Anyone else been overcharged in Somerfield?

[Sue]

Went to the checkout yesterday with a basket of stuff including a bottle of wine which was supposed to be ?3.99 - half price. I paid by debit card.

Glancing at my bill on my way out I saw I had been charged ?7.99 for the wine. Yet this was for a wine which was on a massive display with "half price" in enormous letters over it!

On returning to the checkout, I was asked to sign a slip saying "- ?7.99, product unsuitable" - I crossed out the "product unsuitable" and wrote in "wrong price charged."

Instead of having ?7.99 refunded via the card and ?3.99 charged to the card, I was handed four pound coins - and no copy of the slip, I afterwards realised.

I have no idea how the other ?3.99 was accounted for given that apparently the whole ?7.99 had been deducted from the till.

I am honestly not carrying out a vendetta against Somerfield - I still shop there, after all! - but this is the third incident I have personally been involved in (card cloned - my bank more or less admitted it was from there - no cashback given, overcharged) and I have witnessed others (no cashback given - like me, the guy realised before leaving the store).

Am I just unlucky? Or is it my own fault for being nitpicky and looking at my bill? :-S

Edited to say: Even more nitpickingly, I think it might have said "product not required", not "product not suitable"

[matthew123]

I don't think they're the sharpest bunch in that place - am sure it was an innocent mistake

[PeckhamRose]

Very innocent.

I have been overcharged both times I have been there but I always pay in shops with cash and always check.

[Sue]

What was the nature of your overcharging, PR?

[SteveT]

When I was over charged the bacon which in theory had been discounted had been sold out, and they put the ordinary bacon in it's place with all the discount blurb around it.

You really have to have your wits about you, when buying discounted lines.

[sweetgirl]

SteveT Yesterday, 10:39PM

When I was over charged the bacon which in theory had been discounted had been sold out, and they put the ordinary bacon in it's place with all the discount blurb around it.

You really have to have your wits about you, when buying discounted lines.

as far as im aware, if they price something wrongly & you, the customer complain & make an issue of it, they have to honour it! you should get it at the price on the ticket, in theory most of us don't read the small print, we just see the price pick it up & pay for it!

[Sue]

In this case there was a whole display full of the special offer, clearly marked ?3.99.

The issue I am raising is not just the overcharging at the till, but the way the refund was made.

[Surprise]

I've never been overcharged but it is a strange place. Two out of the three or four times I've ever been in that Somerfield (I normally just do a big shop at Sainsbury's) I've been offered cashback, said yes, and then not been given my cash until I realised outside the store and went back.

[Huguenot]

It does seem, assuming everyone to be honest and these tales to be accurate, as if there is a culture of theft endemic within Somerfield's staff. These issues sit alongside the card-cloning scam already admitted to by the management.

More importantly it seems to be on a huge scale.

The first step should be that every time this happens the management of the store must be told. I'd probably precede the conversation with the line..."It's clearly an accident, however it may highlight a need for additional training...". I think they'll get the message, and it'll also identify if it's just one thieving little shitbag who's doing the damage.

There really needs to be some public statement assuring the public of the steps being taken to stem this noisome tide.

[Sue]

Surprise Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've never been overcharged but it is a strange

> place. Two out of the three or four times I've

> ever been in that Somerfield (I normally just do a

> big shop at Sainsbury's) I've been offered

> cashback, said yes, and then not been given my

> cash until I realised outside the store and went

> back.

xxxxxxxx

This has happened to me, and I have witnessed it happening to someone else.

I no longer think this can be due to staff incompetence or inexperience, and I also don't think there is just one person involved.

In future I am going to report each of these "mistakes" to Somerfield management. But surely they must be aware???

[Cassius]

If there is a discounted product but the discount doesn't come up on the till, then it is NOT the fault of that particular member of staff - it means that the tills haven't been adjusted accordingly and the staff don't (I think) have the ability to over-right it. Is this due to incompentence or is it a way of trying to overcharge people who are too busy to check every item, I don't know. It happened to me in IKEA recently when an item came up as being more than advertised on the display but as we were only buying a few items I challenged it immediately and didn't buy the product. If it had been one of many items I might have missed it.

[Sue]

Cassius Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If there is a discounted product but the discount

> doesn't come up on the till, then it is NOT the

> fault of that particular member of staff - it

> means that the tills haven't been adjusted

> accordingly and the staff don't (I think) have the

> ability to over-right it.

xxxxxxxxxx

No of course it's not their fault if it's wrong on the till - but taking eight quid off the till with a note saying "product not required" and refunding four pounds in cash when the original bill was paid by card

is, erm, a bit of an odd way to rectify the situation, no? What happened to the other four pounds?

According to the till note, the bottle of wine was returned to the store. In fact, it was in my bag.

[ibilly99]

Yup got done on the bacon scam - cost me ?7 for 2 packs - couldn't be arsed to go back - someones having a larf ere innit !

[HonaloochieB]

Whenever there's a special offer on the large botttles of lager it's never been programmed into the tills and there is the bloody rigmarole of someone having to come with their magic key and make it all OK.

Still three large Stellas for four and half quid? Result!

[BJL]

ibilly99 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yup got done on the bacon scam - cost me ?7 for 2

> packs - couldn't be arsed to go back - someones

> having a larf ere innit !

I almost fell for this one too, about a month ago. If even one member of staff notices that the signs are wrong and misleading customers, then it should be fixed right away. Judging by the responses here, it looks like that hasn't happened and the management doesn't care.

But then (unless things have changed there recently) they leave reduced chilled food unrefrigerated and mix raw and cooked meat in the same display. Terrible place.

[Clinker]

Moral of the story is to always check your receipts. You can't count on people to do their jobs properly... sometimes it's just down to incompetence and bad management, not fraud.

[Fuschia]

The price on display, such as the price on the actual goods, the shelf edge price, the price given in an advertisement or on a website in most cases forms part of what the law terms 'an invitation to treat'. In these circumstances, this means that the price given by the trader forms part of an invitation for the prospective buyer to make an offer to buy, which the trader is entitled to either accept or reject. The buyer cannot insist that a trader sells anything at the marked price, whether or not the trader has made a mistake. However, action can be taken against the trader for giving a misleading price indication. The law does not allow prices to be fixed and, contrary to common belief, goods are not subject to price controls...

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008...What do the Regulations say about pricing?

The Regulations deal with lots of different aspects of how to trade fairly, but there are some specific requirements for pricing, and the following practices are banned:

Inviting the consumer to purchase a product at a special offer price without making the consumer aware of limited stock/availability, taking into account the extent of the advertising, the price of the goods and what amount of stock is reasonable to expect, (known as bait advertising).

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/southend/con1item.cgi?file=*ADV1011-1111.txt

[Sue]

Clinker Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Moral of the story is to always check your

> receipts. You can't count on people to do their

> jobs properly... sometimes it's just down to

> incompetence and bad management, not fraud.

xxxxxx

Sometimes. There seems to be an awful lot of incompetence and bad management in Somerfield though.