B & M Stores - charging for 100% free teabags!

aldredd

ChrisEvanson wrote: »

I think most of the posts here are missing the point the op is making. If you are selling a pack of say 80 for £1 and the same pack showing 100% free for a higher price, I suspect legally you are on a sticky wicket. The pack showing extra free shouldn't be costing more than the pack without the extra free.

Agreed

Had a similar situation once where a product I was interested in came with Interest Free Credit available - yet when selecting this option, it cost more than buying it outright.

Forwandert

At a discount retailer I used to work at if an item with x% free was coming into store and the sales price was higher than the usual shelf price we had to remove all the original product off sale until the promo had sold through, usually head office would email and warn of possible pricing issues with trading standards if we didn't.

zenmaster

Pedantically, if it states "100% free" then it should cost nothing.

paddedjohn

Just go to 'Home Bargains' they sell Tetley 100's box for £1, good cuppa good price.

kitschkitty

As mentioned above the 100% extra free will be based on the manufacturers RRP, so if B&Ms price is below RRP they may feel it's within their remit to charge more than they do for the standard packs which they have so heavily discounted.

As a customer I totally agree it's a very bad way to do things, and not clearly labeling it on the shelf is even worse. I think it's basically stupid for them to have both products on sale at the same time if they want to charge different prices for them.

texranger

aldredd wrote: »

according to who?

the stores and the retail consortiums and this is how the normally are, but some dont work out that way.

texranger

Forwandert wrote: »

At a discount retailer I used to work at if an item with x% free was coming into store and the sales price was higher than the usual shelf price we had to remove all the original product off sale until the promo had sold through, usually head office would email and warn of possible pricing issues with trading standards if we didn't.

true as a retailer ( store owner) if i get a special deal/offer from a supplier i either remove the full price goods off the shelf and stock with the special offer goods or if their is not a lot of the full price items in stock then if profit is still made i will just add these to the promo if. if i have a lot of the full porice items in stock ( more full; boxes then i will just sell these before i sell the promo items.

arcon5

texranger wrote: »

the stores and the retail consortiums and this is how the normally are, but some dont work out that way.

I read an article (I think it was on the Daily Mail website) not too long ago about a journalist reporting on these sorts of problems, including the multi-pack 'deal'. Having also seen it a number of times in supermarket chains, I also agree it most certainly does happen.

Whether it's an "accident" or not is the question

aldredd

texranger wrote: »

the stores and the retail consortiums and this is how the normally are, but some dont work out that way.

But it's not at simple as that - it's the supplier which sets the cost price, and the retailer will then have a standard margin they want to apply on top of that to get to a retail price. (Plus others factors such as price competitiveness etc)

If the supplier offers a better cost price for the smaller pack size - usually because they shift more of them (remember supply & demand and all that), then the retailer will usually reflect this in the retail prices - hence why a bigger pack isn't always better value - it's not the retailer intentionally trying to scam customers.

Coffee is often a good example of this - a (for example) 200g jar of Nescafe usually work out cheaper (per g) than a catering size tub - because they sell more of the jars and so offer a better price.

Where the pack is marked as 'better value' or 'x amount free) then absolutely this should be true - but people wrongly assume / think that a bigger pack must be better value.

withabix

On the box with 100% extra free, does it have a reference to the RRP? (usually in very small print).

B&M are doing nothing wrong by selling that box for more anyway. They didn't print the packaging.