The problem I have with Tesco has only recently materialised over the past few years. We too used to shop exclusively with Tesco before we moved, save all our points which we would then spend at Christmas. Since moving here though I've have nothing but problems with the Tesco Express nearby. Deals that are supposedly buy 3 of these products for a fiver are not the case and you don't realise this until you leave the store. Also once I I paid for some shopping with a £10 note and was in a bit of a rush so grabbed my bits after the checkout girl had handed my change and walked out of the store. Glanced at my receipt and realised there was a £5 note missing I turned round to find her standing with the five pound note still in her hand watching me at the door. She made no effort to grab my attention and I had to go back and ask for it, which she then handed over. I have been working n the "retail sector" and now understand how tills work and there is no way she could of handed me the change without not handing me the note as well. I should have reported this to the manager, but I couldn't be bothered and was in a rush. I still shop there occasionally but we also have a Co Op which is my first choice now even though they are slightly more expensive.
I know people don't do it but they should all check their receipt and change before leaving the checkout. It's as important as looking for the bargains. I don't like Tesco because of the lighting and don't like ASDA because of 'radio ASDA' playing all the time. OK, so I'm fussy but that's up to me.
Totally agree with the above.....but to contradict myself here there has been an odd occasion when a catchy tune has got me round the shops before i blow a fuse.....last week i even found myself singing a Steelers Wheel tune with a chap who was doing the same..... I have an extreme dislike of supermarkets but most of our local shops have been turned into charity shops,there are 3 in our village so it doesn't leave much choice... The fact that they are constantly juggling prices winds me up a treat....one week 'Twinnings Tea' on offer for £1 for a box of 80 then a week later £3.49.....Bero flour £1 (on offer) otherwise £1.79...and the fact that you have to keep your wits about about you as many of the products have got smaller for the same price....the bags of flour are now 1.5kg when they were 2kg bags....These things plus added human intervention (abandoning trolleys etc...) make shopping in a supermaket a nightmare for me
No you don't. If it is marked as a special offer the specialness of the offer has to be stated. Failure to do this falls under the remit of trading standards.
The offers are stated but i don't remember seeing anything about the size change ie...for the flour..see...i need to keep my wits about me
It's absolutely essential to do that every time you shop before leaving the store. If there's 2 of you then agree who's checking the receipt rather than assuming OH has done it as errors constantly occur, such as overcharging, full price barcode(s) scanning on reduced stuff, multi-saves/etc. not working, all of which attract DTD refunds. Plus check all your coupons have scanned OK. Sometimes coupons scan at more than they're supposed to or 50p off comes through as 50 points which can be more advantageous if doubling or trebling up. Sometimes the CS staff forget to mark your receipt when giving a DTD refund, enabling some naughty people to go back when there's different staff on the CS desk and claim a second DTD refund. These are known as 'Golden Tickets'. Plus check for anything that come through as a lower than expected mis-price, where 2 multi-saves have been applied to the same items giving a bigger than expected saving, or a glitch in the store's software causes items to scan as something else (like when I had a 6 pack of dog food scan as a baguette - there was no baguette in our shop). If any of these occur, take your shopping to the car then go back and make the most of it and don't put so much in your trolley to attract unwanted attention. If the SA at the checkout notices your bargains suggest they are 'on special offer'. Using the self scans can eliminate unwanted attention, but if items are scanning as something cheaper do not use the self scans as the weight will not match what you're buying and alert the staff. MySupermarket doesn't always give the best price because although some products can cost more at another store the packs can be 50% extra free (like with 'four' packs of Heinz beans at Asda a couple of months ago that were actually 6 packs). When packs like that are also on BOGOF it can make them very cheap. I hope you're taking all of this stuff in as it does save us quite a bit.
That it may do, longk, but it doesn't stop the Supermarkets from pulling "stunts". A friend of mine is a real eagle eye for spotting "bargains" and while in Tesco's saw an offer for a 4 pack of Heinz Beans at a discounted price. But when he checked the individual price of the Heinz Beans cans standing next to the "special offer" it was cheaper to buy 4 individual cans rather than the 4 pack. He called the Manager out and pointed it out but the Manager refused to withdraw it saying that it was up to the customer to choose what they wanted.
I always find it really sad when they do that, and always try to point out to other shoppers for that stuff like that if they buy 2 reduced products reduced to half price that are on BOGOF at Tescos, they will effectively be free. Plus a while ago, I pointed out that hp ink carts were a fraction of the price online, that they were on a multisave, and there was a money off code that could be used, plus there was a massive Clubcard Points bonus to be had.
I noticed that they changed the buy 2 for £3 on Tesco Vegi Sausages to buy 3 for £4.50 for a few weeks and then changed it back. If I hadn't have had my glasses on I would have picked up 3 packets - paying full price for 1, sneaky.
I don't let the manager get away with that! I point out that it appears to be deliberately misleading advertising and that Trading Standards would be extremely interested in such a sharp practice. I add that I shall also be notifying Which? as they're always interested in the supermarket cons. The managers never argue with me any more!
The nearest Tesco to me is Northwich [about 15 miles away] or Crewe [about 20 miles away] so I don't shop at Tesco's myself. The nearest Asda has such a busy and small car park that it's almost impossible to shop there and buy in bulk unless you're prepared to stagger half a mile with all the bags to the next nearest parking area. In the early years of marriage, in the 80's, we used to shop at Tesco but found that spending around £60 gave you just a light covering of the bottom of the shopping trolley against shopping elsewhere so the pressure of the wallet and feeding/clothing/caring for a trio of daughters made us shop elsewhere. My wife loved buying fresh food from the various markets and finding the local cheeses etc......I miss those days!! But I do get irritated when, say, walking into a Morrisons to find a huge display of vegs and fruits etc right at the entrance to the shopping area of the store with red signs shouting £1, £1, £1,!!!! for the displayed items as though they were cheap, when in fact all they have done is either make the weight/size smaller or changed the labelling to make it look cheaper. All the Stores have done is to cheapen the £1 and it' buying power. As the old saying goes "If it seems to good to be true, then it probably is!"
I wouldn't say that they argue with my life long friend either, Shiney, as he stands 6' 5" in his stocking feet, is built like a Bear, with a temper like one. He used to be a long standing shopper at Tesco's but boycotts them now as does his extended family. He wrote to the Trading Standards and Tesco's complaining about the marketing tactics and received an apology from Tesco's and if I remember rightly Tesco's ended up paying a fine.......which is the customers money and not the Company's.
I once contacted Trading Standards about what some people regard as a lovely small business who simply put up all their prices but didn't change their displayed prices and fobbed off customers who complained (because their input costs had gone up). Rightly, TS seized their false price display and advised them they would be prosecuted unless they displayed the prices they were actually charging.
Another example in Tesco's. I buy a weekly chocolate fix there, usually Mars bars. Up until last week they were sold in packs of four at approximately £1.88 to £1.98 per pack depending on their choice of price for the week. Last Thursday those packs had been taken off the shelf and replaced by packs of three (that I swear are smaller in bar size) that I can't remember the price of now but the individual bars within the pack worked out at 3P dearer than those in the four pack.
