Vent: ASDA - Am I out of order or should I be complaining to all and sundry here?

*Adam*

Went into my local ASDA tonight "yellow sticker hunting".

One thing I have noticed is that if you have a proper look on the chilled shelves, you can sometimes find stuff just on the shelf that has a Display Until/Use By date of that same day (for example today - 17 July). I went shopping on Monday and found a fair few items that hadn't been reduced, so scooped them up and found an employee from that department with a reducing gun. This is something that I've been doing since I was signed off sick as lifestyle changes have forced this. I have done this at numerous ASDA stores and until now, not had a problem with it.

Anyway, so I had a look, and it was rather obvious that whoever was doing the stock rotation/reductions that day hadn't bothered, because there were LOADS. So I grabbed it all up, put it in my trolley and went off to find a man with a gun. The only person I could find from that department was the same guy I'd seen on Monday.

Backstory: On the Monday I'd found one of those massive "Leg of Lamb on Bone" that generally retail for £15ish. The employee had reduced the items in my trolley to 20p but on seeing this, wasn't sure if he could reduce so much on such an expensive item and called a manager. Said manager came over and said it would be "no less than £5". Now I used to work for said supermarket and even I know that at 11.30pm at night on the date shown, he should theoretically be reducing to at least 75%. The manager was generally grumpy so I spent 30 seconds seeing if I could get 75%, he refused, and I bought at £5, which I was quite happy to pay.

Whilst looking, I'd found stuff that had dates such as 16th July, one item of chicken had 14th July on it, this is how bad the stock rotation can be here. So I toddle off to the man with the gun, and he says "I can't do reductions, day team do it, they're not doing it, I'll phone the manager." He phones the manager and after a very quick conversation out of earshot, comes back to me and says "The manager won't reduce it!"

I decide to try my luck with CS and head over there. As I get there, I notice the Manager I'd spoken to Monday. He came over and very brusquely said "I'm not reducing ANY of it." I asked him why and he said "You come in here 2-3 times a week and "find" all that stuff then expect it all to be reduced. I'm not reducing it, you either pay full price or leave it. I'm happy to let it go to waste." The way he said it made myself (and my partner, who was with me) feel that he was accusing us of hiding the goods, leaving, and coming back later, in effect trying to steal or defraud the supermarket.

We chose to leave as we'd managed to find probably £80 worth of meat and I definitely don't have the money to pay full price for it. The way the manager spoke to us though made us feel like we'd done something wrong because the store's stock rotation was crap. Is it worth going in to the day team tomorrow and making an official complaint or should I leave it and not bother shopping in there again, and do you think this tactic of finding bargains which have been missed by staff is wrong or am I right in exploiting something that the store have a problem with?

jd87

Sounds like hardcore money saving to me! I think if all this stuff is going in the bin anyway then yeah they should sell it to you cheap, HOWEVER...

Maybe the reason the store isn't happy with it can be understood if you look at it like this: They want you to come in and do your shopping earlier in the day and pay full price like everyone else so that they can get more profit out of you. If they let you have all the cheap stuff, they know that you won't ever have to come in and pay full price. They might also be worried that word will get around and other people will start doing what you're doing.

It's a bit like with airlines. People wonder, why do they fly planes with empty seats? Why don't they all just sell all the empty seats cheap at the last minute? The reason is that everyone will just start waiting until the last minute. See what I'm saying? They make more money by throwing stuff away/flying empty seats than by selling them to people cheap.

globalds

I think you have to just accept it goes with the territory ...
I ...And many others on this site ...Do the equivalent with Bookmakers . We find value bets that the bookmaker may miss ...
Rather than being thanked for showing them the things they have missed ...We often get told to leave and not spend our money their any longer ..
Maybe spreading yourself around a group of supermarkets would be better ...
Try and fly under the Radar ....It works on the Bookies

Enfieldian

I certainly don't think you have grounds to complain.

What exactly would your complaint be anyway?

