutely no one who has ever squinted at a countdown timer on a furniture website, the UK's competition watchdog has fined three companies a combined £6m for misleading sales tactics.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) handed online furniture retailer Wayfair a £4.8m fine and electronics retailer Appliances Direct £1.2m for misleading customers with time-limited offers - the retail equivalent of "act now, this deal expires in 10 minutes" followed by the same deal existing forever.

Meanwhile, Gold's Gym was fined £48,000 for failing to tell customers the total price of memberships, a business practice perhaps best described as "surprise economics."

Appliances Direct and Gold's Gym have been ordered to refund customers a total of £440,000. The BBC has contacted the three companies for comment, presumably to ask whether the refunds also come with a time limit.

Thousands of Appliances Direct customers will receive refunds of £25 each on average, while 726 Gold's Gym customers will get refunds of up to £50, the BBC understands. That's roughly the cost of one gym session you probably didn't attend anyway.

Hayley Fletcher, senior director for consumer protection at the CMA, said: "At a time when many households are carefully managing their budgets, people shouldn't lose out because of misleading sales tactics." She added that businesses must treat customers fairly and comply with the law - or risk hefty fines, which is regulator-speak for "we will make it rain, but in the other direction."