Sneaky Specials at SuperValu

coolaboola

Just wanted to give Boardsies a heads-up on something I've fallen foul of on more than one occasion: SuperValu Sneaky Specials!

In store you'll find lots of special offers prominently advertised (with yellow labels)... WARNING: Read the labels very, very carefully. SuperValu typically only put part of a range on special.

For example they currently have Pringles on special for €2. There appear to be a long list of flavours offered on the special. However all the 'Xtra' flavours are excluded (even though they were on a shelf right above the special offer sign). (And as it turned out when I fell foul of this yesterday, only two of the long list of flavours actually on offer were available in-store)

I was chatting with the staff member who helped me return my Xtra Pringles to the shelves and she was saying that they get complaints from customers in their shop at least once or twice every day about Sneaky Specials and that it drives the staff nuts too.

Unless you read the labels of the offers carefully you may find yourself in for an unpleasant surprise at the checkout.

And if anyone from SuperValu reads this, please stop the Sneaky Specials. It leaves a very bad taste in the mouth when you end up paying more than expected or returning goods to the shelves. If you're offering a special, offer it on the whole range.

Anyone else get stung by SuperValu Sneaky Specials?

allthedoyles

Sounds like a stock issue with some of the flavours not available , and its not fair to tar all 250 Supervalu's with the one brush , as this may not be a nationwide problem.

As you said above always read the labels of the offers before purchasing

fussyonion

It's not just Supervalu who does this.

For the last month, my local Tesco has had "Tesco Extra Mild Fajitas" on the shelf with the shelf sticker saying "Tesco Original Fajitas" and the price €1.89.
I picked up the Extra Mild ones, (there was no Original), only to have them scanned in at €2.99.

The customer service lady said the Extra Mild ones were €2.99 and that someone had placed the wrong product with the wrong price sticker.
A month on and nobody has fixed the issue.

GerardKeating

fussyonion wrote: »

It's not just Supervalu who does this.

For the last month, my local Tesco has had "Tesco Extra Mild Fajitas" on the shelf with the shelf sticker saying "Tesco Original Fajitas" and the price €1.89.
I picked up the Extra Mild ones, (there was no Original), only to have them scanned in at €2.99.

The customer service lady said the Extra Mild ones were €2.99 and that someone had placed the wrong product with the wrong price sticker.
A month on and nobody has fixed the issue.

Seen that a few times, or the other "classic", Label for a sale on Size X, placed near Size Y of the same product

jobeenfitz

SuperValue may not be the only one's doing it but they are regularly problematic with there deals in my experience.

yellowlabrador

that's why I like Aldi. I always spend more than I expected in Supervalu.

Sunny Dayz

I don't think its Supervalu itself being sneaky. Seen it happen in other supermarkets too. I think it's more to do with the floor staff being paid min wage and doing a half assed job.

Youngblood.III

Bottle of wine in SuperValu half price, scanned full price, I said it to staff, she says happens everyday, they're (staff) sick of it.
I would go as far to say its almost intensional, hoping to catch people.
Tesco and SuperValu are the ones I find are the biggest cheaters.

hfallada

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I don't think its Supervalu itself being sneaky. Seen it happen in other supermarkets too. I think it's more to do with the floor staff being paid min wage and doing a half assed job.

I agree with you. I worked retail for minimum wage and often staff attention to detail is minimum. It's hard to be motivated to do your job right when there is no incentive to do it. Eg there is no promotional path like other jobs

Rackstar

SuperValu especially are really sneaky and sly with this. Special is advertised in a way on the shelves that is looks like all the products in the range are included, when in actual fact its only a select few.

You also have the problem then of discounted prices being advertised and the items not actually scanning through at the correct price. Do SV have a policy like double the price error back. I remember in one SV i was given something similar but this was just a once off and hasn't been offered since.

wyndham

Rackstar wrote: »

SuperValu especially are really sneaky and sly with this. Special is advertised in a way on the shelves that is looks like all the products in the range are included, when in actual fact its only a select few.

