Morrison's Pricing Error's/ Misprice Policy.

paul93anderson

I am not suggesting that others, or indeed myelf shop elsewhere because of Morrison's mispricing or indeed any other shop.

Part of my reason for raising the point is because that isn't a viable option because of the fact that in many places, especially small market towns, that isn't a viable option.

I am suggesting that anyone who needs to queue up weekly or regularly for a refund considers reporting Morrison's (or more properly the offending retailer) to trading standards because:

(i) The 5 minutes spent making the call might prove to be a better use of time than queuing every week for a refund.
(ii) A successful prosecution might have the desired effect - stopping or at least significantly reducing overpricing.
(iii) I suspect only a proportion of customers are aware that they are being overcharged. Those that aren't would benefit from any improvement.

It is my view that Morrison's are worse than the other supermarmarkets. This is based on 3 factors:

(i) Personal experience.
(ii) Comments by others.
(iii) And the generally held view (even within Morrison's itself) that Morrison's have struggled to integrate the new safeway stores since the acquisition, some 2 or 3 years ago. I believe all of the stores are now rebranded with the Morrison's logo.

I am sure other stores are also guilty of mispricing and my advice/comments would apply equally to them.

To an extent a chain is only as strong as its weakest link (branch). If a local branch is badly run, that is highly relevant to the individual shopper. It hardly matters if a shop 100 miles away is excellent - you don't tend to shop there.

With regard to vfm you do, to an extent get what you pay for. If you buy an M&S or Waitrose product you are pretty much assured a decent quality/taste. You aren't assured that with Morrison's. I know goods are often made by the same manufacturer - but often to different specifications.

Personally I do find that Morrison's offer quite a number of good offers. Offers excluded I think better prices and quality are to be found elsewhere.

Just for info I do, when down South, shop at Sainsburys and Asda. I also make a 25 mile round trip to Tescos. I have experienced few problems with mispricing. In the Sainsburys (in Crayford, Kent) I have found the store to be shoddy and the quality of the fresh produce sub -standard and the goods pretty expensive.

donna

I used to visit the Beverley Morrisons(it has always been a Morrisons) once a week for my shopping. Now they'll be lucky if they see me once a month.

I've had no end of trouble there with being overcharged and yes the staff always acted as though i was being a pain in the !!!!!!. I have to travel 12 miles to get to this store so was really loyal customer. Yes they have a massisve amount of BOGOF offers and a much wider variety of products than my local tiny Tesco store but is it worth all the stress when they consistently get it wrong.

Are those that are saying they have never had a problem really really thoroughly checking there receipts. Maybe i am just extremely unlucky.

Sometimes it is not even the tills that get it wrong.

I have picked up 2 packets of bacon from a free standing chiller full of just the apparently BOGOF bacon but although the massive sign says BOGOF bacon, they have been filled with some non BOGOF bacon.

I once bought BOGOF Morrisons pate, got home and found i had not only paid over twice what the pate price was advertised to be but also that it had not gone through as BOGOF. So effectively i paid over 4 times more than i thought i was paying.

Also i took 2 tupperware tubs(lunchbox type) from a big free standing container in the middle of an aisle once. Again big sign BOGOF lunch boxes. It turned out again that some of the tubs that were in the big container were not on the offer. On this occasion the customer service lady was really off with me. "well which type do you want then"! Erm the ones that are on BOGOF other wise i wouldn't be here complaining. She then asked me to go back and exchange the wrong one myself. I was flabbergasted!

I could go on and on all day. Of course they get away with it by saying that it's the fault of the shelving staff who have put the items in the wrong place or that we the customer haven't read the signage correctly.

WHY PUT A BOGOF SIGN ON A MASSIVE FREE STANDING CONTAINER WHICH IS FULL OF NOTHING BUT NON BOGOF ITEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clowance

donna wrote:

WHY PUT A BOGOF SIGN ON A MASSIVE FREE STANDING CONTAINER WHICH IS FULL OF NOTHING BUT NON BOGOF ITEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its not just Morrisons that do this: in Tesco this morning I bought a christmas tree skirt marked 9.97 from a large square wire display, seemed to be all the same ones. On the side was a big yellow (yellow usually means cheap or offer) sign saying "Chilly tree skirts 4.97". I was charged 9.97, when I went to cust serv she went and must have rummaged for ages and came back with a different type, marked 4.97 (normal not offer) price. So anyone buying from that container and not checking their receipt was ripped off. Sharp practice at least, I think.