And why would it be "official"?

*Adam*

My complaint would be about the way the manager spoke to me and my partner as customers, had I spoken to a customer like he spoke to us I'd have been up for Gross Misconduct in no time. In no way would I be complaining because I couldn't get the food reduced, just the manager's conduct in informing us.

Dunno why it would be "official", just that when I worked in the store I had a colleague who had an "official complaint" made against them - always called it that ever since, I guess...

Claire_Bear

I don't think you could complain either, the store has no obligation to reduce things that are going out of date that day, and it's a bit cheeky to pick up loads of packets of meat and ask them to reduce it for you, especially, like he said, if you do it 2-3 times a week. You could however complain about the manager's attitude if he offended you, although to me the way he said 'find' doesn't seem like he was suggesting you hide food to come back and get it for a reduction, just that you go looking for food going out of date on that day. You could also put in a suggestion to them to improve their stock rotation if you find that they're letting a lot of food go to waste.

*Adam*

Claire_Bear wrote: »

I don't think you could complain either, the store has no obligation to reduce things that are going out of date that day, and it's a bit cheeky to pick up loads of packets of meat and ask them to reduce it for you, especially, like he said, if you do it 2-3 times a week.

I am aware that the store has no obligation, but I definitely don't do it 2-3 times a week as suggested. I moved back home in May this year and this would have been the 3rd time I'd been in since then.

You could however complain about the manager's attitude if he offended you, although to me the way he said 'find' doesn't seem like he was suggesting you hide food to come back and get it for a reduction, just that you go looking for food going out of date on that day.

It's hard to describe exactly the way he said it, I would say that he was arrogant as if to say "you're lying, there's no way you found all that on our shelves, you must have done something" without actually coming out and saying anything. He definitely treated us as beneath him and not what I would expect from a manager at ASDA.

beth464

I think it sounds cheeky too, I'd agree with what jd87 said. By all means do your shopping there when the stuff already has a sticker on, but gathering it all up and then hunting down someone to reduce it for you must get on their nerves. Especially since they phoned the manager and he refused and you then go to ask customer service. It's just pestering them! If they haven't done it then clearly they are short staffed/they have a reason for not doing so.
If you did it on Monday as well, I really don't think you can blame them for refusing. They'll be thinking if they do this for you twice in a week, you'll be back every few days asking for the same.

Halloway

Like Beth464 says. The manager expressed to you quite clearly his feelings on the matter. Whether or not he was grumpy is irrelevant; you can't complain simply because he didn't say what you wanted to hear. His job is to run the store to make a profit, not to be constantly called to the floor to discount things for you.

There's nothing wrong in hunting out bargains and reduced items but harrying staff to reduce items for you is, imho, unreasonable.

Sooler

*Adam* wrote: »

I am aware that the store has no obligation, but I definitely don't do it 2-3 times a week as suggested. I moved back home in May this year and this would have been the 3rd time I'd been in since then.

but you've done it at several stores, swoop in like a vulture and scoop up the whole lot - pehaps they've rumbled you.

what benefit would you get from a complaint?

you can either accept to pay the price they have goods on offer at or you can choose not to.

they can either accept your custom or they can choose not to.

maggie111

It sounds like they might be hoping to leave it on the shelves for some unsuspecting buyer to come in and pick it up without looking (me!).

I don't think you're doing anything wrong but it sounds like you might be pushing your luck a bit. Don't let the opportunity to grab swathes of bargains stop you being able to do it long run. Avoid the store for a couple of weeks if you can, or go in during a different shift for 2 weeks, and then start doing your normal shop again and pick up only one or two bargains at a time - rather than trying to fill your freezer... That way you'll keep your excellent abilities at getting stuff dead cheap!!

Don't ask for it in future like you're entitled to it (though there's excellent reason why you should get it reduced) ask like you think it's a little cheeky, with a bit "please?" and they should assist you as long as it's not obvious you're a bargain shopper.