Sainsbury smart shop app with Google Pay not so smart
Undisputedtruth
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Used the Smart shop app at my nearest Sainsbury Superstore yesterday where a pop up suddenly appeared on my phone with a message to say that Google Pay is now integrated into the smart shop app. In other words, you can shop with smart shop app and pay with google pay then leave the store or so it seems...
Excited by this piece of news, I asked a staff about this interesting piece of technology and asked how I can get a receipt for my purchase. She assured me that one will either appear by email, on the app itself or I can ask the staff to print one out. The reality was far different to expectations.
A Sainsbury Local details appeared on my smart shop app which I thought was strange because I was in a Superstore. There is usually some price differences between the format stores with the Local generally more expensive.
I picked up the Ciabatta rolls and noticed straight away the price discrepancy. I was charged the Local price instead of the Superstore. Anyway I thought I could pay for the goods and sort out a refund.
I was led to believe that I could just pay with the app and just the leave the store with the purchase. However this wasn't the case. As soon as you hit the pay button the app ask you to scan the QR code at the exit point. It didn't clarify what were the exit points. Finally I made my way to the customer service desk where I scanned the QR code after asking a member of staff who appeared bewildered on the nature of the question. I paid using Google Pay. Then the silliness began when I asked for a receipt as none appeared on my phone or email accounts.
The customer service staff said that the receipt was for £29. Very bizarre considering my purchase was for 70p. There appeared to no record of my purchase on his system but I had a transaction number on my Google Pay to indicate it had gone through.
I then asked the Checkout Supervisor what was going on but wasn't even remotely interested in resolving a two fold issue: a receipt and discrepancy in the price of the item. The Duty Manager wasn't helpful either, particularly as his listening skills were poor and couldn't grasped the concept on what was going on. He couldn't do a simple thing in checking the price of an item or search for my receipt on his system. In the end I said I was going to complain elsewhere and also take a picture of the price placard as evidence of the price discrepancy for the item concerned. The dopey Duty Manager thought I was going to take a picture of him.
When I got home, I checked with my bank to see if the transaction had gone through, it did but couldn't tell me which store it was.
I think in future I will use the smart shop app and then separately use the Google Pay app as a standalone on the tills with a contact reader where you normally get a receipt if you ask for one. No had any issues using this method.
The conclusion of this story is that using the smart shop app with an integrated Google Pay could land you in trouble as there's no evidence of your purchase with a possibility of being overcharged.
Excited by this piece of news, I asked a staff about this interesting piece of technology and asked how I can get a receipt for my purchase. She assured me that one will either appear by email, on the app itself or I can ask the staff to print one out. The reality was far different to expectations.
A Sainsbury Local details appeared on my smart shop app which I thought was strange because I was in a Superstore. There is usually some price differences between the format stores with the Local generally more expensive.
I picked up the Ciabatta rolls and noticed straight away the price discrepancy. I was charged the Local price instead of the Superstore. Anyway I thought I could pay for the goods and sort out a refund.
I was led to believe that I could just pay with the app and just the leave the store with the purchase. However this wasn't the case. As soon as you hit the pay button the app ask you to scan the QR code at the exit point. It didn't clarify what were the exit points. Finally I made my way to the customer service desk where I scanned the QR code after asking a member of staff who appeared bewildered on the nature of the question. I paid using Google Pay. Then the silliness began when I asked for a receipt as none appeared on my phone or email accounts.
The customer service staff said that the receipt was for £29. Very bizarre considering my purchase was for 70p. There appeared to no record of my purchase on his system but I had a transaction number on my Google Pay to indicate it had gone through.
I then asked the Checkout Supervisor what was going on but wasn't even remotely interested in resolving a two fold issue: a receipt and discrepancy in the price of the item. The Duty Manager wasn't helpful either, particularly as his listening skills were poor and couldn't grasped the concept on what was going on. He couldn't do a simple thing in checking the price of an item or search for my receipt on his system. In the end I said I was going to complain elsewhere and also take a picture of the price placard as evidence of the price discrepancy for the item concerned. The dopey Duty Manager thought I was going to take a picture of him.
When I got home, I checked with my bank to see if the transaction had gone through, it did but couldn't tell me which store it was.
I think in future I will use the smart shop app and then separately use the Google Pay app as a standalone on the tills with a contact reader where you normally get a receipt if you ask for one. No had any issues using this method.
The conclusion of this story is that using the smart shop app with an integrated Google Pay could land you in trouble as there's no evidence of your purchase with a possibility of being overcharged.
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Usually I like the convenience of technology but in this case it was a complete breakdown in the app and severely poor customer service who couldn't care less.
Yes Google Pay is integrated into the app so you can use smart shop in stores that don't have the smart shop checkouts but in larger stores that have the checkouts then you need to use these.
So in a big store you go to the checkout and scan the code on the till then pay using the till and that then gives you the option of the receipt as you appear to have done before.
In a smaller "local" store you use the app and when you leave the store there is a QR code you scan so the app knows you finished and then it will take the money using Google Pay and email you the receipt.
You seem to have confused the system by continuing to shop when you were in a different store than you thought then scanning a QR code to pay at the till instead of the exit QR code for the correct store it thought you were at so that's why you didn't get an email with the receipt.
When the wrong store came up why did you continue to use the app and why would you pay and then try and get a refund when you could see the price was incorrect before you started? That doesn't make sense to me.
So in future make sure the correct store comes up when using the app and you will have no issues at all.
Thanks for your post. It was useful as I now have more understanding on the process.
I've managed to find a number for the Smart Shop team. So I'll update this thread in due course.
Anyway, I'm going back to the store to see if the location issue reoccurs.