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Tesco now charging differently depending on WHO you are

Yes the evil monster that is Tesco has become even more evil in 2010. For a start, they now have a new 'look' for online grocery shopping to make it 'now even easier'. Well, yes, Tesco has now made it even easier for Tesco, not you, to make more money. You see, on the new system, it is much harder to tell value for money based on the amount per kilogram.

In the old program you could type in 'ice cream' in the search window and you would get Tesco's ice cream products. You could then scroll down looking at the price per kilogram and see which was giving the best value for money and then you could make the decision which ice cream you felt comfortable with. On the new system, you will still get ice cream from typing 'ice cream' in the search window but you will also get jelly and sweets and a whole other bunch of nonsense there to confuse you.

Tesco are also now just plain lying on some products telling you the WRONG price per kilogram just to get you to buy their own branded products. For example, when you type in 'soya mince' you get Tesco's own brand 375g soya mince for £1.48 and Fudco Soya Mince 300g for £1.03. The Tesco own brand is says 39p/100g. The Fudco says £1.03/100g. But this is not correct, Fudco is obviously around 34p per 100g. But if you were in a hurry, I'll bet you would glance that Tesco appears better value for money and buy their own brand.

Ok, now here is the real kicker! Tesco are now charging customers based on who they are via their email address. By pure accident, I entered two different email addresses and got two different sets of prices for just over a quarter of the products I wanted to purchase. Some varied by 1 pence, meaning yes my treasured soya mince is only £1.02 on 1 email address and yet £1.03 from the other email address both coming from the same store! The other products that varied the most though were Carnation's Evaporated Milk for .36p on one email and .58p on the other for the exact same product and size. I double checked! The other major difference was .12p and that was the Tesco Easy Cook Brown Rice, on one email address it was £1.12 and the other £1.20.

This can't be legal can it? Talk about buyer beware. I know I'm talking literally pennies in difference but I only bought about 20 items and 6 had different prices. Anyway, keep yourself officially on guard with this one!
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Comments

  • lynzpower
    lynzpower Posts: 25,311 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Tesco are also now just plain lying on some products telling you the WRONG price per kilogram just to get you to buy their own branded products. For example, when you type in 'soya mince' you get Tesco's own brand 375g soya mince for £1.48 and Fudco Soya Mince 300g for £1.03. The Tesco own brand is says 39p/100g. The Fudco says £1.03/100g. But this is not correct, Fudco is obviously around 34p per 100g. But if you were in a hurry, I'll bet you would glance that Tesco appears better value for money and buy their own brand.

    Have you reported this to trading standards.
    :beer: Well aint funny how its the little things in life that mean the most? Not where you live, the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes.
    Theres no dollar sign on piece of mind
    This Ive come to know...
    So if you agree have a drink with me, raise your glasses for a toast :beer:
  • JenniO
    JenniO Posts: 547 Forumite
    I was thinking I should, yes.
  • sinw
    sinw Posts: 7,771 Forumite
    That's wrong - do report them!!!
    SIMPLES!
  • JenniO wrote: »
    This can't be legal can it? Talk about buyer beware. I know I'm talking literally pennies in difference but I only bought about 20 items and 6 had different prices. Anyway, keep yourself officially on guard with this one!

    Of course it's legal. They're making you an offer to buy a product at price x and you can either accept or refuse it. They can change different prices according to whether they like you or not - it's entirely up to them!

    It's no different to charging a well liked customer less for parts and labour in a garage.
    From Poland...with love.

    They are (they're)
    sitting on the floor.
    Their
    books are lying on the floor.
    The books are sitting just there on the floor.
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    JenniO wrote: »
    You see, on the new system, it is much harder to tell value for money based on the amount per kilogram.

    In the old program you could type in 'ice cream' in the search window and you would get Tesco's ice cream products. You could then scroll down looking at the price per kilogram and see which was giving the best value for money and then you could make the decision which ice cream you felt comfortable with. On the new system, you will still get ice cream from typing 'ice cream' in the search window but you will also get jelly and sweets and a whole other bunch of nonsense there to confuse you.

    How does this make it hard to find out the price per kilogram?

    I typed in "ice cream" and got a lot of pages. The first 120 items were ice cream then it went to ice cream related products such as wafers, cornets and syrup.

    It was very easy to find the products I might be interested in and then find the price per kilogram.
    JenniO wrote: »
    Tesco are also now just plain lying on some products telling you the WRONG price per kilogram just to get you to buy their own branded products. For example, when you type in 'soya mince' you get Tesco's own brand 375g soya mince for £1.48 and Fudco Soya Mince 300g for £1.03. The Tesco own brand is says 39p/100g. The Fudco says £1.03/100g. But this is not correct, Fudco is obviously around 34p per 100g. But if you were in a hurry, I'll bet you would glance that Tesco appears better value for money and buy their own brand.

    I don't get fudco mince, so can't check this.

    JenniO wrote: »
    The other products that varied the most though were Carnation's Evaporated Milk for .36p on one email and .58p on the other for the exact same product and size. I double checked!

    The 170g and 410g tins are both 58p each. However, the 170g tins were 36p last week, but have gone up to 58p with an offer of 2 for 80p.

    Could it be that on one of your emails your browser is showing you a cached page from last week?
    JenniO wrote: »
    The other major difference was .12p and that was the Tesco Easy Cook Brown Rice, on one email address it was £1.12 and the other £1.20.

    It's £1.24 for me, so you are getting a good price.
    JenniO wrote: »
    This can't be legal can it? Talk about buyer beware. I know I'm talking literally pennies in difference but I only bought about 20 items and 6 had different prices. Anyway, keep yourself officially on guard with this one!

    Could it be that you are seeing cached pages and not up to date ones?
  • JenniO
    JenniO Posts: 547 Forumite
    I don't think so Geordie Joe re: cached pages. I know Tesco charges differently based on locality in the UK and well, that is what it is. I can always count on you to challenge whatever anyone says to the inth degree ;)

    By the way, I'm so glad YOU can find it easy on the new system, guess that just makes me an idiot. Thanks so much for your advice. :T
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    JenniO wrote: »
    The other major difference was .12p and that was the Tesco Easy Cook Brown Rice, on one email address it was £1.12 and the other £1.20.

    well ive just checked this and its £1.24 for me
  • alanobrien
    alanobrien Posts: 3,309 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    Sadly, this was an inevitable step in the evolution of online repetitive purchase retailing. In a similar way most big stores charge more for products in their small / metro / local shops than they do in there much larger supermarkets. Pricing levels are usually dependant on local competition.

    Here they are using data collected on your purchases over time to squeeze margins. The only answer is to shop around, do not be loyal to one supplier, keep them coming back (and competing) for your business.

    I know this isnt ideal, there may be only one sizeable local supplier, but there are likely to be other online alternatives. Morally this is all wrong and not something you should have to do, but as we have learned in recent times, there are few morals in business where money is concerned.
  • sinw
    sinw Posts: 7,771 Forumite
    DCFC79 wrote: »
    well ive just checked this and its £1.24 for me

    £1.24p for me to.................... cheshire
    SIMPLES!
  • maman
    maman Posts: 30,040 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Not sure about what happened to you online JenniO, but having the wrong price per kilo on labels in store is common in all supermarkets. It's done my mental maths no end of good!
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