Be careful in local shops

[Sue]

I don't want to name a shop, but I have twice at this busy time of year had an issue, and yesterday was overcharged when buying a number of small things.

If you are using a shop which doesn't give an itemised receipt, or doesn't give a receipt at all, just be aware that it might be a good idea to check that you are not paying over the odds (and if using cash, that you are given the right change for what you handed over).

When staff are busy they might make mistakes.

[phil_the_rhythm]

There's not enough people talking about this - I've often worried about it too  One busy staff's mistakes will not make my pockets lighter, thank you very much.

Thanks Sue and all the best for the new year. 

[phil_the_rhythm]

Sorry Sue - me again. This has been on my mind all day, it's a big bug bear of mine. If you don't mind - please can you private message me some of these shops so I can cross reference / add to my AVOID list. 

Thanks in advance. Let's make sure this doesn't happen this Christmas, particularly as we head into sales season. Even more problematic in my experience.

[Sue]

47 minutes ago, phil_the_rhythm said:

Sorry Sue - me again. This has been on my mind all day, it's a big bug bear of mine. If you don't mind - please can you private message me some of these shops so I can cross reference / add to my AVOID list. 

Thanks in advance. Let's make sure this doesn't happen this Christmas, particularly as we head into sales season. Even more problematic in my experience.

Sorry but I think it's best if people just check things for themselves when they buy things.

In three shops/restaurants (from some years back) I just avoid the places concerned, as in all three  cases I was pretty sure it wasn't a genuine mistake, and in one place  it happened more than once and usually late at night.

Edited December 24, 2025 by Sue

[Nigello]

Is it not a legal requirement to issue a receipt? If you don’t get one, ask. If that doesn’t work, report. 🎄 💴 

[bonaome]

In a couple of places locally, I have come across this. I am fairly sure that they attempt to do the bill in their head. If you just say , “no, I think it’s x” they start again and get to an agreeable number, or find a calculator. I don’t think it’s a malicious attempt to swindle people. Just not great arithmetic.

[Sue]

16 hours ago, bonaome said:

In a couple of places locally, I have come across this. I am fairly sure that they attempt to do the bill in their head. If you just say , “no, I think it’s x” they start again and get to an agreeable number, or find a calculator. I don’t think it’s a malicious attempt to swindle people. Just not great arithmetic.

People working in shops should not be "attempting to do the bill in their head."

Nor if questioned should they be  trying to "get to an agreeable number."

They should be actually (not trying to) getting to the correct number.

I'm afraid in many cases it is clearly more than incorrect arithmetic. One New Year's Eve in a restaurant (not in East Dulwich but quite near it) two of us were charged for thirty poppadoms.

We were quite merry when the bill came, but not so merry as to not notice something amiss.

Unfortunately we have had similar things happen in a well established East Dulwich restaurant we no longer use.

There is also a shop in East Dulwich which is open late at night. It used not to display prices on its goods (that may have changed).

On querying the bill, we several times found a mistake had been made. Once we were charged twice for the same goods.

There is a limit to how many times you can accept a "mistake". 

There is also a limit to how many times you can accept the "friendly" sweet talking after it.

[Lynne]

Just avoided being overcharged in Superdrug, Peckham. Half price price on the shelves, but not half price at the till. If I'd been buying loads of things I might not have noticed

[David Peckham]

On 26/12/2025 at 15:33, Sue said:

 

I'm afraid in many cases it is clearly more than incorrect arithmetic. One New Year's Eve in a restaurant (not in East Dulwich but quite near it) two of us were charged for thirty poppadoms.

We were quite merry when the bill came, but not so merry as to not notice something amiss.

If I was on a table of two accused of eating thirty poppadoms (with pickles and chutneys) on top of curries and sides, I think I'd be inclined to say 'Yep, that was us' and ask the waiter to write off the entire bill.

That is a truly heroic feat and should be recognised as such, even if you didn't actually do it.

[Castleton]

5 hours ago, Lynne said:

Just avoided being overcharged in Superdrug, Peckham. Half price price on the shelves, but not half price at the till. If I'd been buying loads of things I might not have noticed

Superdrug is rife at this! The old Iceland used to be too

[NewWave]

40 minutes ago, Castleton said:

Superdrug is rife at this! The old Iceland used to be too

I get very confused in Superdrug because they have a price listed underneath the product..and it turns out that is the price with 'Superdrug Card' which I dont have..I was recently made redundant so I've been very careful when spending and check price tags in a way I would'nt have donr whilst in FT employment.