You also have the problem then of discounted prices being advertised and the items not actually scanning through at the correct price. Do SV have a policy like double the price error back. I remember in one SV i was given something similar but this was just a once off and hasn't been offered since.

Supervalu in Talbot St D1 has the old Tesco policy of the price you see is the price you pay, or the item is free.

coolaboola

I agree that it may not be all SuperValus. However I regularly shop at SuperValu, Lidl and Aldi (and sometimes in Dunnes) and in my experiencing SuperValu (Kimmage) is by far the worst at this deceptive labeling. The fact that their own staff are fed up of having to help customers with similar grievances indicates the failure of their labeling system.

I've also had issues more than once with products on offer scanning in at full price too.

(Keeping the shelves properly stocked is another problem with Sundrive SuperValu)

seefin

i religiously check my local supervalu receipt and invariably there is some issue, usually a special offer scanning at original price. definitely find its worse than the other large chains

clint_silver

http://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?subforums=1&forum=580&query=supervalu

Youngblood.III

Down to tesco for a few bits this evening, Old El Paso "smokey" fajitas reduced, but the ladelling was in the wrong section, in was infront of "Ordinary" fajitas...
Accident? Not a hope...intentional, Yes!

C.K Dexter Haven

OP- take it to the store owner- I've seen Tesco do this crap in the past so rarely use them now- don't see Supervalu do it much but different stores have different practices.

If i find my local Super Valu ever doing it, it will be name and shame if i don't get satisfaction from the store owner, but it will be one hell of a phone call/conversation i'll have with the store owner if they ever try this sharp practice on me:mad:

coolaboola

I did mention it to the member of staff who assisted me. She empathised - it was regularly causing problems for the customers she deals with. I hope she passes it on to the manager.

I've raised issues with SuperValu a couple of times before but to no avail so I'm not sure I'm very inclined to raise another issue. I may be wasting my breath.

I should simply send the link to this thread to SuperValu!

(I found this problem in SuperValu Sundrive, Dublin, BTW)

C.K Dexter Haven

coolaboola wrote: »

I did mention it to the member of staff who assisted me. She empathised - it was regularly causing problems for the customers she deals with. I hope she passes it on to the manager.

I've raised issues with SuperValu a couple of times before but to no avail so I'm not sure I'm very inclined to raise another issue. I may be wasting my breath.

I should simply send the link to this thread to SuperValu!

(I found this problem in SuperValu Sundrive, Dublin, BTW)

Many Supervalues have a Facebook and twitter presence- if they do, and you post on their wall etc about this issue, you'd be surprised what positive reaction may follow;)

razzler

Managers rarely take heed of customer complaints passed on by staff. Only when the customer makes the complaint themselves will they listen.

rubadub

If in doubt in tesco I cross reference the barcode labels to make sure the item is correct.

If a shop wanted to save confusion they could easily list what items are exempt which are very likely to be mistakenly thought to be included. -Problem is most of them want customers to be confused so they don't bother.

A supervalu near me was so bad at one stage I would be eyeing up the prices while they scanned and just say "can you put that back... and that". The cashiers would look at me oddly I would just say the price is wrong, they would be saying "oh I will go check", and I would just say "no I don't have the time".

goldenhoarde

Its sharp practise plain and simple in most cases in my opinion!

100 customers pay 3 instead of 2 euros that's 100 euro extra for the store as no doubt the supplier is providing the discount.

Its always on a similar product and given how most stores manage the shelf space you would think this issue would be quickly sorted, but it's not

So how many of the 100 (my guestimates)

a) complain ~5%
b) don't buy it ~5%
c) just buy it ~90%

my3cents

rubadub wrote: »

If in doubt in tesco I cross reference the barcode labels to make sure the item is correct.

If a shop wanted to save confusion they could easily list what items are exempt which are very likely to be mistakenly thought to be included. -Problem is most of them want customers to be confused so they don't bother.

