Tesco misprice policy discussion area

nads

Biting the hand that feeds you comes to mind.

andreboyle

I will mail Tesco and ask them their opinion, they may value the data themselves and I can be absolved of all 'blame' up front.

I thought the ultimate goal here was to have Tesco fix their prices, not to get free products which is a nice side-effect in the run-up to the 'promised land' of valid pricing.

If we want to keep the free products rolling in then this would surely help them identify the stores with poor pricing. An interesting view-point I guess.

nads

That's a good way of going about it, it sounds fair. If you're confident enough you could say somethign like "if you have any major concerns about me going ahead with this, please let me know as soon as possible (30 days if you want to sound proffessional!)" At least that way you have given them a chacne to give their view.

The second point is, why not do it for other stores as well?

andreboyle

Nads,

My domain name is http://www.with.us

So the website I had in mind was http://complain.with.us where any complaints about any store could be registered and tracked.

The way I've done this kind of thing in the past is provide a form for registration. If someone has entered a store before it apears in a dropdown listbox, if not you can enter the store name free-form. The store name then goes into the drop for other users to make sure that complaints about the same store are automatically grouped easier. Kind of self administering.

Dre

nads

Good idea, it's workable. My personal objection is that it will be end up focussing too much on Tesco misprices not being actioned correctly and will end p being used to pick up misprices instead of actual agreement on "this store is bad, let's do something constructive about it" approach.

Going off a bit, but I would keep the list of stores limited.

andreboyle

The end vision that I have for http://complain.with.us would be that it fits into a larger website which is designed to store info and track the progress of personal complaints. The data entered by other users would then be used to leverage better results as a retailer would have to accpt that it's never actually lone complaints.

Kind of like saying "Yeah had a problem in store x, so did 10 other people."

This is the reason I wouldn't want to narrow down the service as it's not about targeting Tesco, it's about sorting out CS issues with any and all companies.

Maybe my grand idea is a little too grand for what we need here. Still, it could potentially be usefull. As I said, I'll mail Tesco and will let everyone know what their response has been.

Dre

Dick_Dastardly_3

Yes, this is an interesting one. In my view we should tread with reasonable caution. I don't think that it is appropriate to name managers or CS representatives as I believe that may cause an issue with regard to privacy of the individual and also with regard to the data protection act (holding information on Manager / CS without there knowledge.

My view is that the system should provide a central logging of issues, while the onus still remains on the individual MSEr to keep good records, of items he/she has entered, if the matter needs to be pursued further.

1. Each time an item is entered.

Store Location (may want to be flexible ie store in WALES, Store in NE, Store in Scotland)
Date
Overcharge Item(s) (may wish to included BARCODE ?), with details of lowest advertised price and price sold for (might need separate line for each item).

So main table holds Store, Date & Internally generated reference, plus key to sub-table holding data for the individual items. Thus single reference.

Details of any issues with CS (NO MENTIONING OF NAMES BUT POSITIONS CAN BE USED ie Store Manager, CS Rep, etc)
Further Action (HQ call, Trading Standard Informed, etc)

In my view the overcharge item field is the key, if it can be proven that the same items throughtout Tesco's are being overcharged then they will have a great deal of explaining to do.

System produces a reference number of the entry.

As the onus is on the inputter to keep his house in order, then no name details will be required, thus allowing anonomity. If a receipt for a particular reference is required then a message when entering the site could be popped-up, and then a private mail could be sent to the administrator by the inputter with the receipt details (scanned and emailed preferably).

Maybe only wish to have input access to users so they can not see the entries already made, or at least have the view access to strictly MSErs (could be done via private mails with details of login access / password protection).

2. User enters this reference number on the appropriate receipt or documentation he/she has to hand, AND STORES IT SAFELY.
3. List of transgressions sent to Tesco's on a monthly/weekly basis, indicating that users of the site have the evidence of overcharging receipts to hand, and will produce if required. Also the communication should highlight that the evidence of non-compliance by CS's to the policy is overwhelming also.
4. Result ---- Tesco's HQ gives all stores a damn good rollocking, having ascertained that the prevailing evidence to too substantial for them to get away with it for much longer. At worst I'd imagine we'd get a substantial amount less hassle by CS, as HQ would know that playtime is over and they are now under serious pressure to get there house in order.

andreboyle

The database design, etc certainly wouldn't be an issue as this is what I do. My concern is that it would provide :-

. Enough data for MSErs to know which stores could be an issue at the CS desk

. Data for a retail chain to action any problematic issues they out in the field.

In terms of the data I'd store I'd do it like this :-

Chain Table

---

Internal Ref ID
Store Name (Tesco's, Asda, Morrisons, etc.)

Stores Table

---

Parent Chain ID
Unique Store ID
Details of store.....

Incident Table

---

ID of store at which problem arose.
Date of Incident
Other fields for Detail of the issue

Products Purchased (f required.)

---

ID of incident
Barcode for product
Name of product
etc, etc etc ....

This is all very technical I know but this would provide sufficient granularity in terms of data storage to be able to report on it for MSE and Tesco. As I said, database design/coding isn't an issue as this is my bread and butter and in the long term I have a wider view for this 'application' so it has to retain flexibility for me.

All of the above would be seamless for the use entering data but behind the scenes is important.

In terms of privacy, etc. There is marginal value for a retail chain's head office if the names of people dealt with are not stored. Without an actual name as a reference there are no absolutes and therefore little benefit in reporting/storing it. Yes there are data management / privacy issues but none that are not easily dealt with by a data management policy and appropriate access controls. That would be my worry.

There is little/no difference in putting someone's name in a private database as there is naming someone on the forums here.

Thanks for the input !!!!!! Dastardly, we'll see what Tesco make of the idea. Should be good fun. I wonder if you can hear someone sweating!?

ben500

Well I'm certainly impressed so far, most of it is beyond me but I can understand enough to see you are at least planning for future problems.

I'm getting more and more interested in your "other project" the more you post, anything I could be looking at online apart from the previous link?

ampersand

abijanzo wrote:

£43.94 refund tonight!
Princess Diaries DVD sticker: £7.97 at till: £8.97 (bought 2)
Flash Dance/Footloose/Pretty in Pink 3 DVD Set sticker: £9.97 at till: £19.97
also got 2 packets of parmesan - yum.
CS lady said "Do you make a living out of this?" To which my husband relied "It could be done!"
Our aim is to collect more in refunds in a single month than we actually spend on Groceries!
(And before anyone gets on their moral high horse - Don't bother...Our conscience is clear!)
Think we can manage it?
Thanks to everyone for your support and advice on this thread :rotfl:

Well done abijanzo.
Yes, I'm sure you will.
Freezer for garden produce, bulk bargains and Mr T misprices arrives this afternoon.
WELCOME to new msers who, I hope, have subscribed after attending Saturday's e-bay University at Hatfield.