tesco price diferrential

jusdotc · 16 March 2009 at 12:26PM

help! not sure what, if anything i can do about this.
Story
our hoover - sorry, vacuum cleaner has packed in. quick look through tesco direct catalogue and we find a suitable model £99.97.

go to store (less than a mile) find model - pay £99.97

plus other shopping and pick up new catalogue.
get home, hoover - sorry, vacuum house, sit down with cuppa.

glance through new catalogue.
same item £79.97!

this morning ring main customer services - nothing. allowed to advertise at different prices. take it back unused for refund and re-order at lower price.

rang store - first contact "i would've checked the price first". :mad:
passed to duty manager "we can advertise different prices in different places" - unused could have refunded and re-ordered.:mad:
rang trading standards - will keep on file but legally they've done nothing wrong:mad:
Question
is there any use in pursuing the matter?
if i'd not used it they'd effectively be giving me £20 back because they do sell the item cheaper.
the fact remains that they sell it cheaper so why can't i have my £20?
is this an ASA matter?
is there any point in arguing with tesco?
aren't they just the government's retail arm?

annoyed, co. durham (land of the prince bishops & god's own country)

OlliesDad · 16 March 2009 at 12:38PM

jusdotc wrote: »

help! not sure what, if anything i can do about this.
Story
our hoover - sorry, vacuum cleaner has packed in. quick look through tesco direct catalogue and we find a suitable model £99.97.
go to store (less than a mile) find model - pay £99.97 plus other shopping and pick up new catalogue.
get home, hoover - sorry, vacuum house, sit down with cuppa.
glance through new catalogue.
same item £79.97!
this morning ring main customer services - nothing. allowed to advertise at different prices. take it back unused for refund and re-order at lower price.
rang store - first contact "i would've checked the price first". :mad:
passed to duty manager "we can advertise different prices in different places" - unused could have refunded and re-ordered.:mad:
rang trading standards - will keep on file but legally they've done nothing wrong:mad:
Question
is there any use in pursuing the matter?
if i'd not used it they'd effectively be giving me £20 back because they do sell the item cheaper.
the fact remains that they sell it cheaper so why can't i have my £20?
is this an ASA matter?
is there any point in arguing with tesco?
aren't they just the government's retail arm?

annoyed, co. durham (land of the prince bishops & god's own country)

Do the items have serial numbers? If not, you can buy a new one and return it as if it was the original.

TS are correct as they are acting legally, although maybe not morally. It is there products and they are under no obligations to sell it at the cheaper price.

Mark_Hewitt · 16 March 2009 at 1:32PM

Yep, they are acting legally I'm afraid. They are free to advertise products for whatever price they like.

A chain of newsagents I used to work in for example. had a standard price list, which most shops charged except city centre ones which put 5p on the price of everything. Perfectly legal, and indeed good business practice.

Art_2 · 16 March 2009 at 6:05PM

Tesco are right and you are wrong. I wonder what would have happened if the cleaner had gone up £20 - would you have given them the difference?

bap98189 · 16 March 2009 at 6:33PM

It may seem unfair, but there it would be unworkable if they had to stick to a single price in all locations.

Say a shop prints a catalogue and then their supplier increases the price of a product. Just because 1 price has changed, do you expect them to reprint them all?

churchrat · 17 March 2009 at 10:45AM

common practice I think. We found a freezer in Currys that we liked, looked it up on-line and it was £30 cheaper and no delivery charge. I do wonder why they do it tho---it seems as tho they want the stores to go out of business.

Kkeskin · 17 March 2009 at 11:18AM

It horrible but yes they can do that......

but remember you have 28 days from the purchase date for a full refund should your item become faulty.

RobertoMoir · 17 March 2009 at 2:12PM

jusdotc wrote: »

rang trading standards - will keep on file but legally they've done nothing wrong:mad:

Honestly not sure why the story didn't end at this point, possibly with a promise not to shop there again. If they didn't do anything illegal, surely that's the end of the discussion, so to speak?

williham · 17 March 2009 at 5:38PM

You should have bought it at the lower price and returned it for a refund at the higher price.

It's not just about what the law is but retailers should want the customer to be happy. If they just gave the £20 the OP would probably be posting saying how good Tesco's customer services is, as it happens they're up £20 but down on the bad image they are being given. I don't shop in Tesco anymore because they don't have their priorities right.

RobertoMoir · 17 March 2009 at 11:22PM

williham wrote: »

You should have bought it at the lower price and returned it for a refund at the higher price.

It's not just about what the law is but retailers should want the customer to be happy. If they just gave the £20 the OP would probably be posting saying how good Tesco's customer services is, as it happens they're up £20 but down on the bad image they are being given. I don't shop in Tesco anymore because they don't have their priorities right.

I absolutely agree, but people in general seem to be hell bent on confusing their "I know my rights innit mate" sense of entitlement with what their rights actually are. Tesco ought to be looking to make their customers happy, but they don't have to go above and beyond if they don't want to.

tesco price diferrential

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