The Meal Deal scam

positron

How many of you have experienced meal deal items not adding up to the meal deal at checkout?

I have been in that situation too many times - and usually I will just shrug it off thinking I must have made a mistake, probably didn't read the label right, or I picked up something that was not part of the deal by mistake etc. Turns out it's not that simple.

Yesterday and M&S, I picked up three items, all clearly marked and labeled as part of their €5.50 meal deal. At checkout it adds up to over eight euro. When I mentioned how it should be a meal deal, checkout assistant was just picked up something at random and said "ah no, this is not in meal deal". Since I was expecting this, I stood firm, and he picks out something else "oh sorry, it's this, this is not in deal". Another checkout person came into have a look and we walk back to the meals shelf and of course I hadn't made any mistakes. He puts it thru the system again, tweaks the final figures manually and apologies etc. Explanation: "Probably wrong in the system". Probably?!!

Today at Tesco, I go thru the motions, double-checked the labels and what I was picking up - and sure enough at the self-checkout it all adds up to around 7 quid than the €3.50 it should have been in meal deal. I queue up at the Customer Service and the girl re-scans them and says "ah this is not in the deal". I said it is, you can see it right there. She's like "oh may be it was on offer but not now". Isn't that false advertising I asked. "Oh may be something wrong, may be it's the system". And that's it - no refunds, no fixing issues, nothing - that's all she could do.

I can not imagine how many ordinary decent folks fall for this scam and assume it's their own mistake and pay full price. If this is not a scam, I don't know what is! Any suggestions on how to bring some attention to this?

/Sorry about the rant!

daheff

if you feel its false advertising, then bring a complaint to the advertising authority.


Best if you can document everything and give specifics (and pictures where appropriate).

Atomicjuicer0

Yep. This has happened to me at Tesco before too.

emeldc

Someone will be along in a minute to explain the 'invitation to purchase' BS thing :rolleyes:

whiterebel

Happened to me in Tesco a few times too. Pizza + side + dessert for €5, when checked through came up to €7-8. Stood my ground twice and they manually over rode it.

emeldc

'Invitation to treat' is what I'm thinking of although I'm not saying it should apply in this case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat

frag420

Happened a couple of time to me here in London.

When I asked if I can have them at them at the advertised 'deal' price I was told it was a mistake and that I would have to pay full price.

I just left the goods at the cash register and walked away...to the sound of assistant calling after me telling me I cant just leave them there!

guil

I wouldn't have left until I got double the difference.

L1011

whiterebel wrote: »

Happened to me in Tesco a few times too. Pizza + side + dessert for €5, when checked through came up to €7-8. Stood my ground twice and they manually over rode it.

Better option is pay, go to customer services, get double the difference - 2 or 3 quid for the deal.

artanevilla

emeldc wrote: »

'Invitation to treat' is what I'm thinking of although I'm not saying it should apply in this case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat

But that's exactly what it is. How is it BS?

positron

L1011 wrote: »

Better option is pay, go to customer services, get double the difference - 2 or 3 quid for the deal.

M&S folks were polite and apologetic once they understood that they were clearly in the wrong, but Tesco Customer Services girl was just shrugging her shoulders as if it's not her problem.

I am half-thinking of going in next time with a camera, recording the whole thing and putting in on Youtube... as an attempt to name and shame. I might get sued to hell and back for it though!

Yawns

anytime I see someone not get the deal is usually they have picked up a similar, but incorrect, item.

I'll use the Tesco meal deal for €3.50. Sandwich, crisp & Lucozade in this case. The 380ml bottle of Lucozade is included in the deal, but people tend to pick up the 500ml bottle. Get to til to find the price scans for more as the 500ml bottle is incorrect. Now a lot of the times if you check, you see that it's mostly 500ml bottles on the shelf instead of 380ml bottles so I don't blame the customer. Whether it's staff placing items incorrectly or being instructed to place them there so some people might just pay more at the tills or not.

Normally I'd say it's staff just doing it by mistake but any Tesco's I have been in for the lunch deal usually has the same errors.

daheff

to be honest, i reckon its more sharp marketing.


