Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

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.

OP posts:

Pipbin · 03/01/2015 15:54

The same is true Sashh of buying salad dressing next to the salads and naan bread in the 'world food aisle' rather than in the bread aisle.

TickledOnion · 03/01/2015 15:56

The lack of consistent pricing in fruit and veg drives me crazy too 2015. I can work out if loose, packed or value packed veg is cheaper but it's a huge pain in the ass and makes my shopping take twice as long. I now shop at Aldi as there is only one choice and it is almost always cheaper than the big supermarkets.
sashh The same applies to nuts. You can usually buy nuts in the fruit and veg aisles, the crisps and snacks aisle and the baking aisle. And the difference is bigger than just a few pence. Really winds me up.

KingJoffreysHasABigWhiteBeard · 03/01/2015 16:09

Tesco are buggers for putting £5 tags on DVDs and then charging £7/8 at the till.

Don't know about anywhere else.

Topseyt · 03/01/2015 16:21

I used to get this deals not coming up correctly at the till a number of times in our local Tesco. Really annoying, as you then had to wait for the supervisor to come and sort it out.

It hasn't happened to me since they introduced scan and pack, where you get the running total and can see what is happening as you go along. I like scan and pack.

It has been annoying me that our store has now reintroduced products they simply stopped stocking a couple of years ago, and is now claiming that they are NEW. They are not. Value dishwasher tablets are one example I can bring to mind. There were other examples which I will probably remember eventually.

Aldi is now opening nearby, and suddenly all the good value lines are returning labelled as "new". I wonder why!!

mushypeasontoast · 03/01/2015 16:35

Our supermarket regularly has around 700+ prices to change in a day. With some stock in more than one place and products all over the place the price team(four people) do their best to be accurate.

I have had customers accusing me of conning them and getting shouty. I check the label, if the customer is right I refund the error and resell at the correct price. If the customer is wrong then I explain they have misread the price and refuse to refund.

Supermarket workers ate human beings, they do their best to be accurate and will correct mistakes when needed. Shouting and quoting your rights(especially when wrong) makes you look like an idiot. Being nice, understanding and clear makes the process easier on all concerned.

OnlyWantsOne · 03/01/2015 16:44

My local shell garage ... I took a photo

To think some supermarkets deliberately con us

IsChippyMintonExDirectory · 03/01/2015 16:49

OnlyOne that price is accurate. You can't be charged £1.219p can you?

Pipbin · 03/01/2015 16:49

Your point? What do you want? 0.1 of a penny? Of course it's going to round it up.

Eeeeekyeeek · 03/01/2015 16:58

Have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed for all of you posting about the big petrol rip off

IsChippyMintonExDirectory · 03/01/2015 17:06

mushy has a good point, labels for deals always have an expiry date for customers to check

unlucky83 · 03/01/2015 17:09

Came across this at Tesco's about a month ago. Buying nail varnish for a fundraiser. I was doing scan and shop or I probably wouldn't have realised. On one of the makes they had an offer £3 each or 2 for £5. (or similar) on nail polish. I just needed two bottles of clear and they only had one on the shelf (labelled as base coat). Asked an assistant if they had anymore and she unlocked a drawer, gave me another two, labelled as top coat but said they were the same....when I scanned them they came up without the discount...assistant had disappeared so went to customer services. They insisted it was right - the assistant was agency staff and shouldn't have given me stuff out the drawer -it was new stock. Went back to look at other makes etc then noticed that every kind & colour except top coat was included in the offer. It looked the same as the other bottles, it was next to them on the shelf but it wasn't included -far from obvious.

SoupDragon · 03/01/2015 17:15

Have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed for all of you posting about the big petrol rip off

Me too!

Come back with photos when you've put 10 litres in.

Dwerf · 03/01/2015 17:44

From the other side of the counter, this also does my head in. Whilst we try to be accurate with the SELs (Shelf Edge Labels), it's not always going to be right. Some of the reasons they are wrong include...
...The higher priced stuff was being stored behind the smaller stuff, which has now been sold so it appears that the bigger bags are lower priced. This is usually because the warehouse is full and we're playing product tetris on the shelves.
....Someone has forgotten to change the label underneath the stock that is now on the shelf and so the label is for something different (see product tetris again, we're not supposed to have empty shelves)
...They've changed the price further up the ladder and us on the shop floor are playing catch up printing out the labels and getting them onto the shelves.
... There are similar products and the labels are not clear enough and we've put them on the wrong product. I once spent twenty minutes looking along a shelf of dog beds to put labels on two of them. The label said something stupid like db28 granite . Took me ages to work out that it was a 28" granite coloured dog basket, and another age to realise someone had already labelled the one I wanted wrong. This is human error and we're sorry.

