Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Dishonest practice or shoddy trading at Sainsbury's?
With times a little tough, my other half has taken to checking whether the multi-buy discounts that are claimed are applied by Sainsbury's.
The first thing that struck us was the fact that Sainsbury's seem to have adopted a method of recording the discounts that make it less than straightforward to check if they've been applied - vague generic descriptions on the discount entries and a number of places to record discounts (some after the item, some at the end of the bill etc).
On checking for the discounts each week, we've found that on one or two bills out of four one or more of the discounts haven't been applied. I wonder how many people who made a buying decision based on the discount subsequently bother to check if the discount has been applied. A small percentage I imagine. What does this add up to in terms of lost discounts for customers (or, looked at another way, gained revenue for Sainsbury's)?
Today we thought we'd found another. To cut a long story short and leaving out the tiresome details of really rude staff, we hadn't found another, well not really. We bought two packs of sliced ham, taken off the shelf just above the notice that said very clearly "Any two packs of sliced cooked ham £4". After checking out, we noticed that the discount hadn't been applied. So we took our bill to the customer service desk. The member of staff there and two other staff on the shop floor insisted that although the item was clearly cooked sliced ham, it wasn't included in the offer. Clearly this wasn't just "any" sliced cooked ham.
In the end a supervisor was called. She came armed with the price board which she'd taken off the shelf front. She too insisted that the ham we'd chosen wasn't just "any" sliced cooked ham. After a few minutes, she suddenly noticed some tiny writing tucked away - which neither we nor any of the other staff had noticed - that said "applies to marked items only".
So, legally it seems they were right. What can you say. For us though it's misleading and dishonest. More of the dwindling trust we used to have for Sainsbury's has trickled away. We were offered the assurance that the ticketing manager would be informed of our displeasure. Mountains out of molehills, it may be, but that didn't feel like enough, so we've asked for the company to write to us to explain what they will do to correct this misleading notice.
Has anyone else noticed discounts not being applied or misleading notices at Sainsbury's?
Tags for Forum Posts: sainsbury's, sainsburys
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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Its easy to get conned. I just wished everything had a price tag on like in the old days. For those whose sight isnt great, its easy to pick up something that seems to be in one price range but then is rung up as something more expensive. This happened with me and a bottle of wine once as with Debbie. The label on the wine was miniscule, same make etc but not clear at all that it was a dfferent price. And there was a five quid difference in price. I argued my case at the check out and said, the customer is always right and this is misleading... I use Lynbos a lot now. A lot of things in there are just a pound and everything has a price ticket on. Very good for household things and excellent for tissues- 12 handy packs for a quid.
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Permalink Reply by Katy Mendes on
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I am a mild sufferer of OCD, runs in the family, and thus spend a lot of time analysing and cross referncing items when at the supermaket ( I'm a hoot at parties!), so I'd like to think that I have avoided falling victim to this, although I am sure I have been caught out and just not realised.
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Permalink Reply by JeremyS on
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Following Nigel's advice above, I called Sainsbury's Careline (0800 636 232). They were polite, apparently gave a damn, apologised and out £10 on my Nectar card. So far so good. What would complete the customer service cycle for me is for a local manager to get in touch and show that they care.
PS: Thanks Nigel.
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Permalink Reply by rahman on
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They're a profit making business. I'm not surprised, and don't feel cheated either, as I dont expect anything more from them!
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Permalink Reply by BBU on
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Jeremy - I'm glad you got a result.
I think I've cracked the Sainsbury's car park problem it's actually a business ploy, all the money we've saved in offers end up getting burnt in petrol costs trying to leave their car park!
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After one week, this is where Sainsburys have got to on this:
Same shelf label but almost as if to thumb their nose at me, they've removed the "applies to marked items only" that was there last week. Go figure.
OK it says see shelf tickets / items for prices, but that's rarely easy and it still says ANY pack. The "applies to marked items only" that was there last week, by the way, was in even smaller writing than the see packs for prices line is now.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Just came across an article in the Guardian entitled Former OFT head criticises industry as investigation shows majority of trumpeted price reductions worth just a penny.
Read it here.
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I think the supermarkets also go for our greed a bit (or should I say sense of a bargain). You have to stop and ask yourself, do you really need two packets of something esp when the saving might not be that great? Will you eat it all? I have been caught out by 'bargains' of yogs but didnt check best by date. I couldnt eat 8 pots of yogs in 6 days... so ended up chucking two out. Zero savings. If people didnt pick up these things so quickly, they might stop doing this type of promo and give us real bargains instead on a regular basis. Two for one or special price promos encourage waste, obesity and arent good for the environment. And they damage your eye sight trying to read the damn small print!
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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AS far as I'm aware Lidl has not engaged in any price fraud, trickery, deception or misleading.
I am also aware that Which? magazine rated them Britain's best value retailer.
No frills, no nonsense and no deceit.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I live on my own and I find the two for one offers really annoying, especially when supermarket fruit goes rotten so quickly.
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