There is a deal, but they put similar products right beside it /under the deal sign to try to get customers to take that product rather than the one included in the deal. Customer ends up paying more than expected, and if its part of a larger shop, possibly goes unnoticed.

But if the op is correct in that the op picked the correct items and didnt get the deal, then is would fall under the remit of the advertising authority.

emeldc

artanevilla wrote: »

But that's exactly what it is. How is it BS?

So when your special out turns out to be not so special when the 'invitation to treat' rule is applied, you would be ok with that, yeah?

HeidiHeidi

On the basis of nothing except personal experience, I wouldn't trust Tesco as far as I could throw them. I've had items charged differently at the till from what was on the shelf (if there was a label at all on the shelf), I've had the self-service till machines short-change me. When I eventually found someone to report these mistakes, I was greeted with supreme indifference. I avoid at all costs, and if I have to shop there I scrutinise the receipt every time.

Haven't availed of any meal deals in Tesco, but this thread doesn't surprise me in the least.

M&S I use a lot, and I think once, years ago, their system didn't give the discount that was due. They nearly fell over backwards apologising and rectified it immediately. (No "compensation" expected, or offered).

I still scrutinise every receipt when I've bought stuff that should result in a "deal" saving.

lcstress2012

positron wrote: »

How many of you have experienced meal deal items not adding up to the meal deal at checkout?

I have been in that situation too many times - and usually I will just shrug it off thinking I must have made a mistake, probably didn't read the label right, or I picked up something that was not part of the deal by mistake etc. Turns out it's not that simple.

Yesterday and M&S, I picked up three items, all clearly marked and labeled as part of their €5.50 meal deal. At checkout it adds up to over eight euro. When I mentioned how it should be a meal deal, checkout assistant was just picked up something at random and said "ah no, this is not in meal deal". Since I was expecting this, I stood firm, and he picks out something else "oh sorry, it's this, this is not in deal". Another checkout person came into have a look and we walk back to the meals shelf and of course I hadn't made any mistakes. He puts it thru the system again, tweaks the final figures manually and apologies etc. Explanation: "Probably wrong in the system". Probably?!!

Today at Tesco, I go thru the motions, double-checked the labels and what I was picking up - and sure enough at the self-checkout it all adds up to around 7 quid than the €3.50 it should have been in meal deal. I queue up at the Customer Service and the girl re-scans them and says "ah this is not in the deal". I said it is, you can see it right there. She's like "oh may be it was on offer but not now". Isn't that false advertising I asked. "Oh may be something wrong, may be it's the system". And that's it - no refunds, no fixing issues, nothing - that's all she could do.

I can not imagine how many ordinary decent folks fall for this scam and assume it's their own mistake and pay full price. If this is not a scam, I don't know what is! Any suggestions on how to bring some attention to this?

/Sorry about the rant!

I work in retail with self service checkouts, are you sure you wait till the very end of the sale (hit finish and pay) for the offers to come off as they usually come off at the end ?

positron

lcstress2012 wrote: »

I work in retail with self service checkouts, are you sure you wait till the very end of the sale (hit finish and pay) for the offers to come off as they usually come off at the end ?

Yes - I paid the full (non-meal-deal) price and then went to the Customer Services person with the receipt. The Customer Services persons indifference is what really annoyed me the most.

If some journalist gets on the case and does a bit of undercover work.. or perhaps it's time for citizen journalism... :cool:

Kings Inns or bust

emeldc wrote: »

'Invitation to treat' is what I'm thinking of although I'm not saying it should apply in this case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat

While there is absolutely no reason why you should be aware of this, the invitation to treat rule allowed modern shopping as you know it. If it didn't exist there would be a myriad of products that you couldn't pick up and inspect, pop in your basket and then misplace back with the carrots when you change your mind.

Every section in Teso would require a person standing there and you'd have to make payment as you went around, quaint but fecking hell lunch on the run would be a pain in the arse.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_Society_of_GB_v_Boots_Cash_Chemists_(Southern)_Ltd

So many threads of wonder this evening!

Kings Inns or bust

positron wrote: »

Yes - I paid the full (non-meal-deal) price and then went to the Customer Services person with the receipt. The Customer Services persons indifference is what really annoyed me the most.

