How much incorrect pricing are you willing to tolerate/let go?

Merch

Im not willing to let much pricing error go,
I've noticed this a bit more lately, grocery shopping and being overcharged for items, usually on items that were marked down.
this is in stores that dont have a policy on double the difference or your money back, otherwise Id pay and follow it up after.

In one store its happened a number of times and on one sale a number of items. Im beginning to wonder if the store has an unwritten policy of mark items down, but then not update it on the checkouts intentionally, assuming most people will not notice, especially as this store does not offer receipts unless asked, even then I think if people notice, most people wont say anything, not realising that a few euro error every shop a few times a week adds up over the year and defeats the benefit of buying items on offer.
Whats more annoying is I have to ask for a receipt to check that I was billed correctly.

Has anyone else noticed this on the increase?

LowKeyReturn

Nope I look at the scanner which is telling you how much each item is and covering them. I also don't have a problem interacting with my fellow human beings.

Along with the words please and thank you I can also muster a can I have a receipt please? I pretend I'm saying can I have a bag please and then blurt in receipt instead. I'm sorry to be flippant but this thing of 'have to request a receipt' like it's something even approaching inconvenience, when 99% of people never look at the bloody things annoys me.

Any way rant aside - it's not an active policy it's poor merchandising. It's either a case of leaving items on sale over offer period or putting them on before. The shops EPOS systems will be updated automatically, where as the spotty youth who's been asked to change that display might not be as efficient. It's on the increase as shops have less staff due to cut backs. Not a valid excuse I grant you, but not a sinister plot either.

Merch

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

Nope I look at the scanner which is telling you how much each item is and covering them. I also don't have a problem interacting with my fellow human beings.

Along with the words please and thank you I can also muster a can I have a receipt please? I pretend I'm saying can I have a bag please and then blurt in receipt instead. I'm sorry to be flippant but this thing of 'have to request a receipt' like it's something even approaching inconvenience, when 99% of people never look at the bloody things annoys me.

Any way rant aside - it's not an active policy it's poor merchandising. It's either a case of leaving items on sale over offer period or putting them on before. The shops EPOS systems will be updated automatically, where as the spotty youth who's been asked to change that display might not be as efficient. It's on the increase as shops have less staff due to cut backs. Not a valid excuse I grant you, but not a sinister plot either.

I try to keep an eye on the till, if its pointed in my direction, but while trying to pack its easy to miss, if I want I'll ask for the receipt if I think I've been incorrectly charged, I prefer to be offered the receipt, some places its seems to be an inconvenience to get one.
If I ever dispute the price, I do so politely, firstly why not, just manners, they may be unaware of the error and ranting wont help , secondly if I was wrong, I can simply say, my mistake, have a nice day and no big deal.
I suspect it is not a conspiracy but I wonder is it considered in some places?
Either way, if Im right I'll stand over it as I've had a number of errors in the same shop and a number of errors in a recent transaction, it adds up.
What I understand less is, other people seem uncomfortable to ask for such refunds of errors or even seem uncomfortable about it or huffing and puffing because you are holding them up.

LowKeyReturn

I wouldn't tolerate any pricing errors to be fair. A good way to do it is separate the deals into the front of the trolley and put them through first checking the prices.

To be honest all the big multiples give receipts as a matter of course so I assumed you where talking about as basket of bits from Spar/Centra/londis.

Merch

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

I wouldn't tolerate any pricing errors to be fair. A good way to do it is separate the deals into the front of the trolley and put them through first checking the prices.

To be honest all the big multiples give receipts as a matter of course so I assumed you where talking about as basket of bits from Spar/Centra/londis.

For the most part I do separate the deals, unless some of the deals are meat, then I have to separate them from the deals.

Its not from any of the big multiples, Im referring to one of the above you mentioned, but Ive also had pricing errors in one of the two German shops (which I have to say Im mostly happy with) basically grocery items marked down and then with the tills backed up, pain in the arse to get it followed up as someone has to go and check it, so I just left it, that happened a few times.
Mostly Im talking about a tenner of messages and getting a 10-20-25% error.

If I just paid €50 euro for shopping I wouldnt bother about small errors.

Im wondering with the discomfort other shoppers express, am I being pedantic over say a euro? I dont think so, relative to what I spend, I wouldnt follow up a small relative amount, unless it was Tescos then I am doing them a favour/their job so getting the pricing fixed is in their benefit and my benefit is the item (although havent seen any in a long time)

allthedoyles

Was in alarge supermarket this evening and , saw label ' 2 litre milk - €1.69 '

So I pick up the milk and discover that all cans of milk under this label is 3 litre .

