Wrongly charged in Sainsburys Pontypridd!! Anyone else had the same trouble ?

Pollycat

Azari wrote: »

You're taking this very personally, but it was not specifically directed at you.

I'm not going comment on most of your points as they are (and have been in previous posts) perfectly sensible.

I wasn't actually taking your posts personally, although I did take Chrissie1958's post personally as she specifically accused me of 'having a go' at the OP.

I was just stating that I personally didn't consider your statements applied to me - IMHO, of course.

Azari wrote: »

Firstly, I agree that it is odd that I don't seem to get overcharged in Tesco. It's a very large Tesco Extra and I wonder if the difference between my experience and that of others is down to the manager concerned.

It may well be that. I think some of the staff in my Extra store can be a bit sloppy. I've noticed lots of incorrect SELs - wrong size/quantity, wrong product altogether, expired offers etc.
Maybe it's also in part to do with poor staff training and possibly motivation.

Azari wrote: »

Secondly, on the subject of 'fraud'.

You, along with most other people, seem to hold the supermarkets to completely different standards to those that supermarkets hold customers.

If you mistakenly didn't pay for an item just one single time and the supermarket caught you, it's perfectly possible that you would end up with a criminal conviction for theft. "Oh, it was just a mistake, mistakes happen" simply would not cut it.

I'm not sure that I agree with this.
A customer walking out without paying for an item at all is different to the shop overcharging (IMHO, of course).

A fair comparison would be the SA running after a customer to tell them that they'd charged for a 2 litre bottle instead of a 4 litre one and saying 'you need to give me an extra £2.50'.

Have you ever seen this happen in a supermarket?

Azari wrote: »

On the other hand, supermarkets routinely charge people the incorrect price and when it happens the error is overwhelmingly in their favour. And yet if you call it fraud, people will come crawling out of the woodwork to ridicule the assertion. It seems it's OK for a large supermarket to repeatedly 'accidentally' overcharge their customers and that's just unfortunate but if a customer underpays just once that can become a criminal matter.

In my opinion, it's not fraud but you are entirely entitled to see it as fraud.
I think that is a point on which we will have to agree to disagree.

A 'customer underpaying'?
Do you mean not paying for an item at all?
That's not 'underpaying'.
It may be a mistake on the part of the customer or it may be a deliberate act of shop-lifting - but leaving a store without paying is not 'underpaying'.

Azari wrote: »

And before anyone comes up with the "well, they obviously don't do it deliberately because of the 'double the difference'" argument, consider the fact that most people do not carefully check their receipts and if less than 50% of overcharges are spotted, the supermarket is quids in.

My personal opinion is that stores don't do it on purpose but I'm happy to be convinced otherwise if anyone has hard evidence that putting misleading SELs, not taking offers down at the end of the period etc is deliberate policy.

And, the moral of the story is "check your receipts before you leave the store".

wrightk

Azari wrote: »

I'm afraid this is an incredibly poorly thought out response.

It isn't the shelf stacker/labeller who could be considered guilty of fraud. It is the supermarket for allowing to continue a systemic failing that results in it repeatedly charging more for products than the customer thought they were being charged.

But, again, the different standards that someone will hold a supermarket to compared to their customer almost beggars belief.

Here is someone who, rather than expecting the supermarkets to get their acts together and eliminate erroneous pricing, expects every customer to check every receipt every time they shop. And, presumably, thinks this is an acceptable way for things to be arranged.

And to make it even more laughable, starts this off by saying: "lets all get real for a minute." :rotfl:

i think youve probably watched far too many programmes/ propaganda that supermarkets are all out to get us. whats wrong with simply scanning through the receipt for a couple of minutes before leaving the premesis? and what if it was the other way around what if the OP paid too little. would she go back in the store and declare this to customer services? i doubt it. checking the receipt takes no longer than 2 minutes, no excuse, sob story or no sob story

Azari

wrightk wrote: »

i think youve probably watched far too many programmes/ propaganda that supermarkets are all out to get us.

If you'd taken the trouble to read the whole thread you would have seen that I stated that the supermarket I use (a very large Tesco Extra) does not seem to suffer from the overcharging problem.

Others are no so lucky. Indeed the vary fact that you seem to believe that everyone should check their receipt would indicate that it's you who seem to be distrustful of the supermarkets.

whats wrong with simply scanning through the receipt for a couple of minutes before leaving the premesis?

The very fact that you think that's a reasonable question to ask seems to imply that you have a somewhat questionable attitude to what constitutes honest behaviour.

Apart from anything else, how, exactly, do you expect someone doing the weekly shop for a family with four children to remember the indicated price for every one of their purchases?

The whole idea is ridiculous.

Rather than adopt the reasonable position of expecting the supermarket to charge the prices they indicate you want to shift the responsibility for correcting their errors onto the customer.

