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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think some supermarkets deliberately con us

131 replies

whitesandstorm · 03/01/2015 09:24

It's happened so many times, the price at the till doesn't tally with the price on the shelf. When you query it you see that the item at the price you thought it was is slightly different to the one that has the price shown. This is done with lots of products. For example yesterday I picked up a hair dye which was priced at £4.99, but at the till was £6.50. On checking, the assistant said "no the £4.99 one was only for a particular shade" (which incidently had sold out), we eventually found the £6.50 label but it was nowhere near the product. Aibu to say that these are deliberate dirty tactics by the supermarkets. There are loads of other instances like this too numerous to mention.

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HappyGoLuckyGirl · 03/01/2015 09:55

I think the petrol thing could be a bit of a red herring. The pump showed you had put exactly a litre in but in reality, you could have put in just slightly over a litre, which would account for the difference. You would only have to go over a litre by 0.0028 to put the price up to 1.08. That wouldn't show up on the pump, as it's only accurate to 2dp.

Mistlewoeandwhine · 03/01/2015 09:57

I have boycotted Tesco since about 2 months ago due to so many pricing inconsistencies plus rude staff (and one with appalling BO)all on one shopping trip. I feel a lot better for it :) Aldi/Lidl all the way for me with a weekly top up from Morrisons for the things I can't get at the cheap supermarkets.

Pipbin · 03/01/2015 09:57

If an item is marked at a particular price the shop is legally required to sell it at the marked

Nope. That is wrong.
If the trader makes a genuine mistake when pricing something, they won’t have committed an offence. ,The trader doesn’t have to sell you the goods at that price. If you find out the price is higher than you want to pay you can change your mind about buying it.
www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_common_problems_with_products_e/consumer_problems_with_price_or_payment_e/pricing_problems.htm

Hatespiders · 03/01/2015 09:58

They also deliberately try to confuse us. We buy lots of tomatoes, and the numerous combinations are ridiculous. Packs of 6, price per weight, packs of 10, loose etc. They assume no-one has the maths to work out which is best value. Sadly for them, I do! Same with mushrooms and fruit.
As well as being eagle-eyed at the checkout, I take a few minutes while my dh has a hot chocolate in the cafe to go through the bill item by item and check it's all as it should be.
I might try the self-service scan as you go. As CaptainJamesTKirk says (haha, my sis is a huge trekkie!) you see what you've spent and can check each thing.
The whole layout of their stores is cynically calculated to confuse and bedazzle you. Milk at the back etc. It's all meticulously worked out by psychology.

HappyGoLuckyGirl · 03/01/2015 09:58

Thr pricing label on the shelf is only an advertisement to sell. They aren't legally obliged to sell it at that price. When you take the item off the shelf and take it to the till, you are effectively making an offer to purchase the item. It is up to the retailer if they accept your offer.

Peacocklady · 03/01/2015 10:00

Wrt petrol there is a minimum number of litres you can put in which is more than one. It is also impossible to pay 107.7p for something so it makes sense for it to be rounded up to 108p. It is an interesting con though if they are doing it, worth calculating the price per litre when you've put more in.

Pipbin · 03/01/2015 10:00

And I'm afraid that I have had this happen to me a couple of times at independent shops and have had to remind the retailers of their legal obligations makes you sound like an arse of a customer. Well done for bullying independent retailers who can't afford to lose the money because you are ill informed.

ohmyactualgiddyaunt · 03/01/2015 10:02

There is no legal obligation to sell at any price - the retailer can withdraw an item for sale as long as every single unit of that item is removed from the shop floor. Example case, customer removes £4 price sticker from a smaller item and places it on a £75 item then demands it at that price. Retailer refuses and withdraws item from sale, all other units removed from the floor, customer ejected by security without the item.

Original poster
whitesandstorm · 03/01/2015 10:04

2015 you're too nice. I say that if someone deliberately tries to mislead you to part with more money than you intended by confusing us then it's worthy of being called a con.

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iamthenewgirl · 03/01/2015 10:06

Yes, and Tesco are definitely the worst.

I went in to buy this shower creme the other day only to find the price has risen from 95p to £2.75. Only a 189% increase...

They wonder why profits are down. Because funnily enough, stuff like this pisses customers off....