If some journalist gets on the case and does a bit of undercover work.. or perhaps it's time for citizen journalism... :cool:

Frankly the standard of journalism couldn't get any lower. This would probably make page 2 or 3 of the Indo.

mansize

Is it a scam? or just a misunderstanding?

degsie

This is 100% people not paying attention to the item selection. A cursory glance of the barcode on the item and on the SEL will generally solve this.

emeldc

degsie wrote: »

This is 100% people not paying attention to the item selection. A cursory glance of the barcode on the item and on the SEL will generally solve this.

Can't agree with that at all. Time and time again my local SV have been found to charge full price for stuff that had been marked down.

mansize

emeldc wrote: »

Can't agree with that at all. Time and time again my local SV have been found to charge full price for stuff that had been marked down.

This is the sandwich meal deal we're talking about

Kings Inns or bust

mansize wrote: »

Is it a scam? or just a misunderstanding?

Is lunch time 1pm GMT or BST in Greenwich?

HeidiHeidi

Kings Inns or bust wrote: »

Is lunch time 1pm GMT or BST BLT in Greenwich?

FYP :pac:

mansize

Kings Inns or bust wrote: »

Is lunch time 1pm GMT or BST in Greenwich?

Midday

Dardania

When I worked in a shop, around the time the below article was written, there was a code of practice agreed to, whereby they'd all honour the price on the shelf edge:

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/major-supermarkets-sign-up-to-scanning-code-1.251838

And that affected how we ran our registers (e.g. get registers scanning correctly if doing a deal/saving, then change shelf edge label)

Jayop

This happened me in Tesco years ago and I think I got the deal either free or with a bigger discount. Mispriced items happen all the time, my local spar is a disaster.

daheff

Jayop wrote: »

Mispriced items happen all the time, my local spar is a disaster.

you'd think with barcoded items and price tags that the pricing should be less likely to be mispriced.

A simple report run every morning to show new price tags for overnight pricing changes cant be that difficult to implement in Spar?

I understand tesco have 10ks of items, but should still be able to organise something similar? Its not rocket science

MOH

daheff wrote: »

to be honest, i reckon its more sharp marketing.


There is a deal, but they put similar products right beside it /under the deal sign to try to get customers to take that product rather than the one included in the deal. Customer ends up paying more than expected, and if its part of a larger shop, possibly goes unnoticed.

But if the op is correct in that the op picked the correct items and didnt get the deal, then is would fall under the remit of the advertising authority.

Yeah, Tesco are always at this.
I've particularly noticed it on things like 2L (or 1.75L now) bottles of Coke.
One week it's two for X. The next it's three for Y. Then it's 3 for Y but excluding a couple of variants (e.g. Coke Zero not included). Then it's back to two for X again.
Given that the per-unit price often doesn't change that much (or at all), the only reason I can see for it is to catch out people who regularly by the same quantity thing. You basically have to check the shelf label carefully every time you pick anything up.

mloc123

Happened to me again in Tesco on Tuesday with their meal deal, happened before and I shrugged it off and said I must have made a mistake. On Tuesday I stood my ground, went back down to the shelf with the buy from the self service till etc.. eventually he put it though as an open item €10.

nailer54321

In my opinion supermarkets place the same item with slightly different quantity in the same place as the meal deal, as was said with the 380ml and 500ml Lucozade, this happens in all supermarkets and is done to catch out people, it happens too often for it to be a mistake, Tesco use to give you the items free and your money back if you noticed you have been over priced but that has all stopped now as too many people were getting free stuff. its about time that they just be honest with there customers and stop playing games like leaving too similar products beside each other or putting the price under the wrong product. happens too often to be a mistake. As for Tesco I have stopped shopping there a long time ago now because everytime I did go in they would have something priced wrong and it was up to me to spot it. its up to people to stop using these shops if they feel like they are been cheated. maybe they will change there ways then, but I would not hold my breath.

jcd5971

daheff wrote:

A simple report run every morning to show new price tags for overnight pricing changes cant be that difficult to implement in Spar?

In tesco you'd average 600 a day total price changes, 1 person to do it, when the offers change usually every 3-4 weeks on the changeover day that number rockets up to nearly 2000 depending on size of store, usually only 1 person to do it, maybe 2 if very busy.