People say you get the service you deserve and in your case it seems that you expect and deserve extremely poor service and, furthermore, you're happy to accept that.

meer53

Everyone makes mistakes - fact of life.

This includes workers who place SEL's in supermarkets. When i do my shop, i always know which products i have bought that have been on special offer, and i ALWAYS check my receipt before leaving the store's car park. When i get home, i check it in more detail for the other products i have bought. If i have ever noticed a discrepancy (can't remember the last time i did) i have never had a problem in getting it rectified if it is a genuine store error.

Mistakes happen, i feel it's my job to check whether one has been made with my shopping. In an ideal world it wouldn't happen, but it does.

System

Being overcharged in supermarkets is Azari's current crusade. Start a topic on that subject and he/she will almost certainly post referencing fraud.

Its obviously not Fraud.

wrightk

Azari wrote: »

If you'd taken the trouble to read the whole thread you would have seen that I stated that the supermarket I use (a very large Tesco Extra) does not seem to suffer from the overcharging problem.

Others are no so lucky. Indeed the vary fact that you seem to believe that everyone should check their receipt would indicate that it's you who seem to be distrustful of the supermarkets.



The very fact that you think that's a reasonable question to ask seems to imply that you have a somewhat questionable attitude to what constitutes honest behaviour.

Apart from anything else, how, exactly, do you expect someone doing the weekly shop for a family with four children to remember the indicated price for every one of their purchases?

The whole idea is ridiculous.

Rather than adopt the reasonable position of expecting the supermarket to charge the prices they indicate you want to shift the responsibility for correcting their errors onto the customer.

People say you get the service you deserve and in your case it seems that you expect and deserve extremely poor service and, furthermore, you're happy to accept that.

absolute rubbish. who in this day and age doesnt check their receipts?! no matter what shop you go to i always scan my receipt as errors can be made.

Your obviously foolish enough to go round buying whatever you want, regardless of the price and expect everyone else to be perfect.

Whenever i shop for example i keep a running total in my head because after all times are tight. when i get to the till i have many opportunities to double check its correct. my running total i do through the shop is usually correct within a pound,i have the opportunity while im packing to look at the monitor which tells me the price as im packing, and finally my receipt after ive purchased, which if i glance at for about a minute before i even reach the exit of my store i have the opportunity to rectify at the customer service desk.

No excuse.


In the OP'S case i was under the impresssion that the manager of the store had admitted that the offer sign could have been miscontrued to mean the product she actually bought, and was given over and above the cost of their mistake at the managers discretion. Im simply making the point that to avoid her two hundred bus journeys and various broken toes causing her more grief she simply takes a minute or two to scan through the receipt. she could even do it while shes waiting for the bus

Pollycat

I'm surprised at just how many people don't check their receipts, or bank statements or credit card bills.

Am I just suspicious/careful or are they too trusting?
Or are they sloppy with their finances?
Or do they have enough money that they don't need to check these things?
Or are they so busy that they don't have time to check?

Even buying clothes etc in shops such as M&S, I always know how much the total should be - and if it's not what I expect, I query it.
I've been charged for 4 pairs of tights in Primark when I knew I'd only bought 3.
It was a simple mistake by the SA who scanned one pair twice. I doubt that it was fraud. :cool:
It's easy to do at point of sale, harder to prove after you've got home and checked your receipt.

I always check the amount on the chip-and-pin device to make sure it's right.

I take my young niece shopping for her birthday and Christmas.
She has the money and I make sure she adds up what she's buying so she knows how much it is when she gets to the till.
She has to work out the change she will get (if any) and make sure she is given the right change.

Am I in the minority here?

System

I only really check to ensure i've received the correct promotions. Unless the shop seems significantly more than I expected it to be I don't really bother checking the receipt!

I like to live dangerously

Azari

wrightk wrote: »

absolute rubbish. who in this day and age doesnt check their receipts?! no matter what shop you go to i always scan my receipt as errors can be made.

Your obviously foolish enough to go round buying whatever you want, regardless of the price and expect everyone else to be perfect.

If you seriously believe that someone doing a shop for a large family for a week can remember the indicated price for every single item they bought in order that they can later check it against the receipt you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

I can check my receipt because my shop is generally not that large so I know what it should come to but that does not mean that everyone else should or should need to do the same.

Come down off your high horse and realise that everyone is different and that what is practical for you may not be practical for everyone else.

Azari

Pollycat wrote: »

I've been charged for 4 pairs of tights in Primark when I knew I'd only bought 3.
It was a simple mistake by the SA who scanned one pair twice. I doubt that it was fraud.

As I said before, it's not the occasional mistake that could be considered fraud.

It's when an organisation persistently and systemically makes mistakes that are predominantly in its own favour that they are possibly committing a fraud.

Despite what certain amateur lawyers may proclaim on this forum it would actually be down to a court of law to decide if a company were committing a fraud.