Watch out for Tesco's Value

STEVEN_ROBERT_TUCKEY

I've just finished reading the entire thread and am surprised nobody has pointed this out earlier, so here goes.
The original post said:

Elven_Princess wrote:

Whilst shopping in Tesco's lately I have noticed that they appear to be playing a nasty game. Several items were packaged as "Value" products, you therefore expect them to be the cheapest. However I saw a couple of things that were the same price as their standard products.

E.g. Value 1 litre Unsweetened Soya Milk - 65p
Tesco Brand 1 litre Sweetened Soya Milk with Calcium and vitamins - 65p

Hasn't anybody else spotted that these are two different products?
The Tesco Brand is sweetened but the Value one is UNsweetened.
So comparing the prices is not valid because the VALUE product is NOT being compared against THE SAME standard product as this post might appear to suggest.

It would be like comparing salted butter with UNsalted butter, which for some reason is difficult to find, anybody out there able to help?

Now I am not saying supermarkets don't mislead the public, but it is no point finding unsmoked bacon is cheaper when you really want smoked bacon.
You have to compare like with like.

In the interests of fairness, if we are going to point out supermarkets shortcomings, I think it is only right that we are accurate with the information and therefore I should highlight this point.

If this thread was started to discuss misleading prices in supermarkets, then it is worth remembering that it was founded on a post that was misleading in itself.

This could of course have just been a canny ploy by the author to post a specious argument to provoke a reaction.
Very smart. :T

Capyboppy

It would be like comparing salted butter with UNsalted butter, which for some reason is difficult to find, anybody out there able to help

I have seen unsalted butter in both Tesco and Sainsbury on a regular basis. Saying that, I haven't looked this last week so maybe there is a problem with deliveries. You could always have a go at making your own. Tried this with my dad when I was a child. Put some cream in a bottle, screwed cap on and shook, shook, shook, for what seemed like hours to get about two teaspoons :rotfl:

Smiley_Mum

Tescos are as fly as a bunch of foxes.

Bought the other day, value white grapes, Thompson ones at *what it said on the label on the plastic wrap £1.89 a kilo*. So bought them a few times. Then went in yesterday and they had label on the crate stating that they were now £2.23 a kilo, hmmm. Dearer oh well.

Then down below that and to the left of the value ones were red grapes with a yellow sign with loads of prices scored out and they were marked at £1.98 a kilo. So I thought, CHEAPER than value ones, oh I'll take them.

Then today I looked and the set up was still the same with the labelling etc on the shelves etc. Looked at a pack of the value ones but the actual wrap said £1.89 a kilo. So the £2.23 which wasn't there the other day which was now there was wrong as I got the guy to price it. He said it wasn't illegal, it was blinking misleading though as I bought the dearer ones the other day. Just goes to show that you have to go around Tescos WIDE AWAKE and with a calculator in hand. The guy scanned them and they were definitely £1.89 a kilo but perhaps they do intend to put them to £2.23 a kilo but haven't done so, don't know but all the packs are individually priced and have £1.89/kilo on them so a bit annoying.

I notice a lot of the time too that sometimes they stated a drained weight for price per kilo and sometimes not. I always work it out. A rule of thumb, if there is a big yellow sign under produce at Tesco, always work it out. I tend to find it dearer.

There was a chap today who just grabbed 8 snowballs at £1.09 and I said you get 12 of the Lee ones for 98p. He said, I'm buying for someone else and they are brand loyal so I have to get the Lee ones. :eek: Told him about MSE and he was delighted with the info. Mentioned about some guy who had got his mortgage paid off when he won a competition to pay your mortgage for a year or something. Went to the bank and got a deal to pay off his mortgage over a year, repayments were phenomenal a month and the company running the competition honoured it apparently.

Keep your eyes open when shopping not just at Tesco but anywhere. They are becoming more and more sly how they price things and tagging etc. Got to be switched on when shopping that's for sure.


Cabyboppy,

Don't Lurpak do unsalted butter anymore. It has a silver wrap and a red line on it, salted one has dark blue.

gillywilly_2

"Several items were packaged as "Value" products, you therefore expect them to be the cheapest. However I saw a couple of things that were the same price as their standard products."

