Systematic overcharging by supermarkets!

Henny Penny said:
My local tesco doesn't give free items ...
Does anyone know where the policy of giving overcharged items free is written down? I would love to go armed with this info when doing my next shopping in tesco.
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It was very prominantly displayed in the local stores here but I noticed the signs were gone this week (but I still got my freebies).
 
The Tesco's in Bangor told me last year that they didn't have the policy, so it must depend on the store.
 
ubiquitous said:
Maybe it doesn't apply north of the border?
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That could be the case, but I haven't tried it anywhere else in the North. I lived in England for four years and I made extensive use of it then - there was nearly always something on the list that had been mislabled. So it surprised me when the wouldn't do it when I was in Bangor. They do it in Cork as I bought Innocent smoothies (an expensive treat that my wife loves) and they mispriced them giving us almost €10 of the stuff for free.
 
Sylvester3 said:
That could be the case, but I haven't tried it anywhere else in the North. I lived in England for four years and I made extensive use of it then - there was nearly always something on the list that had been mislabled.
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If it applies in England (and in ROI), then it should logically apply in NI. The guy in Bangor may have told you a porky.
 
The refund policy was changed in tesco uk around February 2007 to "double the difference". This was due to many people taking advantage of the refund policy on high price items.
http://www.gamersquad.com/category/Xbox-360/Tesco-changes-policy-after-consumers-bag-free-Xbox-360s/

http://www.tesco-complaint.blogspot.com/2007/02/tesco-withdraw-refund-retain-policy-due.html


Shortly after, I noticed the signs had been taken down in my local tesco. I was expecting the policy to change in Ireland, but as recently as last week , I got 2 items free as I was overcharged on consecutive nights. The first night, I had to bring the girl on the customer service desk to where the item was on display and she conceded that I was overcharged: 14.99 refund. Second night, picked up 2 polo shirts that were marked: "buy 1 get 1 half price". I was charged full price for the second one. On the way out visited the same girl on customer service. Full refund.- no questions.
Dunnes will only refund the difference as I found out recently. I pointed out to the customer service desk that i had been overcharged on 2 items that were on special -"half price", but i had been charged the full price. I queried if I should get the full amount back, but the girl said I was only entitled to the difference but that if I had left the store and returned the next day i would have got the full amount! Not sure if I would.
 
If I remember correctly, the origins of Tesco's policy in Ireland was that RGDATA (I think) which represents small local shops, went into a number of big supermarkets and had a field day of bad publicity for the major multiples, when they were overcharged for some items.

In response, Tesco brought in a policy that if you were overcharged for a product, you were entitled to it for free, without quibble. Dunnes & Superquinn also had this policy.

Given the number of mistakes, I wouldn't be surprised to see a huge surge in Tesco's profits if they stop this policy. I mean, who in their right mind (well okay, maybe oddballs like me, just making a point) is going to queue up at the customer service desk, behind the people looking to buy lotto tickets, cigarettes, cash cheques and when there is a queue on the other checkouts, have less than 3 items in their basket, just to inform the shop that they had been overcharged by an amount less that a Euro. Life is too short.

Because the mistake hasn't been brought to their attention in the first place, they will continue overcharging on these items ad infinitum, all the time adding to their bottom line.


Murt
 
I think the Tesco policy was part of the 'Code of Practice' on scanning of EAN Ireland (now . The more recent CoP seems to have been pulled from the GS1 website, though you can still find it via Google cache.
 
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