Got me wondering if it was on purpose , to kid people into spending more.

allthedoyles

Saturday night was in another brand name supermarket , and bought 3 cans Carlsberg for €5 and bottle wine €7 .( total € 12.00 )

So when I arrived at checkout - I was asked for €14.09 .

Brought it to the attention of assistant that the bill was only €12 , and she said that she had forgotten the 3 for a fiver .

regress

Have had it happen to me a few times. Usually on deals. Thought for a while it might be accident but now think that it is deliberate. Usually two for price of one or three for lower price than if bought individually. I think most people are either not numerate enough to realise that they are being scammed or too embarrassed to make a fuss for the sake of a few euros. It usually takes about 10-15 mins to have error corrected. I point it out and wait. Just on principle.

kc90

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

Nope I look at the scanner which is telling you how much each item is and covering them. I also don't have a problem interacting with my fellow human beings.

Along with the words please and thank you I can also muster a can I have a receipt please? I pretend I'm saying can I have a bag please and then blurt in receipt instead. I'm sorry to be flippant but this thing of 'have to request a receipt' like it's something even approaching inconvenience, when 99% of people never look at the bloody things annoys me.

Any way rant aside - it's not an active policy it's poor merchandising. It's either a case of leaving items on sale over offer period or putting them on before. The shops EPOS systems will be updated automatically, where as the spotty youth who's been asked to change that display might not be as efficient. It's on the increase as shops have less staff due to cut backs. Not a valid excuse I grant you, but not a sinister plot either.

This.

Even if you can't watch every item, ask if the price/offer has been applied after it's been scanned. I'll never understand why anyone who thinks the bill is incorrect pays anyway. It makes things a lot easier if it's sorted before money crosses hands.

kc90

Merch wrote: »

Im wondering with the discomfort other shoppers express, am I being pedantic over say a euro? I dont think so, relative to what I spend, I wouldnt follow up a small relative amount, unless it was Tescos then I am doing them a favour/their job so getting the pricing fixed is in their benefit and my benefit is the item (although havent seen any in a long time)

Not at all. You may not make any friends by holding up a queue but you shouldn't be out of pocket because of a mistake on the stores part, regardless of the amount.

col.in.Cr

In my local Super Valu this is happening me all the time

foggy_lad

allthedoyles wrote: »

Saturday night was in another brand name supermarket , and bought 3 cans Carlsberg for €5 and bottle wine €7 .( total € 12.00 )

So when I arrived at checkout - I was asked for €14.09 .

Brought it to the attention of assistant that the bill was only €12 , and she said that she had forgotten the 3 for a fiver .

To me this appears like a deliberate attempt by the shopkeeper to make customers pay the full price, no shop assistant is going to remember all the offers available in an off-licence? why would that 3 for €5 offer not be entered into the tills?? all modern tills are capable of accepting all kinds of different offer combinations!

rubadub

kc90 wrote: »

I'll never understand why anyone who thinks the bill is incorrect pays anyway.

In tesco, you only get the money back policy if you pay and then complain.

If prices are small and wrong I sometimes will mention its the wrong price to the cashier, then they usually talk about getting it checked which can take ages so I often say "don't bother I will just overpay, I am just letting you know". I prefer doing this to managers on the way out, will show them things, and they might say "oh come with me and I'll check and get a refund", I would just say "it is definitely wrong, the refund is not worth my time, I am just letting you know" which sort of embarrasses them, knowing that their rigmarole for refunds is inefficient, and that people do know they are overcharging.

In tescos nowadays I find some offers do not appear. I just tell the cashier its wrong and leave the stuff there. I hate the fact in tesco many offers do not register until the shopping total is finalised.

I have a great memory for pricing, I am overcharged far more than undercharged so do not think its a 50/50 mistake going on. I honestly don't mind too much in tesco since I got my own back by taking advantage of their old policy of giving you a full refund and free items.

ABajaninCork

Tesco's are notorious for pricing errors. I always check the receipt before leaving the store. I once did a shop in Mahon Point and was surprised that the bill was about E7 more than I was expecting. When I complained to Customer Service, the assistant spotted yet more errors, and gave me double refund AND the goods for the lot!

Walked out E25 richer!

quaalude

Merch wrote: »

Im not willing to let much pricing error go,
I've noticed this a bit more lately, grocery shopping and being overcharged for items, usually on items that were marked down.
this is in stores that dont have a policy on double the difference or your money back, otherwise Id pay and follow it up after.

