Tesco 'half-price' fruit and veg - a warning

bole

system error

rogue_element

Hasn't the price got to be for a minimum number of weeks in at least 50% of stores before they can claim it is now "half" the price?

gyzmo

The law is complex in regards to whether a sale is genuine or not, but as a rule of thumb, the higher price should be charged at least 28 consecutive days within the previous six months before a sale can be called a sale. There are exceptions and various defences if someone is charged with an offence under relevant legislation, and with larger shops, such as tescos, getting a prosecution is nigh on impossible.

moonrakerz

gyzmo wrote:

The law is complex in regards to whether a sale is genuine or not, but as a rule of thumb, the higher price should be charged at least 28 consecutive days within the previous six months before a sale can be called a sale.

I think that only has to be in one store of a chain, so there is nothing to stop a chain marking up the price of an item in one store for the 28 days, then reducing it and marking that item as "reduced from" in every other store. I suppose you could actually end up with the "sale" price being more than it was previously available at in any one particular store.

One "trick" that annoys me is the very common supermarket one of putting something on offer: Say, an item priced £1.80 appears as 'buy two for £3'. Then once the offer is finished the single item reappears as £1.99 instead of £1.80, I presume they think that people will only remember the "special offer" price.

gyzmo

Quite right. lke I said, my post is only very general. There are quite a few exceptions as to the above rule governing a sale - private and own stock for example. it is very common fo chains to have the same stock at different prices - some on sale, some not.

i remember my frequent visits to Tesco's wine area. there was a particular wine there priced at £4.99. I quite liked the wine, but it did not seem all that popular with others. A few days later, there was a sale sign for the same wine and the sale price was exactly the same, though it stated that the wine was previosuly on sale at double the price (in other Tesco stores). Needless to say, there was not a single bottle of that wine left a couple of days later. the moral? A bargain is not always a bargain!

jinkssick

That should be regarded as fraud.

There's a fitness bench my gf wanted for a while from Argos. She'd been eyeing the price of it for a while (7 months or so) and it was always £19.99.

Suddenly in Christmas it stated that it used to be £24.99 and a large sale price of £19.99


cheeky cheeky basturds

gyzmo

So long as they advertise taht the price was charged at one of their stores then they can do it.

Personally, I think it is one aspect of consumer law area that is in urgent need of changing, and that the store can only put an item on sale if it has been at the higher price at that particular store. As it stands, it is a license for chain stores to con people.

worldwide3rider

gyzmo wrote:

So long as they advertise taht the price was charged at one of their stores then they can do it.

Personally, I think it is one aspect of consumer law area that is in urgent need of changing, and that the store can only put an item on sale if it has been at the higher price at that particular store. As it stands, it is a license for chain stores to con people.

Totally agree - I use to work for a chain (that has now gone bust) that had one "full price" store - stock would appear there and would be on show for around a month, then would appear in everyother store for a so called reduced price, which in fact was the acutal price the store wanted to trade it anyway but made it look like it was in the sale.

skiman_2

I've seen this for at least a couple of items:-

For instance (as early as this last weekend), they're advertising Philadelphia Cream Chess 200g @ £1.69 or 2 for £3. Next to it there's a 300g one for it's normal price. When you work them both out for a price at 100g the 300g pack works out cheaper.

I've seen this for shampoo at 2 for one price but the larger bottle of the same product cheaper overall.

Hope that make sense. It may have been covered before, but notice it again for my shop this week and fumed about how they must think we're thick.:mad:

uktim29

skiman wrote:

It may have been covered before, but notice it again for my shop this week and fumed about how they must think we're thick.:mad:

I very much doubt that. They probably just haven't realised.

Jnelhams

The good old "on sale for 28days" sadly that is often 1 branch in the Outer Hebrides which no one uses, and bobs your uncle Tesco/John Lewis/etc can claim it was a genuine Sale. Stinks.