Poundstretcher rip off ?

Barrie99999

With the gardening season soon to get going again I need to stock up on plant food, I usually use Miracle Grow All purpose so looked to see if anyone had it of offer. I looked at the offers page on the Poundstretcher web site and 1kg Miracle Grow plant food advertised in their sale listing for Now £9.50 , The R.R.P for this product is £7.99 and being sold for £6.99 at B&M £6.99 at The Range and £7.65 at B&Q.. Stretching £7.99 to £9.50 and claiming it was discounted is quite a stretch. I emailed them for an explanation and received a response.............................

" You have 1kg Miracle Grow plant food advertised in your sale listing for Now £9.50 , what was it before the claimed reduction ? The R.R.P for this product is £7.99 and being sold for £6.99 at B&M £6.99 at The Range and £7.65 at B&Q."
I received a reply........................

"Good morning,
Thank you for contacting customer service and we are very sorry to hear that you are unhappy with our prices.
Unfortunately, due to inflation and continually increasing prices from our suppliers and freight costs we are forced to increase costs on many of our products.
We do try to hold our prices and keep them as low as possible for our customers as we appreciate the disappointment in the change in prices, however on many occasions we are simply unable to hold our prices.
We apologise for any inconvenience and hope you can continue to enjoy visiting our stores.
Kind regards,
Emma|Customer Service"

The stench of  in that reply required a response.

"Thank you for the reply Emma but you failed to tell me what you were selling this product for before it was discounted let alone why even after the supposed discount it is still nearly 20% above R.R.P. The three companies I mentioned in my last e.mail are all also subject to the same inflation and rising costs as Poundstretcher but price this product below the R.R.P which has increased from last year."

They have not responded again. Have they grossly overpriced this product in order to later reduce it to R.R.P. and claim it is a great bargain? If you read this Martin maybe you can get a straight answer from them.

HillStreetBlues

Being fair to them, it doesn't state which way they stretch the pound.

BoGoF

Too much time on your hands per chance?

sheramber

Martin  sold this site years ago  you csan contact him here  martinlewis@itv.com

oldernonethewiser

You are being ripped off by everyone. It's only £5.50 in Tesco, quick write another letter, immediately if not sooner.

Barrie99999

They have now responded.....................

"On 08/02/2024 13:45, Customer Services wrote:

Good afternoon,

We have checked with buyers of this product and the price has been set at £9.50 since October 2023.

 Please can we ask when and which store you saw it discounted and the price too please?

 Thank you

 Kind regards,

Emma|Customer Service "

"I already told you of 3 stores in my first mail, 2 of those stores quote the R.R.P as £7.99. Here they are again  £6.99 at B&M £6.99 at The Range and £7.65 at B&Q. . You are listing this product  in your sale listing as "Now £9.50" giving the impression that it is a reduced price so were you selling it for more before? On Miracle Grow's own website they give links to places to buy from all of which are selling below £7.99 one of which is Amazon who also quote the R.R.P as being £7.99.

" Good afternoon,

I’m sorry, I didn’t meant the pricing of the item at other retailers. I thought you had visited one of our stores as there was no mention of online or our website.

 Please accept our apologies, this has been in error and will be amended straight away.

 Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

 Kind regards,

Emma|Customer Service "

BoGoF said:

Too much time on your hands per chance?

Yes, it's pouring down outside so a bit bored.

oldernonethewiser said:

You are being ripped off by everyone. It's only £5.50 in Tesco, quick write another letter, immediately if not sooner.

oldernonethewiser said:

You are being ripped off by everyone. It's only £5.50 in Tesco, quick write another letter, immediately if not sooner.

Cheers I have not bought any yet and that's a great price.

CliveOfIndia

OK, the Pedant in me has surfaced after reading that

First off, RRP means Recommended Retail Price.  "Recommended", not "Mandatory".  Any shop is free to sell - or try to sell - it for any price they choose.  The effects of competition dictate that some stores will sell it for less than RRP.  Some will sell it at a higher price - if no-one chooses to buy it, that's their loss, but they've done nothing wrong.

Secondly, if the advert says "Now priced at £9.50" that a true statement - they are selling it now at that price.  It's different if they claim "20% off our previous price" or "Was £10.50, now only £9.50" or similar, then there are rules about how long they must have sold it at the higher price for.

Just goes to show why it always pays to shop around

GrubbyGirl_2

Now £9.50 doesn't mean it's discounted and checking the web site there is no mention at all that it's been discounted.  It could have been £6.99 before and it's NOW gone up to £9.50.  Are you sure you're not just making the assumption that it's been discounted?

Barrie99999

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

Now £9.50 doesn't mean it's discounted and checking the web site there is no mention at all that it's been discounted.  It could have been £6.99 before and it's NOW gone up to £9.50.  Are you sure you're not just making the assumption that it's been discounted?

It is listed in their half price sale list as Now £9.50 whether legal or not that implies that is now a reduction in price and their constant refusal to say what the previous price was is very fishy. Even small independent garden centers with limited buying power are not selling it for over £9. If they make this claim they should be questioned when they fail to live up to it "With Poundstretcher, you can be confident that you are getting the best deals, making your budget go further without sacrificing on quality or style." 

pallyman

Just buy it from the the other stores & don't give them your money anymore..

Vectis

Based on this, you'll be writing to a hell of a lot of shops and supermarkets.

Unless, magically, every shop and supermarket in the country starts selling every product that they have at exactly the same prices as everyone else.

But, I can't see that happening, can you?

Good luck writing to them all, though.