A supervalu near me was so bad at one stage I would be eyeing up the prices while they scanned and just say "can you put that back... and that". The cashiers would look at me oddly I would just say the price is wrong, they would be saying "oh I will go check", and I would just say "no I don't have the time".

When I regularly used Supervalu I used to put all the special offers up first and the staff got to the stage of asking me if I wanted the prices checked before they rang them up.

I now only get a few special offer items in Supervalu and its still I regularly find items that come up more expensive at the till.

Liam O

Anyone who doesn't make sure the thing they've picked up is the one on offer deserves to be overcharged imo, it takes 2 seconds to compare the stickers and if they are confusing you can ask either at the checkout or a staff member there. If you pick up something called "extra mild" instead of original or something it's not difficult to check it, the problem is people just look at the larger than normal sign and assume everything above it is on offer. Now there are some genuine inventory price mistakes but there's no reason to think that you deserve something for picking up the wrong thing imo.

yellowlabrador

Liam O wrote: »

Anyone who doesn't make sure the thing they've picked up is the one on offer deserves to be overcharged imo, it takes 2 seconds to compare the stickers and if they are confusing you can ask either at the checkout or a staff member there. If you pick up something called "extra mild" instead of original or something it's not difficult to check it, the problem is people just look at the larger than normal sign and assume everything above it is on offer. Now there are some genuine inventory price mistakes but there's no reason to think that you deserve something for picking up the wrong thing imo.

I help a man with Alzheimer's to shop. Those offers are there to confuse and no other reason. They could perfectly manage to stock the shelves so it would be clearer. They also tend to put the cheaper things out of direct view, that is apart from the loss leaders. This man is still very aware of prices, so we have to check everything repeatedly. Another thing I found is stuff that is out of date. It looks like there's a large range available, but it might be stacked one item deep and then coming home, we find it's one year out of date. It's horrible feeling as though the shop is constantly out to get you.
I find Aldi and Lidl more straight forward and also way more helpful, maybe the higher wages work?

clint_silver

Liam O wrote: »

Anyone who doesn't make sure the thing they've picked up is the one on offer deserves to be overcharged imo, it takes 2 seconds to compare the stickers and if they are confusing you can ask either at the checkout or a staff member there. If you pick up something called "extra mild" instead of original or something it's not difficult to check it, the problem is people just look at the larger than normal sign and assume everything above it is on offer. Now there are some genuine inventory price mistakes but there's no reason to think that you deserve something for picking up the wrong thing imo.

Ive said this before, when Tesco were caught several years ago with sharp practices, random baskets went through random tesco shops and pricing mistakes occurred. Tesco said it was just a maths issue with pricing and not updating registers. However, of all the pricing mistakes, ALL of the mistakes were in favour of Tesco. If it were maths, at least some of the mistakes would have been in favour of the customer.

this is why as mark of gaining customer confidence , Superquinn offered the product free if there was a price differential between the receipt and the product. Tesco used to do it too. Im not so sure that either shop do that anymore, supervalu (the old stores) certainly never did.
And its not so much that customers get a free product, its that customers have the confidence that they're not being treated in any underhand way.

I have never had any cause to question an aldi or lidl receipt. Maybe its the lack of offers (everythings low anyway, so youre never going to get BOGOF offers) that could give rise to the situation, maybe its the efficiency of their systems.

One can write some of the discrepancies off as inefficiencies, staff training or incompetence, but not all of them or the shops willingness to let you catch them out when there in error with nothing more than a "ah fair play you caught our error where we would have made money from you, do you want it at the higher price? if not, put the item back"

dub45

The reality is there are no consequences for the shops when they overcharge in this way whereas if a customer reached into a till and took some money there would be very serious consequences. Businesses when they fail to ensure that their pricing is correct are reaching into our pockets.

The onus is on the business to get their pricing right - scanning offers huge savings for business. If you purchase a lot of items it can be very hard to keep an eye on what you are actually charged v the price on the shelf.

