Co-Op "Multisave" Loophole

joe.marshall_2

Never say I don't give credit where it's due, especially for stupidity!

The deception of the "Buy one, get one free" offer has been addressed in detail elsewhere on this site. However, I finally checked out a suggested loophole in the Co-Op's "Buy one, get one free" offer, by means of two Ginsters Cornish Pasties (£1.29 each = £0.645 each in real terms). There were two reduced (nearing the barf-by date) ones at £0.96 each, so I couldn't resist buying them to see if the scam really worked.

It did! I paid £1.92 and got a "Multisave" refund of £1.29, giving a net unit price of £0.315 per pasty.

I have been told that if you can find even more dramatically reduced items, you can actually get a "Multisave" refund of more than the total reduced price of the two. However, I haven't dicovered such a case yet for anything I would risk eating. (Then again, I don't HAVE to eat them in such a case - just throw them away and pocket the profit!).

I wonder if it is actually illegal, in such a case, to sneak the items back into the shop and buy them again?!

Joe

kool-mumma

Hee hee, Can't help but laugh at that one. You would have to buy other items too I guess as I don't think they would be allow to not accept money and just give money to you.

Have never heard of sneaking items bac in the shop to buy them again (or get paid to buy them)!!

Great idea though. Will have to try this one out myself!!

Edindevon

I can tell you categorically that in East Devon Coops, the maximum reduction is the total price of the items. I have had this a number of times, so that I've got things for free, but never had more than that. An example was the Scotch pancakes, which were something like £1.09 BOGOF. They were reduced to 44p, so I bought six pack and got a reduction of £2.64. This meant I got them for free, but I didn't get a reduction of £3.27 as you might expect. Incidentally, I felt that perhaps I was a bit greedy, but as I was at the checkout, I saw a woman take all the remaining pancakes from the trolley, amounting to over twenty packs, so she obviously knew the score as well.

Unlike Tesco, this also applies to buy 2 for £3.00 type offers, as I found when I got a load of free tomatoes the other day.

Edindevon

ziffius

joe.marshall wrote:

Never say I don't give credit where it's due, especially for stupidity!

The deception of the "Buy one, get one free" offer has been addressed in detail elsewhere on this site. However, I finally checked out a suggested loophole in the Co-Op's "Buy one, get one free" offer, by means of two Ginsters Cornish Pasties (£1.29 each = £0.645 each in real terms). There were two reduced (nearing the barf-by date) ones at £0.96 each, so I couldn't resist buying them to see if the scam really worked.

It did! I paid £1.92 and got a "Multisave" refund of £1.29, giving a net unit price of £0.315 per pasty.

I have been told that if you can find even more dramatically reduced items, you can actually get a "Multisave" refund of more than the total reduced price of the two. However, I haven't dicovered such a case yet for anything I would risk eating. (Then again, I don't HAVE to eat them in such a case - just throw them away and pocket the profit!).

I wonder if it is actually illegal, in such a case, to sneak the items back into the shop and buy them again?!

Joe

I have done this for ages, as I have a staff discount card. If you have a minus total, or a very low total it's best to buy something else that you would otherwise have brought to bump it up a little, or they will often call the manager over.

This isn't illegal in any way, it's how the co-op work the savings out. The co-op always applys the bogof or multisaving as a minus on the total regardless of what price they are reduced too. If you have bogoff for £3.00 each they will subtract £3.00 from the £6.00 total. But if they are reduced to £1.50 each, they will subtract £3.00 from the total of £3.00 meaning you get them free.

zappomatic

Works the same in Waitrose, too.

appleblossom

we have a freezer half full of BBQ food bought from the co-op at reduced prices with multisaves, dh always pops in to get the cigs on the way back from work and always picks up something, often it works out that we have paid pennies for the food- the only time it didn't go through was when I went down to get something for lunch and saw 4 pies at a reduced price, they were on BOGOF, and it left the till entry owing me money, so the chap got the supervisor who said I couldn't have them on BOGOF - the main thing is to always pass the normal priced items through the till first ie milk,bread,magazine etc so when the food goes through it is less likely to leave a negative amount. dh often comes home with a couple of bags of food AND 2 packets of cigs and the local paper for under a tenner.

coolio_2

I used to do this at tesco all the time. I recall 20 mangos which yielded a credit of £9ish on my receipt which I used to purchase a cd

stenny_2

julieblake wrote:

we have a freezer half full of BBQ food bought from the co-op at reduced prices with multisaves, dh always pops in to get the cigs on the way back from work and always picks up something, often it works out that we have paid pennies for the food- the only time it didn't go through was when I went down to get something for lunch and saw 4 pies at a reduced price, they were on BOGOF, and it left the till entry owing me money, so the chap got the supervisor who said I couldn't have them on BOGOF - the main thing is to always pass the normal priced items through the till first ie milk,bread,magazine etc so when the food goes through it is less likely to leave a negative amount. dh often comes home with a couple of bags of food AND 2 packets of cigs and the local paper for under a tenner.

Same, loads of BBQ stuff, today it was the tiger prawns BOGOF ended up getting them for 0.00 after lady reduced them.

I was told by checkout lady that sat. after 5pm is best time, but after a few weeks of trying i think best try everyday.

This also happens in Somerfields.

Smashing

Just a note - I'm a regular in the local Co-op and some of the staff are wise to this, so pick your cashier carefully!

MarkyMarkD

Yes, some of the staff in our Co-op are nasty about this and get the supervisor involved if the net price is too close to zero (or negative). But most of the time the Co-op is the best place for bargains!

inspector-gadget_4

Just to comment that the BOGOF and Buy 2 for £x offers also work on reduced items at Somerfield. I had a few deals last Sunday morning, and some in Co-Op quite regularly. Tesco is a bit hit and miss, I find.