Tesco Misprices Discussion area part 5

*Tony*_2

Little_John wrote:

the reason Tesco make profits is that they buy somthing for not a lot and sell it for a bit more.

Have to agree with that basic principle, I am sure its way more complicated what with overheads and such like, but that is a basic premise

Having seen the large price swings in items just by observing them over a period, I wonder sometimes what price they actually buy something in at, take the DVD of Mickey and Pluto go to Mars for instance, they sell it at £5.97 for a reasonable amount of time, so they must be buying in at £4 or less to make a reasonable profit, yet other times they sell at £15.99 .... which is a massive difference. Something selling a lot more, chicken breasts, skinless healthy option, the offer price can be £6.00/kg so you have to imagine they are buying them in a lot cheaper in order to make the profit, but then they go up to £7.50/kg and now £7.88/kg, and probably another price rise to come again.... but I bet the supplier isnt charging more so that becomes more profit. The most tasty thing I have had recently, Finest New Zealand rack of lamb was something like £10.??/kg when on offer, then its "regular" price was £13.44/kg, but this week its priced at £19.99/kg.. double the offer price. I have to wonder if the profit margin isnt made up of people who shop regularly at a superstore who are "always lowering prices", and "we check the prices so you dont need to", and all the other slogans that make people stop actually looking at the price they are charged and just remember what a good deal it seemed to be last time they bought something .... oh dear its doubled in price this week but the advertising didnt actually shout that part out .... so they buy it anyway. Thats probably a little cynical of me, but then again i do actually still shop at Tesco, probably something in the region of £100 a week (before any R+R I might find) which means I do contribute to that profit margin with one hand

AaronDH

I have a question on this matter that maybe some of the legal bods could answer... One question is, if any item has no SEL but has a price label (cards, books, DVDs) and the item comes up at a different price, is the customer entitled to R & R, because surely I could take a label one thing and place it on another.. But how presuming it's not blatently obvious how would a CS know whether they are being conned or if there has been a mistake.

And IMO, what makes them some grumpy is having read some of these posts, the system is blatently being played... Proactive education you say but big companies take a long time to do anything. I like, many other hate being conned particuarly when there isn't much you can do about it. Any person can see that someone buying every broken price thing in the store and then going for R & R is taking the urine.. What's more the CS have to report to the managers and basically the loss is calculated as a % on the stores losses... The higher they go, the more the managers get in trouble and so it goes down the food chain. Another thing is, people, and I hate to say it.. in particular blokes can just be rude, ignorant with an air of I'm right, you're wrong... It's Tesco that's wrong, not the CS.

bb999

AaronDH wrote:

I have a question on this matter that maybe some of the legal bods could answer... One question is, if any item has no SEL but has a price label (cards, books, DVDs) and the item comes up at a different price, is the customer entitled to R & R, because surely I could take a label one thing and place it on another.. But how presuming it's not blatently obvious how would a CS know whether they are being conned or if there has been a mistake.

And IMO, what makes them some grumpy is having read some of these posts, the system is blatently being played... Proactive education you say but big companies take a long time to do anything. I like, many other hate being conned particuarly when there isn't much you can do about it. Any person can see that someone buying every broken price thing in the store and then going for R & R is taking the urine.. What's more the CS have to report to the managers and basically the loss is calculated as a % on the stores losses... The higher they go, the more the managers get in trouble and so it goes down the food chain. Another thing is, people, and I hate to say it.. in particular blokes can just be rude, ignorant with an air of I'm right, you're wrong... It's Tesco that's wrong, not the CS.

If the price on the item is more than the price you are charged then you are entitled to R&R.

BUT if you change the price sticker, prepare to be arrested for fraud if you are discovered. Doing this is no different to shoplifting and you would deserve to be punished accordigly.

I agree with your point about abusing the system. I never buy more than one mispriced item at a time, and always make sure I buy other things at the same time. I will probably upset a few people by saying this, but anyone who goes in to a store and buys 4 or 5 items mispriced by a few pence each and then DEMANDS R&R as their God given right is the sort of person who will eventually get the policy stopped and then we will all lose out.

If we all act sensibly and don't take the p**s then we will all benefit in the long run because CS staff won't think everyone is on the fiddle.

bb999

By the way, look out for Stella Artois 330ml bottles x 6. On offer at 2 for £10. If you see a label which says £6.49 each or 2 for £10 then buy just one, because it will scan at £6.62.