In one store its happened a number of times and on one sale a number of items. Im beginning to wonder if the store has an unwritten policy of mark items down, but then not update it on the checkouts intentionally, assuming most people will not notice, especially as this store does not offer receipts unless asked, even then I think if people notice, most people wont say anything, not realising that a few euro error every shop a few times a week adds up over the year and defeats the benefit of buying items on offer.
Whats more annoying is I have to ask for a receipt to check that I was billed correctly.

Has anyone else noticed this on the increase?

I've stopped going to the Spar on Bath Avenue in Dublin 4 because of this - I only used to go once every week or two for one or two items and the price was wrong occasionally. Now it is wrong every single time.
I'll watch the till like a hawk, and stand there while they run around "checking" before giving me my proper change but most shoppers probably don't notice, and if they do, are too embarrassed to call it.
I've told them I won't shop there any more because of the wrong pricing.

rubadub

quaalude wrote: »

I've told them I won't shop there any more because of the wrong pricing.

I never had the balls to do it, but I would love to just leave a big shop behind when a wrong price comes up, esp. if I pointed it out the day before or something, or if I spotted a few misprices going through, leaving them to restock everything. I would not do it with a queue behind me but would love if it was one of the few times a manager/supervisor is working the till.

There should be bigger fines for mispricing, you rarely hear of them being done for it.

convert

I've found Tesco are horrendous for doing this - the last time it happened to me I told the manager I wouldn't be shopping there, or any other Tesco, again as a result. He didn't seem that bothered. It's been over a year, and I've not set foot in that store since.

I always check my receipt just before I leave the shop as the number of shops which overcharge is amazing. As already mentioned above, it can add up to a small fortune over the course of the year.

gugleguy

I'll allow +1 euro if i did'nt catch discrepancy at the till. Approx 3 months ago bought 12 duracell 1.5 AA batteries from tesco. Was overcharhed at till about 2 euro above price displayed. Went to customer service. Given double difference between price charged and price displayed at the outcome. customer satisfied.

Get Real

Merch wrote: »

I'll ask for the receipt if I think I've been incorrectly charged, I prefer to be offered the receipt, some places its seems to be an inconvenience to get one.
.

While I agree with your overall sentiment, and with the fact that over charging/ incorrect pricing (especially when deliberate) is scandalous, there is one simple non "conspiracy" reason for not issuing receipts in certain shops.

If a person is overcharged and not given a receipt, it doesn't automatically mean the shop is deliberately overcharging and trying to hide the fact by not giving receipts. (Although this does go on)

But in the majority of cases shops that don't issue receipts unless requested do so in order to identify a mystery shopper.

This person is paid say 20euro to carry out the mystery shop, they ask for a receipt to claim back what they've bought as expenses. So if a customer requests a receipt it is easier to narrow down who the mystery shopper is, what time it occured at, was the shop clean etc, what the expected result will be.

Out of 100 customers, maybe only two or three will specifically ask for a receipt, especially in a convenience store/ buying one or two items, so it is easier to analyze the probability of having had a mystery shopper.

Eeden

How about not incorrect pricing, but misleading pricing? son wanted to buy a T-shirt in a certain shop recently. The price on top of the rack said, we thought,

Graphic Tee
....€9.99

but when he got to the till, it rang up at €17.99! He queried it, and the cashier went to check, then told us the sign actually said "From €9.99"

Yeah, but more like this:
Graphic Tee
from €9.99

ABajaninCork

And I bet there were no 9.99 shirts either...:pac:

Eeden

We were too annoyed to check...:mad:

Shelflife

There are numerous reasons for incorrect pricing.

At the start of a promotion cycle we will change all the rrps directly from the promotions book. sometimes we miss one or two, it shouldn't happen but it does.

Other times the product that comes in can have a different barcode to the one in the promotions book, happens frequently enough but hard to pick up until it comes to the till.

suppliers will simply stick a fixed price label on their product and miraculously expect the "computer" to know theirs a price change

Sometimes there will be an old offer label left up in error.

Sometimes the customer gets it wrong, mcguigan shiraz is on offer and they bring up mcguigan merlot to the counter and expect it at the offer price.

