Gift cards and being charged a different price at the till

kkgbd2223

Hello,

I would appreciate some advice.  

A well known supermarket chain sells Gift Cards which you can use to purchase goods in its shops and online.  Those Gift Cards themselves are sold in stores and online and are worth the face value of what you purchase them for.  So for example, a £20 Gift Card costs £20 to buy and has £20 of value in the supermarket chain's stores and online.

That same supermarket chain also offers a loyalty discount scheme where members of the loyalty scheme are offered lower prices which are clearly displayed on the shelves in their shops and on their website.

I have noticed that when trying to pay for items that have the loyalty discount with a Gift Card , a higher price is charged at the till than was displayed on the shelf (or online).  At no point has that supermaket chain stated that higher loyalty prices are charged for customers paying with a Gift Card and at no point are those prices shown anywhere until you get to the till.  And even then, it may not be possible to see those higher prices if I have a large shopping basket of many items as they may be "burried" in the list somewhere.  No warning is given at the till or at the online checkout that a higher loyalty price is being charged than shown on the shelf, it's only on close inspection of the shopping list at the till is it possible to see the higher prices and even then it's not made clear that a higher price has been changed.

For example, a box of cans of cola could be shown on the shelf as:

Regular price = £10

Loyalty price = £8

When paying at the till with a Gift Card, the till shows the loyalty discount price as £9.  Pay with cash or a bank card, the loyalty price matches that on the shelf at £8.

I appreciate retailers are allowed to charge what they like, my specific question is that this popular supermarket retaler is advertising pricing on the shelves that are lower than that charged at the till and not making this clear.

Any ideas on what the legal position might be?  I've seen references to the "Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008".

Many thanks.

powerful_Rogue

Might help to name the supermarket.

Arunmor

Split your shopping into two shops and use the gift card to pay for the undiscounted items.

Why do you have gift cards, cash or bank card is best?

la531983

In your example, what does the price show on the till BEFORE the till knows how you are paying?

New_in_the_fens

Arunmor said:

Split your shopping into two shops and use the gift card to pay for the undiscounted items.

Why do you have gift cards, cash or bank card is best?

I use gift cards all the time - I have a benefit through work that gives me a discount on gift cards - e.g. 4% in sains, bnq, bnm, restaurants etc. Why would I not do my shop, use a gift card to pay and therefore get a discount?

For the OP, this isn’t something I’ve seen. I do my shop online at Sains, the cost of my shop does not change when I use a gift card, and I buy many products on Nectar pricing. I’ve also not seen it for Morrisons when I use their gift cards at the till. 

cw8825

I presume your getting the gif cards at a discounted rate anyway, so i guess your still saving

if your buying a £20 gift card to spend £20 in said shop, that makes no sense, use card and get protected

Exodi

New_in_the_fens said:

Arunmor said:

Split your shopping into two shops and use the gift card to pay for the undiscounted items.

Why do you have gift cards, cash or bank card is best?

I use gift cards all the time - I have a benefit through work that gives me a discount on gift cards - e.g. 4% in sains, bnq, bnm, restaurants etc. Why would I not do my shop, use a gift card to pay and therefore get a discount?

For the OP, this isn’t something I’ve seen. I do my shop online at Sains, the cost of my shop does not change when I use a gift card, and I buy many products on Nectar pricing. I’ve also not seen it for Morrisons when I use their gift cards at the till. 

My assumption also - I likewise use a giftcard for most supermarket shops and there's no issues there so it doesn't seem to be the case for Tesco, Sainsburys or Morrisons!

cw8825 said:

I presume your getting the gif cards at a discounted rate anyway, so i guess your still saving

if your buying a £20 gift card to spend £20 in said shop, that makes no sense, use card and get protected

It's typically around 3.5%-4.5% so unlikely to get close to the discounts provided by supermarket discounts.

I doubt the OP themselves is regularly buying gift cards from the store to spend in store - I'd imagine they mentioned that possibility to highlight the absurdity of the supermarkets position.

kkgbd2223 what supermarket please?

kkgbd2223

Hello thank you for your comments.  I'm not going to name the retailer, however, I have spoken with their customer services team and have been clearly told by them that higher pricing for loyalty members is charged when using a Gift Card for payment.

In my example, the sequence at the till will be:

I scan the item, price shows at £10, matches what is on the shelf

I scan the loyalty card, price decreases to £8, matches what is on the shelf

I scan the Gift Card, price increases to £9.  This price isn't displayed anywhere on the shelf

If I then remove the Gift Card as payment, the price decreases to £8

I appreciate a number of employers offer Gift Cards through a work discount scheme, however, clearly that discount isn't being honoured if you are charged a higher price at the till when paying with the Gift Card than is available paying with cash or a bank card even factoring in any discount when buying that Gift Card.

Olinda99

Not sure I understand exactly what you are saying

when you are at the till it shows the total price that you have to pay and then asks you to select a payment method - for example cash, card, gift card etc

are you saying that total price changes when you select gift card?

cannugec5

I cannot see how they can legally charge an unadvertised price without it being in error. 

If they have a pricing error they can simply refuse to sell. However what you are describing is a deliberate act to charge a price that is ‘hidden’ until the point of sale. 

I would love to know the name of the shop so we can examine the small print of their terms and conditions. If they are attempting to be dishonest this should be reported to Trading Standards. 

powerful_Rogue

kkgbd2223 said:

Hello thank you for your comments.  I'm not going to name the retailer, however, I have spoken with their customer services team and have been clearly told by them that higher pricing for loyalty members is charged when using a Gift Card for payment.

In my example, the sequence at the till will be:

I scan the item, price shows at £10, matches what is on the shelf

I scan the loyalty card, price decreases to £8, matches what is on the shelf

I scan the Gift Card, price increases to £9.  This price isn't displayed anywhere on the shelf

If I then remove the Gift Card as payment, the price decreases to £8

I appreciate a number of employers offer Gift Cards through a work discount scheme, however, clearly that discount isn't being honoured if you are charged a higher price at the till when paying with the Gift Card than is available paying with cash or a bank card even factoring in any discount when buying that Gift Card.

Any particular reason for not naming them? At least that way people can try and work out possibly why this happens.