Supermarket reduced items, keep an eye on the till.

[Boswellox]

AIBU to have found if you don't keep an eye on it, you can sometimes be charged either full price or the secondary reduced price as opposed to the reduced price you only bought it for?

Yes you are right. It’s happened to us before.

It’s because the stickers over the barcode often fall off, particularly if it’s refrigerated. There’s so conspiracy

If they charge wrongly, I've never had a problem - just take receipt in next time and get the difference refunded.

Practically never in Tesco, often in M&S, usually in Co-op. Co-op can be arseholes about it if you complain, the others are fine. I never pay full price for anything any more unless it's cheap to start with, like baked beans or something.

Always check your receipts, in store preferably

I find this in a particular chain pharmacy here in Australia. I'm not sure whether they're intentionally ripping people off, or just being lazy about not taking reduced price tags off display, but I get up them every time about it.

This happened to me- I got home from our local budgens and got out a calculator I was so convinced and they were over £5 over. I had challenged them at the time and they said no, the reduction would register and I was right it wasn’t - I could see her scan the normal barcode not the other and then gave me a receipt with only the final amount On.
I’m not going back to complain as DH said not to bother but really annoyed me especially when I raised it.

Quite handy when it happens in tesco as thy refund double the difference.

Bought a pair of toddler leggings 4 quid down to 2, charged 4. Noticed on the way out so popped to customer desk who refunded the whole 4 pound as they have this double the difference policy.

Was just coming to say what Napqueen said. My local Tesco do the same

Yes, you have to check the price ringing up or your receipt - it happens.

Thanks for responses. In my experience it happens so often, whether I use self service (and have the embarrassment of holding up people who want to use the machines for speed, by querying it) or an actual staff member. That it's entering "let's see how much we can get away with" territory.

Happened to me yesterday.

I always check the receipt, I've been charged too much before (but the staff apologised and refunded), I've also scanned the same thing twice or had to go back because I've not paid for something .

I agree you're not challenged for raising pricing issues, but can't help but wonder how much is made from all those who don't notice and whether it's cynically become perceived by Supermarkets as bonus income.

Just always check your receipt before you leave. And if you can't, check it at home, before binning packaging. Tesco have improved a lot recently, Waitrose have gone down hill, Morrisons do their best, and Lidl are brilliant once you can actually find a human being to talk to.

Practically never in Tesco, often in M&S, usually in Co-op. Co-op can be arseholes about it if you complain, the others are fine.
My experience too!

I put reduced things together at the start if the conveyor and try to watch as the assistant scans them; but then confusingly some things come up as reduced immediately and others the adjustment is made at the end!

I work in a supermarket can assure you it's human error. If the reduced ticket does not fully cover the barcode, it will scan the original price.

We don t want to overcharge you for the following reasons:

Legally, the price must match the ticket
It's not great customer service
It creates more work in the long run

The self-scan tills in co-op often miss the advertised deals too. Annoying as I often only buy it because of a deal (e.g. two for £7). Although they've always been happy to refund me - annoying you have to check though.

The thing that shocked me was in Waitrose. A fairly large branch serving a wide area in PoshRuralShire (i.e. only about an hour or so from central London) Squash concentrate drink offer, £1.50 or buy 2 for £2. So I bought two. Spotted that the reduction hadn't come through so went to customer services. Turned out that ticket on shelf edge had been left behind by accident from a promotion that had ended SIX WEEKS before.

My M&S is hectic for this. It has happened to me twice in the past 3 weeks. The 2nd time, I challenged the price before paying. This lead to a kerfuffle whereby the cashier had to call someone to go and check the shelf ticket and come back, confirm what I had said and fiddle about with the till. And all the time the queue is getting longer and people, pissed off.

Sainsburys and Asda are particular.y bad at advertising reductions yet the till chrges you full price

Yes, my local Waitrose is awful. £1 promotion on pasta, shelf full of different types of linguine, penne etc. Get to the till, no, the offer is only on spaghetti.

My favourite was when the co-op reduced their yogurts to 17p. But they were buy two, get 50p off. So I bought two and they gave me 16p! I queried it but the lady on the till was adamant she had to give me the 16p!

I worked in a Waitrose for a while on the checkout and made this mistake often. Partly because it's easy to miss the reduced barcode if you don't check the whole product (which you don't - you learn where all the barcodes are and have to be speedy) and partly because I was barely trained and constantly anxious. To be fair I was young and it was my first job but also the customers always terrified me so was more prone to making mistakes. I really doubt anyone does this on purpose, we didn't get to keep the money so no benefit and end up facing the wrath of customer or manager if somebody notices the mistake. They should always refund you or correct mistake if you catch it as you shouldn't pay more than the item is labelled for, but as long as they do try not to get angry with the actual staff. Obviously an annoying mistake to encounter and nobody wants to be overcharged but mistakes do happen. Especially when you're a socially awkward 16 year old! I left that job pretty sharpish, probably to everyone's relief not just mine!!