Supervalu price displays

clint_silver

3 times in the last month been done on the till and had to check receipt to get girl to correct it.

bottle of wine @half price, full price charged on the receipt. "Oh sorry, I suppose I better let you have it at that price then".

Can of lynx displayed at discounted price, charged full price, bring it to their attention, we go down to the aisle, "ah yeah, that discount only on the larger can, of which we've none in stock" . now this annoys me, Ive never seen larger can there, yet all the other cans are placed right where the discount is. they gave me that can at the discount price.

2 packs of crisps for 1. Charged for 2. Raised the question, "oh sorry, heres money back".

I like shopping there, everyones nice, and If this happened once in a blue moon I could forgive it but I dont like having to check every item on my receipt so whilst generally not one for conspiracy theories, its happening too often. deliberate sharp practice?

L1011

Supervalu is a franchise so without knowing what branch this was in, its impossible to attribute it to any retailer - the vast bulk are owned by individuals who might have a few stores if even more than one.

rubadub

A supervalu near me was bad for a while, I gave up arguing or showing them the price. When the scanned stuff I would just say "can I put these items back please, the prices are wrong", they would start saying "oh are they? I can get that checked" and say "I don't have the time this happens all the time and takes ages to sort it, I'll just go without".

In tesco when they had the old reasonable get it free policy I once went back to show the customer service person the giant incorrect price. The crazy thing was they just left it up after agreeing it was incorrect. It was only after I left I copped that they were seemingly going to just leave it up.

The tesco policy is so bad now, both the benefit and queueing time, that I often just overpay for stuff. I do not feel guilty when I do take full advantage of their policies. I am not queuing up 10 minutes to then have to fight over 5 cent.

I have a great memory for prices, and far more often than not I am overcharged, some people make out like its 50/50 and people just do not report underpricing/undercharging, not in my experience.

dudara

clint_silver wrote: »

deliberate sharp practice?

Unlikely, as there can be serious consequences for that.

There's a quote from Napolean Bonaparte which I think is the more likely case.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence

It's probably far more likely to be due to poor label control, updates on till system etc.

clint_silver

would you think that its a sharp practice though or just incompetence on someones behalf leaving signs up or not applying discounts on the price register computer?

In dunnes stores once I seen a sign that said "25% off mince meat" underneath the mincemeat shelf on the aisle. at the till, discount not applied and when queried was told "Not that mince meat", went and got the sign and the sign didnt say anything else, ie, not "premium or round", just "25% off mince meat". :rolleyes:

edit: post crossed with dudara

rubadub

dudara wrote: »

Unlikely, as there can be serious consequences for that.

Very hard to prove though.

If it was incompetence you should expect and equal amount of incorrectly over and under pricing. I encounter more overpricing in general.

However I would accept that I buy lots of stuff on offer, and it is more likely that a system will fall down where discounts, mulitbuys etc are invovled. But even factoring in stuff which is not reduced or on offer in anyway, I still reckon I experience a higher % of overcharging.

If I was to complain about all my tesco prices I would spend so long effectively being employed by them -that I would deserve a pension, or at least an invite to their christmas party or staff discounts.

clint_silver

rubadub wrote: »

Very hard to prove though.

If it was incompetence you should expect and equal amount of incorrectly over and under pricing. I encounter more overpricing in general.

However I would accept that I buy lots of stuff on offer, and it is more likely that a system will fall down where discounts, mulitbuys etc are invovled. But even factoring in stuff which is not reduced or on offer in anyway, I still reckon I experience a higher % of overcharging.

If I was to complain about all my tesco prices I would spend so long effectively being employed by them -that I would deserve a pension, or at least an invite to their christmas party or staff discounts.

you could end up in an ever decreasing circle of jobs where you get a job checking if discounts are applied which qualifies you for bigger and bigger discounts.

D3PO

Clint I have had the same issue in my local Super Valu almost every time I shopped there to the point I wont shop there anymore.

clint_silver

D3PO wrote: »

Clint I have had the same issue in my local Super Valu almost every time I shopped there to the point I wont shop there anymore.

Its the closest and nicest shop in my town so dont want to change but cant put up with this anymore., gonna have a word with the owner/manager at the weekend and outline very clearly that if there's another example of overcharging my custom will be moved permanently and I'll see what his response is.

Im with others, I remember Tesco spokesman being stuck for words when theyre overcharging scandal hit whenever it was about 10 years ago and he came out with the line that it was a "mathematical issue" but he had no reply when asked of the 10 sample baskets that had the "mathematical issue", how come there were no examples of undercharging?

hughjohn

I have found that the " centra " in my local village to be the worst in my experience.

They don't give you the receipt , you need to ask for it. Then 8 times out of 10 you have been overcharged. I have never been in the dilemma of wondering what I would do if I was under charged.

Just come back from there now and gone through receipt . One item shoud have been €1.75 was charged €2.29 for it. It never ends , despite complaints.

Started to drive to next town and use Lidl as often as I can now. Guess what I have never once been over charged in there , so I go there as much as possible but one doesnt always have the time to drive to next town and I don't see Lidl coming to villages sadly.

I now really detest being stuck and having to go to centra.

