Consumer Law Advice Please

[StDunko]

Are there any experts in consumer law out there?

 

Had a full on argument with a Tesco employee last night. In my local small "Tesco metro" in the chiller they have a shelf edge ticket offering "3 for £5" on 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen (usually £2.09 each). The bottles in the chiller are all 500ml.

 

They also have a cardboard "display" with 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen which have 50% extra free in them. On the shelf edge ticket for those it clearly states "Old Speckled Hen, 500ml bottles £2.09". So same discription and price, just bigger bottles due to the extra "Free".

 

I therefore decide to buy three bottles to take advantage of the offer, and being of sound mind, I obviously chose three of the bottles with 50% extra free in them.

 

I take them to the self-service till and scan them through and the total comes to £6.27, rather than the £5 advertised. I therefore ask one of the two spotty teenage boys working in there (no managers around a 9pm on a friday night) why the advertised offer is not working.

 

He point blank refused to allow me to purchase 3 of the 50% extra free bottles with the advertised discount.

 

His arguement had two distinct themes, as follows:

"They have different barcodes so they are different products" (despite me pointing out the fact that the shelf edge tickets describe them both identically and the only difference was one had some extra free in it, I emphasised the "Free" bit).

Tesco "know what they are doing and will not have got this wrong".

 

Despite me attempting to reason with him logically, he would just go back to saying "the bar-codes are different!"

 

Surely Tesco can't sell bottles clearly stated as having 50% extra FREE in them at a higher price than the same products without 50% extra free in them can they?

Are they not required by law to honour special offers advertised in store?

[stug76]

Un****ingbelievable! What is the world coming to???

[um pahars]

Are there any experts in consumer law out there?

 

Had a full on argument with a Tesco employee last night. In my local small "Tesco metro" in the chiller they have a shelf edge ticket offering "3 for £5" on 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen (usually £2.09 each). The bottles in the chiller are all 500ml.

 

They also have a cardboard "display" with 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen which have 50% extra free in them. On the shelf edge ticket for those it clearly states "Old Speckled Hen, 500ml bottles £2.09". So same discription and price, just bigger bottles due to the extra "Free".

 

I therefore decide to buy three bottles to take advantage of the offer, and being of sound mind, I obviously chose three of the bottles with 50% extra free in them.

 

I take them to the self-service till and scan them through and the total comes to £6.27, rather than the £5 advertised. I therefore ask one of the two spotty teenage boys working in there (no managers around a 9pm on a friday night) why the advertised offer is not working.

 

He point blank refused to allow me to purchase 3 of the 50% extra free bottles with the advertised discount.

 

His arguement had two distinct themes, as follows:

"They have different barcodes so they are different products" (despite me pointing out the fact that the shelf edge tickets describe them both identically and the only difference was one had some extra free in it, I emphasised the "Free" bit).

Tesco "know what they are doing and will not have got this wrong".

 

Despite me attempting to reason with him logically, he would just go back to saying "the bar-codes are different!"

 

Surely Tesco can't sell bottles clearly stated as having 50% extra FREE in them at a higher price than the same products without 50% extra free in them can they?

Are they not required by law to honour special offers advertised in store?

 

They are under no legal obligation to sell anything to you, it is what is known as "invitation to treat", and at that point no contract is in place, they are merely inviting you to make an offer.

 

However, if there pricing is misleading then they may have fallen foul of the Consumer Pricing (or is it Protection) Act.

[buctootim]

Are there any experts in consumer law out there?

 

Had a full on argument with a Tesco employee last night. In my local small "Tesco metro" in the chiller they have a shelf edge ticket offering "3 for £5" on 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen (usually £2.09 each). The bottles in the chiller are all 500ml.

 

They also have a cardboard "display" with 500ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen which have 50% extra free in them. On the shelf edge ticket for those it clearly states "Old Speckled Hen, 500ml bottles £2.09". So same discription and price, just bigger bottles due to the extra "Free".

 

I therefore decide to buy three bottles to take advantage of the offer, and being of sound mind, I obviously chose three of the bottles with 50% extra free in them.

 

I take them to the self-service till and scan them through and the total comes to £6.27, rather than the £5 advertised. I therefore ask one of the two spotty teenage boys working in there (no managers around a 9pm on a friday night) why the advertised offer is not working.

 

He point blank refused to allow me to purchase 3 of the 50% extra free bottles with the advertised discount.

 

His arguement had two distinct themes, as follows:

"They have different barcodes so they are different products" (despite me pointing out the fact that the shelf edge tickets describe them both identically and the only difference was one had some extra free in it, I emphasised the "Free" bit).

Tesco "know what they are doing and will not have got this wrong".

