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Supermarket charging full price for reduced items
pol098
Posts: 31 Forumite
I write (1) to warn people about a very common occurrence and (2) to seek advice and suggestions.
The warning: if you buy supermarket items with reduced-price tickets, have a good idea of what items were reduced and the rough price, then check your bill after paying but before leaving (unless you can check prices as they come up, I can't do that and pack). In some cases at least there are many errors against you. Today the overcharge (on several items) was nearly 15% of the price of my shopping.
Comment: probably most people don't check in detail, and are simply overcharged to the shop's profit and their loss. And if you realise at home, it's too much hassle to take things back for a small amount.
I often buy food in supermarkets reduced as it approaches it's sell-by date. These items have a sticker on with the discounted price, with a barcode that should cover the original barcode. Several supermarkets handle these items reasonably well (with rare errors when they charge full price). I've found that the branch of Sainsbury's I use are terrible, and have been ever since I started using it, about 25 years ago. At first they would refund the price charge, but let you take the item without charge, which seems fair enough. After a while, probably because these errors became so common, they simply returned the overcharge (after making you queue and trot around the shop). Errors have always been VERY frequent (maybe in 50% of visits?). My most recent experience has finally made me annoyed enough to want to do something. It's not even the worst instance, just worse than average.
Today I bought 20 different items (counting several identical ones as one). I had 4 stickered discounted items. The bill should have been £28.92. I was charged £32.98 (£4.12, nearly 15%, overcharge). I asked for the "checkouts manager" (refusing anyone else) and insisted that they put the entire lot through the customer service till again (I think they thought I was wrong). They came up with a revised figure of £30.02, apologised and refunded. When I asked for the revised bill they didn't give it to me, but offered a £5 gift card, which I accepted, to cover further errors. Later, at home, I found that they had overcharged by £4.12, not £2.92; while this was well within the £5, it seems that a manager and a checkout operator working together, who had been warned of an error, still overcharged for one item.
What should I do, given that this is a routine occurrence, not a one-off? I used to laboriously find the overcharged items in my bags and take them to customer services (CS) for a refund. I then started finding the item only to check that I myself hadn't made a mistake, but putting it back in its bag, then plonking all the bags on the CS desk and telling them to find it. From now I will call a manager and have them rescan all my shopping. A nuisance and waste of time for me, but with well-deserved hassle for them.
Should I complain in writing to Sainsbury's head office, trading standards, both, or what? Should I demand compensation, and how much, for my waste of time?
The warning: if you buy supermarket items with reduced-price tickets, have a good idea of what items were reduced and the rough price, then check your bill after paying but before leaving (unless you can check prices as they come up, I can't do that and pack). In some cases at least there are many errors against you. Today the overcharge (on several items) was nearly 15% of the price of my shopping.
Comment: probably most people don't check in detail, and are simply overcharged to the shop's profit and their loss. And if you realise at home, it's too much hassle to take things back for a small amount.
I often buy food in supermarkets reduced as it approaches it's sell-by date. These items have a sticker on with the discounted price, with a barcode that should cover the original barcode. Several supermarkets handle these items reasonably well (with rare errors when they charge full price). I've found that the branch of Sainsbury's I use are terrible, and have been ever since I started using it, about 25 years ago. At first they would refund the price charge, but let you take the item without charge, which seems fair enough. After a while, probably because these errors became so common, they simply returned the overcharge (after making you queue and trot around the shop). Errors have always been VERY frequent (maybe in 50% of visits?). My most recent experience has finally made me annoyed enough to want to do something. It's not even the worst instance, just worse than average.
