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

purplegirluk1

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 :-)

jellyhead

depends on the mcdonalds to be honest. if it's their nasty filter coffee that's been sitting on the hotplate for a few hours then yes they will refill for free, but if they have the new machine that grinds the beans fresh for each cup then you won't get a free refill.

vaderag

James_Bond wrote:

I've heard that various "GAME" and other similar shops can sell pre-owned games for whatever they want aslong as they make at least 40% profit. So if more than 40% profit is made, the workers get a share. So I guess it's worth haggling in these types of shops, although I'm haven't tried it myself.

Rgds,

James Bond

Thats not true - i used to work in game. How it works is that a game is traded in, and we usually give approx a 3rd of the fill retail price (although this varies by condition/game etc - we have a list) Then we sell it on at a set price according to the list. The workers dont get any share of the sales.

However, if we buy one with our staff discount, we get it for 1.5 times the trade in price. This means, that if you trade in a pile of games, and there is something a memeber of staff wants there, they will probably stick that as £1 or £2 and add an extra quid onto each of the others so that they can buy the game for <£3 !

The pricing system on pre-owned games for customers however cannot be changed as there is a comparison list for what you trade it in at and what you sell it at, and if there is a discrepancy on the system, there is trouble. The only people with the authority to change things are the managers.

On a slightly different point, there was much word of an automated trade-in pricing system coming in when i left game, stopping staff doing this fiddle, although i dont know when thats going to happen.

My only point of advice on this is that you will probably get slightly more trade in value if you trade in separately to if you trade in a pile of games, although if you ask what you are getting for each one you should be fine. There is a slim chance that you may be able to haggle your trade in price up by a pound or two if you keep at it, but it depends on the member of staff - we get alot of people trying it on all the time, so usually dont have the patience!!!

Hope thats interesting to someone!!

James_Bond

Sorry it wasn't true , but I've heard it more than once, that's all! Thanks for clearing that up though.

superhoop

Again, many MSE readers will know this...

Don't automatically assume that if an electrical item breaks after twelve months that you cannot take it back for a repair or replacement.

A retailer has to sell goods of 'reasonable' merchandisable quality. It all hangs on the word 'reasonable', but the point runs something like this:

If you buy an £800 telly and it breaks after 13 months, you would have a good case to claim that you would expect this to last longer.

You're only entitled to a full refund up to 30 days after purchase, but in this case of the telly you should be able to claim a repair or a replacement from the retailer

Mind you, if you buy a £10 walkman and try to return it after 18 months, a retailer (and a court) would likely say that the item had lasted a reasonable amount of time.

The facts can be found on the DTI (or the DPEI as its now known) website:

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm

Hope this helps someone.

Steve

superhoop

Apologies if this is verging on the libellous, but I hear on the grapevine that Debenhams have been trying to extract themselves from their link-up with the Nectar card loyalty scheme, and therefore are not actively asking customers for cards at the till.

I suspect this is true since:

- I haven't seen any Debenhams offers in my last couple Nectar mailings

- I was in Debenhams recently and saw NO signage or reference to Nectar, and I wasn't asked at the till on two occasions.

Don't miss your Nectar points if you shop at Debenhams!

Steve

hellofreebies

this might be not be applicable to this thread but do move it if need be....do you not find it annoying when your in a shop and your buying numerous items..whether it be in a clothes shop or grocers.... when they tap tap tap on the til there is no til display of what your getting charged per each item thus you only know what price you have paid (especially when the sale or reduced items hasnt been scanned at the sale price) only when you have paid got your reciept and walked away...jjb sport have no display whats so ever..there till is like its under a glass table so they can serve on goods on top.. complained about this in jjb sports and the guy said its always been this way at this store since he started working there 4 years ago... only im sure when i was once working in a shop i was trained that by law this info must be displayed for the customers view. its just time consuming when they have priced you incorrectly and you have to go queue customer service for a refund where it could of been rectified at point of sale. i wonder how much money the shop can swindle when people dont check their reciept til there home and cant be bothered to return to refund for wasting same amount in fuel?? what do you guys think?

redseven

This doesn't work in all cases. I was told by a friend who worked for a highstreet camera retailer. That the stock code of second hand goods often has the price paid for it 'hidden' in the code. For example when seaching for secondhand equipment on Jessops website (they don't tell you the price) if the code for a camera was 1550427754100, the price they paid for it is stated backwards in the last 3 digits (excl. the last 2 digits - usually zeros) so the 541, shows they paid £145 for it, I think they add between 25-30% profit margin, which gives you an idea of the price they will quote you. I'm sure other retailers use the same system. They may have changed the system since I was told this (over 2 years ago), maybe someone can verify if it was/is true.

Edinburghlass_2

That used to be the case with British Home Stores, the price was the item code backwords, this was a lot of years ago now and it has been changed.

ilovefreebies_2

Most electrical goods serial number change every 6 month so they can tell how old the equipment really is