The same is true in other (non-food) superstores: in B&Q at Christmas I was about to buy half-a-dozen 'value' ('basic'?) lightbulbs, when I noticed that a named brand worked out significantly cheaper for what was essentially the same half dozen bulbs.

I asked a (very helpful) assistant why their own 'value' brand was more expensive, and he replied that it was all down to bulk-buying. The price of own brand 'value' items was pre-costed by B&Q, and usually worked out to be the cheapest deal. Occasionally, however, bulk deals agreed with other manufacturers could result in that brand working out to be even cheaper.

Advice: seek out the value brands, then do a quickie comparison with other brands, but don't spend too much time on it. Ninety per cent of the time the value brands will work out to be the cheapest (though not always the best quality) items; often your time will be better spent elsewhere eg maintaining/raising the value of your home - if you're lucky enough to own one - through tackling those irritating but necessary jobs; ditto fixing the car (IYLETOO), mending the washing machine, darning those socks - you get my drift. Don't stress!

STEVEN_ROBERT_TUCKEY

gillywilly wrote:

The same is true in other (non-food) superstores: in B&Q at Christmas I was about to buy half-a-dozen 'value' ('basic'?) lightbulbs, when I noticed that a named brand worked out significantly cheaper for what was essentially the same half dozen bulbs.

I asked a (very helpful) assistant why their own 'value' brand was more expensive, and he replied that it was all down to bulk-buying. The price of own brand 'value' items was pre-costed by B&Q, and usually worked out to be the cheapest deal. Occasionally, however, bulk deals agreed with other manufacturers could result in that brand working out to be even cheaper.

If I recall correctly B&Q have a pretty good price promise.
I remember reading something in their booklet on outdoor garden buildings, I don't know if it applies to all products or just sheds etc.
I think it was something like if you find the item cheaper elsewhere they guarantee to match the price and knock off a further 10%.

Not positive that is exactly right but I'll try and find the booklet to check it out.
If anyone else knows post it here.

STEVEN_ROBERT_TUCKEY

Just googled B&Q PRICE PROMISE and found it somewhere else on this site!

Seems I was right about them reducing another 10% but the cheaper price has to be within 10 miles of the store.

On a lighter note, does anybody know what B&Q stands for?

calleyw

STEVEN_ROBERT_TUCKEY wrote:

On a lighter note, does anybody know what B&Q stands for?

A quick google show me that it stands for Block and Quayle I assume the two blokes who set it up.

Company history here

HTH


Yours


Calley

iceburn

Lady_In_Seat_65 wrote:

They are the biggest cons - they still owe us £20 cash back from a shop we did last year!!! The check-out person didn't hand it over to us, we found out when we left the shop, went back and they just denied that we were to have received any cash back!!!
Chasing them up about it is not resulting in anything...

I can see why you are upset in that situation but lets be fair to them you "HAD" left the building. How (not saying you did) can they be sure you didn't give the £20 to person X and now gone in to ask for other £20. My wife suggested on tills they have cameras, ask them to look at that, also they will "BALANCE" that till every few hours. Was that till up? If it was, say that is my money. If on CCTV money was not exchange again..

Lastly on receipt does it show the "cashback transcation" if so again show them that it has been done. Cause there is a possibility you didn't get the cashback is cause she never process it. That not good but at least you won't be charged for it!

But in relation to Tesco we no longer use its online service. Cause one we order our shopping online and they substitute most of my wife vegetarian food for meat products!!!! Tins arrived damage, and other 1/3 never arrived. As you can guess my wife was furious. And we never order online again even with vouchers coming in £5, £10, £15 or £20 off shopping if order online.

iceburn

The bread and milk is now cheaper at our local shop than the supermarket!!

MikeLB

I havent had time to read the whole thread, but a point of note about Tesco Value Lines of late.

A Large number of what were standard Tesco Own Brand lines have rebranded into Value Lines which in turn has led to certain items being avaliable in both standard Tesco Brand and Value Tesco Brand at the same time while the old stocks are cleared. This is usually accompanied by a price reduction of the old stock items to clear them to make way for the Value branded equivalent.

The main one I can remember was a set of bike lights I was fancying from Glasgow Extra. I noticed they had a Value equivalent so went to pick them up but then noticed they had the exact same lights in standard Tesco own brand packaging as a discontinued item and reduced to clear.