Tesco, overcharging, and copious amounts of bovine faeces?

teedy23

It,s awful that customers who have been overcharged by Tesco, have to go through this fiasco to get back what Tesco promises to give. I had a similar situation with 3 for £10 on wine, the assistant at C/S said "well it,s not exactly an overcharge" "well you,ve taken too much money from me, so should we call it unintentional theft by the cashier, or Tesco stores?" I queried. I got my money back (dtd).

TehJumpingJawa

Schamansky wrote: »

Dug myself through EU directive 2005/29 EC, which is the basis for the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, as almost literally implemented into UK law in 2008.

Coming to the conclusion that I haven't got a case under the above regulations, because the condition for the CPUTR to bite for all sorts of cases is that

"(any commercial practice) causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise, taking account of its factual context and of all its features and circumstances"

Which doesn't bite here, as I see it. Nobody buys anything at Tesco because of the DTD policy. It would be quite hard to convince a judge that you only buy your groceries at Tesco because of their DTD policy, and you wouldn't shop there were it not for this specific policy promise.

In plain terms, I bought the salad bags because they were dirt cheap, not because Tesco's DTD policy suckered me into buying them.

Result: >>!!!!!!<<

Contract law is the way (communicated policies being part of contract, etc.)

---

In taxiphil's case, things were different in so far as it was the special price promise on the Xbox deal that caused the consumer taxiphil to buy the product bundle. He would not have bought it otherwise.

Hang on.....
By that rational, if you are intentionally buying something that you know is going to result in an overcharge, then the DTD policy is the primary motivation for the purchase, and so becomes part of the contract of sale?
Making it a legal obligation for Tesco to honour it?!?!?!?!

That's ridiculous; the law protects the exploiters, not the honest (but vigilant) regular shoppers!

taxiphil

Hi Schmansky, my fault for not being too clear in my last post. Yeah, the CPUTRs can only be enforced by Trading Standards; they can't be used in a private claim by an individual. So, yeah, contract law would be the way to go, but reporting it to Trading Standards would still be a good way to "get one up 'em", even if it wouldn't get you your £1.80 back.

But there would be a case for prosecution under the CPUTRs as there's one bit you may have missed - in the Interpretation section:

“transactional decision” means any decision taken by a consumer, whether it is to act or to refrain from acting, concerning—
(a) whether, how and on what terms to purchase, make payment in whole or in part for, retain or dispose of a product; or
(b) whether, how and on what terms to exercise a contractual right in relation to a product

i.e. the "commercial practice" needn't influence the act of buying it in the first place, but could influence the exercise of contractual rights post-purchase. More commonly, this would affect scenarios where the likes of Comet and Argos deceive and mislead consumers about their rights when they return faulty goods - you know the script - "the 1 year warranty has expired so you have no rights" - that kind of bull****. But, equally, the DTD is a contractual right based on the terms incorporated into the contract by the DTD sign.

The CPUTRs are widely regarded by lawyers and TS officers as so far-reaching that they're a catch-all for just about anything with the vaguest whiff of "not quite right" about it.

In taxiphil's case, things were different in so far as it was the special price promise on the Xbox deal that caused the consumer taxiphil to buy the product bundle. He would not have bought it otherwise.

It was the same thing as your scenario really, the R&R sign applied to everything in store in the same way that DTD applies now, so I argued that R&R was an express term incorporated into every contract made in the store.

Schamansky

Taxiphil:

Yes, I overlooked that completely.
Guess I got it now! Case of

a decision taken by a consumer, whether it is to act or to refrain from acting, concerning whether, how and on what terms to exercise a contractual right in relation to a product

Subsumtion: The DTD policy as publicised influences my decision/causes me to ask for another 1.80, thus acting in accordance with a publicised contractual right which I acquired through making a purchase with this very seller.

You're a star.

chalkysoil

Good luck. I got so fed up queuing at the desk (my time wasted) and waiting while the sa figured it all out together with the price hikes that I've virtually stopped shopping in Tesco. It is the principle of the thing - how many other people have been ripped off because they see an error for 50p or whatever and can't face the queue and the hassle of the services desk? 1 million? 1 million x .50p = tidy sum

1carminestocky

I'm sure I read somewhere about an undercover investigation into Tesco overcharging in Ireland by the Govt. there and they discovered that the average basket had a 3% overcharge? Anyone else see this? If true (and I'm not saying it is), on their turnover in the last 12 months of 59 BILLION, that would be a VERY tidy sum indeed :eek: A sum which my brains (not to mention my calculator!) won't allow me to work out, lol.

Edit: £1.77 billion? Nah, can't be...can it? :eek:

Schamansky

It's all true.

http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/0323/tesco.html

Edit: £1.77 billion? Nah, can't be...can it?

Even half, a quarter or just 10% of that is scandalous.
Or shareholder value, depending on point of view.

MyUserNamesTaken

robpw2 wrote: »

its a policy and policies are open to interpretation

you could i guess challenge it on the grounds they are not adhering to their own procedures but would be a lot of money for what is essentially £1.80

This is a nationwide unambiguous policy displayed at all customer service desks and at all tills. As such, it is not open to interpretation. It is very clear!

robpw2 wrote: »

but this isnt a case of the price being showing incorrectly it was reduced item , which tesco again do not have to sell that was scanned by an employee incorrectly so the person was charged full price
the person involved chose not to mention this at the till with the intention of invoking the dtd policy as they thought they would get double the difference and two free bags of salad

Firstly, an overcharge is an overcharge is an overcharge. The policy clearly states "if we charge you more than the price on the shelf or the product, we will refund you double the difference." No "ifs" no "buts" or "at manager's discretion". Whether an item is reduced or not is neither here nor there. Tesco can refuse to sell you anything they wish. In this case, they didn't choose not to sell the items, thus your point is irrelevant.


Secondly, please show me where the OP said he'd spotted he'd been overcharged at the till and chose not to mention it, deciding to go for DTD instead? From what I've read, he says he checked his receipt after he'd paid and saw that he'd been overcharged.

robpw2 wrote: »

see it from this point of view no other supermarket offers this policy so you going to another supermarket isnt going to help you either :rotfl::rotfl:
tesco may have lost £50 on you but they have just also reported £3bn worth of profit so im sure they are quaking in their boots

Had this been Asda, he would have received his money back and a £2 gift card...so more than what Tesco were meant to give him.

You've not heard of the saying "the customer is always right"?

Someone give Ben a shout, please? This thread's right up his street!

Hi Phil! Hi Coupon Mad! Just like old days, eh?

Stubbarama

Schamansky wrote: »

Are you absolutely certain that the DTD policy as published in every store is a legally binding part of the civil contract between customer and company?

Because if so, I've got them by the balls.

LMAO. Grow up, stop wasting your life on petty things.

jak

Good luck and I hope you get your money back AND an appology.
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