WillWorkForMoney · 03/01/2015 10:07

I'm on a budget so have to be pretty savvy to not be caught out. If the pricing is ambiguous, then i check the barcode against the label. I've only been caught out a couple of times by doing this, but really, you shouldn't have to go to such measures!

iamthenewgirl · 03/01/2015 10:10

I'm careful too WillWork but it is a faff. That's why ALDI and LIDL are such a breath of fresh are. No more standing around trying to work out which is the cheapest offer.

OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat · 03/01/2015 10:11

If you go back soon, newgirl that shower gel might be magically 'half price' at only £1.38 Wink.

Yes agree that Tesco are by far the worst for this. I almost never go there any more and if I do, I feel exhausted from trying to work out which is best value and conned from all the high prices and fake deals.

AlpacaYourThings · 03/01/2015 10:14

iamthe Shock that is a ridiculous mark up.

I despise Tesco, though.

vinegarandbrownpaper · 03/01/2015 10:15

Re 'reminding legal obligations' who cares if the bluff is wrong! Thats just playing the same game!
House of Fraser were very good to me when I bought a cool japanese tea pot from a pyramid of offers. It Shouldn't have been displayed there but they honored the discount without question and changed the display afterwards. Supermarkets certainly try to confuse, bamboozle and 'reward the customer with good feelings' by stacking offer s so they seem good without analysis.

Its hard work to see through them all but this is why I shop little and often for essentials only picking up real bargains on fewer than 10 items shops. For example yesterday on a shop for four items I saw a 'discount' where daz liquid was stacked in huge quantities with a price that looked like it would be

Cabrinha · 03/01/2015 10:18

The fuel thing isn't a con Hmm
Unless the Bank of England started issuing 0.1p coins and no-one told me?
I'm sure that 10 litres would have been £10.70.
Yes, I expect the number is always rounded up. But I think it's fair to expect the consumer to realise that.
Otherwise, do you want the fuel to be priced at £1.08, so your single litre is the perfect price but you're not paying £10.80 for 10 litres?

WeAllHaveWings · 03/01/2015 10:22

Sorry I don't get the petrol thing???? If petrol is 107.7p a litre and the pump only displays pounds/pence to 2 decimal places surely rounding to nearest penny £1.08 is correct? So when you buy lots of litres you are not paying 108p per litre for every litre but the last penny of the total amount may be rounded up/down.

Have you calculated the cost per litre when buying ~£10/£20 of fuel as this would be more accurate?

itsonlysubterfuge · 03/01/2015 10:24

Just so you know if you go you can get it refunded and get double your money back. It's called their Double the Difference policy. For example I went to buy some stuffed toys for my daughter, they were on a shelf marked £5, I was charge £7, I bought five. So 5 x £7 = £35. I complained at the customer service, that the shelf was marked £5 and don't I get double the difference? So, the refund for each toy was £2, plus Double the Difference, so I received £4 refund for each toy. That's 5 x £4 = £20. I ended up only paying £3 a toy, when they should have been £7 each because of their shelving error.

itsonlysubterfuge · 03/01/2015 10:25

Sorry, meant to say at Tesco.

Original poster
whitesandstorm · 03/01/2015 10:26

Another deliberate tactic to confuse is in Ireland. The clothes items are all marked in sterling and the euro price is hardly noticed as its not the predominant price. There's no reason to have anything priced in sterling except to deliberately mislead. Also the euro price far exceeds the conversion rate. It's practically criminal.

OP posts:
Original poster
whitesandstorm · 03/01/2015 10:26

This is Tesco btw.

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madsadbad · 03/01/2015 10:30

If an item is marked at a particular price the shop is legally required to sell it at the marked price

This is not actually true, only bolding so people who believe this and wrongly pass this info on dont continue giving wrong info Smile

Original poster
whitesandstorm · 03/01/2015 10:30

Do they stil do that subterfuge, I know they stopped it in Ireland.

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Metalguru · 03/01/2015 10:34

I hate the way tesco artificially increase prices (£3.50 fir a punnet of nectarines for example) so they can then say it's a better than half price, when in fact it's still overpriced!

itsonlysubterfuge · 03/01/2015 10:39

As far as I'm aware, they do still do it. They did it last year.