GRFC1972

*Tony* wrote:

I have had to call HO twice, the first was with Miss Peters in Leyland around a month back, at the point I phoned i had items still in my possesion that were overcharged, and I was refusing her kind offer of getting the diference back, or a refund but they keep the goods, and then her second kind offer of a refund on 2 items only as they had a bulk buy policy of no more than 2 items in the store .... HO has to speak to her and then after that it became a different story and she had to refund the full amount and I got to keep my meat. The second time was Warrington Extra this week, after they had a chance to speak to the store and called me back 30 mins later, they said i could go and get my full refund from the store, again I think its because i refused to bow down to the manager who was insisting his word was final and I could have my 3 pence per item back ....

Its a case of are you positive the overcharge happened (not the wrong item or anything like that), will you be prepared to stand firm and not bow to the stalling or bully tactics that some stores might apply, and have you kept the good and receipt (your evidence) along with an admission that there was on overcharge but they just dont want to honour the policy. Saying that though, the vast majority of stores are probably fine, you tend to hear more about the ones that arent on here

You were quite right to get your R+R and sound quite pleased that HO made the store adhere to the stated policy.

I think you should be careful how you put your point across as I believe many people are newish to this forum, or don't post. They tend to read and then try to follow other posters read.

The reason I think you should be careful is, after speaking to Warrington Extra store I was informed that you are now BANNED from the store for being a serial R+R er. Not many people would like to be banned from their local supermarket and should by all means get a R+R when they are overcharged, but may get a little "gung ho" when they read posts like yours.

Advice to all.......It has been said before but here goes again. Any occupier of any building can ban you with no reason other than they don't want you on the premises. So if you want a R+R, be polite, buy sensibly and don't be seen to abuse the policy.

Odd_Fellow

*Tony* wrote:

Have to agree with that basic principle, I am sure its way more complicated what with overheads and such like, but that is a basic premise

Having seen the large price swings in items just by observing them over a period, I wonder sometimes what price they actually buy something in at, take the DVD of Mickey and Pluto go to Mars for instance, they sell it at £5.97 for a reasonable amount of time, so they must be buying in at £4 or less to make a reasonable profit, yet other times they sell at £15.99 .... which is a massive difference. Something selling a lot more, chicken breasts, skinless healthy option, the offer price can be £6.00/kg so you have to imagine they are buying them in a lot cheaper in order to make the profit, but then they go up to £7.50/kg and now £7.88/kg, and probably another price rise to come again.... but I bet the supplier isnt charging more so that becomes more profit. The most tasty thing I have had recently, Finest New Zealand rack of lamb was something like £10.??/kg when on offer, then its "regular" price was £13.44/kg, but this week its priced at £19.99/kg.. double the offer price. I have to wonder if the profit margin isnt made up of people who shop regularly at a superstore who are "always lowering prices", and "we check the prices so you dont need to", and all the other slogans that make people stop actually looking at the price they are charged and just remember what a good deal it seemed to be last time they bought something .... oh dear its doubled in price this week but the advertising didnt actually shout that part out .... so they buy it anyway. Thats probably a little cynical of me, but then again i do actually still shop at Tesco, probably something in the region of £100 a week (before any R+R I might find) which means I do contribute to that profit margin with one hand

A few points:

1) Occasionally, they do actually shout about the price after it's gone up. It's all marketing and many people won't have noticed the price reduction before anyway.

2) Price swings are common and regularly affect the Value range of stuff. Take the Sugar Free Lemonade. For most of the year, it's 17p. Yesterday, I saw it at 21p - that's more than a 20% increase. Why? Has the price of the ingredients gone up? Perhaps, but by 20%? Never. Why then? Because Summer's coming. Flora Light margarine - Was 1.73 now 1.88. There are lots of similar instances of price increases. One that's most galling is a massive increase on the frezen Lamb mince - was £3.30 now £3.98.

However, to be completely fair, there are also decreases - Milk for instance was £1.19 (I think) for a 4 pint carton. It's now £1.00 and that's not a special offer and I've seen no shelf talkers for it. When I first saw it, I thought it was a Misprice. The Hovis Grannary Bread has gone from £.79 to £.72p.

Tesco are masters at all this marketing baloney. Many posts ago, I commented on the deal on the finest Sausages. Normally £1.99 a pack, the general deal is buy 2 for £3.00. Last year, for a couple of months between March and May, they stopped this deal and replaced it with Buy 2 and save £.53p. Clearly a much worse deal than before. They did the same this year and I commented on it being a temporary deal and warranted that the 2 for £3 would be back - it is.

