Waitrose withdrawing discounts

stewarthenry

On my last Waitrose shop I had discounts of £5.68 at the checkout, confirmed by email.

When the shopping arrived, Waitrose changed the discount to £0.30.

Their reasoning: "The discounts shown below were valid at the time the order was placed. If any offers subsequently expire then you may not get the discount shown. You will have the opportunity to reject this product at point of delivery should you choose not to purchase at the new price."

Can they do this? It means you can't be sure of any discount offered online.

I understood that UK law says that a shop must sell at the price advertised. (I think, for instance, there is case law that if an item is mispriced it can be sold at that price or not at all. The shop can't charge a different price at checkout.)

Have others had the same experience. Its clearly very poor customer service but is it legal?

antrobus

stewarthenry wrote: »

...Its clearly very poor customer service but is it legal?

For example;

Offer available for delivery or collection until 27/11/2018.
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/shop/offers/14851126

eddddy

stewarthenry wrote: »

I understood that UK law says that a shop must sell at the price advertised. (I think, for instance, there is case law that if an item is mispriced it can be sold at that price or not at all. The shop can't charge a different price at checkout.)

That sounds unlikely - do you have a link to the case?

In any case, for your online purchase you need to look at the website's terms and conditions.

If you think a company is deliberately trying to mislead you with their pricing, you can report them to Trading Standards - or the Advertising Standards Authority, if it's related to advertising.

In extreme cases, Trading Standards can prosecute them.

But you still can't force the company to sell you the product at the advertised price.

Some info: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/if-something-is-advertised-at-the-wrong-price/

sarah1972

stewarthenry wrote: »

On my last Waitrose shop I had discounts of £5.68 at the checkout, confirmed by email.

When the shopping arrived, Waitrose changed the discount to £0.30.

Their reasoning: "The discounts shown below were valid at the time the order was placed. If any offers subsequently expire then you may not get the discount shown. You will have the opportunity to reject this product at point of delivery should you choose not to purchase at the new price."

Can they do this? It means you can't be sure of any discount offered online.

I understood that UK law says that a shop must sell at the price advertised. (I think, for instance, there is case law that if an item is mispriced it can be sold at that price or not at all. The shop can't charge a different price at checkout.)

Have others had the same experience. Its clearly very poor customer service but is it legal?

To answer your question, yes they can do that. All of the supermarkets do ir and clearly state that you will be charged current prices on the day of delivery and not the day of ordering.

Its not poor customer service at all and its completely legal and normal practise.

starving_artist

sarah1972 wrote: »

Its not poor customer service at all and its completely legal and normal practise.

That’s like saying you book and pay for a flight with Ryanair when it has a sale but then have to pay the full price when you fly because it has put up the price by then.

Don’t you pay at the time of ordering?

Farway

starving_artist wrote: »

That’s like saying you book and pay for a flight with Ryanair when it has a sale but then have to pay the full price when you fly because it has put up the price by then.

Don’t you pay at the time of ordering?

That example was probably a bad choice given latest news, arrive and find they charge extra for bags:D

Carrot007

starving_artist wrote: »

That’s like saying you book and pay for a flight with Ryanair when it has a sale but then have to pay the full price when you fly because it has put up the price by then.

Don’t you pay at the time of ordering?

Not for online supermarket shopping. It is charged on the day of delivery. Just before picking so they can cancel if payment is declined.


It's all in the T&C's (and likely the quick info when you set up an account).

sarah1972

starving_artist wrote: »

That’s like saying you book and pay for a flight with Ryanair when it has a sale but then have to pay the full price when you fly because it has put up the price by then.

Don’t you pay at the time of ordering?

Its nothing like a ryanair flight which you pay for at the time of booking.


All online grocery shops are paid for when picked for delivery, you cant pay for it when you order it as prices and offers change and hand weighed items etc

Browntoa

Argos is the same , you pay the price on the day , not the price when you order

alanq

sarah1972 wrote: »

All of the supermarkets do ir and clearly state that you will be charged current prices on the day of delivery and not the day of ordering.

Not true. See my post #3 in the following thread.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5913509/online-food-shopping-vent

alanq

Browntoa wrote: »

Argos is the same , you pay the price on the day , not the price when you order

Not true. See 4.3 of Ts&Cs
https://www.argos.co.uk/help/terms-and-conditions/


"If you reserve a product and the price changes (due to normal fluctuations e.g. goods going into or coming out of promotion, but not a pricing error) before you collect the item, you may request to pay the lowest of i) the price on reservation or ii) the prevailing price in store at the time of collection. This will also apply if your reservation is extended but not if the reservation collection window has expired."

"For FastTrack and Tu clothing orders where payment is made at the time of ordering for in store collection, the price you pay is the price specified at the point of placing the order and not the prevailing price in store at the time of collection. If on collection it is the case that the item has come down in price since the FastTrack order was placed, we will be happy to refund the purchase price and re- sell the item at the lower price. If the price has gone up from when the order was placed, it remains valid unless there has been a price error"