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Waitrose 3 for 2 not what it appears to be
Tommo781
Posts: 95 Forumite
Just a word of warning. Multibuys at Waitrose are not always the savings you might expect.
On my shopping list were dishwasher cleaner and dishwasher freshener. So I was very pleased when I saw they were all on 3 for 2, with the cheapest item free. I picked up 3 of each, at £3.77 and £2.04 respectively, naturally assuming that as they were 3 for 2 I would get one of each free. However, when I got my receipt at the checkout, I found that instead of saving £3.77 and £2.04, I was given 2 x £2.04. I queried this, saying I expected £1.73 more in savings. The checkout assistant told me I was wrong, but his explanation made no sense. He said that if I bought 3 items at £3.77, there was no cheapest item – work that out if you can, I certainly can’t.
He refused to listen to what I had to say, resulting in the matter becoming not one of money but one of principle. He called a supervisor, who got the shelf label and pointed out that I was wrong (!), the cheapest item was free, and as I bought 6, the two cheapest were free. I countered by pointing out that I had bought 3 of two different items, and if I had paid for the 3 fresheners and the 3 cleaners in two separate transactions, I would have received £3.77 and £2.04 in savings.
The supervisor was intransigent, until I threatened to unload all my shopping, which amounted to over £140. At last common sense prevailed and the checkout assistant said “surely you are not going to lose the lady’s £140 sale for the sake of £1.73.”
However, I was amazed to then have the supervisor say to me that they had the same problem with fireworks recently, and had to put through multiple items purchased as separate transactions, otherwise customers who bought 3 boxes of expensive rockets and 3 packets of sparklers ended up getting only 2 lots of sparklers free instead of one box of rockets and one pack of sparklers. So she knew of the issue all along!
I know for a fact that in Boots, multibuys such as this are automatically grouped by price, so that the cheapest of the three most expensive items is free and so on. So the technology is available.
I EMailed Waitrose customer service, who replied
"I can confirm that when purchasing multiples of a multibuy offer (cheapest item free), the items that are cheapest on the offer will be discounted from your shopping total.
I regret that our tills are unable to distinguish between the individual items on a multibuy offer and as such will automatically discount the cheapest products. You are of course able to separate your transactions into individual purchases which will then allow you to choose which of the items on offer are included on each transaction."
How ludicrous! The customer would have to know the system will let them down before doing this. How many will be aware? My guess is that many customers have fallen foul of Waitrose inadequate systems and not realised they have received less discount than they expected.
On my shopping list were dishwasher cleaner and dishwasher freshener. So I was very pleased when I saw they were all on 3 for 2, with the cheapest item free. I picked up 3 of each, at £3.77 and £2.04 respectively, naturally assuming that as they were 3 for 2 I would get one of each free. However, when I got my receipt at the checkout, I found that instead of saving £3.77 and £2.04, I was given 2 x £2.04. I queried this, saying I expected £1.73 more in savings. The checkout assistant told me I was wrong, but his explanation made no sense. He said that if I bought 3 items at £3.77, there was no cheapest item – work that out if you can, I certainly can’t.
He refused to listen to what I had to say, resulting in the matter becoming not one of money but one of principle. He called a supervisor, who got the shelf label and pointed out that I was wrong (!), the cheapest item was free, and as I bought 6, the two cheapest were free. I countered by pointing out that I had bought 3 of two different items, and if I had paid for the 3 fresheners and the 3 cleaners in two separate transactions, I would have received £3.77 and £2.04 in savings.
The supervisor was intransigent, until I threatened to unload all my shopping, which amounted to over £140. At last common sense prevailed and the checkout assistant said “surely you are not going to lose the lady’s £140 sale for the sake of £1.73.”
However, I was amazed to then have the supervisor say to me that they had the same problem with fireworks recently, and had to put through multiple items purchased as separate transactions, otherwise customers who bought 3 boxes of expensive rockets and 3 packets of sparklers ended up getting only 2 lots of sparklers free instead of one box of rockets and one pack of sparklers. So she knew of the issue all along!
I know for a fact that in Boots, multibuys such as this are automatically grouped by price, so that the cheapest of the three most expensive items is free and so on. So the technology is available.
I EMailed Waitrose customer service, who replied
"I can confirm that when purchasing multiples of a multibuy offer (cheapest item free), the items that are cheapest on the offer will be discounted from your shopping total.
I regret that our tills are unable to distinguish between the individual items on a multibuy offer and as such will automatically discount the cheapest products. You are of course able to separate your transactions into individual purchases which will then allow you to choose which of the items on offer are included on each transaction."
How ludicrous! The customer would have to know the system will let them down before doing this. How many will be aware? My guess is that many customers have fallen foul of Waitrose inadequate systems and not realised they have received less discount than they expected.
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Comments
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This is the same in most shops, it's ALWAYS the cheapest items free.0
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It does make sense re the cheapest item is free which is what you got0
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I think it makes sense.... the cheapest items where free.Annual Grocery Budget £364.00/£1500
Debt payments 2012 £433.270 -
This is the same in most shops, it's ALWAYS the cheapest items free.
Yes, in MOST shops but not all shops. It is therefore not always the cheapest items which are free because some systems can cope with the buying six items of different prices and order the discounts in a fair way. According to the OP's report the Waitrose system does not operate fairly.0 -
I've never seen it work any differently - if you have a 'group' of items that are on 3 for 2 (say three beauty products, one at £5, one £6, and one £7), then if you bought three of each you'd generally only get 3 x £5 off, not 1 x £5, 1 x £6, and 1 x £7. I'd assumed that most people know this, and split their purchases if they're buying lots of a particular set of items to take advantage of 3 for 2.
I think one store a while back did an offer where the 'free' item was always the most expensive, but that doesn't happen often!0 -
I've never seen it work any differently - if you have a 'group' of items that are on 3 for 2 (say three beauty products, one at £5, one £6, and one £7), then if you bought three of each you'd generally only get 3 x £5 off, not 1 x £5, 1 x £6, and 1 x £7. I'd assumed that most people know this, and split their purchases if they're buying lots of a particular set of items to take advantage of 3 for 2.
I think one store a while back did an offer where the 'free' item was always the most expensive, but that doesn't happen often!
It works differently in Boots when they have a 3 for 2. If you bought the 3 x £5, 3 x £6 and 3 x £7 as you state above, you would get £18 back. Their system groups the 3 most expensive and gives the cheapest of those 3 free, then the next 3 etc. I assumed Waitrose did the same.
It is simply ludicrous to have to pay for the 3 x £3.77 and the 3 x £2.04 items separately to make sure that the true saving kicks in.0 -
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anamenottaken wrote: »Yes, in MOST shops but not all shops. It is therefore not always the cheapest items which are free because some systems can cope with the buying six items of different prices and order the discounts in a fair way. According to the OP's report the Waitrose system does not operate fairly.
Thankyou. That's exactly the point.0
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