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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Tesco - coincidence or something more sinister?

Same thing has happened to me twice over the last few days. The price I'm charged for something is not the price on the shelf. First time was some food waste bags - label said £1.76 but was I charged £3.00. Second time a 4 pack of Bud Light said £3.00 and I was charged £4.00. Both times I complained and got the diffence back but I'm staring to get a bit suspicious! I'm going to take it up with Tesco but I'm curious to see if it's happened to anyone else.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on July 15, 2017 at 0:02

LisaS, you could check prices on the Tesco website or on the     mysupermarket     price comparison website before you next shop at Tesco. That will give an online baseline price. It may be that Tesco (as M&S certainly does in its Simply Food stores) chooses to increase some prices in some of its convenience stores compared to online or big stores - but of course the shelf ticket must always be honest.  

Permalink Reply by Alyson on July 16, 2017 at 11:20

I only use a Tesco when there's absolutely no alternative, and when I do, I find it as described previously. Staff at Sainsbury's near Seven Sisters tube are friendly and helpful, and Expa on Philip Lane the fruit and veg is very cheap and you get an itemised receipt.

Permalink Reply by Raymond on July 16, 2017 at 14:26

I suspect that the problem lies in staff putting the wrong products in front of the prices, happens quite often when special offers are happening and they put a near identical product in the gap to fill the shelves. If the item code matches the code on the price point and you are overcharged then I suspect they are breaking the law.

Permalink Reply by Don on July 16, 2017 at 14:46

I think there are two different things here: yes, the shelf arrangement goes awry from time to time, as you say Raymond, but the incidents I remember are when a product definitely had one price on the shelf but was dearer when scanned. It happened enough times (with yet another price on the Tesco website) that I eventually complained online as well as in the shop and got an apology but no real explanation; that's when a Tesco person reiterated the "twice the price difference" policy, but the notice about this had just been taken off the counter and pasted on the window, where it's easily missed.

Given that Tesco has thousands of different lines (though many fewer in Express shops), presumably mistakes sometimes happen, but it's a frequent enough problem to suggest they're not exactly scrupulous about spotting it until someone complains. Always check the bill!

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 16, 2017 at 16:49
Permalink Reply by Don on July 16, 2017 at 17:20

Michael - Yes, that's the policy I referred to. It used to be (fairly) prominently displayed in a list of policies stuck to the counter in front of each till but the list was moved to a less obvious spot on the front window, by the door, some time ago. As I said above, the staff didn't know about it when I first asked and also subsequently told me it didn't apply to discounted items that get scanned at the original price (unlike the example in the Mirror article). According to the Tesco website FAQs, the policy still exists, though it ambiguously refers to a "Customer Service Desk (except Express stores)" - but presumably this means there isn't such a desk, not that the policy doesn't apply.

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 16, 2017 at 22:20
The Express stores are franchises I think. You just buy the brand name.
Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on July 21, 2017 at 1:33
It might not be deliberate but it happens far too often. Different prices at the checkout are actually illegal, it is a fraud. The bigger Tesco problem are the special offers such as the bargain packs of three which are more expensive than buying the three single items. Watch out for packs of biscuits or sweets. Do you remember the fuss about Marmite being increased by 10% ? Outrage by
Tesco who were increasing prices of their own brands by nearly 20% (roasted nuts £1.69 to £2.00 is one example). The store was founded by a barrowboy whose daughter who inherited the company (and Westminster Council) is now a fugitive from the law.
Permalink Reply by AndrewAW1 on July 21, 2017 at 11:59

It's gradually got worse has that Tesco and I'm actively avoiding it now. The fridges/freezers/tills seem to be out of order pretty often and it's not unusual for half the stuff to be out of stock. Add to that that they keep changing the signs for the queues so no-one knows whether there is a separate queue for the self-checkout (this seems to change each time I'm there).

With the expansion of the shop on the corner of Beresford and it having a butcher now this is much easier. I've even started going back to Iceland now.

Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on July 21, 2017 at 13:32

You ain't seen nothing yes, LisaS - so-called 'E-Ink' price labels are already here.

If Tesco put them on their shelves they will do 'surge' pricing (like Uber who's price differs according to their central computer's 'wisdom', powered by expensive AI).

The price you're charged will then depend heavily on factors outside your control - up and down like a yoyo so if you were to query an overcharge, by the time you got back to the shelf it might have moved again so they can always wriggle out of it with claptrap.

Amazon reportedly have a supermarket (they bought a US chain of them) that recognises you as you enter the store then face-matches you as you take off the shelves, so you never go near a cashier, you're debited as you leave.

As they'll presumably want to apply things like staff discounts automatically, it'll mean that if they don't like your face you'll pay more than if they do.

Is there no end to the ways large orgs can punish us with their market dominance?

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