to be really, really hacked off with ASDA...

[serenity]

Actually I don't think I am, but I have the urge to vent and the Manager there seemed to think I was irritated over nothing .

Backstory - We're pretty skint atm so shop half at Lidl, half at ASDA. I mention this just to illustrate that I'm pretty careful about what I buy, I check weights, compare prices etc. I realised at the beginning of the year that it's cheaper to buy their frozen steak mince than buy it fresh, then freeze, so swapped over to that. Last shop I did (June - we do a big monthly shop) the price had gone up 10% to £2.20/500g - bit of a hike, but OK.

Today - Wandered around the store as usual, got to the frozen section and went to pick up the usual. The first pack on the top was facing the wrong way, so when I picked it up I noticed the weight had dropped, down to 454g (10%ish reduction). Checked the label - still priced at £2.20, still says 500g. There was an ASDA worker there so we had a look at it together, she called someone over, and he suggested I take it up to customer services and get them to look into it. So... took it up there, had a nice chat with the lady on the desk, and she called down the Grocery Manager. At this point can I say I didn't want anything from ASDA, apart from a reason for the rather underhand second price-increase-by-stealth (smaller pack was the same price), and someone to sort out the label - I wouldn't have noticed the weight change if the bag had been the right way around, I looked at the price label.

Manager said he was on his way down...

15 minutes later, my good mood was pretty much history, my shopping had definitely started to melt, and poor Customer Services Lady was getting embarrassed (hardly her fault!) In the end the only reason the Manager turned up is because I told her I was going to check something (went and photo'd label) and if he wasn't there when I returned I'd be leaving and contacting Trading Standards.

Even then, if he'd been apologetic/contrite or even gave a sign that he was bothered I'd have chatted to him, paid for my shopping, and been satisfied that they were going to sort it out instead he was rude, arrogant and talked over me as I was trying to explain why I was complaining.

So, was I being unreasonable to get hacked off, tell him he was rude and I wasn't going to talk to him any more, leave the trolley and walk out, then drive home and complain to Trading Standards instead? I'm not even sure what's pissed me off more - underhanded pricing policies, or hugely rude Manager!

Anyway, well done if you got through all that - I feel slightly calmer now, although that could be the supersized coffee I got through whilst typing it! I'm avoiding the fact that I still have to do my shopping. We'll be hitting Tesco's tomorrow morning (somebody save me...)

I don't understand. It said 454grams and 500grams on the same packet?

what was his reasoning then?

Ithink she said it said 500 on the price label on theshelf

I completely would have done the same. I too am quite careful and had numerous run ins with things being wrongly priced in ASDA and been made to feel completely unreasonable and had managers be rude to me.

Unfortunately, I am stuck with them because they are the cheapest for the stuff I buy but am always extra careful when I buy stuff there now because you can't trust them!

I think she means the price label on shelf said 500g for £x.xx

but the actual pack was only 454g.

Was one the frozen weight and one the thawed weight?

Very sneaky of them and isn't that classed as false advertising? I hate that sort of thing too. YANU! Did the manager give any reason why the label and the packaging said two very different things?

When you check your receipt and see you've been charged less than the shelf price do you go pay it back?

I certainly don't. Mistakes happen.

Fwiw, I've found the staff in Asda to be really friendly and helpful.

I think that going to tesco's is a bit daft unless you were going to anyway. Given the huge campaigns against these places on grounds of employment practices, environment policy etc I don't think leaving one lot of shopping becuase of a shelf price will have any impact on anybody but yourself for the added inconvenience.

Tescos do the same anyway. Their grated cheddar snd mozzerella packet is smaller and the price the same.

Yes I need a life.....

Truthfully I've been on the verge of swapping stores anyway. They've been creeping up the prices over the last 6 months. I just think that the way they initiated this second price increase (and the price might not have changed but you're getting less for the same amount) if very sneaky. I go further to go to ASDA than I would to go to Tesco, it was worth it when they were significantly cheaper.

Staff were lovely, Manager was the rude and dismissive one.

He didn't give any reason why they did it. I'm sure it's a countrywide thing tbh, rather than this store and I'm sure it's just because it's an easy way to make more money. It was his attitude that sucked.

And yes,sorry, the label on the shelf still said the product was 500g, but the actual packet of mince has got smaller (although kept the old price)

I used to work in Budgens and about a fortnight before a "sale" they'd put the prices up on all the sale items and then - ta daaaa!! 50p off, half price yadeyada. 'Twas all a con but it gets people buying. Sainsbury's did the same recently with their bacon; dropping the weight but keeping the price. They all do it and it's part and parcel of the whole supermarket business. I think YABU for complaining about the sneaky price change but YANBU for getting peed off with the manager. It's his job to placate irate customers so he should man up and do his job properly.

I had a similar experience in Tesco the other day. On the way in I saw a large poster advertising large boxes of pampers, babydry and activ fit, for half price. As I had only gone in for nappies and wipes I was delighted.
So I go straight to the nappy aisle, there I find a few boxes of the baby dry stacked on the floor with no price on them, and the shelf of activ fit with a sticker saying ?2.50 off, now ?12.50. I find a staff member, explain the problem and she says she'll get a price for the ones with no price, dissappears for 10 mins, then comes back and says they are ?16.95. I say thats not half price, they were never ?34 ever! She shrugs and walks off!

I go and find a manager to explain again, he calls someone over, its the same girl, so I tell him she can't help me, he calls someone else, I have to explain again, new guy says, I dunno, you need a manager, I go back to manager, explain yet again, he says hold on a min. Another 10 mins later, I'm still waiting. He comes back and says he doesn't know why they aren't half price, but to bring my box to the till and he'll put it through. We go to customer services and he tells the girl to give it to me for half price and leaves. She scans it and says, hold on, I can't do that without authorisation...I'm like, he just told you to! So she disappears for another 10 mins, a queue forms behind me glaring at me!!

It took me half a bloody hour at least, and I only got one box! I was livid...and I don't think they even changed the prices!

So, after all that, YANBU!