Sainsburys think I’m a thief - AIBU?

[OreganoOregano146]

Something really odd happened to me the other day and I want to see what others think of it. I’ve been shopping at sainsburys for over 3 years now using scan & go (extremely convenient!) Been selected for a random check maybe 3 or 4 times in all this time, all clear, no issues at all.
Recently I’ve noticed that every time I’m shopping the security guard seems to be following me. For instance last week I was looking for my DD’s formula on the shelf and when I turned around I noticed he walked right past me. I was the only person in that isle. Yesterday I was looking in the meat section and surprise surprise, he was there again. Now, having finished my shopping I went over to the self checkout till to pay and I suddenly get a message on my device saying “hold on, we just need to do a trolley check” - I thought okay, never mind, it happens. I suddenly notice the security guard talking to the guy who’s about to scan my shopping, they were having a random chat about something laughing. The guy comes over and says “oh today we need to scan 40 items” .. I thought whaaat? They usually scan 10max, where did 40 come from? (Unless I heard 40 but in reality he said 14, not sure now). Anyway, he starts scanning my shopping and then goes “oh shit sorry I think I’ve scanned the Maltesers twice, you’re gonna have to do a full trolley re scan now”. So I proceeded to a separate till where they scanned all my shopping again, the woman didn’t say anything at all, just apologised, I paid and that was it. When I got home I realised that my shopping ended up being £18 more expensive than what it said on the hand-held device, making me look like a thief? I did buy a lot of the same items twice so perhaps it didn’t register properly.
AIBU to think this whole experience was a bit strange?

@vodkaredbullgirl You do realise that being a new poster does not automatically mean that what they say is a lie, don't you!?

Loving how many people here haven't RTFT (or even the bit of the OP that says Sainsbury's)

*everything I bought

Unfortunately you can only receive the cheap nectar app pricing if you use scan and go, what they should have done is got a fresh scanner and an empty trolley and scanned your items one by one from one trolley to another, that way you would have still gained your cheaper items on the app and they would have been happy that all your shopping was scanned by a member of staff.

If you really wanted to, you could go and explain this to a manager of the store, but not sure if they will be able to refund the difference, you could also explain how the Security Guard makes you feel.

Not sure if it will do any good but £18 pounds is a massive saving to me, so I would probably give it a go

What an unusual thread. So first off you say the 18 quid was as you’d under scanned. Now it’s nectar points. Then it’s deviated into some personal vendetta by the security guard who apparently “hates your guts”

It’s not personal, but you’ve been flagged for some reason. Blame the algorithms. We have to put up with it if we are avoiding human labour.

One employee did tell me a check is more likely if you remove items from your scanner

It will be one of the markers the algorithm uses. Along with an idea of what your regular shop looks like over time. There's probably a factor for the order you do your shop in (remember, you're tracked in real time). Or rather if I was implementing it, that would be a factor.

And then overlay it on a "scan every 100th customer" matrix to throw a bit of real randomness in.

£18 is a lot of missed scans! If you and/or the machine are that unreliable, then I think you'd be better off using the tills in future. Your problem is now solved.

I get watched all the time as I'm really indecisive and keep going back to look at the same items over and over again before deciding what to buy.

Same here, @JonahAndTheSnail . I'm like that woman off "Open all hours" who could spend a day choosing between two identical tins of beans . . .

And razors, apparently.

READ THE FULL FUCKING THREAD!!!! Sainsbury's offer hefty discounts on some premium items in return for using the scanner. Jesus Christ

Yes they do think you are a thief.

When I got home I realised that my shopping ended up being £18 more expensive than what it said on the hand-held device, making me look like a thief?

This is why.

Blimey.

OP, I've had loads of issues with scan and go too. Not reading barcodes, not registering multiples etc. It's annoying as they try to encourage you by giving you the smartshop offers but then they more often than not want to rescan and then I have to wait for the singular member of staff to come over and redo (It's a small sainsburys and they have cut staff numbers down). I wonder if they're having issues with their system. Also, I suspect that if you shop later in the evening then they pretty much always ask for a rescan.

Thanks spell check /grammer police

Op says it was that because having now gone through the receipt the rescan didn't apply the vouchers she had which accounts for the £18.

So she should go back into the shop and talk to customer services.

Our Sainsburys went though a huge phase of making a song and dance about giving you a receipt - but often forgetting to take off all the security tags so you'd get stopped and then asked for a receipt - nice joined up thinking there.

They might just know your face, be confusing you with someone else or you fall into a demographic more likely to shop lift - personally I'd avoid scan and go for a while and go to the till or shop elsewhere for a bit or shop on-line I found that easier with young children.

I love everyone accusing the op of being a thief without checking the facts. The joy of MN. 😄

Did you scan all of the bottles of shampoo so the offer was applied to every bottle?

One thing I had to complain about with those scan and go wands, was that sometimes the "Nectar Price" was actually more than the shelf price, in situations where the shelf price had been discounted for all shoppers, regardless of how they were paying (wand, self scan or till operated) and regardless of using a Nectar card. I was not being given the lower price upon payment either. I check each scan religiously now.

This is true, but the OP could have made the situation clearer in her first post. Having said that, it's a bit silly to comment on a thread without reading all the OP's posts.

Also a bit silly to comment on a thread about a system that a certain supermarket uses if you're not actually familiar with the system. Not that that ever stops people from commenting usually 😄

Thank you everyone for your kind (and not so kind) replies. I shall be going into sainsburys later on, fingers crossed they can do something about it, if not well then.. as they say “it is what it is”, lesson learnt. Moving forward I’ll be avoiding the self scanning machines at all cost, it’s too much hassle especially with a small child. Can’t beat the good old till!

Or just use for the decent discounts on a small shop. Then they can rescan them if they want to.

I find sometimes if something hasn't scanned properly on the handheld device and I'm wearing earphones while shopping (which I usually do) I don't notice the warning beep the machine gives me so I carry on scanning things as normal. Then when I eventually look at the screen I see there's an alert on it that something hasn't been scanned. So I have to go back and check what did or didn't scan. I think I've managed to catch it every time but I'd be mortified if one day I missed it!

This. Just keep shopping there and using scan and go and eventually they'll stop scanning your stuff.