Spar Ripping Off Silently?!

Hiddden

Scenario 1:

I bought a pack of crisps a while back that were prices something like 2.45, but when I wanted to pay, I was asked for 2.70 or something. Telling them that the price tag says something else, the two cashiers were disagreeing with each other, but one accepted that it was a mistake to overcharge.

Scenario 2:

I bought a sandwich with one filling, but the tag said meat+2fillings; I noticed this when I was about to pay, so mentioning this, the cashier walked back to the food area, asking the assistant to correct it.

Scenario 3:

Just like #2, but I was in a hurry this time, so I just asked the cashier, and the response was: "Yeah... the price doesn't change. You can choose to have either one or two fillings for the same price"!!!

Scenario 4:

I go to grab some crisps, and I notice they have the Spar super saver crisps, original, for 1.70. I go to pay, and as I get the receipt, I notice I'm charged 1.80 for the crisps. Just being too lucky, someone in charge arrives as I'm pointing this out to the cashier who doesn't like this conversation, and this person in charge confirms that it's 1.70, so he returns 10 cents to me.

Is this the general way Spar cheats and rips its customers off? That's nasty of them really. Be ware of the prices and check your receipts please.

L1011

2+3 together does sound like they have one entry price point for a sandwich and you're not buying as much as you can get for it.

Spar is a franchise group and doesn't own the stores, btw, so its down to the store owner.

PLL

'Silently' ?

There is nothing silent at how expensive they are.

Hiddden

PLL wrote: »

'Silently' ?

There is nothing silent at how expensive they are.

It's silent when they say something on the price tag, but another on the receipt/cash point. Being expensive is another thing.

Hiddden

MYOB wrote: »

2+3 together does sound like they have one entry price point for a sandwich and you're not buying as much as you can get for it.

I do buy sandwiches frequently, and depending on the number of fillings, the price changes. They've never made a mistake of labeling it for a cheaper price by mistake, but the opposite!

Mousewar

Regards the crisps, they're under no obligation to match the price they have displayed on the labels. It's a bit shoddy if they're not accurate but the label is just an indication, it's not a contract that they have to meet.

And also - €2.45 for a packet of crisps???

beauf

Overcharging, and mislabelling seems a lot more common these days, in all shops not just Spar. You really have to check every receipt in detail.

Some shops are a shop last resort. I feel like I've been mugged when I shop there.

Nono Toure

They're all at it - Dunnes, Tesco etc..

Too many times I've come out of their shops and checked the receipt and I would have been overcharged on items. The great thing about Dunnes is they not only give you ALL your money back on that particular item, they also let you keep the item. So they are always the 1 shop I hope overcharge me!!

I bought 2 packs of ham once, each priced at 3.69 each or 6euro for both. Checked my receipt and I was charged 7.38euro. So I went back in to them and got my money back and they let me keep the ham. This has since happened me on other items in Dunnes.

Paulownia

the local supermarket to me is Supervalu and they drive me mad not having the right prices for the object on the shelves, often there is nothing and sometimes the price marked refers to another item. There is no conscience when it comes to making money with them.
I often point it out and they just say sorry and rectify the one price.

beauf

What gets me is the special multi packs which are dearer than buying mutiple single items.

Or buy 2 for 3 but the items abeside each other are from different 2 for 3 offers.

BnChemEng

I worked in a Centra for 8 years during school and my time in UCD

It was a medium sized shop and the way it was done where I worked was that labels are updated weekly or bi-weekly from a central system, it takes a bit of time as they get printed and have to be separated and put on the shelves so quite often things would fall behind, especially lines that don't sell.

So things would scan at higher or lower prices than the label occasionally, we were always told to match the label, remove the label and place it in a box for updating.

Its funny though because, the majority of people certainly don't report the cases where you get something for a price less than the label.

Paulownia

BnChemEng wrote: »

I worked in a Centra for 8 years during school and my time in UCD

It was a medium sized shop and the way it was done where I worked was that labels are updated weekly or bi-weekly from a central system, it takes a bit of time as they get printed and have to be separated and put on the shelves so quite often things would fall behind, especially lines that don't sell.

So things would scan at higher or lower prices than the label occasionally, we were always told to match the label, remove the label and place it in a box for updating.

Its funny though because, the majority of people certainly don't report the cases where you get something for a price less than the label.

I hate to say it but most of us shop in a hurry and dont stop to look at prices and the supermarkets count on that

beauf

BnChemEng wrote: »

...Its funny though because, the majority of people certainly don't report the cases where you get something for a price less than the label.

I suspect the price goes up more often than it goes down.

Paulownia

beauf wrote: »

Overcharging, and mislabelling seems a lot more common these days, in all shops not just Spar. You really have to check every receipt in detail.

Some shops are a shop last resort. I feel like I've been mugged when I shop there.

are you called beauf as in ''mon beauf'' ?

rubadub

MYOB wrote: »

2+3 together does sound like they have one entry price point for a sandwich and you're not buying as much as you can get for it.

