Tesco shelf edge label mis-info

saver8

I've complained to the section manager at Tesco Warrington about this before and they just say 'we'll see that it's rectified' - and then they do it again.
Spotted today : Hobnobs Twin pack SEL says 2 X 300g for £3.20, but the actual packs are clearly marked 242g.
Also, McVities Milk Choc digestives SEL says 2 X 400g for £2.00, but the packs are 300g.
It winds me up. A small trader would be really jumped on for 'innocent mistakes' like this, which are actually serious misrepresentation.

geordie_joe

I don't know about tesco, but if they are like the store I work for, local staff can't change the data on shelf edge labels. The labels are produced at head office and "locked" so local staff can only print them not change the info on them.

This is so only one person/department is responsible for the labels instead of 1,000's of staff all creating/editing their own and making mistakes.

We will never know if these "mistakes" are deliberate or just a staff member being too lazy to change them, or not having the time to change them, or not actually being told when the size changes.

Personally I don't think it will be deliberate, more likely to be when the software was written nobody put in something to flag up quantity changes.

Edit: Forgot the main point of my post!

There's no point in complaining to the local manager, best to complain to head office.

saver8

To Geordie Joe. Thanks for the input.

saver8

I called in yesterday and complained again, with some emphasis ! They said they would rectify it. I called in today and one of the labels had been replaced, but the '300g Hob nobs' are still on sale but the packs are actually 242g.
The supermarket doesn't seem to accept that this is short measure theft. The lack of response to this thread (except for Geordie Joe) seems to indicate that most shoppers aren't bothered either, so perhaps Tesco are encouraged to mislead us in this way. Perhaps the 'higher maths' involved just confuses people.

geordie_joe

I think most people don't bother to look at the weight/measure on the shelf label. If they are bothered about weights and measures at all they look at the package of the product.

In my store we have items, non food, where the weight on the shelf label has been wrong for months, and in at least one case since Easter Monday!

That's when a customer complained about it to me for the first time. I reported it to the manager and that's when he explained that nobody at the store can change it. He has to send an email to HO and sometimes it gets changed, eventually, but mostly it doesn't.

aliama

Out of interest, is the price per 100g wrong incorrect as well? Because people do use this to compare prices of different products to see which is the best value (although I don't think I've ever done it with biscuits, admittedly), and if that was wrong as well I would be fuming. If they've got this wrong, what else have they got wrong?

I wonder if the biscuits have recently made their pack sizes smaller?

zygurat789

aliama wrote: »

Out of interest, is the price per 100g wrong incorrect as well? Because people do use this to compare prices of different products to see which is the best value (although I don't think I've ever done it with biscuits, admittedly), and if that was wrong as well I would be fuming. If they've got this wrong, what else have they got wrong?

I wonder if the biscuits have recently made their pack sizes smaller?

Comparison of unit prices is all about choosing the correct unit. Whilst it is possible with things such as fun size packs of (say) Bounty etc by feel only, I've never seen the number of biscuits printed on a label. Just another example of manufacturer/retailer obfuscation.

I once managed to get Tesco to reduce the price of a pack of oranges on the grounds that the SEL said "Pack of 5 £1, 20p each" and there were only 4 in the pack.

Clowance

surely trading standards would be interested? If something is not rectified - that "I can't, it has to be done by head office" won't wash - they could take them off sale instead!

And I certainly do look at price per 100g and if this is wrong I would have been mislead.

geordie_joe

Clowance wrote: »

surely trading standards would be interested?

I'm sure they would, but obviously noone is interested enough to tell them.

Clowance wrote: »

If something is not rectified - that "I can't, it has to be done by head office" won't wash - they could take them off sale instead!

The staff in the store can't take it off sale just because the label is wrong, but if they did, then the people who want to buy it won't be able too.

You have to remember that most people don't care about the weight/price per 100g or any of that stuff. They just want a product, look at the price and decide if they want to buy it at that price.

Clowance wrote: »

And I certainly do look at price per 100g and if this is wrong I would have been mislead.

Yes you would be mislead, but what I am saying is don't blame the store staff, they can't do anything about it. Don't blame them for not being interested either, because they have probably had the same complaint before and know they can do nothing about it.

If you do come across a weight/measure that is wrong, complain to the head office not the store staff. That is the only way anything will get done about it.

Don't just complain about it, demand a refund on the difference.