Happyroly

I guess the posts on this thread clearly illustrate why Morrisons haven't been doing very well lately. I have read it was the result of the Safeway takeover but appears more likely that customers have been voting with their feet ...... and yes, I stopped shopping there after two wrong pricing experiences.

Happyroly.

hex2

I shop every week at Morrisons and have done since I got sick of being ripped off and of chewing the rubbish meat from Tescos. I have twice in three years been overcharged - and yes, I do check my receipts. Both times it was refunded without question a week later on my next visit and with an apology. They are significantly cheaper for me because I do a lot of cooking from scratch. The customer service people at Coalville are lovely. Leeds Hunslet and Kirkstall used to be good too.
As with every supermarket I think it comes down to the management of your local store.

supersol

I'm a great Morrison fan as I think that they have a greater number of BOGOFs than any other store. I particularly stock up with dry goods, such as my favourite tea and biscuits. I often find that their prices beat Tesco on everyday items too, e.g. cereal, cottage cheese.

I agree that morale and management can be down, as it is in one of the two stores in my town. However, the other Morrisons in town is great.

It is a shame that the supermarket offers sites, such as Fixture Ferrets, are not listing all of Morrisons BOGOFs as they used to, as I often find items in store which are not listed on these sites, e.g. frozen foods. Still, I expect they can only publish what they are given, so this maybe down to Morrisonn's Central Office.

paul93anderson

I think the store is let down by three things:

(i) Mispricing.
(ii) Compounded by poor and slow in store customer services.
and (iii) the quality of their own brand products.

and this really lets them down.

There really are some good offers most of the time. Offers apart I don't think their prices for branded goods are great. I just feel with a little more effort they could do so much better and be a much more effective competitor to Tescos, especially. Value wise I think tescos is overrated. They are just so cynical - almost too clever.

But it really does grate if your only local store is badly run. To be fair though I had no misprices on my last visit.

zappomatic

A single incident can really tarnish a brand or a chain. I'm not keen on Morrisons anyway, but a visit to their Bridport store left a sour taste in my mouth. Cheese topped baps were BOGOF, and there were some that were reduced to clear at 20p a pack. Expecting to be charged 20p for two packs, I found on the receipt that I had been charged for two. I went to the customer service desk, expecting a sorry and 20p back. Instead I got a grumpy old woman who insisted that BOGOF didn't apply to reduced items. I argued with her for at least 5 minutes with a queue building up behind me - all this for the sake of 20p that was rightfully mine. Eventually she relented and gave me a 20p credit note. I said that I wanted 20p not a credit note as I wouldn't be shopping there again, at which point she literally snatched the voucher out of my hand and tore it up at face level!

What on earth was someone like that doing on a customer service desk?

paul93anderson

.... in some stores its seems to be a key part of person specification for the post holder - being unhelpful, miserable and and surly. I suspect some would be more generous if it was their own money.

For most people there's a limit to how often they are prepared to go back and queue before they think about shopping elsewhere.

The miserable customer services manager/staff seems to be a Morrison's speciality. I have not encountered a similar attitude elsewhere. Not that it applies to all Morrison's staff by any means - but certainly to a signifcant (to me) minority.

My own experience included, after a long wait, being given what I think was an Isle of Man £1 coin - when I questioned it the Customer Services Manager grabbed it back and replaced it without saying a word. Having waited for her to rip off the offending labels and put new ones up whilst I waited for my refund I wasn't going to take a coin that might not be legal tender. She didn't say it was or query it -she just put in back in the till. I don't know if Isel of man currecny is legal tender here - I would guess it is. But I could also see it being difficult to use in some places regardless.

mistyarthur

I work in morrisons and recently they had a notice up about the completed conversion of safeway (18months) all the managers that I know at my store think it was to big a job because we are an established store they were taken elsewhere to help and it has also reduced the amount of surprise visits by senior people etc. by about 3/4 but they are saying they are now going to get the standards back up, will have to wait and see.
In the store I work at when I'm at uni it's a similar thing I have had one person say something was on offer to me when it didn't come up on the till but 5 minutes later it did! not sure why though. One time when a customer said a price was different when I finally got a supervisor to check the customer waited and was told that that was the price, eventually after a quiet word witht the customer I was begrudginly told to put it through lower, apparently there were 2 labels. Staff mainly supervisors are very grumpy towards customers normally because it's so busy. But normal staff are nice. Customers can be very aggressive to staff though over simple things, I work on the checkouts now but used to work in a different department, on the checkouts they sometimes ignore you but on other departments they can be really rude treating you like a complete idiot when they are wrong!