Morrison's Pricing Error's/ Misprice Policy.

paul93anderson

As a regular shopper at Morrison's I have become rather surprised and irritated by the number of pricing error's on recent visits to the Morpeth store.

Since the coversion from a safeways there have been an increasing number of special offers, some of which are very good value. However the shop seems unable to ensure that you actually pay the price that is advertised.

Having been bitten more those once - by discovering that I have been overcharged after returning home with the shopping I do take care to ensure that where there is a BOGOF or a price reduction advertised that this is actually reflected in the price I pay. I have noticed that as many as 1 in 4 reductions are scanned incorrectly.

This wouldn't be quite so bad if the staff were at all sympathetic to your plight. Typically you are kept waiting whilst they check that you have been overcharged, and then you are just given back what you are righfully owed.
Often after waiting several minutes. You then need to sign for getting back, what is in effect, your own money.

Unusually I actually took the time and trouble to contact Morrison's Customer Services Department over a recent case of over charging - mainly because of the downright rude attitide of, as it turned out, the Personnel Manager, who delt with me. Its quite instructive that the phone intially rang unanswered (at 6.15pm). I hadn't expected it to be manned but phoned because I was so annoyed. Then surprisingly the phone was answered and I put through to the Department even though they had left for the day. Eventually, I got through and a week later received a £5 voucher as a "gesture of goodwill"

Its my understanding that's its illegal for a store to display misleading pricing information. Whilst I accept that Morrison's will refund the money if their error is pointed out to them I believe that:

(i) The frequency of errors in unacceptable.
(ii) The onus is entirely upon the customer to spot the errors and
(iii) That large numbers of customers must frequently be overcharged by Morrisons.

I just wondered whether other customers had experience similar problems with Morrisons and if so, whether they had had a satisfactory response from ttheir Customer Services' Department.

I will be interseted to hear of your shopping experiences at Morrison's.

carleast

I haven't had one error since Morissons took over Safeways. Plus the prices have come down a lot on many items. So thumbs up for that. But I don't think the food is as good. I think the standard has got a lot worse since they took over.

paul93anderson

Thanks for your comments.

I agree that prices are better, although I don't know that it necessarily represents better value for money. I did previously find that I could get most of what I wanted from Safeways, albeit mostly at a higher price. Now I find I have to travel elsewhere (a 25 mile round journey) or be satisfied with sub standard goods. Some Morrison's products are just awful - like their own brand high juice - barely drinkable. In addition some quite basic items are often out of stock. They do have plenty of bargains but based on my experience in Morpeth (and others there judging by the refund lists) you have to be very careful that you are charged the advertised price.

Maybe its just the Morpeth store? Just out of interest which branch do you use?

philldutton

The only time I've been mischarged was when the till operator entered the wrong PLU code for some carrots I was buying (she put the code in for grapes by mistake).

Most things seem to have the price printed on the packaging rather than just being on a SEL which means that over prices occur less often.

lin473

I have found my local Morrisons much the same , Paul.
I used to shop there all the time,but in the end,I voted with my feet!

suniil

I *always* check bill and compare items, before i leave checkout in morrisons and *only in morrisions*

bargain_hunter_2

This has happened to me quite a few times in morrisons and also when it was safeway - particularly with BOGOFs !!
With safeway I actually wrote and complained and got a miserly £5 voucher -
I now shop elsewhere !!!!

el6724

I would suggest you save your till reciepts for a few visits with the overcharges on them and if possible take a picture with a camera phone of the offers you were over charged on & photo copy it all and send it to customer services with a letter saying if it continues you will have to speak to trading standards.

Tesco was recently fined about £50,000 for over charging a customer on wine.

It might be a good idea to point out that if the staff were polite apologetic & quick to sort things out you may not feel as bad. Also if the had a policy like Tesco (who will refund your money in full and let you keep the item) or Asda who will give you a £2 voucher imidiatley for a price error, you may not feel the need to go to Trading Standards.

Tesco and Asda have these policies specificaly to prevent people going to TS but as can be seen if the do end up in court the fines are usualy very heavy. (there's a thread somewhere on here about the tesco court case).

Hope some of this helps!

paul93anderson

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I don't have a camera phone.

I have actually been in touch with trading standards and they suggested that I got in touch with them if it happened again, and that I should keep the till receipts. As it has already happened since their reply last week I shall be in touch to follow up my complaint.

TS were in fact very helpful: sending someone to the store to check the item I had been overcharged for and said that they would be undertaking further tests in future. Although as a member of staff took off the offending price label whilst I actually waited for her to verify that I had actually been overcharged (which explained the long wait) I didn't really expect them to find that the same item was being overcharged for the next day. Mind I did aprreciate the prompt and courteous response from TS.

It is, though, rather frustrating. Particularly as the only alternative in Morpeth is the Co-op which is extremely expensive.

hollie.weimeraner

I shop in Morrisons at Sheffield every week as it's my nearest supermarket. If it wasn't so awkward to go elsewhere I would. I have only noticed the odd mispriced item but what really annoys me the most is that they regularly sell persishable food that is out of date or has only 1 or 2 days left before the use by date. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but check before you buy.

bootman

I went to my local Morrisons last week. I too do not shop there very often.

I was overcharged a £1 on a pack of smoothies to the SEL and 52p on some kitchen spray which came from a huge fixture with a huge offer price of 99p a bottle. :mad:

So 1.52 on 2 items. They gave me the difference at c/s without problem but it is a pain.

If they overcharged on those 2 items just for one day the extra money they must make.

Not many people I speak to seem to even check their receipts