Friday 25 March 2011

Tesco Price Check Rip Off


Tesco Price Check Guarantee Backfires Spectacularly
Recently I wrote to Tesco's Chief Executive to complain about the large number of mis-priced items in my Tesco Metro store. The shelf edge label said one price, but when I took it to the checkout I was charged a different price. This happened more and more frequently, even though at first Tesco denied there was a problem with the accuracy of their prices. When I bought 9 items and 6 were mis-priced that was the end for me.

Eventually (after I emailed a series of receipts and photos) the store manager telephoned me to confess there was a problem, and his staff were conducting a storewide 'price integrity' process. Woo, fancy. So this Tesco Metro is actually going to charge customers the displayed price. That's real integrity for you (and the law actually).

But now Tesco are in trouble with their prices nationally.

Recently Tesco launched the Price Check Guarantee - promising to refund double the difference if their customers could find any of the items in their shopping on sale cheaper in arch rival ASDA. In fact thousands of customers found ASDA cheaper and reclaimed over £100 in vouchers under the terms of the Price Check guarantee.
Now Tesco has responded by introducing a £20 maximum refund cap per shop. Tesco has also removed the section of their website that allowed customers to compare prices with ASDA before making their purchase.

Of course Tesco could have just decided to reduce their prices to match ASDA (as the Price Check Guarantee would suggest) but as an ASDA spokesperson said;
'if you claim to be the cheapest, call me old fashioned, but it helps to really be the cheapest'.

Since Tesco failed their price pledge failed with me I have switched nearly all my shopping to Sainsbury's - who have cleverly rewarded me with a special series of extra coupons when their systems clocked my Nectar card going back through their tills after a period of absence. They've just mailed me some £3 off a £30 shop coupons to, so it seems Tesco's inability to control their prices may be actually costing them customers. They seem too big to care.

4 comments:

Brendan said...

Good article, nowadays so few people pay in cash the supermarkets routinely scam their customers, and get away with it.

Bear in mind though that choosing between tesco and sainsbury's is like choosing between Stalin or Hitler. They all beat up their suppliers and squeeze local traders, much to everyone's loss ultimately.

"Sir" Terry Leahy on BBC's 'The Apprentice' :

"getting on with others and a work ethic of giving ‘more than you take’ were far more valuable assets..."

The man has a sense of humor no doubt. Looks like he won't be taking up farming in his retirement.

Anonymous said...

i am realy fed up with buying special offers from tesco and when i get home and check my receipt i have been charged full price, then to add insult to injury the person on the returns desk tells you -----ITS EASY TO BRING THINGS BACK (havent they noticed the cost of petrol) OR SORRY YOU CANT RETURN THIS TO THIS TESCO YOU HAVE TO RETURN IT TO THE TESCO YOU BOUGHT IT FROM. come on ASDA open a shop in NEWBURY please

Anonymous said...

Well I have been sent a letter to renew my home insurance from Tesco and it said that they would.take payment from my card, they then sent a letter a month layer after I had received all the paperwork to say that i had the balance outatanding, when I called them they said that they and cancelled the policy and had sent the debt to a collection company and would I like to open a new policy! I asked why did it not go through and even after the two hours on the phone they couldn't tell me they just kept saying it wouldn't go through I called the credit card company and they said that Tesco hadn't tried to take payment and that everything was alright with the card, I they called Tesco again but they simple said that it had started a process and it was tough! Even though it was they fault!

Jerry Foulkes said...

The Advertising Standards Authority later ruled the Tesco Price Check advertising campaign was misleading as it contained significant exclusions. How much did the ASA fine Tesco for misleading millions of shoppers?

Was it:
a.250,000
b. 500,000
c. nothing

That's right - nothing. You may as well shout out of the window as waste your time complaining to the toothless ASA.