 

Despite me attempting to reason with him logically, he would just go back to saying "the bar-codes are different!"

 

Surely Tesco can't sell bottles clearly stated as having 50% extra FREE in them at a higher price than the same products without 50% extra free in them can they?

Are they not required by law to honour special offers advertised in store?

 

 

Its endemic in Tesco now - which is part the reason they are losing market share. They think they are being smart by having lots of offers and different sizes so its hard to compare. Some 'special promotional packs' turn out to be more expensive than the regulalr pack when you compare price per gram. They think their customers are too stupid to work it out, but eventually people cotton on to the fact they cant be trusted. Unfortunately my local Budgens thinks it should copy what Tescos do. For the past 3 months they have been running a 'buy one get one free' on 184g packs of Supervalue bacon (ie the cheapest crap) and are charging £3.45 per pack. This is despite the larger 225g packs of Supervalue bacon (not on buy one get one free) being only £2.25. I now travel out of my way to avoid both of them.

 

Sainsburys, ASDA and Waitrose arent immune to this, but they are better.

Edited 6 September, 2014 by buctootim

[CB Saint]

Get on to their twitter account and post your rant. You will be amazed how fast they will react.

[Lord Duckhunter]

I don't know the exact law on this , but having once been in retail management, I'm surprised tesco took this line. They were always pretty good and were held up as an example to follow around doing what's right for the customer. However, that was a number of years ago, so maybe they've changed. I would be amazed if there wasn't some sort of duty manager there, I'm pretty sure their own policy will be there must be a certain level of management on the premises during trading. He/she were probably in the office doing **** all, which does happen a lot in retail.

 

It all depends how far you want to take it. If you write to the store and cc in head office ( although the best bet is the regional manager, if you can get that detail) and I'm pretty sure they'll send you a good will gesture , maybe a £10 or £5. Particularly if you go big on the staff being disinterested and the pricing being misleading. Make a big song and dance about being embarrassed in front of other customers . It really depends on whether you want to be srsed to spend time doing it.

[scotty]

Anybody remember tescos "double the difference" price promise?

 

I do. And its why I refuse to shop there any more, the lying, thieving c*nts.

[bridge too far]

I just hate the fact that Tesco is driving small independent 'corner shops' out of business. I could walk to 3 Tesco Locals in 5 minutes, not that I ever would. It's no wonder they're losing money really; there are only so many stores they can build in a locality before they reach saturation point and don't gain additional business.

 

I also dislike the fact that they pay **** wages and their stores are really outdated.

[Patrick Bateman]

Tesco is just a a horrendous shopping experience - I hate their supermarkets (because they are just hideous experiences with bad quality food, because they focus on non-food), I hate their local stores (for exactly the reason BTF says; driving local independents away) and I hate their petrol station stores (because it means numpties block up the pumps for 30 minutes to do a f**king shop.

[Bucks Saint]

As above, Invitation to Treat, means not obliged to do anything. Good service though usually overcomes this. Tesco are the worst - took over a pub locally, as they are doing around the country, then used the great loophole that exists in planning law, because the pub is already allowed to sell food and drink, so no permission needed.

 

When the Council tried to block them opening 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, despite all the lorries delivering on a busy road and school kids nearby, backed by huge protests by locals, the Tesco lawyer basically said: "we will take you to court all the way, we have much deeper pockets than you, you cant risk local council tax payers money". Cvnts

[Batman]

As above, Invitation to Treat, means not obliged to do anything. Good service though usually overcomes this. Tesco are the worst - took over a pub locally, as they are doing around the country, then used the great loophole that exists in planning law, because the pub is already allowed to sell food and drink, so no permission needed.

 

When the Council tried to block them opening 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, despite all the lorries delivering on a busy road and school kids nearby, backed by huge protests by locals, the Tesco lawyer basically said: "we will take you to court all the way, we have much deeper pockets than you, you cant risk local council tax payers money". Cvnts

 

That is probably part of the reason why tesco are losing many customers

[Smirking_Saint]

The whole world these days is hinged on customer service these days, no more so then big business. I know that everything I do in my job now has to be centred around the customer and because of this I know other companies are very similar. Use that to your advantage.

 

I recently had a row with mcdonalds hedge end over a parking ticket I got when in their premises. Despite the fact I was using the premesis (me and my boss had a meeting there, both of us are field engineers) when I politely asked if there was anything they could do I got their standard stock answer which was no.

 

I usually deal with a situation like so;

 

Can your manager deal with it ? No, can theres ? No, theres etc etc one of them will help you and many middle managers tend to crumble when you ask for their managers details. Needless to say there was something they could do

 

Though realistically I think the cashier was essentially right in this case, though he didnt seem to deal with it very well, for whatever reason. Thank christ Im not in retail.