[Pugwash]

There is an ED shop which I avoid going to as much as possible as they rarely have price labels on their goods - there are other places as well in the area.

[Sue]

4 hours ago, NewWave said:

I get very confused in Superdrug because they have a price listed underneath the product..and it turns out that is the price with 'Superdrug Card' which I dont have..I was recently made redundant so I've been very careful when spending and check price tags in a way I would'nt have donr whilst in FT employment.

You can get a card at the till, though, to get the discount.

You don't have to carry it with you (or load it onto your phone), you can just get a different card each time.

Not sure what happens if they notice 🤣

[Sue]

Also, if you keep receipts but don't have a card, they will give you the discounts you would have had.

Probably a good idea to take the receipts in at a quiet time, though 🤣

[David Peckham]

18 hours ago, NewWave said:

I get very confused in Superdrug because they have a price listed underneath the product..and it turns out that is the price with 'Superdrug Card' which I dont have..I was recently made redundant so I've been very careful when spending and check price tags in a way I would'nt have donr whilst in FT employment.

Sorry to hear that, New Wave. I hope you find something soon.

I genuinely had this situation in Superdrug on the south coast yesterday.

I was buying their own version of E45 cream (it's about a third of the cost) and they asked if I had my Superdrug card with me. I didn't. Who does?  But they were able to apply the appropriate discount to my purchase due to them having my mobile phone number and email on record. 

You can fill in any old bollocks for the loyalty card.

I found it quite funny when they asked me to confirm that I was Dr. Dave Dave, of Dave Road, Dave, London, SE15 5DV.

I'm actually not a real doctor!

 

[Castleton]

5 hours ago, David Peckham said:

Sorry to hear that, New Wave. I hope you find something soon.

I genuinely had this situation in Superdrug on the south coast yesterday.

I was buying their own version of E45 cream (it's about a third of the cost) and they asked if I had my Superdrug card with me. I didn't. Who does?  But they were able to apply the appropriate discount to my purchase due to them having my mobile phone number and email on record. 

You can fill in any old bollocks for the loyalty card.

I found it quite funny when they asked me to confirm that I was Dr. Dave Dave, of Dave Road, Dave, London, SE15 5DV.

I'm actually not a real doctor!

 

I make up random dates of birth, I'm always getting 'birthday' offers hahaha

[Vik]

On 12/01/2026 at 13:29, David Peckham said:

 

I found it quite funny when they asked me to confirm that I was Dr. Dave Dave, of Dave Road, Dave, London, SE15 5DV.

I'm actually not a real doctor!

 

Next you'll be telling us that you don't live in Dave 😏

[David Peckham]

I don't!

But I've also taken to calling myself David, as it seems to shorten the odds of achieving something in life.

It's not King Dave, Dave Lloyd George, Dave Hockney, Dave Bowie or Dave Hasselhoff is it?

And I'm not sure Michelangelo would have had such success if he'd called his sculpture 'Dave'.

Edited January 14 by David Peckham
Sp

[Suggsy]

I also do not want to name a shop but there is one on Lordship Lane that sells fruit and veg and on several occasions now I have brought produce home to discover that what was weighed as 500g in the shop was 460g when I weighed it at home. And yes I checked my scales weren't wrong by weighing a 1KG bag of sugar. Beware folks. 

Edited January 23 by Suggsy
typo

[CPR Dave]

That's annoying not just for the small amount of pennies they are taking incorrectly, but also because if you need a precise amount of something and you are more than 10% short a recipe might not work.

[Suggsy]

Exactly. I had to then scale down the rest of the ingredients. It's happened twice that I know of. 

[OutOfFocus]

Sounds like one for trading standards 

[Sue]

17 hours ago, Suggsy said:

I also do not want to name a shop but there is one on Lordship Lane that sells fruit and veg and on several occasions now I have brought produce home to discover that what was weighed as 500g in the shop was 460g when I weighed it at home. And yes I checked my scales weren't wrong by weighing a 1KG bag of sugar. Beware folks. 

To the best of my knowledge there are three shops on Lordship Lane selling fruit and veg (or at least displaying them outside) and sadly I now no longer go to two of them because of, to put it kindly, the  "mistakes".  Those I've actually noticed.

(the other one I just admire the wonderful  display but assume I can't afford to buy anything).

[Froglander]

Please name all of the shops.  

[Penguin68]

As regards weighing things the old way of scamming wasn't to have scales which weren't correctly calibrated, but judicious use of the shopkeeper's thumb. So reporting a problem may simply uncover scales that work properly.