Co-op - offers on shelf not discounted at till

Bogof_Babe

Went to our local medium sized Co-op today (bigger than a local store, smaller than e.g. Asda), looking for laundry liquid. Spent quite a while comparing the non-bio range, and selected Co-op's own Gel wash as it was priced on the shelf as £2.49, so was the cheapest, and looked like reasonable value.

Got charged £2.99 at the till. Went back to check the shelf, took the shelf-edge ticket to customer services and got a grudging apology "it must have been on an offer that has finished" and my 50p refunded.

Got home, checked my till receipt for my other shopping, and found that exactly the same thing happened with the toothpaste I bought. Priced as special offer 65p, charged 94p. Hardly worth the petrol to go back and complain, but there is something going on that they need to sort out.

Check your receipts before you leave the shop!

Esqui

Always wise.

But some advice: please don't check them while you're walking out of the shop. Nothing worse than someone walking at half speed and not looking where they're going

janninew

I'm glad to know its not just my local Co-Op that does this. I've experienced this countless times and i'm starting to wonder if they do it on purpose! I always check my receipts before i leave the store, but i wonder how many people don't!!

calleyw

Are you sure that it was an offer that was still in date.

As the co-op local to my work still have special offer labels up days after the offer has ended.

Yours

Calley

Bogof_Babe

calleyw wrote: »

Are you sure that it was an offer that was still in date.

As the co-op local to my work still have special offer labels up days after the offer has ended.

Yours

Calley

Surely they should still honour the offer price if that is the case, as it's down to their maladministration. The end date, if there at all, is in tiny print. I'd say they were on shaky ground using that as an excuse.

tandraig

Went to our local medium sized Co-op today (bigger than a local store, smaller than e.g. Asda), looking for laundry liquid. Spent quite a while comparing the non-bio range, and selected Co-op's own Gel wash as it was priced on the shelf as £2.49, so was the cheapest, and looked like reasonable value.

Got charged £2.99 at the till. Went back to check the shelf, took the shelf-edge ticket to customer services and got a grudging apology "it must have been on an offer that has finished" and my 50p refunded.

Got home, checked my till receipt for my other shopping, and found that exactly the same thing happened with the toothpaste I bought. Priced as special offer 65p, charged 94p. Hardly worth the petrol to go back and complain, but there is something going on that they need to sort out.

Check your receipts before you leave the shop!

i used to work in an EPOS store (wilkinsons) and as i understand it, as the goods are barcoded and not individually priced they HAVE to honour the price on the ticket at the front of the goods. the customer should be able to see the price of each item as it is scanned so if the screen is turned away from you - turn it around! btw this does not apply if you pick up a product which has been moved by another customer so you would need to check all that all the other products are the same. confused? so are most of the staff!
if this happens regularly contact trading standards - the store will be warned as it is illegal for them to charge higher prices at the till than is shown on the front ticket

z1985m

They obviously have a staffing problem when it comes to change over days on the promos/ price changing

(staffing problem as in no staff or someone not doing it properly)

I highly doubt it will be a purpose thing. As much as you all like to think the shop and staff have a conspiracy againts you all, they don't.

Claire_Bear

Tandraig is right, they legally have to charge you the lower price which is displayed on the shelf, and they can get into massive trouble with Trading Standards if they consistently make mistakes like this and overcharge their customers. I used to work in Sainsbury's and my job was specifically to check every price ticket on the shelves, then check it against the prices on the systems to make sure it was up to date and correct so that sort of thing didn't happen Go to the customer service desk and complain, and if you don't notice any improvement then contact Trading Standards

Bogof_Babe

Thanks everyone. I took the toothpaste back today with the receipt, as I was passing anyway, and got a refund for the overcharge and a very nice, sincere apology this time. The assistant looked rather exasperated that this had happened, so perhaps she is a bit more senior than yesterday's young girl and might look into it.

I'll definitely keep an eye on this in future. I like the Co-op for its ethics, but if overcharging is going to be a regular thing I'll give it a miss.

Jake'sGran

It has also happened at Morrisons more than once lately. I'm sure supermarkets used to be fined for this by Trading Standards.
My daughter once told me that at Asda, if a customer returns something that is not fresh, wrongly priced - whatever, they paid back twice the price of the item and I'm sure she mentioned they refund petrol cost if you have had to travel there to complain but not too sure about this. We are friendly with our local Morrisons store manager. He is a nice person and I can tell him when I think the new Tesco is better at something e.g. their strawberries are always fresher.

tandraig

jakesgran is right - they do get fined but i think they get warning first. i know the job that claire bear did - i bet you all see people going down the aisles with what look like gameboys! this is to ensure that pricing is correct. well done bogof babe for taking item back with reciept! mistakes do get made and the sooner someone points it out the quicker the store can respond! honestly most stores want the customer to be happy and satisfied with their purchase - that way they come back and recommend store to friends. wilkies - when i worked there bent over backwards to keep customers happy and i doubt that has changed - so did somerfield. I found when i worked in argos there wasnt the same attitude to customers but that may have just been that particular store. moral of the story - know your rights or someone who does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!