Tesco misprice discussion area part 17

zultan

webuserisme wrote:

What has that got to do with its illegality??

Not a lot. The connection between illegality and serial r&ring is closer.

ginjim

now ur being silly there is nothing illegal about buying products that are clearly marked at a price
but there is a legal question whether people should pay for goods that is not clearly priced and paid a higher amount at the till

top_banana

Well Tesco in news again........

Slightly off topic but....

Looks like Some stores have been in trouble for selling under age people alcohol.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/6369805.stm

TB

ben500

zultan wrote:

The consumer can also choose not to purchase a product that isn't clearly priced?

So you agree with Trolley dumping in principal then?;)

TGM

ben500 wrote:

Looks like Some stores have been in trouble for selling under age people alcohol.

Bet if it was the independent corner shop, it would have been a longer ban

ben500

TGM wrote:

Bet if it was the independent corner shop, it would have been a longer ban

Almost certainly and the proprietor would most likely have had to go cap in hand begging for the reinstatement of the licence and quite rightly so, this is not the case with Tesco because of the financial clout they carry, I suspect the reason a named licencee is required upon reinstatement is to ensure there is an individual that can be targeted for action next time and to ensure that some heed is taken of the offence. It is highly unlikely that the branch is being run correctly though otherwise the offences would not have occurred another indication of the complacent attitude of the company towards legislation.

frequent

I'm all for the mature approach.

I suggest a flash trolley dump on the final day of r&r to say thanks very much Mr T.

If all the rr's went out and filled at least 2 trolley each, filmed on mobi's and posted to u-tube maybe..nah thats a terrible idea, will crawl back under my rock.

Hermann

ben500 wrote:

I don't think it's so much about how much it has cost them, more of how popular it has become and the POTENTIAL future loss that is the driving force behind the decision, as I say in an earlier post they have decided to attack the risk rather than the cause. It is not so much about the amount but the massive surge in the uptake that is the concern, as more and more people realise how often they are overcharged

I also doubt its much to do with how much its cost them. We've had managers posting on here that their stores are generally within their allotted budget for such refunds.
Clearly the company was operating largely within what it considered financially acceptable and neither the accounts nor the share price suggest there has been any significant loss.

I think talk of customers abusing the policy causing its removal is just a convenient smoke screen for what is actually a much more serious issue within Tescos management.

Many of us have witnessed what happens in reality and its not good news for the company.

I'd suggest that a major factor in the decision to change the policy was the fact that a significant proportion of staff refused to honour the refund policy.
They do this knowingly and purposefully.
The staff involved range from the person at the customer service desk through junior managers and store managers and even some at head office.

These staff refuse to honour the simple, clear written policy that senior management instructed them to follow.

So whats the real problem?

It goes something like this .....

Overcharged at till ... speak to customer services (CS) who establish you have been overcharged .... CS staff refuse to honour policy (they are standing next to sign explaining what should happen) .... speak to manager who refuses policy ..... speak to store manager who refuses policy ... speak to Head Office who back up store manager and refuse to honour policy.

Now at this point many customers have felt, quite rightly, that they are legally entitled to the refund and have gone on to take legal action against Tescos. Many for instance have issued a Summons through the Small Claims procedure at the County Court.
As far as I am aware not one of these legal challenges has been successfully defended by Tescos, indeed its commonly reported that once the summons is issued Tescos suddenly decide they will pay the refund, although they often ask for a 'gagging order' to be signed in return for the money.

It's much more likely that this flood of legal actions against the company is the driving force behind the policy change.
Legal actions that only arise because staff refuse to follow simple written instructions from senior management.

Since the company has not been able to get these staff to change the way they act it may have been felt the only way out was to change the policy in the hope that the legal challenges would cease to arrive.

It strikes me that store staff have dictated to directors what the companies policy should be.
I don't think any observer, or indeed investor, would be impressed.

It's probably worth noting that when staff stand at the CS desk and refuse a refund on a clear overcharge they are obtaining money by deception, either for themselves or for their employer.
They are trying to decieve you into believing that you are not entitled to the money when in fact you are legally entitled to the money.
Some might describe these staff as fraudulent, and that it was this fraud that put pressure on the company.

If the staff had honoured the policy and concentrated on getting things correctly priced then there would have been no legal challenges, no summons, no endless free xboxes and no need to change the policy.
Its the refusal of staff to follow instructions thats the real problem.

Of course we know about the failure of the refund policy, but how many other simple instructions are not being followed?
Those regarding accurate pricing seems obvious, but what about those instructions concerning our personal details? Are they followed correctly, or is the company often in breach of the data protection laws for instance?

Have cutomers details ever been found just dumped in the open?

Do staff ever write your details on a scrap of paper and just stuff that bit of paper in their pocket? Why did they need your details and what did they do with them?

The companies policies will be there for a reason, to protect the company, to protect the staff and to protect the customer.
If staff refuse to follow policy many offences may be committed on a regular basis in a wilful manner. Not what the countrys leading retailer needs.

ben500

Powerfull post Herman

ginjim

Under the supermarket's long-standing "return and refund" policy, any customers who are overcharged at the till can get their money back — and keep the item they have just bought — without question.

shame they lied about that then