On the flipside, I get customers complaining that the deal hasn't come up on the Monster drinks (that's because the offer clearly states 'No fear') and asking why these custard tins are not coming up at three for a pound (that's because the offer is on a different brand).

I work in a discount shop though, not a supermarket. We're really not trying to con you, it's much more likely to be human fuck-up.

Original poster

whitesandstorm · 03/01/2015 17:58

I never have a problem with discount stores, it's the big supermarkets who are the guilty ones.

OP posts:

lougle · 03/01/2015 18:54

Dwerf that's no excuse. Any of it. If the wrong product is on the shelf then the SEL shouldn't be put there. Play product Tetris properly. Swap out the other product until the product which matches the SEL is exhausted, then change the SEL to match the remaining product.

You know, actually have some pride in the job.

Yesterday I was in co-op and I decided to buy a whole brie. The use by was on the side of the box, but the box lid was the same depth as the box, so to see it you had to completely remove the lid. As I dug through a pile of bries, checking each one, I found about 50% out of date. I separated the first 5 out of date bries, then found an assistant. I told her that the in date and out of date bries were mixed together. She said she'd get someone to sort it in a while.

Not great for the poor customers who buy the brie in the first place, out of date before it even leaves the store.

Not to mention the frustration of 'buy 2 for £4' then having 3 products in the range, or having 'buy 3 for £1.80' but then only having 2 varieties. I counted 8 separate deals on fresh food, all of which conflicted with other deals.

hollyisalovelyname · 03/01/2015 19:06

Smoked salmon yesterday in the supermarket emblazoned with Half Price - €10.
The original price sticker was pulled off all the stock.
However the job wasn't done properly - I found one with the original price on it- €10.
I showed it to a manager who waffled a lot.
I wasn't buying his waffle so he cut a deal with me.
Disgusting.

Dwerf · 03/01/2015 19:14

I do have pride in my job, though I'm not generally the one doing the SELs. I'm the bugger on the till copping flack when they aren't right. So all I can generally do it apologise and try sort it out with the customer and a supervisor.

Cabrinha · 03/01/2015 19:36

What's wrong with 3 for £1.80 and only have 2 varieties?
Why can't you have 3 the same or 2+1?

quietbatperson · 03/01/2015 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pipbin · 03/01/2015 21:54

What's the problem with having 3 things in a '2 for £4' offer?
And none of that is the fault of the person on the shop floor.

corgiology · 03/01/2015 22:02

How many people complaining would kick up a fuss if the price at the till was lower than expected?

One way street springs to mind.

iamthenewgirl · 03/01/2015 22:15

How often is the price lower though, corgiology?

Like most British businesses at the moment, they need to slow down a bit, do the job properly and employ a few more staff. There might be a few less mistakes then.

CaptainAnkles · 03/01/2015 22:27

I thought I must be being thick when I was about the petrol when I read it.

lougle · 04/01/2015 11:35

Well, for instance, buy 3 for £1.80 is not great if only buying for two people. so, I thought 'I'll buy 6, so that we each have 3'. then, when I look at the varieties, I have to buy an unequal mix of flavours. To make it equal I'd have to buy 12. Not what I want.

Buy 2 for £4 then having 3 in the range means that if I want all 3 and want to use the offer, I have to buy 6.

Cabrinha · 04/01/2015 11:39

That doesn't make it a bad offer! Just one that doesn't suit you. It's still something for free.
Plenty of people will take any mix for the saving.
Others only buy one variety, or are happy to buy six.

I have to admit I'm intrigued about your household eating patterns where there are two people eating the same thing all the time!

I used to live live with my ex, one night I might fancy a yoghurt, he might have snacked earlier on crisps earlier. I can't imagine this tandem eating!

Anyway, however we choose to eat, it hardly makes it a con or an unfair offer.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Swipe left for the next trending thread