I long ago stopped doing any shopping in Super Valu because of wrong pricing and as other posters here confirmed the staff confirmed at the time that they were fed up getting complaints over wrong pricing. And I did try raising the issue with managers on several occasions and they were not interested.

cerastes

goldenhoarde wrote: »

Its sharp practise plain and simple in most cases in my opinion!

100 customers pay 3 instead of 2 euros that's 100 euro extra for the store as no doubt the supplier is providing the discount.

Its always on a similar product and given how most stores manage the shelf space you would think this issue would be quickly sorted, but it's not

So how many of the 100 (my guestimates)

a) complain ~5%
b) don't buy it ~5%
c) just buy it ~90%

Keep seeing the same issue with a centra shop, I rarely use them, butbfrom time to time you need to pick up a small amount of stuff, the problem being items are often mispriced at the tills compared to how it was priced on the shelf, especially offers which are almost never at the discounted price, It happens anytime I go in, which is usually just if stuck and maybe take some things on special too, rarely get more than a few items as you have to be watching what you've gotten, one time when it was busy I said items were incorrectly priced and the person at the till started making excuses saying, oh no that item is not on special anymore, if this was a once off fine, but its always the same, don't want to be going on Facebook or revealing my name publicly.

I consider it sharp practice and potentially intentional rather than incompetence as the error always seems to fall in the retailers favour as while it is mostly on sale items, it also occurs with any other item, but to sell items and for them never to meet the discounted sale price a lot of times that it is so noticeable and that I suspect most people won't notice or until its too late means they are effectively scamming customers.
I think centra shops are individual franchises so probably noncentral way to complain, but I think that would even be a waste and I would not be inclined to want to give them my name as I have no garauntee of privacy.
I'd like to try and find out by searching if this is isolated or if others have complained, any other good sites for that kind of thing? Can't locate it here but doesn't mean it has gone unnoticed or just that no one has mentioned it.
All I can do is watch my purchases, or not shop there,
When a shop purchase adds up to any more but routinely 20-50% more for certain items, that is a complete rip off.

Th3B1tcH

tat centra shop wouldnt happen be near a train station (D9 area) ? I noticed it with a certain branch but it actully seems to be with certain staff everytime a certain few on its ALWAYS wrong.
I being pulling them up and keeping receipts as I know owner well and will being having a nice chat with him (hes a really nice guy so few of us keeping records) as its only with a newish crew we think there actully ripping him off :eek:

Smidge

I lost count of the amount of times this has happened to me in both Supervalu and Tesco. And it can't be down to floor staff stacking mistakes.
ENTIRE displays and the end of aisle, floor to top rack of products with the "special" label in front of them(thinking particularly of bottles of soft drinks one time). Get to the till, not a reduced item.
Surely the floor staff are told where to display products so it appears to be deliberate and that management are aware of what they are doing.
Very bad practice imo

daheff

Liam O wrote: »

Anyone who doesn't make sure the thing they've picked up is the one on offer deserves to be overcharged imo, it takes 2 seconds to compare the stickers and if they are confusing you can ask either at the checkout or a staff member there. If you pick up something called "extra mild" instead of original or something it's not difficult to check it, the problem is people just look at the larger than normal sign and assume everything above it is on offer. Now there are some genuine inventory price mistakes but there's no reason to think that you deserve something for picking up the wrong thing imo.

thats all well and good in your world. In the real world it doesnt happen like this. The typical shopper is a mother herding the kids through the shop, or a shopper in a rush and hasnt double checked these offers vs the barcodes on the packet. Some of the 'special offer' stickers dont have a barcode and are (imho) deliberately lacking in enough detail to try to confuse and trick shoppers to buy the more expensive item.

cerastes

Th3B1tcH wrote: »

tat centra shop wouldnt happen be near a train station (D9 area) ? I noticed it with a certain branch but it actully seems to be with certain staff everytime a certain few on its ALWAYS wrong.
I being pulling them up and keeping receipts as I know owner well and will being having a nice chat with him (hes a really nice guy so few of us keeping records) as its only with a newish crew we think there actully ripping him off :eek:

