Problems with Tesco - only supermarket to not honour wrongly priced items
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On many an occassion I have shoppped at Tesco and picked up what I assumed to be a bargain. Getting to the checkout the item is actually higher than the price label on the shelf,but when I query this im told its a mistake and someone must have moved the item to the cheaper price label.I ask to get it for the cheaper price (CCTV would prove i HAVE not tampered with the labels just to get a cheaper deal) but they point blank refuse,saying "someone must have moved it".Now I work in a shop and have been told that if an item is on the shelf at say 99p but comes up on the till at £1.50,it BY LAW has to be sold at the cheaper price,even if it means making a loss,as its the company's fault and not the customer. I always get the lower priced honoured in other supermarkets/shops,so why do Tesco insist on being awkward and refusing? Anyone else had problems with this in Tesco?ps its not tesco compare but the actual supermarket - it just didnt give me the option!!
Answers (10)
Hi chucki, and welcome to the forum.
Sadly, the information your employer has given you is incorrect. Have a look at this article from Which, it gives a good clear explanation of your legal rights when this happens...
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/your-rights-pricing-disputes/your-rights/
Many shops, including supermarkets, however, may allow you to buy incorrectly priced goods at the 'wrong' price as a gesture of goodwill.
Fruitcake is right, this is called 'Invitation to Treat' and there is no obligation for the shop to sell you the item at the marked price. However, reputable organistions would probaly honour it to keep your custom.
Go in when the store is busy and ask for a refund .See the manager they are usually more helpful.
id never ask for a refund in the bigger store at mine, cos i used to work there and two of the managers hate me (got a disciplinary for something i hadnt even done and when i asked to see CCTV of what i was being accused of,the manager conducting it said no its not important and other stuff.I later had a final disiplinary with the actual store manager and he had no issues with me seeing CCTV,which as I had said all along PROVED i hadnt done anything, but i was still sacked for telling the manager conducting the disciplinary a jumped up effing bitch and who the hell did she think she was speaking to people the way she did,and refusing to apologise lol. The other manager was my manager in another dept and he didnt give a damn about the fact we were being left in the sh*t,worked in the petrol station and if we didnt take our breaks or get stock by a certain time we would get bollocked even if we had no staff and if we phoned over to the store they would take forever or "nobody is coming".so i told him the fact he was MANAGER OF THE PETROL STATION and not manager of the general store yet kept spending his time there was a joke.)Tescos are bastards to work for,yet the one beside the hospital at mine have the most amazing staff.
Of all the supermarkets, I find that Tesco has the worst customer relations. I bought a loaf of bread which had a live fly in it. They offered me 15p! I told them that it had cost me more in petrol to return it and I would take it to the public health laboratory instead as it was cheaper. More recently, they charged my credit card twice for £75 of petrol and expected me to offer another card so they could take another £75. She was downright rude! She soon regretted that and the manager eventually gave it to me free. ASDA on the other hand, gave me a free litre of Jack Daniels as the bottle of JD Gentleman Jack wasn't in stock as promised on my birthday. They were forgiven!
I haven't found either to be particulalry willing to offer refunds but they do if you're persistnet (which I am!). If you are unhappy with what you are offered, do speak to the manager, and if you're unhappy with that, take it to head office
I agree, Codfather, I had a ruck with them over my debit card being charged twice, took several phone calls to their head office to get the local branch at fault to give me a refund of the overpayment. They were rude and made me feel like I was a fraudster! And the manager was apparently 'too busy' to deal with it, or so I was told.
And to make matters worse, it was a brand new Tesco which had opened against much opposition in our small market town. You'd think they would have wanted to win customers over, not the opposite.
Well a few months ago I went to a smaller Tescos as it was closer to my house than trekking out to the big one. I stood at customer services to get my clubcard sorted,only problem is it was also the fags and lottery kiosk with one person serving. I stood patiently in the queue and the person serving went off,someone else came on, but people with CS queries were told to stand to one side by the previous person (to reduce the queue i think)....anyway some guy jumped in front of me and i went mental. The assistant just goes "you should have went to that till for customer services" and i lost it,saying how i had just waited fifteen minutes and got nowhere all because they were incompetent and didnt know how to do their effing jobs. The woman goes well ok ill serve you next and i blasted her with dont effing bother,ill go to morrisons where at least they actually GET the concept of customer service. One good thing I will say tho is I emailed the head office when I got home and within half an hour they had phoned me back and also emailed saying my complaint had been passed to the store manager, and the store manager was utterly appalled at the lack of service,and he would ensure that all staff involved were subject to further training.