Yeah, I was in supervalu a while ago and a chicken baguette + 2 fillings and a can was €3.50.

I did not particularly want the can so asked how much without it, told €4.50! so of course I took the can, the deli lad was giggling about it, so was I.

BnChemEng

Paulownia wrote: »

I hate to say it but most of us shop in a hurry and dont stop to look at prices and the supermarkets count on that

I think that is a very wide open generalisation.

The shop I worked in certainly didn't seek to abuse a customers trust by being misleading with prices and labeling and bigger stores are constantly checked for conformity to the companies standards of practice.

Furthermore, if you shop without looking at prices it kind of makes this post irrelevant, if you shop without looking at prices how can you expect to know what to pay and therefore be mislead in the first place?

By that logic you shop, get a receipt and go back to check the price and see if you were mislead.

Bear in mind shops are allowed to charge what they want for items, for example i would expect to between €1.50 and €2 for a 500ml bottle of carbonated drink, if it was over that, I would say, "sorry that's too much" and put it back regardless of the label price. A label is merely a guideline and is not legally binding in anyway. Its good customer service to sell at the label price and promptly update mistakes and shortcomings.

I can tell you being handed 200 labels on a Saturday afternoon and told to put them out, along with serving customers and the other work that has to be done means that if you get through half of them a shift that's good going. So labels fall behind and take more time to update than the central pricing system.

colly10

Ive found Centa really bad for this kind of stuff. They have their deals of the week but when you get to the till your no longer getting the 2 for the price of 1 you were expecting.
Where i was living, going anywhere else used to be hassle so id normally have to have a rough idea what the items should cost me going to the till, i was almost always overcharged.
Normally i wouldnt care but they were so bad for it that when i realised i couldnt miss it

BnChemEng

colly10 wrote: »

Ive found Centa really bad for this kind of stuff. They have their deals of the week but when you get to the till your no longer getting the 2 for the price of 1 you were expecting.
Where i was living, going anywhere else used to be hassle so id normally have to have a rough idea what the items should cost me going to the till, i was almost always overcharged.
Normally i wouldnt care but they were so bad for it that when i realised i couldnt miss it

That is more indicative of a poorly run store. Centra is a franchise owned by individuals and it's up to owners/managers to ensure Centra operation standards are met. We were audited every quarter and constantly placed in the top three of our district.

I'm not trying to defend the practice, unless you have actually worked behind the counter and understand the day to day running of a shop. You might fail to see the reasons why labels are behind the central pricing.

I find that most shops are quite accommodating to the customer and will give you the label price and remove the false offer or label. A lot of it comes down to the staff as well, personally I always acted in a way I would expect to be treated. I wouldn't grumble or be smart with a customer. Just politely check the label, remove it if it was out of date and then proceed to charge the labelled price as per store practice.

shamtastic

i agree with what has been mentioned already. the biggest cause of this is the weekly pricing updates on the system from musgrave's/bwg. where i worked, changing the labels was at the bottom of the list of priorities because nobody wanted to change 100 labels and it would be hard for management to notice
if the job wasn't done! poor management, i agree. but i think customers have a high tolerance for this in convenience stores and hence it's not a major issue in the eyes of the managers.

carlowmurphy

Mistakes seem to be made alot in my local Spar. One of the major things is items displayed as on offer but when you get to the till they are full price. Don't know whether this is a mistake at the till or the signs should not be up as the offer is either not on yet or over. Sloppy policy and extremely annoying.

nunn351

my Spar has 4 cans Carling for fiver , so happy there .

Otherwise dont buy anything but lotto

JA1

Spar on lower Mount St used to sell a pretty made roll for Euro 5 earlier this year then increased the price a few months back to 5.50. Come back from holidays and the same rolls and content are a third less in size. Come back this Monday and they have now been increased to 6.50 a roll.

CeilingFly

Best ever was Centra in the Egan centre Bray.

Sandwich with chicken tikka and nothing else.

Sticker printed "sandwich 2 meat €4.25" sign says "sandwich one meat €3.50"

The "girl" behind the counter - the most hideous uninterested person you can imagine - says "chicken tikka" is charged as 2 meats. I asked where it says that. She said "that's the rule"

I left. Will never return to that place.

Rackstar

CeilingFly wrote: »

Best ever was Centra in the Egan centre Bray.

Sandwich with chicken tikka and nothing else.

Sticker printed "sandwich 2 meat €4.25" sign says "sandwich one meat €3.50"

The "girl" behind the counter - the most hideous uninterested person you can imagine - says "chicken tikka" is charged as 2 meats. I asked where it says that. She said "that's the rule"

I left. Will never return to that place.

If ever there was a reason not to return to a place

GreeBo

Londis beside me in Sandyford is the exact same, to the point where I no longer go there as every single time I went I was charged something different for the same couple of items.

Things like a demi-baguette or bread roll can be anywhere from 20c to 80c depending on what they ring up and heaven help you if the item you want has a sale sticker on it.

road_high

This is how they make a fortune. So few people even question (myself included) and the price lists and combos are usually mind boggling (ie everything is extra!).