Today I bought 20 different items (counting several identical ones as one). I had 4 stickered discounted items. The bill should have been £28.92. I was charged £32.98 (£4.12, nearly 15%, overcharge). I asked for the "checkouts manager" (refusing anyone else) and insisted that they put the entire lot through the customer service till again (I think they thought I was wrong). They came up with a revised figure of £30.02, apologised and refunded. When I asked for the revised bill they didn't give it to me, but offered a £5 gift card, which I accepted, to cover further errors. Later, at home, I found that they had overcharged by £4.12, not £2.92; while this was well within the £5, it seems that a manager and a checkout operator working together, who had been warned of an error, still overcharged for one item.
What should I do, given that this is a routine occurrence, not a one-off? I used to laboriously find the overcharged items in my bags and take them to customer services (CS) for a refund. I then started finding the item only to check that I myself hadn't made a mistake, but putting it back in its bag, then plonking all the bags on the CS desk and telling them to find it. From now I will call a manager and have them rescan all my shopping. A nuisance and waste of time for me, but with well-deserved hassle for them.
Should I complain in writing to Sainsbury's head office, trading standards, both, or what? Should I demand compensation, and how much, for my waste of time?
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Comments
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Let me get this right.
They "offered a £5 gift card, which I accepted, to cover further errors."
You accepted.
You then found out that, when including the gift card, you net gain was only 88 pence.
Please tell us again why you think you are entitled to further compensation.0 -
Use the self service tills and you can check as they go through.0
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Not ASDA is it?! I got so bored of being over-charged for offers, that I gave up shopping there, plus their customer service is rubbish!
Just use the self service.Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')
No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)0 -
Let me get this right.
They "offered a £5 gift card, which I accepted, to cover further errors."
You accepted.
You then found out that, when including the gift card, you net gain was only 88 pence.
Please tell us again why you think you are entitled to further compensation.
As the original poster, I'm not concerned about one incident, or about compensation. I have scores of times accepted, after having to sit down and check the receipt, and then queueing at customer services, a straight refund of the overcharge. This time I would have accepted a straight refund (which would actually have been £1.20 short unless rechecked by me!). I'm not actively seeking compensation; I am thoroughly exasperated by attempts to overcharge on MANY occasions - maybe 50% of visits in which I buy something reduced - over decades. A successful outcome for me would be always to be charged correctly (save for very rare errors), not continued hassle, checking, queuing, waiting, even for small recompense. Trying to make these errors cause the perpetrators hassle (rescanning everything) and expense (at least man-minutes) throws the burden partly on them - so far customers suffer all the inconvenience at no trouble to them; they just painlessly apply the correct price on being presented with the item.
I'm also indignant at the fortunes that must be made from people who trust the supermarket and don't check.0 -
Not ASDA is it?! I got so bored of being over-charged for offers, that I gave up shopping there, plus their customer service is rubbish!
Just use the self service.
Sainsbury's. I find self-service more trouble than a manned checkout, and consider I have the right to demand service free from errors in my detriment.0 -
This is why I keep a tally of what I'm buying as I shop so have a rough idea of my total, I also add it up again to myself as loading the belt so I know before even paying if it is out by more than £2.
I always check my receipt as I'm leaving the checkout and if it's wrong I'm not obnoxious enough to demand a manager and to have the whole lot scanned again. I politely go to customer services and get the difference refunded along with a polite apology from the CS staff and depending on the shop sometimes double the difference or a voucher for the error.
Saying that it only happens once or twice a year to me so I must be lucky or live in an area with very good shops.0 -
Its normally the shop floor staff not applying the stickers correctly that causes the problem. They have to go diagonally over the original barcode otherwise its luck which one the till picks up.
The duty manager would have been the better person to bring this to the attention of. The checkouts manager doesn't manage the staff that apply the stickers.0 -
I would report your concerns to trading standards. If they agree that it's a common problem, they may well send in some mystery shoppers to gather evidence and take action. You should be charged the advertised price; to regularly do otherwise is fraud or gross negligence.
I don't know why many of the respondents seem to think it's acceptable for the supermarket to routinely defraud customers. You're clearly not out to try and claim compensation, just to get them to do their jobs properly.0
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