Dan Chipowski

This was an ongoing issue in my Supervalu for a period of time until I eventually had enough. Supervalu is the closest and most convenient for me, so it isn't ideal but I'd had enough of constantly not having discounts applied at the till. Happened so often I had a routine going of walking from the till checking the receipt whilst knowing I'd have to stop at the customer services area to get something back.

dmc17

Happens to me quite a bit too. Also got into the habit of reading the receipt as I walk out the door. Just the other night I bought a can of deodorant marked €2 on the shelf and was charged €4.29. Brought it to a managers attention - "sorry we're just updating the prices at the moment"

athtrasna

I noticed a case of this tonight. King crisps 9 pack on offer for two euro. None on shelf, which is instead full of 6 packs at 2.63!

clint_silver

athtrasna wrote: »

I noticed a case of this tonight. King crisps 9 pack on offer for two euro. None on shelf, which is instead full of 6 packs at 2.63!

I've sent a mail to head office detailing my issues. If anyone has anything else Id be interested as case to consumer affairs. I am so not convinced it's incompetence.

ben.schlomo

athtrasna wrote: »

I noticed a case of this tonight. King crisps 9 pack on offer for two euro. None on shelf, which is instead full of 6 packs at 2.63!

Thats not a price error, thats a 6 pack not on offer at 2.63 and a 9 pack on offer for two euro which is obviously out of stock, no issue.

athtrasna

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Thats not a price error, thats a 6 pack not on offer at 2.63 and a 9 pack on offer for two euro which is obviously out of stock, no issue.

It's deliberately misleading, I had to go back to the shelf to read the weight and compare...there were only six-packs on the shelf, with a big €2 sign. The price for six packets was more expensive that other crisps I would have bought instead.

clint_silver

athtrasna wrote: »

It's deliberately misleading, I had to go back to the shelf to read the weight and compare...there were only six-packs on the shelf, with a big €2 sign. The price for six packets was more expensive that other crisps I would have bought instead.

This is perfect example of what I'm talking about. Why is there any ambiguity at all? It's like they say to themselves "well there's no 9 packs available lets leave the discount sign up and put out 6 packs of the same crisp variety right underneath the discount sign". It's wrong.

ben.schlomo

athtrasna wrote: »

It's deliberately misleading, I had to go back to the shelf to read the weight and compare...there were only six-packs on the shelf, with a big €2 sign. The price for six packets was more expensive that other crisps I would have bought instead.

Where in your first post do you say that the six pack has a big €2 sign in front of it.........nowhere, thats very misleading.:rolleyes:

ben.schlomo

clint_silver wrote: »

This is perfect example of what I'm talking about. Why is there any ambiguity at all? It's like they say to themselves "well there's no 9 packs available lets leave the discount sign up and put out 6 packs of the same crisp variety right underneath the discount sign". It's wrong.

Or more likely someone fills the shelf and doesnt bother to look at the promotional sign, simple case of incompetence as opposed to someone trying to dupe you.

dmc17

Got caught with teabags the other week too. Barry's teabags 80's - €3, under the Barry's teabags 80's on the shelf. Was charged €3.50 and turns out it was only the Barry teabags 80's that had the €3 printed on the box also, which of course were sold out and had the other boxes in their place!

clint_silver

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Or more likely someone fills the shelf and doesnt bother to look at the promotional sign, simple case of incompetence as opposed to someone trying to dupe you.

Never happens in aldi, so what does that say, are their workers more competent than supervalu?

And how come theres never a discount on a product that they forgot to put out the sign for, the error is always on a product that they forgot to take the sign down for. ie, the error is ALWAYS in their favour.

I refer again to Tescos when they got caught and I remember their spokesman tried to say it was maths that led to pricing errors in the sample baskets. He had no reply when asked if it were maths why were the errors always in their (Tescos) favour rather than an equal amount of errors for shop and customer.

Learn the lesson from that.

L1011

clint_silver wrote: »

Never happens in aldi, so what does that say, are their workers more competent than supervalu?

Aldi sell less products, with significantly less special offer prices on long-standing products other than ones which are marketed hugely, when compared to other retailers.

They're also a cohesive chain with central control - Supervalu are franchises in the main with Musgraves owning very few stores.

clint_silver

MYOB wrote: »

Aldi sell less products, with significantly less special offer prices on long-standing products other than ones which are marketed hugely, when compared to other retailers.

They're also a cohesive chain with central control - Supervalu are franchises in the main with Musgraves owning very few stores.

Thanks for the overview, I dont see how it answers the question of competency of the staff though.

Aldi's staff are just as able to leave the wrong price display up as supervalu. But they don't, or at least, I've never had an experience of it.

Yes, aldi have tighter controls and smaller product ranges, but thats implying supervalu's staff arent trained (or competent enough) to know to take down a wrong label. I dont believe that.

my3cents

clint_silver wrote: »

Thanks for the overview, I dont see how it answers the question of competency of the staff though.

Aldi's staff are just as able to leave the wrong price display up as supervalu. But they don't, or at least, I've never had an experience of it.