No it isn't on the north side, its bad enough they aren't that reasonably priced, but I accept they are a convenience store, but to display items on offer and then not offer them at that price.
T

jkmanc1974

cerastes wrote: »

No it isn't on the north side, its bad enough they aren't that reasonably priced, but I accept they are a convenience store, but to display items on offer and then not offer them at that price.
T

Same happens at Supervalu in Clonmel.....long since stopped shopping there after the manager showed zero interest in dealing with a complaint

willow2670

2 days ago I purchased 2 pouch's of Dolmio pasta sauce on special offer for €3.00 (retail at €1.99 each). I was charged the full retail price. Told cashier & got a refund. Was in the same store today & bought the same. Again, charged full price. This 'cashier' was in a suit, so I assume she was part of the management. I told her about the 'offer' of which she was aware of. She told me there was a problem with the till! I told her this was the second time this happened & I paid at another till, (so can't be the til). She insisted it was the tills fault & an engineer was on the way to sort out the problem.
I asked her ' if it was the tills 'fault', then why didn't she use one of the other 3 vacant one's available'. (got more fobbed off answers)
I then suggested at the very least, she took the 'offer' down, until this problem was resolved.
The worrying part for me is this 'bin' that the sauces were in was full on my first visit. Today, there was barely 10 pouch's. They are obviously making such huge profits with this tactic, and will continue to <SNIP> until something in Ireland can be done about it.

dudara

Shops like SuperValu do not have individually controlled tills any more. When the manager said that something was wrong with the till, they were referring to the central software that controls all the tills. It wouldn't matter which individual till you scanned the product on as they would all show the same pricing error.

ben.schlomo

dudara wrote: »

Shops like SuperValu do not have individually controlled tills any more. When the manager said that something was wrong with the till, they were referring to the central software that controls all the tills. It wouldn't matter which individual till you scanned the product on as they would all show the same pricing error.

That wont stop the average Joe Slow from mouthing off about things they dont understand though.

ComfortKid

fussyonion wrote:

The customer service lady said the Extra Mild ones were €2.99 and that someone had placed the wrong product with the wrong price sticker. A month on and nobody has fixed the issue.

Don't Tesco have a policy on this, that if it's labeled wrong, you get your money back and the item for free?

clint_silver

ComfortKid wrote: »

Don't Tesco have a policy on this, that if it's labeled wrong, you get your money back and the item for free?

thats from 4-5 years ago, at least 2 years ago I went looking for this when over priced and was told that was no longer the policy.
Other people have said they got a double the difference back so if you were charged 3e for a 2e item you got 2e (1+1) back but even then thats painful..

willow2670

dudara wrote: »

Shops like SuperValu do not have individually controlled tills any more. When the manager said that something was wrong with the till, they were referring to the central software that controls all the tills. It wouldn't matter which individual till you scanned the product on as they would all show the same pricing error.

If that's the case, then the product's should not of been on display as a Special Offer

dudara

If you believe that a shop is consistently and deliberately making pricing errors, then raise a complaint with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

But be fair, mistakes do happen and shops should be given a chance to rectify.

Hollister11

I have always found that this only happens in supermarkets that are expensive, and don't pay there employees well.

In the likes of Aldi and Lidl, where they pay €11+ an hour, this has never happened to me. In Dunnes and Tesco it happens often, Supervalu in my experience don't let this happen. I'd put it down to an slight error OP.

dub45

Hollister11 wrote: »

I have always found that this only happens in supermarkets that are expensive, and don't pay there employees well.

In the likes of Aldi and Lidl, where they pay €11+ an hour, this has never happened to me. In Dunnes and Tesco it happens often, Supervalu in my experience don't let this happen. I'd put it down to an slight error OP.

I long ago stopped shopping in SuperValu because of this and management showed absolutely no interest in the problem.

L1011

Nearly every SuperValu is a franchise - theres little central control and oversight

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Hollister11 wrote: »

I have always found that this only happens in supermarkets that are expensive, and don't pay there employees well.

