WHSmith pricing policy

tonyivb

If you are shopping in WHSmith then please make sure that you are charged the correct price

I was in the Greenford store today where the two items I wanted were incorrectly priced... 25 pack of DVDs, priced at £12.99 but scanned at £7.99 and Storage boxes priced at £5.99 but scanned at £9.99

They were happy enough to let me buy the DVDs at £7.99 but refused to sell the boxes at £5.99 insisting that they were £9.99

I was told by the manager and the head office that it was normal for them to re-arrange a display or put out new products without putting up new price tickets and they were aware that customers could be charged more than the shelf ticket. Their arguement was that 'as that is the actual price of the item then you will have been charged correctly'.

So be aware in WHSmith Greenford (and maybe in other stores)... they don't care if they overcharge you as it is really inconvenient for them to do their jobs properly and price things correctly!

Me_Myself_2

Trading standards would be very interested. It is an offence to dispaly a price and then charge more.

taxiphil

It's really bad customer service of W.H.Smith to refuse to honour the lower price when the mistake is theirs. Shops should be grateful when customers bring pricing errors to their attention.

I was in Superdrug the other day and a pack of Canderel sweeteners scanned at £1.78 when they were on Special Offer for 69p. They did the decent thing and let me have them for the lower price without any argument.

tonyivb

Thank you all for your support, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that thinks their procedures & customer service sucks!

You are right in pointing out that they don't have to sell the item, and this is pretty much how this part of the conversation with the manager went...

WHS: Legally we don't have to sell these to you
Me: I know, but you could choose to sell them to me at £5.99
WHS: No I can't as the correct price is £9.99
ME: But you are the Store Manager and you have the discretion to sell them at the advertised price
WHS: Yes I do, but I am not going to
Me: So you are choosing to disappoint a customer rather than admitting an error has been made and honouring the advertised price
WHS: Yes

I think that she was just being obstinate because I knew what I was talking about and dared to question her. If I'd played the dumb customer and had my little boy in tow then I may well have got them.

I made sure that I fired of letters to Trading Standards and WHSmith Head Office as soon as I got off the phone with them so hopefully some good will come of this?

tonyivb

The store is in one of those isolated retail parks and it amazes me that they they can make a profit there???

If WHSmith are anything like Safeway (who I used to work for) then they use these 'deadwood' stores to blood new managers as there's not much they can do to make business worse.

hjb123

taxiphil wrote:

It's really bad customer service of W.H.Smith to refuse to honour the lower price when the mistake is theirs. Shops should be grateful when customers bring pricing errors to their attention.

I was in Superdrug the other day and a pack of Canderel sweeteners scanned at £1.78 when they were on Special Offer for 69p. They did the decent thing and let me have them for the lower price without any argument.

I used to work for WHS - but fortunately dont now as had to leave due to ill health - no wonder!!! If that had happened while I was there I would have certainly let the customer have it at that price - and if a member of staff asked me what to do or when I was training members of the team I would tell them that if a mistake in pricing occurs always let the customer have it at the price that is lowest. Its just common sense of good customer service - as we always used to say - good customer service doesnt travel that fast, but bad customer service travels very very fast - and now even faster with MSE!

To the OP - did you speak to the customer services about this then? Try ringing again - you will probably speak to a different person who will tell you something different - often this happens at different customer services with different companies!

tonyivb

I did call the 'Customer Relations' dept. and spoke with someone... they then called the store to clarify things and then called me back. They took the same line as the store, ie that they are not obliged to sell the item and the reason for the error was that they had remerchandised that section and had yet to put out correct price tickets.

It amazes me that they seem to believe that this excuse will leave would-be customers satisfied.

As for trying again... this matter has gone far beyond getting the boxes for £5.99. I believe that the store should be brought to account for its ineffective procedures... hopefully Trading Standards will do that. I also hope by highlighting the issue in this thread some potential WHSmith customers take their business elsewhere.
In a week or so I intend to collate all the letters I've sent so far (as well as details of this thread) and send it to WH Smith Chairman Robert Walker.

I won't hold my breath for any positive outcome though... judging by this article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/03/21/cnsevern21.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2006/03/21/ixcitytop.html) he is no advocate of transparancy

hjb123

Yeah it should be brought to account but it probably wont be! Trust me! Ive been there and seen how that company works! I am glad to be outta there!

tonyivb

An update....

I've spoken with Tradings Standards who agreed that it sounds like a clear case of misleading pricing. They are going into the store to check their pricing/procedures and see if they have sorted themselves out.

hjb123

Great to hear that - I love to hear it when Trading Standards or people like it are investigating ex employers!!

walterp

So whats to stop customers changing the price labels to a lower price and then demanding the lower price?
The store was correct and followed the procedures.
You were wrong but wont admit it.

I think that she was just being obstinate because I knew what I was talking about and dared to question her.

No you didnt. She knew the law and made you look a fool.

I made sure that I fired of letters to Trading Standards and WHSmith Head Office as soon as I got off the phone with them so hopefully some good will come of this?

The only good that will come of it is Head Office will have a good laugh at you.

Have you sent a letter to the European Court Of Human Rights you sad little man.