Tesco's Pertwood Farm cereal - organic rip off

Supernova

The last few years have been enjoying Pertwood Farm Fruit and Seeds cereal from Tesco's. My partner wanted to avoid wheat and it fits the bill.

However, the price of the old 750g Fruit and Seeds cereal went up from £1.75 to £2.00 in Tesco's in February and now the new REDUCED SIZE 650g product has gone up from £2.00 to £2.59 which is the equivalent of £3.00 for 750g.

Their web site trumpets their new packaging but personally, as a health-conscious consumer I couldn't care less what the superficial packaging looks like.

How can they justify an increase in price of 71% other than straight profiteering on increased interest in organic products and trying to pull the wool over people's eyes with a reduction in quantity?

Anyone got any alternative wheat-free muesli they know about other than DIY buying individual ingredients?

Ta

Searcher

Supernova wrote: »

The last few years have been enjoying Pertwood Farm Fruit and Seeds cereal from Tesco's. My partner wanted to avoid wheat and it fits the bill.

However, the price of the old 750g Fruit and Seeds cereal went up from £1.75 to £2.00 in Tesco's in February and now the new REDUCED SIZE 650g product has gone up from £2.00 to £2.59 which is the equivalent of £3.00 for 750g.

Their web site trumpets their new packaging but personally, as a health-conscious consumer I couldn't care less what the superficial packaging looks like.

How can they justify an increase in price of 71% other than straight profiteering on increased interest in organic products and trying to pull the wool over people's eyes with a reduction in quantity?

Anyone got any alternative wheat-free muesli they know about other than DIY buying individual ingredients?

Ta

The words Hit, Nail and head spring to mind!

more_money_for_me

My guess is that shortly you will see Tesco trumpeting the fantastic 50% off they are offering to make organics affordable to us all, and guess what your Pertwood product will be part of the offer. First you put prices up, wait a while then reduce them with a fanfare and lots of adverts. Cynical about supermarkets.....not I.

gyzmo

There seems to be a few threads about "sales" recently. Obviously, the corporations are still succeeding atfleecing customers whilst staying within the law.

Perhaps the general rule should be changed so that a sale item must be on sale for , say, 30 days before the sale, and also during that time the price cannot be higher than it was for the previous, say 60 days. Might mean a reductin in teh number of sale items, but given that so many are not bargains after all, perhaps stores will only put on genuine reductions

Supernova

I wrote to Pertwood and got a very reasonable reply saying they were victims of a supermarket price war and the price should have been £2.59 all along, plus their costs are rising and they do have to take account of packaging too.

Fair enough from their point of view but there is no doubt that Tesco's have clearly got £ signs in their eyes when it comes to organic stuff and are playing a game with price rises one week then discounts the next and vice versa.

Having said that, a Google on the cereal reveals that other independent organic shops are selling it for up to £3.50 and alternative wheat-free products in Tesco's were unbelievably astronomical.

screenclean

Thank you Supernova for pointing out the real facts! I think you're spot on. Pertwood are a small family run business, and (get ready for this) are the only British cereal co. not to import any grains. Plus fact is demand for organics is up and up, and supply isn't...:rolleyes:

dangeroussports

Grown you own.

Just like 'The Good Life'.

Dave_Brooker

Supernova wrote: »

I wrote to Pertwood and got a very reasonable reply saying they were victims of a supermarket price war and the price should have been £2.59 all along, plus their costs are rising and they do have to take account of packaging too.

Fair enough from their point of view but there is no doubt that Tesco's have clearly got £ signs in their eyes when it comes to organic stuff

So it turns out greedy Tescos have in fact been undercharging you all this time?

KittyKate

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

So it turns out greedy Tescos have in fact been undercharging you all this time?

I have no doubt they would have been making a profit nevertheless. Supermarkets often introduce new items at a lower price to encourage people to get used to them, then hike the price up. I agree it's totally unfair - if it was £2.59 all along fair enough, but a 71% rise is a con, and no doubt they'll be championing it at £1 off or whatever (which is still more than the original price).

Have you tried Holland & Barrett? They are excellent IMO, not sure on the prices but their products are always tasty! Failing that, would it be *that* hard to make your own in one of those plastic cereal pourers?

Dave_Brooker

KittyKate wrote: »

I have no doubt they would have been making a profit nevertheless.

That's the general idea when it comes to running a shop.

KittyKate wrote: »

Supermarkets often introduce new items at a lower price to encourage people to get used to them, then hike the price up.

There's nothing wrong with that, plenty of new lines are sold at an introductory discount in order to encourage people to try them...

moonrakerz

Supernova wrote: »

I wrote to Pertwood and got a very reasonable reply saying they were victims of a supermarket price war and the price should have been £2.59 all along, plus their costs are rising and they do have to take account of packaging too.

Am I being a tad cynical to suggest that if they had said anything different, Pertwood would have lost their contract to supply nice Mr Tesco, who would then sell it to you & I at a loss !