Is it likely the price was wrong -or not?

richard_3095

Hi. This is a cheesy story. Yesterday, Friday, at ADSA Wakefield I bought cheesy balls. They came up at £1.00 at the self-service till. I thought the price I was being charged was wrong. I went to customer service and I went with the assistant to see what the price was on the shelf. Sure enough it was £1.00. So, I just accepted that.

This morning a friend went and bought cheesy balls, precisely the same product at a standard price (not a promotion ) at ADSA Batley. It was bought at £0.85

This afternoon I was in ASDA Wakefield again and I brought up the discrepancy in prices, because I'm thinking it possible I was overcharged yesterday when I paid £1.00. The attendant said it is entirely possible that there is a price difference between the stores. I think she gave some sort of supply and demand answer. Anyway, I just took her word and that was it.

Then I happened to pass the aisle (where cheesy balls are sold) and the price today was - £0.85. That aroused my curiosity, so I went back to see if ASDA customer service could tell me for sure whether I had been overcharged or not the previous day. Because I began to have a sneaking suspicion that I was right, that ASDA had made a pricing mistake.

By now I felt it was unacceptable just to be told prices change, I felt, as a customer, ASDA was obliged to do some digging to see whether a mistake had been made when I had bought the cheesy balls at £1.00 yesterday.

I wasn't getting very far with the service staff, they obviously thought it's good enough just to tell you prices change, but it was said at some point by someone that prices changed Tuesday. That has implications, Well, in the end it was said that the price increase had not come from the store itself, but ASDA headquarters. That may tend to imply that no mistake was made in price, and overnight, head office changed the price. That would be a change Saturday - today.

At the moment I'm determined to ask ASDA to give an authoritative answer (as well as a written response) as to whether I was, or was not overcharged. I believe ASDA should be able to give a customer that information as far as I am concerned. I will ask on a matter of principle. I will ask to prove their customer service. Some might say I have been given the answer, but I'm not sure if I really have, that is, a correct and true answer.

But, before I do anything, does anybody here know the workings of ASDA and whether the price drop from Friday to Saturday is likely to simply be a price change as the attendant says, or does it appear I was overcharged on Friday and that someone arranged for the price change on the Saturday in response to my inquiry on the Friday about the price?

Thank you. Rich

P.S, I wish I knew what the price of cheesy balls were at Batley, on Friday. And if there is a set day for price changes. I'd bet they were £0.85 at Batley on Friday.

geordie_joe

I would guess that the price came down and your store either didn't get the info or didn't change the price for some reason.

richard_3095

I should probably just ask ASDA in a formal letter to explain and hope they tell it as it is.

arbroath_lass

You're really going to spend 53p (plus paper and envelope) over 15p? You were happy to pay £1.


Asda don't have to sell you anything at any price.

richard_3095

Why is it, that some people here, don't understand doing things "on principle"? That sometimes it matters to push for results on a matter of principle.

maman

They're coming up at 85p on mysupermarket so you're probably right. I can understand how you feel on a point of principle. I've been there and had loads of patronising platitudes from Asda staff. Let us know how you get on!

richard_3095

What does this principle go to? Customer service. I suppose someone is going to pipe up and say, "You expect excellent customer service - get real".

Anyway, let's see what happens.

geordie_joe

richard_3095 wrote: »

Why is it, that some people here, don't understand doing things "on principle"? That sometimes it matters to push for results on a matter of principle.

I misread your post, I thought your friend bought them at 85p before you bought them at £1.

However, reading again it seems that you bought a product one day and the next day it had gone down in price, so now you think you were over charged the day before.

Supermarkets do have set days for doing price changes, but that is for pre-planned changes. They can, and do, changes prices on other days in reaction to an even outside their control.

For example Tesco reducing their cheesy balls to 85p on Friday.

So even if Saturday isn't the day asda do planned price changes, it is entirely possible that they did change the price of cheesy balls on Saturday.

IMPORTANT QUESTION

What made you think you had been over charged in the first place?

Nick_C

Op, you said yourself, the price on the shelf was £1 and you were charged £1. Therefore you were not overcharged.

That was on Friday. If ASDA want to increase or reduce their prices, they are free to do that at any time.

Is a free market. You don't have to buy from ASDA, they don't have to sell to you.

alanq

mysupermarket.co.uk says "in most cases" it checks prices daily (presumably by looking at the online prices where available). Looking at the price history of ASDA Cheese Balls they have been 85p since 4th May 2014. Prior to that they were £1.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Shopping/FindProducts.aspx?Query=cheese%20balls

The ASDA Price Guarantee says "Where prices and promotions are found to be different across stores or across website postcodes sampled (in the case of ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury's,Waitrose and Morrisons), the most commonly occurring price is used." Thus it seems different stores may be charging different prices at any given time.

richard_3095

Lets say prices can vary between ASDA stores. What makes it look suspicious (to me at any rate) that Friday's price was incorrect, was because the price changed the next day. Anyway, possibly only ASDA can tell me whether the price drop on Saturday was to correct a price error or not.