Shelf Prices Vs Till Prices.

Devonian_Rodders

Having looked back on the forum, I note this topic has been raised before, but wondered if any regulations had changed.
Purchased some items from store, and later found the price on shelf was LESS than priced at the till.  I subsequently complained to Customer Services who stated, prices were always correct at till, "although on this occasion a refund would be issued" and the store would be advised of the error. In addition I was advised to observe prices at till when  items were being scanned.  The following week, same again, but this time told cashier amended the price. On the third week, had to wait whilst price checked.
I did complain to the CEO but price has not been changed.
My question being, is the onus on the customer to check prices as scanned, bearing in mind it is difficult to remember all prices when doing a large shop ?  Or is it case of the store hoping customers will not observe the price variation ? 
I am aware of the "Refusal to sell" policy, but customers are meant to be guided by prices displayed being accurate.
Not looking for freebees, just being confident the price you see is the price you pay.

maman

My only experience has been when an offer has expired and the shelf label not changed. The store honoured the shelf price but explained that they have often hundreds of labels to change literally overnight and can miss some. 

Cornucopia

It's *much* easier to query a price difference if it is done in-store, at the time.   That way, the store staff can check the issue, and both deal with your query and resolve the problem.   (That's particularly the case with things like wrong placement of stock).

Personally, I find my current choice of supermarkets to be very good for price accuracy, and I've given up complaining for less than 25p, anyway.    

I'm not aware of there having been any change in the regulations, and my understanding is that persistent offending in this way can get supermarkets into trouble.   So... in reporting issues, you are doing them a favour, and I can recall some of the supermarkets rewarding this (though I'm not sure if they still do). 

All of this is complicated further by self-scanning.   I always think that a claim of having been overcharged is more plausible when it was shop staff that overcharged you, and not you, yourself.  

DCFC79

I think its down to stores not having the staff they once had, the odd ticket does get missed.

Carrot007

DCFC79 said:

I think its down to stores not having the staff they once had, the odd ticket does get missed.

And of course customers often knock them off and put them back in random places not where they are being looked for. I know I do ;-) (I do try to put them back in the right palce).

Farway

Cornucopia said:

It's *much* easier to query a price difference if it is done in-store, at the time.   That way, the store staff can check the issue, and both deal with your query and resolve the problem.   (That's particularly the case with things like wrong placement of stock).

Personally, I find my current choice of supermarkets to be very good for price accuracy, and I've given up complaining for less than 25p, anyway.    

I'm not aware of there having been any change in the regulations, and my understanding is that persistent offending in this way can get supermarkets into trouble.   So... in reporting issues, you are doing them a favour, and I can recall some of the supermarkets rewarding this (though I'm not sure if they still do). 

All of this is complicated further by self-scanning.   I always think that a claim of having been overcharged is more plausible when it was shop staff that overcharged you, and not you, yourself.  

My bold, One was Asda, as well as refunding the difference they gave a £2 voucher, but that part often had to be pointed out to CS person. It was fine while it lasted and did provide a small but steady income

PennyForThem_2

About 4 weeks ago I found strawberries priced at £2 for 400gm on ticket.  Looking at weight on the actual punnet the weight was 300gm.  Pointed out this discrepancy but was not rewarded for my vigalence. Hmmmmmm.

As a scanner (edit) the price for 300 gm strawberries showed up as £2.

MrsStepford

In many French supermarkets, there are scanners dotted about the store for use by customers, so that if the shelf label is missing or seems wrong, you can check the price.

If the till price is higher and there wasn't an offer on, it might be that the item has gone up. I imagine the tills are updated by computer. 

Suggest checking with Trading Standards though as there are laws on pricing. Have a trawl on www.legislation.gov.uk  

Brie

We've had this happen a number of times and as with anything with customer service if there's an apology and a correction we're usually ok with it.

The worst time was in Tesco.  There was a large display for family size lasagne for something like £2.50.  Bargain!!  When we got to the til it came up at more than double, £6.  When we complained we were told that someone must have picked up the lasagne and put it back in the wrong place.  They didn't back down when it was pointed out that that someone must have picked up about 200 of these and replaced them stacked very neatly.  Even when the manager was called they were determined that it was the fault of some random customer rather than the simpler error of one of their staff putting the wrong label on the cooler shelf.  Still boggles me that at no point were they able to stop and laugh about the mistake made.

pumpkin89

MrsStepford said:

In many French supermarkets, there are scanners dotted about the store for use by customers, so that if the shelf label is missing or seems wrong, you can check the price.

Tesco used to have those too.  They were introduced in the late 90s when they started selling a wider range of non-food, but they also installed them in the ambient food sections after a while.  Unfortunately they seemed to break down frequently, and I haven't seen one working in a long time (although now shop at Tesco very infrequently as we don't have one nearby).

General_Grant

MrsStepford said:

In many French supermarkets, there are scanners dotted about the store for use by customers, so that if the shelf label is missing or seems wrong, you can check the price.

If the till price is higher and there wasn't an offer on, it might be that the item has gone up. I imagine the tills are updated by computer. 

Suggest checking with Trading Standards though as there are laws on pricing. Have a trawl on www.legislation.gov.uk  

Legally the till price is inviting the customer to purchase at that price.  The customer can accept or refuse to purchase.

(The fact that generally supermarkets honour the shelf edge label is simply good customer relations.)