It's a horrible hard job, have to print labels manually, they come out in stupid order, up and down shop like a yo yo etc.

Then figure in person doing it is under pressure and paid crap human nature kicks in.

That's even before you take into account you might change label of say lucozade in mineral section, but forget about the special offer ends or sandwich meal deal fridge etc.

I agree it should work but there you go just a bit of insight.

Stone Deaf 4evr

jcd5971 wrote: »

In tesco you'd average 600 a day total price changes, 1 person to do it, when the offers change usually every 3-4 weeks on the changeover day that number rockets up to nearly 2000 depending on size of store, usually only 1 person to do it, maybe 2 if very busy.

It's a horrible hard job, have to print labels manually, they come out in stupid order, up and down shop like a yo yo etc.

Then figure in person doing it is under pressure and paid crap human nature kicks in.

That's even before you take into account you might change label of say lucozade in mineral section, but forget about the special offer ends or sandwich meal deal fridge etc.

I agree it should work but there you go just a bit of insight.

why dont they use them digital price tags like you see in shops all over europe? I assume they can be altered easily without any of that faffing about you mention

L1011

Up front costs and ongoing maintenance are non negligible for a chain the size of Tesco

Stone Deaf 4evr

L1011 wrote: »

Up front costs and ongoing maintenance are non negligible for a chain the size of Tesco

Shops like super u, intermarche and E.leclerc are monster chains. If they can make it work, no reason Tesco can't.

L1011

If Tesco hadn't been losing money recently they might be more interested in the idea!

bobo the clown

When I used to work in Tesco there was a policy that if a customer paid a price over what is on the shelf edged label they would get it free. This was never actually implemented. So its best to actually pay first and then highlight the mistake than to highlight it before you pay.

I could have that totally wrong though!!

Also the systems were always wrong. We had an offer at one stage for toys. It was 3.99 and 4.99 toys on sale for 2 for €5. When scanned through the till they came to 2 cent. Some very happy customers that week.

loyatemu

jcd5971 wrote: »

In tesco you'd average 600 a day total price changes, 1 person to do it, when the offers change usually every 3-4 weeks on the changeover day that number rockets up to nearly 2000 depending on size of store, usually only 1 person to do it, maybe 2 if very busy.

that's a deliberate policy by Tesco though - they are constantly changing prices and offers in order to bamboozle their customers. They constantly move stuff around as well.

This is one of the reasons Lidl and Aldi have become so popular - if you go in and buy something this week, chances are it will be in the same place at the same price next week. It's a less bewildering experience than Tesco.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

loyatemu wrote: »

that's a deliberate policy by Tesco though - they are constantly changing prices and offers in order to bamboozle their customers. They constantly move stuff around as well.

This is one of the reasons Lidl and Aldi have become so popular - if you go in and buy something this week, chances are it will be in the same place at the same price next week. It's a less bewildering experience than Tesco.

There you have to be joking. The reason I gave up on Aldi and Lidl is that I could never find anything. Nothing follows any logic and stuff is moved constantly in the one's here: its lime going to a car boot sale at times. At least in Dunnes or Tesco the aisles are labelled and the products are in those aisles week after week.

mansize

Everything I buy regularly in Lidl is in the same place!

L1011

Willow Nutty Babble wrote: »

There you have to be joking. The reason I gave up on Aldi and Lidl is that I could never find anything. Nothing follows any logic and stuff is moved constantly in the one's here: its lime going to a car boot sale at times. At least in Dunnes or Tesco the aisles are labelled and the products are in those aisles week after week.

With the exception of the offer aisles (which include a small food offer section in Lidl) and the Aldi Super6 moves most of the other stuff has been in the same place in my local store for years. Actual years, not hyperbole.

I still can't find most of the "Tesco Ingredients" items since the last move

mansize

I cant abide Tesco stores, far too big.

My Lidl store is a town store and just the right size for me!

Yawns

Most Lidl / Aldi stores have the same layout around the country. You can walk into 2 different stores 30 miles apart and most of the time the layout very very similar. A few exceptions to the rule but that's been my experience of it ranging through midland towns and through Dublin.