Edited 6 September, 2014 by Smirking_Saint

[stu0x]

You don't need to be an expert - this is first day contract stuff. As above, when you are shopping, technically the customer makes the offer to enter into a contract at the till, which the shop accepts (or not) - not the other way round. So legally they are perfectly entitled not to sell you goods at an advertised price, special offer or not.

[scotty]

The whole world these days is hinged on customer service these days, no more so then big business. I know that everything I do in my job now has to be centred around the customer and because of this I know other companies are very similar. Use that to your advantage.

 

I recently had a row with mcdonalds hedge end over a parking ticket I got when in their premises. Despite the fact I was using the premesis (me and my boss had a meeting there, both of us are field engineers) when I politely asked if there was anything they could do I got their standard stock answer which was no.

 

I usually deal with a situation like so;

 

Can your manager deal with it ? No, can theres ? No, theres etc etc one of them will help you and many middle managers tend to crumble when you ask for their managers details. Needless to say there was something they could do

 

Though realistically I think the cashier was essentially right in this case, though he didnt seem to deal with it very well, for whatever reason. Thank christ Im not in retail.

 

You ought to know better, smirker. Those "tickets" are no more enforceable than any other invoice you don't agree with; unless they are issued by the police or local council just ignore them.

[Smirking_Saint]

You ought to know better, smirker. Those "tickets" are no more enforceable than any other invoice you don't agree with; unless they are issued by the police or local council just ignore them.

 

Its actually enforceable now, latest advice isnt to ignore them as they are starting to take you to court, but minimal fighting usually works.

[Jonnyboy]

To be fair Tesco's are brilliant for errors in their pricing, just keep an eye on hotukdeals and you get stuff scanning at self service for 1p. I got a load of maryland gooey cookies at 11p per pack a while back.

[scotty]

Its actually enforceable now, latest advice isnt to ignore them as they are starting to take you to court, but minimal fighting usually works.

 

I've had loads of them. Usually just write one letter saying "I am in receipt of your invoice, I dispute it and decline to pay it, bla bla..." then ignore anything else they send. Never had a problem.

[The Cat]

If it was me I'd have explained the law, but then discounted one bottle so you still got the offer and apologised for the confusing signage. But then I guess Tesco wouldn't do that sort of thing.

 

I hate them. Our nearest supermarket is the horrific Bursledon shop but I never go in there, it's possibly the most souless place on the planet. I've seen them cause 2 mile queues on the M27 by backing up loads of delivery lorries from the store to Windhover Roundabout before. They are a disgusting, bullying company who treat staff and suppliers like the sort of crappy meat they sell in their shops.

 

The fact their (admittedly huge profits) are dropping alongside their market share is great news.

[Smirking_Saint]

I've had loads of them. Usually just write one letter saying "I am in receipt of your invoice, I dispute it and decline to pay it, bla bla..." then ignore anything else they send. Never had a problem.

 

Just what I read, basically I did my usual 'Ill talk to the only manager that wants to help me' trick amd it worked. I know its just an invoice but apparantly latest advice is to use the templates to fight it

[Plastic]

Tesco are shiit. But id be too embarrassed to start an argument over £1.27. Well done to you.

[hutch]

I found a very special place for you lot.

 

Enjoy, but beware of lurking bears.

[Grey Crab]

Is this the most upset anyone has ever been over £1.27?

[Goatboy]

Is this the most upset anyone has ever been over £1.27?

 

Absolutely not. I have seen a 'friend' row for 20 minutes over much less.

Tesco is the Deathstar and should be obliterated.

[The Cat]

I found a very special place for you lot.

 

Enjoy, but beware of lurking bears.

 

Haven't found him on this thread yet but I do keep having to stop for a quick masterbate.

 

http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/general-coffeehouse-chat-514/wine-bar-494/392778-do-you-masterbate.html

[LGTL]

What has surprised me most on this thread is that there are people who still don't do their shopping online! Wow.

[The Cat]

What has surprised me most on this thread is that there are people who still don't do their shopping online! Wow.

 

Until our local fruit & veg shop, bakers and butchers move into online sales I'll still be purchasing a lot of shopping in person.

[StDunko]

Many thanks for all the replies. I'm awaiting a reply from Tesco customer services.

 

Is this the most upset anyone has ever been over £1.27?

 

Somtimes it is the little things that get to you, particularly after a long week at work! But it wasn't the £1.27 that upset me Crabby, it was the brainwashed simpleton who rejected any form of logical arguement that wound me up.