If a customer complains about a price, we check it out and if correct we give a full refund and the product is changed asap.

errors shouldn't happen, but they do, its highly unlikely that there's a conspiracy , usually its human error but a decent shop will give full refund and correct the error.

wmpdd3

rubadub wrote: »

I never had the balls to do it, but I would love to just leave a big shop behind when a wrong price comes up, esp. if I pointed it out the day before or something, or if I spotted a few misprices going through, leaving them to restock everything. I would not do it with a queue behind me but would love if it was one of the few times a manager/supervisor is working the till.

There should be bigger fines for mispricing, you rarely hear of them being done for it.

I agree it should be a fine per 10 misprices, in this day and age any issues with IT are inexcusable. The levels that the consumer watchdog accepts is way too high.

But leaving a trolly of shopping behind makes no difference at all. Everyday the equivalent of 3 trolleys of stock it dumped around the tills, this all has to be returned / wasted anyway, another trolley makes no difference. I've often seen 2 or 3 trolleys left at the till due to sudden illness etc.

Its no problem, that's what the staff are there for. It only costs payroll and waste, that's just added to prices anyway!

wmpdd3

Eeden wrote: »

How about not incorrect pricing, but misleading pricing? son wanted to buy a T-shirt in a certain shop recently. The price on top of the rack said, we thought,

Graphic Tee
....€9.99

but when he got to the till, it rang up at €17.99! He queried it, and the cashier went to check, then told us the sign actually said "From €9.99"

Yeah, but more like this:
Graphic Tee
from €9.99

I hate signs like that, they are completely useless. I never take any notice I look at each ticket separately especially kids clothes as they increase with age.

Sulla Felix

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

Any way rant aside - it's not an active policy it's poor merchandising. It's either a case of leaving items on sale over offer period or putting them on before. The shops EPOS systems will be updated automatically, where as the spotty youth who's been asked to change that display might not be as efficient. It's on the increase as shops have less staff due to cut backs. Not a valid excuse I grant you, but not a sinister plot either.

I can't remember where, and it might have been a dream (yes, I dream of retail stock control solutions) but I could swear I saw a shelving system with integrated oled displays that linked to the EPOS. Think it was in America, was more than a little bit impressed.

LowKeyReturn

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I agree it should be a fine per 10 misprices, in this day and age any issues with IT are inexcusable. The levels that the consumer watchdog accepts is way too high.

But leaving a trolly of shopping behind makes no difference at all. Everyday the equivalent of 3 trolleys of stock it dumped around the tills, this all has to be returned / wasted anyway, another trolley makes no difference. I've often seen 2 or 3 trolleys left at the till due to sudden illness etc.

Its no problem, that's what the staff are there for. It only costs payroll and waste, that's just added to prices anyway!

IT is the issue. It'll change prices faster that a shop can react. I managed a fairly small shop selling electronics and games, you could get over 150 lines changing in a single day. You're in 15 mins before the shop opens, not a chance it would be completed before people where in.

0.5% is around the industry standard for mispricing, or was many years ago. In Tesco imagine how many lines that will be. The key is keep a check yourself.

lala88

if ever there was a thread for foggy_lad this is it

whomitconcerns

col.in.Cr wrote: »

In my local Super Valu this is happening me all the time

This is a very common occurrence in more than one supervalu that I would use. Its the only place I have found this an issue to be honest

dudara

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I agree it should be a fine per 10 misprices, in this day and age any issues with IT are inexcusable.

The problem really often lies with the people who program the system and input data into the system. Not all the time, but it's often a good bet.

The_Conductor

How much incorrect pricing are you willing to tolerate/let go?

None.

On a point of principle I bring it to the attention of the customer service staff.
Most weeks I get 10-12 Euro back from Tesco- on one occasion I got over 200 Euro back.

The customer service staff in Maynooth know me well at this stage- and while they do check the errors I report- they are prompt and if there is any delay at all, don't keep me waiting.

On an average shop- I will notice 3 to 4 items at the incorrect price- sometimes by a ridiculous margin (e.g. Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts priced at 1 Euro, charged at 3.99 (and I bought 10, as they were such good value)).

They seem to have abondoned their double the difference and/or the product for free in Tesco- and simply give you back the difference between what you pay, and the price on the shelf. I've queried it several times- and have been told, its no longer applied (despite it being on the poster behind the customer service desk). This was by numerous staff members- including the Compliance Manager (whatever her role is).

Sigh.......

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been overcharged in Aldi or Lidl (and when I was- the manager came out, apologised profusely, and gave me the products gratis).

The customer service in either of our German multiples, eclipses the surly, arrogant, obnoxious behaviour I've come to expect from the other multiples.