GRFC1972

*Tony* wrote:

Have to agree with that basic principle, I am sure its way more complicated what with overheads and such like, but that is a basic premise

Having seen the large price swings in items just by observing them over a period, I wonder sometimes what price they actually buy something in at, take the DVD of Mickey and Pluto go to Mars for instance, they sell it at £5.97 for a reasonable amount of time, so they must be buying in at £4 or less to make a reasonable profit, yet other times they sell at £15.99 .... which is a massive difference. Something selling a lot more, chicken breasts, skinless healthy option, the offer price can be £6.00/kg so you have to imagine they are buying them in a lot cheaper in order to make the profit, but then they go up to £7.50/kg and now £7.88/kg, and probably another price rise to come again.... but I bet the supplier isnt charging more so that becomes more profit. The most tasty thing I have had recently, Finest New Zealand rack of lamb was something like £10.??/kg when on offer, then its "regular" price was £13.44/kg, but this week its priced at £19.99/kg.. double the offer price. I have to wonder if the profit margin isnt made up of people who shop regularly at a superstore who are "always lowering prices", and "we check the prices so you dont need to", and all the other slogans that make people stop actually looking at the price they are charged and just remember what a good deal it seemed to be last time they bought something .... oh dear its doubled in price this week but the advertising didnt actually shout that part out .... so they buy it anyway. Thats probably a little cynical of me, but then again i do actually still shop at Tesco, probably something in the region of £100 a week (before any R+R I might find) which means I do contribute to that profit margin with one hand

I can think of 2 reasons why a company would follow this example.....

1. To advertise a previous higher price, that price must have been charged for at least 28 consecutive days in the past 6 months. Hence you may then see a sign saying "Mickey DVD...was 15.99 now 5.97"..a bit of a con I agree
but thats the law.

2. Local markets dictate prices...So many fresh products will fluctuate in price through its "season"...Good example is strawberries at the moment...4 week ago they were in easy supply from a high season country at about £2 / punnet...then that season finished and the Dutch season was the only one on the market so the price went sky high to something like £3.80 / punnet. That price is slowly coming down and will probably lead to the British season soon when the price will drop to its lowest all year (Wimbledon may increase the price as demand begins to outstrip supply)


Oh and I suppose the shop could just be trying to rip off the customer as you suspect.

Although I defend Tesco quite regularly I am not blind to the problems they cause (local traders closing..generic high streets..suppliers profits) but one thing they are getting better at is matching others, especially Asda at price, just look at the price checker site http://www.tesco.com/pricecheck/

JPS

Odd_Fellow wrote:

Can you tell us which titles you got?

Thanks.

Yeah - all of these DVDs had £9.97 stickers on them at the Roundhay, Leeds store:
Star Wars Return of the Sith SEL £22.97 or something
Charlie n Choc factorie double disc was £24.97 SEL
Unleashed had £15.97 SEl
A knight's tale was £12.97 and there were more!!

However, I got 3 PSP games from Seacroft Xtra store on Friday, and they had (surprisingly) re-stickered all of the games with the correct prices on yesterday, so they must have done something about it, unlike the other store.

Josh

*Tony*_2

GRFC1972 wrote:

1. To advertise a previous higher price, that price must have been charged for at least 28 consecutive days in the past 6 months. Hence you may then see a sign saying "Mickey DVD...was 15.99 now 5.97"..a bit of a con I agree
but thats the law.

Ok maybe you missed the point I was making, maybe I didnt put it clearly enough. I agree with the basis of profit is a matter of buying something at a price and selling it at a higher price, what i was wondering is what the buying price of something must be before they will sell it at £5.97 one time, then £15.99 the following, then back down to £5.97 again .... and DVDs are not like fresh produce that is seasonal and market values vary, its pretty much a plastic disk in a box that gets made by the millions and sold or kept in a warehouse without really "going off". I dont actually believe any store is trying to rip me off, I am making a "I wonder what" thought based on observations

bb999

Any advice from Tesco CS staff in here would be appreciated:

My wife returned some clothes yesterday which didn't fit. There were 3 items, 1 @ £18, and 2 @ £10 each. She says she just handed the bag over to CS & left them to it - our kids were playing up a bit so she was a bit distracted. She handed over her credit card for the refund, entered her pin & left.
Later that night she was looking at the refund receipt and it was for £28 instead of £38.

I have told her that she has probably lost the money now and she should have checked the receipt at the time.

If she went back to the store and explained, would they just say 'hard lines'? (or some more polite phrase but with the same meaning.)
The store did not mark on the receipt which items had been returned which they usually do.

Thanks in advance.