Tesco misprice policy discussion area

weymuffred

I have searched on the forum but cannot find anything but can someone help me with whsmiths and their mispricing policy? I went to buy 3 books all reduced to £9-95 (ticket with price on it). Cashier puts the first book through it comes on the till as 1p, she quickly said "oh no thats not right is it" and amends it manually on the till, same thing happens with the other two books. What are my rights?

mcallister1

'I have been verbally banned'
That sounds really horrible and very unfair.
All that for 2 bits of cheese, overpriced by £5 a kilo? Let us know what happens- it sounds as if you did all you could at the time, though you maybe could speak to a manager in Dundee tomorrow?

zarjaz_2

Been following this thread for a while now, and watching how so many people get irate at the treatment they receive from Tesco customer services.

Does anyone, beyond me, actually feel that there is something rather indecent about consistently setting out to get something for nothing? Could it even be described as fraudulent? Mistakes are made, which is doubtless why Tesco have this refund policy. But was it really designed to allow what can only be described as systematic abuse - with people competing to see who can get the biggest refund!

Of course, what will happen is that Tesco will eventually withdraw the policy. Only a matter of time. Or do people believe that this is a victimless "crime"? It's not - when goods are given away for nothing, profits go down, and therefore prices go up to compensate. So those of us who don't go shopping in Tesco to hunt for misprices end up subsidising those who do!

Just IMHO, of course!

sarahg1969

Alternatively, they could just stop overcharging? I'd be happy with that, personally.

Sarah

rdwarr

weymuffred wrote:

I have searched on the forum but cannot find anything but can someone help me with whsmiths and their mispricing policy? I went to buy 3 books all reduced to £9-95 (ticket with price on it). Cashier puts the first book through it comes on the till as 1p, she quickly said "oh no thats not right is it" and amends it manually on the till, same thing happens with the other two books. What are my rights?

It looks as though the books were priced at £9.95 and that you were charged £9.95 for them. No contract was made at the 1p price. I can't understand why you're not happy.

mcallister1

'Does anyone, beyond me, actually feel that there is something rather indecent about consistently setting out to get something for nothing? Could it even be described as fraudulent? Mistakes are made, which is doubtless why Tesco have this refund policy. But was it really designed to allow what can only be described as systematic abuse'

I appreciate your viewpoint; certainly people , myself included, are exploiting the policy , either a little or a lot.
Having said that, there is something badly wrong with Tesco's being able to put up notices saying things are reduced, then charge more to the unwary shopper. At least once I have been refunded for an item, the store (and indeed Tesco in general), should be alerted to the problem and can change the SEL nationwide. I think that there is no excuse for continuing to overcharge once it has been brought to your attention.Especially not when you have the resources and turnover of Tesco.
The reason this thread is able to operate is that, so far, Tesco seem to be unable or unwilling to act decisively once a major misprice has been spotted. Weeks after it is first mentioned on this site, prices are still wrong for various items ( the edam cheese for example) and it is only on very high value items that tesco bother to correct them, preferring to overcharge thousands of customers rather than send out corrected SELs or re- price goods.
Of course, other shops do this too, but Tesco also tell us that ' if things go wrong' they will refund, and Tesco get all the good will which that policy rightly brings.
In the last few weeks there has been a real improvement in Tesco's reaction time- possibly rather than getting rid of the policy they will act on their overcharging.
If that happens, although I would miss the free stuff I have had, I will feel that we have helped Tesco have more integrity in pricing, rather than harming it. It is only since people have been 'exploiting' the system that they have paid any attention to this problem IMO.

Alright, I'm not a freedom fighter, but Tesco is in the wrong on a massive scale, and making huge profits through incorrect pricing. My refunds may make them take away their policy- but it may make them look at their systems and check that they are charging the price they advertise.

Martini

zarjaz wrote:

Been following this thread for a while now, and watching how so many people get irate at the treatment they receive from Tesco customer services.