Good for you, chucki, if everyone did that, Tesco might get the message! I found Head Office very helpful and sympathetic, but we shouldn't have to call Tesco's Head Office just to get a small instore problem resolved.
I have found the our Tesco is ok - not amazing but they generally do sort out any pricing problems - normally after I have trekked across the store with the assistant and shown them the offer/products etc!
The worst I have found is Morrisons, which I do not shop at very much anyway. The last time I took something to customer services as the offer had not come off at the till, the woman on the desk was evidently not having a good day - she had to ring the right department to get an offer/price check, and the words "What the F* are you all doing on break at the same time you f*in idiots. I've got a customer stood here waiting" got shouted down the phone at them! Not the best customer service ever really.
The best I have found at honouring prices to be ASDA, but I find that they actually overcharge me most often - so which is the lesser of the 2 evils I wonder?!?
Thats awful, hope you complained!! You're right, Asda are by far the worse at overcharging, but they do give you a £2 voucher for each mistake they make..keep your eyes open and you can do well!
As you know Jazzj Asda do overcharge very often and it's a nuisance having to go back to get your refund. I must admit they were very good last week when they charged me twice for an item and had to take my word and didn't dispute it as I could have been conning them. I try to put all offers at the end of my order and watch them going through but hubby moves things about a bit so it doesn't always happen. As you say though you get a £2 voucher for their mistake. This week I got a coupon for £5 and a voucher for £2 - good eh.
Thats awful chucki. I haven't found that at all with the tesco's here. I would complain in writing to head office it could be their not aware and probably have an employee or employees that needs further training in that particular dept. I would definitely bring it to their attention.
I'd complain about incorrect pricing, but they have no legal duty to sell it to you at that price serena
Fruitcake has nailed the situation here, a quoted price is merely an invitation to do business and any frustrations ( on the part of the buyer ) would need to be ironed out at checkout. The right is on the side of the seller I understand but I can well understand the frustration of buying an item, say on it's sell by date, reduced by 50% and being charged full whack at checkout. Tescos, and anyone else, should without fail accommodate the customer's satisfaction on such occasions. After all, such 'invitations to buy' are made to sell at a reduced price and any argument thereafter could be regarded as bad practice.
In our local Tesco we have a 'reduced' food corner where people gravitate all the time ( I am one of them! ). Some items are barcoded as reduced and marked accordingly. Those without a reduced barcode, I leave well alone as I can imagine the eruption at checkout!
As for the 'BY LAW' scenario, can you imagine the discussion over a BMW mispriced by several thousands in the showroom? It just ain't gonna happen, is it?
My 'local' Tesco is pretty good at things like this, never had a problem. That said, it is quite small. so perhaps the problems are in the bigger brnahces?
branches..oops, dodgy spelling again!!
Small is beautiful in my book Jazz! The staff actually know what is occurring!
Does this link in to the discussion about taller women being more attractive too Snoopy....? If so, I'll take it as a compliment :)
Smaller shop = less range but better customer service, I know which I prefer!
Referring to the reduced section, my local one in Inverness is appalling. There can be something on the shelf not reduced but its on that days date,and if you approach someone to ask how much its down to they just go "i dont know go ask someone else".
Hi, as Fruitcake and Feline say, it's an invitation to treat (i.e. an invitation to haggle) rather than a definite price.
I'm surprised they don't give you the lower price when there has been an obvious mis-labelling though. That's only happened to me once, when Tesco Finest versions of some goods had been stacked over a Value/Basics range label.
I took a item priced £1.99 to the Medical counter was told it was £3.99 they checked the display changed it to £3.99 but only charged me £1.99. Its just your luck. Next time just refuse to buy the item.
take a picture of the label buy the item and refer it to your local trading standards. Some stores think there above the law so the more people who do this the better for us all! The price on the shelf is the price they should charge just think if no one noticed if the price was £2 instead of £1.50 on there till and they sold 200 items thats another £100 the store has made.
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