Tesco Wrong Price - Advice

Gillby1

Hi all,

Today I popped into Tesco's to buy lunch. I spotted some unsmoked bacon 500g, over a shelf label for unsmoked bacon, 500g. There was no other label nearby, neither was there any other unsmoked bacon. The pack went through at £2.88 despite the label saying £2.48. I showed the receipt and item to CS, and the lady brought the shelf label over to me and showed me that the tiny code on the bottom of it was slightly different to the bar code on the product. She couldn't tell me which label this item referred to, and stated that the bacon was in the wrong place. However, she would only give me my money back if i returned the item, as it was 'not mispriced'. I didn't have time to wait for the manager, but wondered if she was in the right anyway? Surely we can't beexpected to double check the tiny shelf bar code against every item we want to buy - and we assume the shelf tag is correct if it is in front of an item of the same description!

Annoyed. :mad:

Gills

Sorry - probably in the wrong forum!

lipidicman

Nah, I dont agree. You have to check that the barcode is for the right product. You have to work for that refund!

Remember customers can move items around. Just being in front of a label doesn't mean it is mispriced

Gillby1

Really? You think we should assume that we don't trust the shelf labelling? I agree that we must check that the shelf label describes the item, if we decide to rely on it for pricing, but surely it shouldn't be the shoppers responsibility to double check the 16 digit, tiny barcode on every item they buy? The item and the label both had exactly the same wording...

lipidicman

I just noticed the descriptions were the same (line feed meant I didnt notice the 500g)

OK, maybe so. I have also noticed in the past that the bar codes on products DONT match those on the products (at least for non own-brand products) so she MAY have been using that as a get-out. Anybody know any more about this?

Colin2511

if it was the same item then the barcode is irrelivent, this is for their scanning purposes, so they were conning you. I have had money back on the smiked bacon joints & unsmoked and the barcodes did not match (as this referred to the lower priced meat that I "missed" when I accidently picked up the higher price meat.

lipidicman

The use of "missed" suggests it was deliberate. Is this really worth it?

James240

lipidicman wrote:

Nah, I dont agree. You have to check that the barcode is for the right product. You have to work for that refund!

Remember customers can move items around. Just being in front of a label doesn't mean it is mispriced

I agree with lipidicman "customers" have a tendency to just move items about and drop them anywere especially when they see something they want cheaper. I work in retail and while yes it is confusing, there is no possible way shopworkers can possibly put back every product a customer decides to put on the nearest shelf available becuase they want sometihng else that has caught there eye. I can see where ur coming from but its not intentionally mispriced.

p.s. im not a manager im a lowly shelf filler and come across this numerous times

Rave

Exactly how many varieties of Tesco unsmoked 500g back bacon packs do they do?:rolleyes:

Answer- one. This is a well known misprice which has been in my local store for about 10 days now- the smoked bacon is similarly mispriced. I only tend to do one refund a week though and have yet to take advantage of this one. Anyway, yes you were overcharged and she was wriggling out of giving you the refund for a spurious reason. Back bacon is back bacon, it's not the customer's job to make sure that the little numbers match up.

Fatboy_NSS

Given that the store hasn't sorted it out I'd say that you may as well put your compaint in writing. Yeah the manager can argue that it was a different pack of baxon on offer but Tesco must stock several different 500g packs of bacon, and it's up to them to make it clear which one they're referring to on their shelf tags. I'm sure they'll write back with an apology and some vouchers to spend in store.

MrSmartprice

As far as the law is concerned, a price indication is illegal if it is MISLEADING. It does not have to actually be false. This prevents the shop from relying on getouts like in this case. If there is a display of bacon priced at 99p, then that is what should be charged. Don't be put off by red herrings dredged up by stroppy staff.

Imagine how many people who go shopping have less than 20/20 vision. You may be able to read the shelf price but not the small print, barcode etc. If they refuse to honour their price policy complain to Trading Standards.

Gillby1

James 240,

I appreciate that customers may move things about, but these items were neatly stacked in large numbers, between other neatly stacked types of different bacon, and i don't imagine many customers do that? Although i guess it'd be easier for you if they did!

Anyway, I've emailed Tesco so we'll see if they reply...

Cheers

Gills