Yes, aldi have tighter controls and smaller product ranges, but thats implying supervalu's staff arent trained (or competent enough) to know to take down a wrong label. I dont believe that.

Most supermarket staff really don't care and can't be bothered but I suspect that attitude would get you the sack in Aldi or Lidl.

L1011

clint_silver wrote: »

Thanks for the overview, I dont see how it answers the question of competency of the staff though.

Aldi's staff are just as able to leave the wrong price display up as supervalu. But they don't, or at least, I've never had an experience of it.

Yes, aldi have tighter controls and smaller product ranges, but thats implying supervalu's staff arent trained (or competent enough) to know to take down a wrong label. I dont believe that.

Less likely to get in trouble if they don't, far more labels to fix in the first place.

If you can't see how that can inevitably lead to more errors I don't see how else I can explain it.

marcus2000

As far as as I know, the Superquinn price promise has transferred to Supervalu (at least for the supermarkets that were formerly Superquinn). if the price is incorrect at the til and does not match the price displayed, the item is FREE.

This was the case in Superquinn Lucan, and I happily availed of it many times. Recently in Supervalu HSQ, I brought it up and was told it was still the case and I got my purchase for free.

clint_silver

MYOB wrote: »

Less likely to get in trouble if they don't, far more labels to fix in the first place.

If you can't see how that can inevitably lead to more errors I don't see how else I can explain it.

I do understand what you're saying but thats what line managers are for, to spot fix line workers.

I worked in superquinn as a 17-19 yr old, and I put myself through college working night shift in Dunnes. always had a line manager checking work. "you forgot this", "this goes here, not there". If he isnt controlling the product lines and pricing he aint doing his job. Its expected staff will get some things wrong.

If we, too readily for me, accept the theory that its not sharp practice but incompetence, then it has to be at managerial level in supervalu, and knowing the manager in my local shop, I would not have said that was the case.

ktc99

athtrasna wrote: »

It's deliberately misleading, I had to go back to the shelf to read the weight and compare...there were only six-packs on the shelf, with a big €2 sign. The price for six packets was more expensive that other crisps I would have bought instead.

It's not deliberately misleading. Are you telling me its some kind of big conspiracy that items are left out of stock on purpose so that some people MIGHT buy a similar but different item by mistake and maybe make a few cent more? I'm sorry but some people on these forums need to get a grip of themselves. As much as you would like it supermarket workers don't go home at night concocting devious plans on how to trick someone into buying a €1.59 bottle of coke instead of another drink at €1.57 It's pure and utter laziness that you didn't read the label plain and simple.

athtrasna

ktc99 wrote: »

It's not deliberately misleading. Are you telling me its some kind of big conspiracy that items are left out of stock on purpose so that some people MIGHT buy a similar but different item by mistake and maybe make a few cent more? I'm sorry but some people on these forums need to get a grip of themselves. As much as you would like it supermarket workers don't go home at night concocting devious plans on how to trick someone into buying a €1.59 bottle of coke instead of another drink at €1.57 It's pure and utter laziness that you didn't read the label plain and simple.

I disagree, all they had to do was remove the large 2 euro sign and they could stick whatever they wanted on the shelf. The other supermarkets put an out of stock sticker over sold out line shelf tags

BTW it was 3 bags fewer for 63c more so not an insignificant difference

ktc99

athtrasna wrote: »

I disagree, all they had to do was remove the large 2 euro sign and they could stick whatever they wanted on the shelf. The other supermarkets put an out of stock sticker over sold out line shelf tags

BTW it was 3 bags fewer for 63c more so not an insignificant difference

Yes it was 63c more but that doesn't mean that there is 63c extra profit on the product. The special offer 9 packs could have a bigger profit on them than the regular 6 packs. This is the case in many scenarios

rubadub

ktc99 wrote: »

As much as you would like it supermarket workers don't go home at night concocting devious plans

some would say management are just purposely and knowingly lax in updating signs. Its not hard to update prices, or have a staff member stroll around and take down incorrect or out of place signs. I have thought of taking down sings myself and handing it back to a manager to see what they would say, like give it to them and say "this sign has been up for 3 days now but the product is not there, do you not have people checking this, its quite misleading"

I have no problem taking full advantage of supermarkets price policies, i.e. getting mulitple products free or discounted which I know are priced incorrectly. They are taking the public for fools, they are using the public as cheap labour, totally off the books, doing the job they should are legally obliged to do themselves.

Tesco have been fined before for pricing issues
http://corporate.nca.ie/eng/Media_Zone/Press%20Releases/Tesco_fined_for_misleading_pricing.html

7 October 2011
The National Consumer Agency (NCA) brought a prosecution in relation to eight alleged breaches of the Consumer Protection Act (in relation to the misleading practice of charging higher prices for a range of products than that displayed) and one alleged breach of product pricing regulations (for failing to display the price of a product).

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/tesco-one-of-seven-firms-fined-for-not-displaying-their-prices-26462607.html

18/07/2008
The supermarket's outlet at Dundrum, south Dublin, was fined €1,500 and ordered to pay €2,000 in costs for failing to show the price of grocery products.

The breach was revealed by the National Consumer Agency (NCA), which yesterday published a list detailing actions it has taken against traders.