Supermarket tricks - watch out for these...

yorks808

rpitts wrote: »

I totally agree! Today I have possibly shopped in Tesco for the last time, having been a regular customer of the Pitsea store since the day it open. I am now fed up with this company continually treating it's customers as idiots! I refer to the offers that aren't real i.e. the half price turkeys, large packs dearer than 2 small packs etc.
One of my regular purchases is from the "Discounts Brands" range "Cafe Blend Coffee Whitener", which I have been buying for 99p for at least a year. Today it is now £2.34 for the same 500g jar, and is now dearer than the Brand Leader Coffee Mate. I do like the product but it is certainly no where near as good as Coffee Mate.
I can only assume that this massive mark up is a prelude to a fake special offer on the product. I know this may be a legal loop hole in the law but it is immoral and tantamount to conning the customer.

I also noticed this massive price increase on the coffee whitener the other day. Its been 99p since they introduced the product which is about 3 years ago now!

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

Simple rule for all SMs - assume they're ripping you off (most of the time you'll be right).

Stopped shopping at W******* years ago after they price matched their own brand to another supermarket. As I was adding up approximate spend on standard items the bill was rising steadily. As it happened I had a receipt from 2 weeks previously and EVERY price matched item went UP in price (I couldn't find a single item that went down in price and the manager I spoke to didn't know of any either).

Left the trolley in the middle of the aisle and have never been back since.

Luckily I can get most of what I need from the local market!

Finefoot

aheetun wrote: »

I also noticed this massive price increase on the coffee whitener the other day. Its been 99p since they introduced the product which is about 3 years ago now!

Me too! I may as well buy the branded one for DH.

savingqueen

rpitts wrote: »

I totally agree! Today I have possibly shopped in Tesco for the last time, having been a regular customer of the Pitsea store since the day it open. I am now fed up with this company continually treating it's customers as idiots! I refer to the offers that aren't real i.e. the half price turkeys, large packs dearer than 2 small packs etc.
One of my regular purchases is from the "Discounts Brands" range "Cafe Blend Coffee Whitener", which I have been buying for 99p for at least a year. Today it is now £2.34 for the same 500g jar, and is now dearer than the Brand Leader Coffee Mate. I do like the product but it is certainly no where near as good as Coffee Mate.
I can only assume that this massive mark up is a prelude to a fake special offer on the product. I know this may be a legal loop hole in the law but it is immoral and tantamount to conning the customer.

:wave: rpitts - you live near me!

I too used to do virtually all my shopping at Tesco's Pitsea store, especially when the kids were tiny and it seemed the easiest option. NO MORE! I have complained several times about their trickery, some staff get very defensive, others much more sympathetic. I feel really lucky to have lots of alternative places to shop. I buy mostly from Aldi followed by Lidl plus odds from Farmfoods, Sainsburys, Asdas and Tescos (Tescos only for particular things I can't buy elsewhere or are better value - my trolley contents often look a strange combo. )Planning on checking out both markets, Iceland, pound shops and anywhere else I can think of and making a little notebook of average food prices for basics and things I buy regularly - next of many projects when kids back to school.

rpitts - have you tried other supermarkets - Aldi and Lidl are great IMHO (and staff usually friendly to boot). Please let me know if you know of any local gems!

sq:)

narabanekeater

ive just looked myself at the coffee whitener as we use a lot but stock up when on offer. The price has increased dramtically. May have to ration DH to his coffee breaks now. Do any of the £1 shops sell it does anyone know?

rpitts

savingqueen wrote: »

:wave: rpitts - you live near me!

I too used to do virtually all my shopping at Tesco's Pitsea store, especially when the kids were tiny and it seemed the easiest option. NO MORE! I have complained several times about their trickery, some staff get very defensive, others much more sympathetic. I feel really lucky to have lots of alternative places to shop. I buy mostly from Aldi followed by Lidl plus odds from Farmfoods, Sainsburys, Asdas and Tescos (Tescos only for particular things I can't buy elsewhere or are better value - my trolley contents often look a strange combo. )Planning on checking out both markets, Iceland, pound shops and anywhere else I can think of and making a little notebook of average food prices for basics and things I buy regularly - next of many projects when kids back to school.

rpitts - have you tried other supermarkets - Aldi and Lidl are great IMHO (and staff usually friendly to boot). Please let me know if you know of any local gems!

sq:)

I do shop at Lidl, Aldi & Farmfoods but mostly at Morrison's Canvey, still have to watch out for their "Specials" sometimes but many of the "Savers" range are excellent quality and Value, my Daughter actually prefers their Savers Coffee, great taste but you do have to use a bit more than you would normally but at 48p for 100g bag you can afford to. From experience though I would forget about their Savers Teabags and Fish Fingers, which was like chewing on rubber.

Savingqueen - Have you tried the Frozen Food Man in Pitsea Market on Wednesday? Can get some great food from him.

Butterfly_Brain

Try this site for own brand comparisons it really does help especially as it is one with Aldi and Lidl included
http://www.supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk/search.php?SearchString=&score=&price=0&pricevalue=0.00&gluten=1&aldi=1&asda=1&coop=1&lidl=1&marks=1&sainsburys=1&tesco=1&waitrose=1&branded=1&tastingnote=1&Search.x=0&Search.y=0&page=137&orderby=Score

ragz_2

Don't assume Tesco's value range is the cheapest. Went to buy a light bulb yesterday, was rather shocked they are £2 odd each, spotted a value on but no price on shelf. I would have just bought it but a till nearby was empty so I got it price checked and it was 30-50p more expensive than their standard range equivalent.

I mentioned this to the till guy and he said 'that's Tesco for you!'.

I may have to compain...

savingqueen wrote: »

I too used to do virtually all my shopping at Tesco's.... [now] only for particular things I can't buy elsewhere or are better value - my trolley contents often look a strange combo. )

Ditto!

Yesterday my shopping basket had 6 packs of value spaghetti, 6 packs of value penne pasta, 2 bottles of own brand cider, a lightbulb and a carton soya milk. I told the till guy I was off to Aldi next door for the rest, he just laughed!

I have also just started a price book. I continually bore my family by telling them such and such is so much cheaper at Aldi!

BitterAndTwisted

I had no idea this coffee-whitener stuff was so popular. I've never used it and don't know anyone else who does either. Is it cheaper than fresh or dried milk or just creamier?

You've got to be canny (and cynical) when supermarket shopping. Luckily my mental arithmetic is pretty good but they find all kinds of traps for you to fall in. I'm particularly resentful when they show the price per 100 grammes for one product and the price for 100ml for another similar one. Rotten swines!

I also realised that when my local L!dl removes one of their own products from the shelves they're just about to introduce a more expensive branded product on a some kind of "offer". This happened a while back with their very reasonably-priced oats. Only the Q ones were there at more than double the price per kilo. I went elsewhere and got some Sm@rt Price ones even though they weren't anywhere near as good. Like glue once cooked, actually. They're back now fortunately.

ragz_2

My DH, his Dad and his brother all prefer coffee whitener, mostly becasue it doesn't cool the coffee down like milk (they drink it scaldingly hot!) and they also prefer the taste.

No idea if it works out cheaper, DH only uses two tsp a day and it lasts us ages. Not happy the price is going up though!

I had been paying £1.68 in Morrisons, wish I had known about the 99p one, though we tried the Lidl one for about that and DH didn't like it...

ETA - the Tesco cafe Blend one is £1.49 according to Mysupermarket, maybe it's regional.