Somerfield, confusing prices

[SteveT]

I was in there this morning, Somerfield back bacon was on offer ?2.50 buy one get one free. I selected 2 packs ignoring the fact they were priced on the pack at ?3.00.

I dutifully went to pay and got charged ?6.00 I moaned and someone went to check the price, they argued that it was the 190gm pack and I had the larger 400gm packs.

There was no other packs to choose from except the large ones, and the 190gm is written in small print, I left them at the checkout.

The next item was the bread rolls which were 5 for a pound, today they were 4 for a pound no notice of this at the bread counter so I left one at the checkout.

I have been stung by them before, and have decided to watch more carefully, what exactly I am paying for.

It feels like sharp practice when they give a price on the shelf and it does not correspond with the goods nearest to that stated price.

[MitchK]

Steve, I doubt it is sharp practice. More like total incompetence. It is an awful place and I have launched my own one man boycott (for what it's worth!). Anyway, CO-OP are buying them and will hopefully flog them off to someone decent like Waitrose although I fear that may be a forlorn hope. Just go to SMBS, Sainsburys or Budgens in future.

[KalamityKel]

If you want to be up to date on particular offers before you trot off to somerfield Somerfield Offers <-- check it out (keep an eye on the small print for offer dates thought)

[*Bob*]

I'm not sure if SMBS is a suitable alternative for Somerfield shoppers.

Not everyone can afford to spend over ?2 for six frozen lime leaves.

[redjam]

I've had this problem before with Somerfields too. I once bought two massive boxes of teabags as they were on a 2-for-1 special offer. Didn't notice till I got home that I'd been charged twice. Next time I was in there I showed them the receipt and pointed to the offer sign, but they said it only applied on special shrink-wrapped double packs (which needless to say were buried behind the individual boxes and couldn't be seen easily unless you were on your hands and knees). I got a bit stroppy and the guy told me if I brought both boxes back I could swap them for the special double-pack and get a refund. So after three trips I finally got my money back! Not sure it was worth the hassle given I only saved a couple of quid, but by this point I was on my moral high horse. (Sad I know...) Anyway, I always check the receipt now at the till if I've bought anything on special offer, as I'm sure there have been other times that I've been caught out with them. Not really convinced incompetence is an excuse.

[KalamityKel]

To be fair though it's not just Somerfields that have issues with poor clear offer advertising. Sainsbury's and Iceland have also in the past had problems...

[Jeremy]

In Sainsbury's over the weekend... buy two packs of raspberries, save ?1. Except the older packs had been reduced to 30p. The net result - two free packs of raspberries and 40p off the bill.

I wanted to go back and see if I could crash the self-checkout machines with a negative bill. But my girlfriend wouldn't let me.

[Dulwich_ Park_ Fairy]

Their beer prices are very strange indeed.

[sweetgirl]

i dont use somerfield unless i NEED to! i prefer sainsbury's, the prices in somerfield crazy!

anyway, sainsbury has a much better range.:)

i wonder if they think they're based in the city!:-S

[ladida]

Thanks for all this, I was just about to pop down there. Perhaps I'll go to Iceland instead.

[HonaloochieB]

I wish they'd bring back David Greig's, you know where you stood with Greigs so you did.

The serving girls used to add everything up in their heads and they'd never be a farthing out.

[sweetgirl]

when somerfield was GATEWAY i used to work there. (many years ago now!) >:D< it was alot cheaper than what it is now!

i really cant understand how their prices rocketed. i put it down to its convenient location......

i still prefer sainsburys, & yes i visit iceland too sometimes! they are both a hell of alot cheaper!

[SteveT]

Thank you for the positive support you guys, I have gone from this(6) to this:)

[Guest]

Sainsbury's is just as bad; you always need to to check the receipt afterwards.

Having said that, I do go to Somerfield (does it really need to be so bloody cold in there?) because I can't seem to get out of Sainsbury's without spending at least 20 quid succumbing to multibuys I don't need and it works out cheaper.

[HonaloochieB]

sweetgirl Wrote:

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> when somerfield was GATEWAY i used to work there.

> (many years ago now!) >:D than what it is now!

>

So did my Auntie Mary, amongst many branches the one at Tulse Hill. She's still got a discount card that she can use in Somerfield.

But she doesn't live near one, so she hardly ever does. Still.

Small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it.

Who said that?

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Oh, my auntie mary had a canary up the leg of her drawers ...

[SeanMacGabhann]

Steve Wright - not the English maaaad DJ but the American comedian (also the radio guy in Reservoir Dogs)

[Strawbs]

209

@Mitchk

I think you have company there, my other half has lauched her own one woman boycott of the place also so you are not alone!! It would be my dream for a waitrose to be in its place, you just cant go past a waitrose!

MitchK Wrote:

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> Steve, I doubt it is sharp practice. More like

> total incompetence. It is an awful place and I

> have launched my own one man boycott (for what

> it's worth!). Anyway, CO-OP are buying them and

> will hopefully flog them off to someone decent

> like Waitrose although I fear that may be a

> forlorn hope. Just go to SMBS, Sainsburys or

> Budgens in future.

[SeanMacGabhann]

wow Strawbs - you really going to put a counter on every post??

Somerfield: Not QUITE the coldest place in ED - that honour goes to the Tesco Metro or whatever it's called opposite Locale

[Strawbs]

301

@SM - I thought it was quite a nice touch!! Its spurs me on!!

[MitchK]

Great, thanks for the support on the boycott. Not yet ready to mount a picket line but who knows.

I'm not sure the COOP will look to sell off the LL store to anyone once they have bought it as it probably a good little site to own. My other fear with Waitrose is that their profits will decline in the current economic environment as luxury shopping is going to be the first thing people cut down on. This may curtail their store expansion. But we can keep hoping.

[HonaloochieB]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

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> >

> Steve Wright - not the English maaaad DJ but the

> American comedian (also the radio guy in Reservoir

> Dogs)

Correct, but then you knew that, didn't you?

[Sue]

I was about to start a thread on Somerfield!

I too was charged over a pound more than the price marked on the shelf on a bottle of gin (hic) I bought there on my way home today - they eventually input the correct price after some to-ing and fro-ing. Only reason I noticed was because my criterion was getting the cheapest brand (I'm so discerning :) )

But the main problem was the lack of people on the tills, leading to huge queues at a predictably busy time I would have thought (around 5.45 pm on a Friday?) They had just one till open on the bank of six tills, so we got "till number five", "till number five" ad nauseam.

Then a supervisor closed one of the other two single tills which were open - or at least, she put up a barrier and said to those of us just behind it "this till is closed now". We at the front of the queue then moved to the massive queue for till number five, upon which those at the back of the queue took our places and - before her eyes - moved past the barrier and got served :X

AAAARRRGGGHHHH - this I can do without at the end of a hard week !!

But where else can I buy booze, flowers and fruit at that time of day without having to either lug it home on rush hour buses/tubes (result - crushed flowers) or lug it back from Sainsbury's to the North Cross Road area??

:-S

[HonaloochieB]

Dulwich_ Park_ Fairy Wrote:

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> Their beer prices are very strange indeed.

Currently selling large bottles of Becks, Grolsch and Cobra 4 for a jacks.

Just call me old Strangey McStrangerson.

[macroban]

Somerfield sometimes do illegal prices too.