Sainsbury's launched their brand match a few years ago. On their web site, they claim:
"Every time you buy any 10 or more different items instore, we tot up the prices of the brands in your trolley, and if you could have paid less at Tesco or Asda – even because of a deal* – we’ll give you a coupon for the difference."
You can check your receipt on their brand match web site to see how the amount of your coupon was calculated. I have done that regularly and know that products get missed out quite frequently. Typically you don't get the price difference because products appear as "non-comparable" although they are absolutely identical. I made a point to call customer services each time. At the beginning I was always offered to be given my money back by adding points on my nectar card. Normally they would check on the competitor web site for the item and agree that the item price should have been matched. Then one day I was told that this is the way things were, that the system they use was not 100% accurate and that they couldn't do anything about it. I think it all went downhill from then on. Two weeks ago when I did my shopping at Sainsbury's I bought a pack of 47 "original" Fairy all in one dishwasher tablets - £10 at sainsbury's but £5 at Asda. I was obviously expecting to get a brand match coupon for at least £5 but I didn't. When I checked my receipt online the product was shown as non-comparable. I called customer service and they stood by what their system was saying i.e. can't match the price for that product. After a long discussion the helpline person said that she wasn't sure why the system missed the item but after talking to her manager told me that they will get back to me after 5 to 10 days (!). I called again today since it has been roughly 10 days and noone contacted me....just to hear the same story, it comes back as non-comparable and there is nothing we can do.
I will return the item to store as it is obviously unfair. In my view Sainsbury's is luring the consumer into thinking that they will get the same deals as in Tesco and Asda when they obviously don't. Their system is unreliable (as I said I spotted mistakes on many occasions) but the worse thing for me is that they are not ready to listen to their consumer who report the error and acknowledge their mistake.
Lesson learnt for me, Sainsbury's will no longer me my favourite supermarket, their brand match is clearly a scam. I am happy to move to Asda and Tesco ...I don't have any local stores but their delivery for online shopping is only £1 !!