GREAT 'WHAT SHOPS DON'T WANT US TO KNOW" HUNT

mark_steps

May i just add this is only too true!! I work for a major leading Supermarket and it has to be said, they tend to think of their £££ rather than the staff!
Customers most of the time take time to make a complaint or get the cashier in trouble if they were moody, but how many HONESTLY take the time to praise staff? Not only by telling a line manager or front end (checkout) manager...put it in writing. Customer Services offer this and this goes straight to the Store Manager in most cases. Just think that your one nice comment makes someones day. I personally love having nice feedback as i am told to be nice to customers, even on my sh!tt!est day i try and smile and joke to customers, which is difficult at times!
Please take a moment of your time to make a positive comment in writing on your next shop visit...
x

superhoop wrote:

When I worked as a checkout manager in a Safeway in an inner city part of London several years ago, I would always fully refund and let the customer keep the item in genuine cases.

However, we did have less scrupulous customers, who knowing the policy, when they spotted a pricing error would buy large quantities of the offending item or alternatively bring in family and friends to do the same. The speed with which this could be done was very often much quicker than we could get the price changed in-store. The scam was obvious of course, but if management weren't around, checkout supervisors sometimes dutifully gave full refunds plus gave away £££s worth of goods to these people. The goods would be then fenced off into local trading networks and often end up in local shops down the road!

Don't get me wrong - the people who work in supermarkets work bloody hard - they earn and deserve every penny they get. But despite protestations to the contrary, the retailers usually don't train them properly as they focus on the next set of weekly sales figures. Shop staff are usually underpaid, undervalued, overworked, undertrained, and unloved by those they work for. (Go people - join USDAW if you can!)

In an ideal world, each retailer would have a set policy, make all staff aware of it and it would be transparent to all customers. But sadly in reality this just doesn't happen!

Steve

vikkyedwards

I work for B & Q. Generally their prices are very competitive but as with most retailers these days they have a "fantastic" store card called a "you can do it" card. You apply in store and get a decision instantly. We are told to ask every single customer if they want to apply for one of these cards and have to explain the so called benefits. As far as I can tell there are no benefits!

A lot of staff, especially in my store, refuse to sell these cards because they are embarassed by how pants they are.

octavedoctor

The best advice i can give to getting the best deals in shops is to be nice. Remember that shop assistants are human as well. You get more honey by being nice to the bees...

Stumpiedog

Chipmunk493 wrote:

Keep an eye on the price "per item" or "per weight" tags on a supermarket's shelf edge - buying larger packets isn't always cheaper!

Example, Somerfields currently have Cadbury's Mini Rolls in packets of 10 working out to be 20.2p each - but the packets of six rolls work out to be 18p each.

But equally, if something isn't labelled with the price per item - ask. The same store also had packets of 18 mini rolls (the office like them ok?) recently for less than the same packet of 10.

Now that supermarkets show the price per weight or amount it really shows whether things are a bargain or not. Having spent years buying food in "family sized packets" as cheaper - notice that this is not so anymore. Check out the price tickets and you may find that the bigger the packet the more it costs per weight or size or that the difference is a couple of pence!

magicrichard5

lady_noluck wrote:

Oakley sunglasses have a 100% mark up. If the glasses are selling for £139.99 it means the cost price is £69.99. Not so much money saving but certainly room for a discount I think!

No. If a shop did that they would be struck off the Oakley distrubutor's list. In the same way that if they displayed Arnettes in an Oakley display case the same would happen.

geezerbob

I asked Jessops acouple of days ago to match a net price for a camera and they said they dont do it now

nuttersinc wrote:

With regards to Jessops. i think they have started to change their codes as too many paople now know their code structure. One thing that i think still that still holds true is that on second hand items if the code starts with any letters then avoid like the plague as it is either returned or repaired stock, not genuine second hand.

Also Lowepro camera eqiupment, this is all marked up by 100% on cost price eg if it says £100 it cost the shop £50. i know this to be true at jessops and jacobs as a friend used to work for both.

I once bought a lowepro bag from a camera shop that was marked up at £100 , when i asked if they could do it any cheaper without hesitation £20 came off the price.

Also jessops don't advertise the fact that they will price match with anybody who is selling UK stock. they only advertise that they will match within a radius of the shop. i got them to match a net company on a camcorder and got the price down by £280!!

melissa2

purplegirluk1 wrote:

If you buy a coffe in Mcdonalds you are entitled to as many free refills as you like as long as you use the same cup! Don't like coffe or Mcdonalds but its a little known fact that always seems to confuse the staff but its in their hand book and most managers know about it :-)

As a big coffee fan, that's great. I ( for some strange reason) really like McDonalds coffee...although the food ( I wait while the little one eats) Is not my cup of tea, ha ha.

pippa_h

Trollydolly wrote:

Erm ?? Thats not really true??

I used to work in Thomas Cook and they dont charge what they want??

Yes, they do! Maybe not all the time, as a matter of course, but it's a VERY common practice in the travel industry. That approach was the reason I left my job working for a leading tour operator.

FiscalFox

Futon Company
Buying a futon/sofa from this highstreet retailer? Their prices are marked overtly high for 1 day or more so that they can offer fabulous "savings" for the rest of the season. Don't be fooled by their sales copy.

Vue Cinema
Cinema food is greatly over-priced, as this is where theatres make their profits--not with the films (whose money actually goes to their distributors).

This line of cinemas instruct their staff to 'upsell' all their products to customers. For instance, advising their customer to buy a 'large popcorn' instead of a 'small'. Indeed their is hardly any difference in volume beween the two products, apart form the crafty dimensions of the packaging!

Save cash and take your own food in.

superhoop

FiscalFox wrote:

Save cash and take your own food in.

Agree totally.

But be subtle. I have seen people denied entry at our local Vue (Acton) for for trying to take their own stuff in.

Put it in a handbag or a rucksack. Thankfully they don't search cinemagoers (yet..)

Steve