In the likes of Aldi and Lidl, where they pay €11+ an hour, this has never happened to me. In Dunnes and Tesco it happens often, Supervalu in my experience don't let this happen. I'd put it down to an slight error OP.

You see this is where you cannot generalise like that. Supervalu do let this happen, as the previous posts prove and I have seen myself. I have had pricing errors in Lidl but never had one, to my knowledge, in Dunnes.

Errors happen.

my3cents

Isabel Bewildered X-ray wrote: »

You see this is where you cannot generalise like that. Supervalu do let this happen, as the previous posts prove and I have seen myself. I have had pricing errors in Lidl but never had one, to my knowledge, in Dunnes.

Errors happen.

Had errors in Dunnes plenty of times but always down to staff who hadn't bothered to remove out of date promotional material from the shelves.

With Lidl I've had discounts I didn't expect because the staff hadn't put up the promotional signs.

In local SuperValu check everything because its so often wrong.

Errors do happen but I judge a store on how they deal with the errors. Getting your money refunded is all well and good but you can't then say that "errors happen" when a week later you find exactly the same error. Sorting out the error once made aware of it has to include changing the offer signage or the price on the computer. I know if they bother my SuperValu can change the prices on the system but they don't.

PTB

<SNIP>SuperValu santry McDonnells has been <SNIP>. The price's never match when you get to the till, I feel sorry for the genuinely lovely staff that seem embarrassed when customers notice the 'error'. <SNIP>

skibum

how long before this thread / post is taken down or edited by the mods?

ScouseMouse

Its not an issue, its a rant

PTB

skibum wrote: »

how long before this thread / post is taken down or edited by the mods?

Yeah its more of a rant, bit of an issue for the elderly. It's my first time using boards , maybe I'm using it wrong. I'll just put it on Facebook , if they take it down I'm not interested in their site. Am I using this wrong? I thought this was a rip off Ireland customer forum?

dudara

Merged into existing SuperValu thread in Consumer Issues

In future, please don't make criminal accusations against a business or person. Keep it factual.

dudara

PTB

dudara wrote: »

Merged into existing SuperValu thread in Consumer Issues

In future, please don't make criminal accusations against a business or person. Keep it factual.

dudara

thanks for merging mine with this, the 'sneaky special's' is exactly what I was referring to so this is spot on. I'm still a noob so I'm probably using this wrong. As for my comment I said I think someone is on the take, I didn't say they definitely were. Anyway if I can't make accusations (which I wasn't) **** them, they can report me or take my comments down & I'll go put it on Facebook were you can say whatever you want. I know literally 20 people with the same complaint.

PTB

coolaboola wrote: »

Just wanted to give Boardsies a heads-up on something I've fallen foul of on more than one occasion: SuperValu Sneaky Specials!

In store you'll find lots of special offers prominently advertised (with yellow labels)... WARNING: Read the labels very, very carefully. SuperValu typically only put part of a range on special.

For example they currently have Pringles on special for €2. There appear to be a long list of flavours offered on the special. However all the 'Xtra' flavours are excluded (even though they were on a shelf right above the special offer sign). (And as it turned out when I fell foul of this yesterday, only two of the long list of flavours actually on offer were available in-store)

I was chatting with the staff member who helped me return my Xtra Pringles to the shelves and she was saying that they get complaints from customers in their shop at least once or twice every day about Sneaky Specials and that it drives the staff nuts too.

Unless you read the labels of the offers carefully you may find yourself in for an unpleasant surprise at the checkout.

And if anyone from SuperValu reads this, please stop the Sneaky Specials. It leaves a very bad taste in the mouth when you end up paying more than expected or returning goods to the shelves. If you're offering a special, offer it on the whole range.

Anyone else get stung by SuperValu Sneaky Specials?

Thanks for this, the SuperValu in santry is terrible for sneak special's, my friends and family are getting done all the time, we all have to check are receipts every time. I feel sorry for the staff, who know about this and seem embarrassed but it's like they can't do or say anything.