To think that ASDA have a secret policy to mis-price items 'accidentally on purpose'?

[tulippa]

Sorry I know this is a bit boring for a Friday night.

It seems that nearly every time I shop in ASDA (I do use other supermarkets more often but ASDA is unfortunately my closest one) there will be at least one item in my shopping that is priced higher at the till than it is on the shelf.

Items include ready meals placed in their starter/main/dessert/wine for £10 offer section that aren't included so the offer doesn't work and you're charged full price for everything, a whole display of novelty vegetable peelers placed under the wrong label and is much more expensive when you get the till, Disney Infinity stuff under a price label for £1 which was £6 at the till. There are many more examples in addition to these.

Whenever I query this at the till (usually use self service) staff are always very helpful and will check the mis-pricing and honour the cheaper price. AIBU though to think I shouldn't have to do this? It takes extra time for the staff to go and check and is a PITA. What about customers who aren't so pedantic vigilant and end up paying a higher price than expected? These extra £1s must be really adding up for ASDA.

I know mistakes can happen and also that customers may end up putting things in the wrong but it happens SO often it cannot be a coincidence every time. I could count the amount of times this happened in other supermarkets on one hand and I visit these more often and buy more stuff there.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I just very unlucky every time?

[PinkBrainsTasteGut]

YABU. It's just human error. Sometimes the customer doesn't read the label properly or understand which product the offer is for. Sometimes you get someone stocking the shelves who can't be arsed to find the right spot for the products or is so harassed by their manager to move quickly so they dump them anywhere. It happens in busy shops.

[SaggyNaggy]

I've never noticed it and I do know that ASDA secret customers are supposed to mark the store down if that sort of thing is spotted. Plus, if it repeatedly happens you should tell the customer services, they will often give you a voucher for 50p off, or did when I worked for ASDA.

[ScarletOverkill]

I make a point of checking my receipt every time I shop there.
With regards people putting things back in the wrong place that is easily sorted by your checking the wording on the shelf edge label.
The incorrect pricing...They are open 24 hours so it's not like they can action price changes while they are closed. If they get caught by a customer wanting to know where something is they could lose where they got to on the list when they go back what they were doing.
Asda does seem to be the worse offender in my experience

[tulippa]

Yes this sort of thing does happen sometimes in busy shops. So often that this issue comes up nearly EVERY time I shop there though? Surely that's incompetent at best, deliberately misleading at worst? And why doesn't it happen nearly so often at other supermarkets?

[Dozyoldtwonk]

This happens all the time in Tesco. Bloody annoyImg when you want to just get through the tills & don't want to come across as a pedantic arse. I always do though

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

It happens everywhere

Prices fluctuate and shelf pricing is understaffed.

It's how it is..... what would you suggest be done then op!?

[tulippa]

Mumontherun I'd suggest that ASDA implement processes to ensure these mistakes don't happen/are kept at a minimum. Staff could maybe look at the shelf prices and correct them if need be (other supermarkets seem to manage this).

If this is genuinely impossible for them I guess I'll just shop elsewhere.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

The processes will be there but they will rely on the staff having the time and resources to ensure these mistakes don't happen. Most retail staff are stretched thin-stores staff the absolute minimum they can usually. Until they are prepared to pay more people this will continue to happen.

[RedSoloCup]

Well I used to work in a small co-op and while we did do 'price checks' on shelves weekly it was 'a' section a week and often wasn't done as priority over other things - chillers / delivery / promo change, esp when short staffed sadly....

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

Thankfully other retail workers here can see it how it is! It's not as easy as you seem to think op

There's not enough resources unfortunately

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

And our local Tesco pricing is shocking, as is morissons

[MaryLennoxWasAnAspie]

Speaking as one who used to work there I'd say it's cock- up and not conspiracy. The pricing and shelf ticketing is done mainly at night (especially Saturday night when there's no customers around) by staff who are unlikely at 2am to be on top form. The place I worked at was a complete warren with little apparent logic to the store layout. Put-backs were done by checkout staff waiting for a till to work at. Being very part-time (less than 16 hours a week in most cases) these checkout staff were utterly at sea with a lot of these put-backs and with no one around to ask, and no time to learn the intricacies of the store layout, many of these items got shoved on the shelf with sort-of-similar items. Put that together with the undeniable fact that there's no real interest in ensuring the customer pays the cheaper price and you can see why it looks like a conspiracy. But it really isn't.

[tulippa]

So this happens due to under-staffing which minimises wage costs and also means that customers pay more than they expect and generate more profit. Win/win!

It also means that customers have to meticulously check every price because staff are unable to which makes shopping much harder work than it should be.

I know there are many more serious problems out there to be worried about and I should get out more . Will avoid shops where this is an issue. The way it doesn't happen on a large scale at all supermarkets suggests to me that it is possible to stop this issue.

[987flowers]

Our local co op is the worse for this and offers regularly don't go through the till. I always have to check!

[usernamegoeshere]

until a few months ago I lived very close to an Asda and so shopped there a lot. It happened a lot, to the point where I just think they were completely incompetent. I worked it out on average £7 per week they tried to overcharge me by which was roughly 10% of my spend. There should be a penalty for them being caught doing it, it's so common I don't think they actively make any attempt not too.

[ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam]

I find Asda the worst for this, I agree. Took something back yesterday, the second time I had to, was the same item a few days before too. They used to give you a couple of quid on a gift card, have they stopped that I wonder.

[PaddingtonLoverOfMarmalade]

Happens to me at Tesco regularly. Feel like a regular at Customer Services.