CJmasgrande

Willow Nutty Babble wrote:

There you have to be joking. The reason I gave up on Aldi and Lidl is that I could never find anything. Nothing follows any logic and stuff is moved constantly in the one's here: its lime going to a car boot sale at times. At least in Dunnes or Tesco the aisles are labelled and the products are in those aisles week after week.

I go to Spain a lot and even their Aldis and Lidl are laid out identical to Irish stores.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

CJmasgrande wrote: »

I go to Spain a lot and even their Aldis and Lidl are laid out identical to Irish stores.

Must be me so. I can just never find what I'm looking for in them and have to ask staff for help.

monkeysnapper

I was in a spar in UK last week when on holiday and I picked up a sandwich /drink/ bar for special offer and like you say op it came to 2 pounds more.

I got you must have picked up wrong drink . so I went back , politly gave her all drinks and all bars and she still couldn't find offer. I just bought sandwich in end .

She was nice girl and seemed embarrassed so I just left with sandwich .
I always go through my receipts when there's multiple offers and find discrepancies.

Sadly, I have way too much experience in Supermarkets as a manager and an ordinary worker.
Never in all my time have I heard of any plan by store manager or above to deliberately mislead a customer on a promotion.

As the staff will tell you, an item is not in the offer. That doesn't mean you are wrong, it just means that on the system, that item does not come up under that promotion. There are many reasons that could happen:
Product has a new barcode,
Item was not put into the deal on the system at head office,
wrong label in front of the product,
Incorrect size, i.e triple sandwiches instead of 2, 500ml drink instead of 380ml
But the most common one is that the deal has expired but the label not changed.

At Tesco, there will be 1 person changing labels each night, 2 if there is a promotion change. Thats for the average 10,000 sq ft store. On a quiet night there might be 400 new labels to put out. On a promotion change 2000 to 4000, possibly more. Now that is a LOT and often times they might not get it finished.

They have to print those labels, seperate them all from sheets of say 16-40 per page, then manually put them all into a pile for each aisle. There will be a minimum of 3 different sizes of labels, all printed separately. Now each label requires them to scan the original barcode then scan the new barcode to ensure they match. One label at one end could be followed by another at the exact opposite, they are not in bay or shelf order. They generally wont notice if a slightly different product is already packed in the wrong place.

And the system doesn't know about extra locations and will only print 1 label per product. So if you have wine in a meal deal and the wine section and a promotion end someone needs to go to the other 2 locations and scan them for a reprint. These are often where the labels don't get changed.
Your 380ml lucozade is no longer in the deal and the person changes the label in the drink section but maybe forgets the cafe, the sandwich fridge, the lucozade stand and the impulse fridges at every other checkout.

I know it's frustrating but there is no conspiracy theory. Staff don't get anything from you being charged more apart from extra hassle and potentially losing a customer. If you're not in a rush, have a quick check that the yellow label matches the product you want and the promotion ending date hasn't passed. Shouldn't need to be done but might save you trouble.

As a manager, if it was our fault I would scan a product that IS in the deal and scan out the one that isn't but still give you the product you wanted. Our system orders based on sales so it isn't supposed to be done. It will think theres 1 more chicken sandwich than there is and 1 less egg sandwich and potentially not order something when it runs low.

tldr; it's not a conspiracy, just too much work to cope....sorry

sbs2010

[Deleted User] wrote: »

At Tesco, there will be 1 person changing labels each night, 2 if there is a promotion change. Thats for the average 10,000 sq ft store. On a quiet night there might be 400 new labels to put out.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. One question though - Why so many price changes every night? 400 seems very high.

sbs2010

sbs2010 wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed explanation. One question though - Why so many price changes every night? 400 seems very high.

I don't actually know the answer but I think a lot of them are price matching. Reducing to get rid of lines and make way for new products. Maybe increases where a product has suddenly become popular i.e. Rachel Allen used Greek Coconut and Raisin pitta bread and now everyone wants it.

positron

Deleted User wrote: »

tldr; it's not a conspiracy, just too much work to cope....sorry

Cheers for the explanation based on solid experience. What would the usual supermarket policy when someone points out that what's in the shelf is a) misleading or b) outright wrong and customer is right?