Does anyone, beyond me, actually feel that there is something rather indecent about consistently setting out to get something for nothing? Could it even be described as fraudulent? Mistakes are made, which is doubtless why Tesco have this refund policy. But was it really designed to allow what can only be described as systematic abuse - with people competing to see who can get the biggest refund!

Of course, what will happen is that Tesco will eventually withdraw the policy. Only a matter of time. Or do people believe that this is a victimless "crime"? It's not - when goods are given away for nothing, profits go down, and therefore prices go up to compensate. So those of us who don't go shopping in Tesco to hunt for misprices end up subsidising those who do!

Just IMHO, of course!

Thanks for your post Zarjaz and of course I respect your opinion but I cannot agree with you! You are very likely to get overcharged on some items if you commonly do a large shop at Tesco. You won't notice if you don't look! If Tesco continue to make mistakes (either genuinely or deliberately, we'll never know) then consumers will continue to be ripped off. It is up to us as shoppers to watch out for these errors. If we find them then there is a punishment! Tesco have made up this policy for one reason only, to protect themselves from prosecution! I agree it is a difficult task for them, with so many prices, but not an impossible one. If they don't make mistakes we won't find them. It's as simple as that!
One thing I have noted since observing prices more closely is that prices of a lot of products, especially meat, go up and down like a yo-yo! This is one of their problems. As I scan the prices I see many shoppers just pick an item off the shelf with absoutely no idea what they are going to pay for it! It could be a couple of Pounds per Kg more than last week! Tesco rely purely on shoppers finding them a convenient one stop shop with no idea whatsoever what they are paying from week to week!
Lastly they will not withdraw the policy!
We are doing them a favour as they are "between a rock and a hard place".
If they scrap the policy other supermakets will say "Tesco scrap refund and replace policy because they are loosing too much money because too many shoppers find overcharges!" They would have a field day!
Tesco need to get their act together and ensure better pricing integrity in their stores.

gizmoleeds

Martini wrote:

If they scrap the policy other supermakets will say "Tesco scrap refund and replace policy because they are loosing too much money because too many shoppers find overcharges!" They would have a field day!

I doubt the papers would be too bothered though - it would all blow over in a day - most people probably don't even know about the policy.

devoncat

I agree zarjaz. I am always amused by "we are doing them a favour." A favour would be pointing it out and taking the r&r and letting it be done with. Going to store after store to pick up the same item again and again is doing no favour. How many phones, computers, and fairy books does one person need? Some people get so many because they are selling them on...that is not a favour to tesco or the ordinary people who shop there. I am also amused by the people who insert after they state the sel was changed...isnt that the point of tesco's policy?

BTW, I am not against people r&r, though I do think people take advantage of the system. The greed of some people is no different than the greed of tescos. If people would just use a little restraint I think it would all sit better with me.

Just my opinion...

Iwantit_now

zarjaz wrote:

Been following this thread for a while now, and watching how so many people get irate at the treatment they receive from Tesco customer services.

Does anyone, beyond me, actually feel that there is something rather indecent about consistently setting out to get something for nothing? Could it even be described as fraudulent? Mistakes are made, which is doubtless why Tesco have this refund policy. But was it really designed to allow what can only be described as systematic abuse - with people competing to see who can get the biggest refund!

Of course, what will happen is that Tesco will eventually withdraw the policy. Only a matter of time. Or do people believe that this is a victimless "crime"? It's not - when goods are given away for nothing, profits go down, and therefore prices go up to compensate. So those of us who don't go shopping in Tesco to hunt for misprices end up subsidising those who do!

Just IMHO, of course!

You sound like a Tesco store manager!!!!

If u r overcharged, there is nothing "indecent" about asking for a refund, even if you have 2, 3 or 4 of same items in basket, what is indecent is Mr T's getting away with overcharging the unsuspecting public and increasing their profits - you never hear them say , oh, we have made a mistake and overcharged nationally by x pounds, therefore we will donate the overcharge to a charity.

I told my local store to stick their topside of beef when I got the run a round by a bunch of monkeys ( sorry managers), I went and bought it at a local butchers the next day, at least that way I feel I'm supporting the local business community.