Buyer Beware!

angelinamay

CONCERNING ALDI, Sleaford

I'm adding this following a shopping trip to Aldi, Sleaford yesterday. Might be a bit rambling, but stay with it. One of the Fish products they sell is Basa Fillets with a Herb coating. It was £1.59 per box for a while then increased in price. Yesterday, I selected a box at the price of £1.79 - my mistake was, this price tag was for the item on the shelf ABOVE the Basa fillets. Anyway, following payment, I looked at the till receipt to note this fish was charged at £2.09. I returned to the freezer cabinet and realised my mistake. there was however NO ticket price for the Basa. I returned to the till area and asked the staff member at the till to call the manager, not realising he WAS the manager. I asked what was the price of the Basa, he pointed it out on the receipt, then I questioned it. He then followed me to the freezer cabinet, and these are his words. 'Ah you was looking at the incorrect item - that price is for the item above' (which I had already realised but there was no ticket for the Basa). I asked where was the price ticket for the Basa, he said 'we don't have a ticket for that product', he noticed a ticket just tucked out of sight and placed that on the front. He said 'there you are, that's the price', I pointed out that's for 4 x Haddock Fillets not Basa! He then again said 'we don't currently have a ticket for the Basa and would NOT accept Aldi was in the wrong. He then said 'whatever the till price shows is correct'. I don't trust the till and said as much, he was amazed... He would NOT go to the office area to confirm the price was correct. I then requested a refund of £2.09 which he gave without hesitation.  My point is this. There WAS no price ticket for the item, and (my mistake) I assumed the £1.79 to be the correct price. I was charged 30p over and above that. How many OTHER customers are Aldi, indeed many Supermarkets overcharging, hoping the customer doesn't query it?  It happened last week in Lidl also, but was for only about 12p so I let that one go. Just work this out...if 2,000 of a week's footfall is overcharged 30p that's £600 clear profit - and there's WAY over 2,000 customers through the doors over a 7 day period, and this is *ONE* store I'm highlighting!!  In the current cost of living crisis, I URGE YOU to check what you're being charged. QUERY it with the till staff, and don't then these rich Supermarkets should benefit from YOUR money. 

SaverRate

So there was no price label for the product you brought so you assumed it was the same as another product. You could have asked a member of staff before buying to check the price or once you had noticed it on the receipt you could have just returned it for a full refund? Of course Aldi wont reduce to match the price of another product that’s just ludicrous 

angelinamay

SaverRate said:

So there was no price label for the product you brought so you assumed it was the same as another product. You could have asked a member of staff before buying to check the price or once you had noticed it on the receipt you could have just returned it for a full refund? Of course Aldi wont reduce to match the price of another product that’s just ludicrous 

Why is it ludicrous?  Other shops have done in the past, I admitted it was my mistake, but equally WHY WAS THERE no ticket offering this product at the correct price?  This manager tried telling me, the price he found (tucked away) was correct.  It wasn't even the same bally product !!  Incidentally, YOU try finding a member of staff that isn't working a till. 

sarah1972

Not really seeing a major issue. 

No price ticket for the product so if their is no member of staff nearby, just ask at the till? 

It happens, the till had the correct price and the staff hadn’t put a label on the shelf yet…..end of the matter. 

You are saying that they are overcharging but I see no example of that in your post at all?

(pm’d the team to move this post to the groceries board when they are in tomorrow  as currently it’s not on any board)

angelinamay

" No price ticket for the product so if their is no member of staff nearby, just ask at the till? "
I didn't realise it was the wrong price until I returned to look after paying for it. I admitted as much

" You are saying that they are overcharging but I see no example of that in your post at all?"
There was no ticketing, offering the item to the customer. Even a temporary ticket would have been good as the Manager admitted they had no ticket. 

"No price ticket for the product so if their is no member of staff nearby, just ask at the till?"
The item was within the belt-full of shopping. I wouldn't have realised had I not had the till receipt. There's never any staff nearby, I looked, the till was the only place i could ask - he then called someone to take over the till whilst he assisted me.

Thanks for getting this moved - I thought I had placed on Groceries board.

sarah1972

angelinamay said:

" You are saying that they are overcharging but I see no example of that in your post at all?"
There was no ticketing, offering the item to the customer. Even a temporary ticket would have been good as the Manager admitted they had no ticket. 


Thanks for getting this moved - I thought I had placed on Groceries board.

Still can’t see where they have overcharged? No ticket doesn’t mean overcharging it just means there was no ticket so no price displayed ? 

400ixl

So you are warning people not to go into supermarkets and randomly pick up products they do not know the price of and take them to the till expecting to only pay what they think it is worth.

Well yes, bit of a no brainer really as the result will never be good if the price does not meet expectation.

The advice of make sure you have correctly aligned the product to the shelf label, and asking if you can't is good. The lack of ability to ask someone before taking it to a till is a concern from a customer service point of view.

angelinamay

400ixl said:

So you are warning people not to go into supermarkets and randomly pick up products they do not know the price of and take them to the till expecting to only pay what they think it is worth.

Well yes, bit of a no brainer really as the result will never be good if the price does not meet expectation.

The advice of make sure you have correctly aligned the product to the shelf label, and asking if you can't is good. The lack of ability to ask someone before taking it to a till is a concern from a customer service point of view.

No. No, I'm warning people to check their till receipts before leaving the store.  Aldi and a number of other supermarkets are fond of not aligning the goods above the correct price tag.  Sarcasm aside, when there aren't any pricing clues, and when ya haven't got ALL DAY to nip back n forth to the till to check prices, or a couple of small kids playing up, then the only route really is to purchase and check that till receipt.  Capisce? 

pumpkin89

Aldi is in the wrong here in that it's a legal requirement to display the price of every product.  The manager should have known better and resolved OP's complaint more satisfactorily.

That said, there is no grand conspiracy.  All the major supermarkets have policies and procedures in place to try to prevent this from happening.  Unfortunately (?), shop staff are human and can miss things or make mistakes just as customers can.

maisie_cat

Shelf tags are often missing, sometimes because a customer has removed it to challenge a price at the till. I quite often ask for a price check before I decide to buy.
I was behind somebody the other day in Lidl arguing over 10p and holding the queue up, if I'd had 10p I'd have given it to her.

Brie

I get how irritating this is but it's not just Aldi it's almost every supermarket I've ever been to.  I must admit I really struggle with the price labels - so many are missing or badly placed or, and this is an age thing, are too small to be read.  I might be able to see £1.79 but I may not be able to see if that's for basa or haddock or flamingos!

I have no problem when an error is pointed out if there is an apology and/or an offer to refund (with or without also getting the product as some stores do). 

The worst one though was when we picked up a large lasagna in Tesco with a label showing as £3.50.  Got to the til and were charged £7 or something.  When questioned we were told it was the correct price.  When we disputed this due to the label we'd seen we were made to feel like we were crooks and liars.  OH went with the manager to point out the label and the large pile of lasagna.  Turns out it was the wrong label as £3.50 was the price of the small lasagna instead.  Even at that point, when it was obviously one of their shelf stackers errors, we were blatantly told if we didn't like it we should leave the store.  No apology or admission that they were in the wrong in any way.  All it would have taken was "oops! looks like someone screwed up!! Sorry!".