 

I thought I was being helpful in pointing out that one of their special offers was not coming through at the till, and fully expected to be charged the advertised price.

 

But instead I just had "The barcode is different" repeated to me several times. The unquestioning almost religious like faith that this teenager had in the infallability of Tesco was frightening. Despite ALL the evidence pointing to the fact that there had been a mistake by Tesco (identical product descriptions and prices etc.) he just refused to be swayed from his belief that somehow the products had to be different, because "Tesco don't make mistakes".

[Saint_Ash]

I went into the Tesco Express on Spiring road on Saturday and asked if the large OSH is in the 3 for 5 offer, was told it wasn't then I argued the fact that the normal OSH was in the 3 for 5 and it wouldn't be 50% extra if the deal didn't stand and he said "Fair enough, pass me the normal Speckled Hen" he then scanned that 3 times and gave me the large bottles for a fiver. Good lad.

 

I'm aware of the invitation to treat so if he said no I'd have just bought something else, unfortunately it's down to the mood of whoever is working there at the time.

[StDunko]

I went into the Tesco Express on Spiring road on Saturday and asked if the large OSH is in the 3 for 5 offer, was told it wasn't then I argued the fact that the normal OSH was in the 3 for 5 and it wouldn't be 50% extra if the deal didn't stand and he said "Fair enough, pass me the normal Speckled Hen" he then scanned that 3 times and gave me the large bottles for a fiver. Good lad.

 

I'm aware of the invitation to treat so if he said no I'd have just bought something else, unfortunately it's down to the mood of whoever is working there at the time.

 

But how can this be? They have different bar-codes!

 

FFS!!!!!!

 

(How dare you find the only Tesco employee with common sense).

[KingdomCome]

It's been answered already I see, but Tesco haven't made a mistake. They are under no obligation to sell you anything, the price on the item is an invitation to treat, if you purchase the item, the contract isn't complete unless Tesco accept your offer to purchase it and they don't need to. Obviously they need to balance their rights against commercial impact however.

 

I can see why you are arguing the point, but the offer is specific to the 100% bottles, rather than the 150% bottles and Tesco are perfectly entitled to do so. I presume the base price for both are the same? (ie if I purchase one bottle of the 100% it would cost the same as one of the 150% bottles). It's effectively having two separate offers on the same product. You can buy one bottle and get a free 50%, or you can buy three bottles and get it at a reduced price.

 

Incidentally, the 50% extra is the better deal, even when purchased at full price.

[KingdomCome]

But how can this be? They have different bar-codes!

 

FFS!!!!!!

 

(How dare you find the only Tesco employee with common sense).

 

He probably could have made it even cheaper if he scanned three tins of beans.

They are different offers on the same product.

[StDunko]

It's been answered already I see, but Tesco haven't made a mistake. They are under no obligation to sell you anything, the price on the item is an invitation to treat, if you purchase the item, the contract isn't complete unless Tesco accept your offer to purchase it and they don't need to. Obviously they need to balance their rights against commercial impact however.

 

I can see why you are arguing the point, but the offer is specific to the 100% bottles, rather than the 150% bottles and Tesco are perfectly entitled to do so. I presume the base price for both are the same? (ie if I purchase one bottle of the 100% it would cost the same as one of the 150% bottles). It's effectively having two separate offers on the same product. You can buy one bottle and get a free 50%, or you can buy three bottles and get it at a reduced price.

 

Incidentally, the 50% extra is the better deal, even when purchased at full price.

 

Fair enough, they may well not be under any "obligation" to sell me anything, but I don't see what difference that makes. Just to clarify, both items are priced identically (£2.09 each) and also the shelf-edge tickets for both items describe them as "Old Speckled Hen 500ml bottles".

 

The impact of not honoring the 3 for £5 offer on the "extra free" bottles does mean that if you buy 3 "extra free" bottles, Tesco are charging you 42.3p more per bottle. It seems ludacrous to me that they state that there is 50% extra "Free" in a product, and then charge you a premium over the standard sized pack?

 

I've had a look at the Department for Business Inovation and Skills "Price Practices Guide". It states:

 

Part 2: Actual price to the consumer

2.1 Indicating two different prices

2.1.1 The CPRs prohibit traders from giving misleading information about prices, which could include indicating a price for goods or services which is lower than the one that actually applies, where this would cause, or be likely to cause, the consumer to take an different transactional decision. In many cases, a different transactional decision is likely to mean whether or not to buy a product, but it could include other decisions taken about transactions.

 

They are advertising 3x bottles of OSH for £5, but charging £6.27 for them. I think I'll quote the above when their customer service team finally reply. I had an automated response telling me that they would provide me with a personal response within 24 hours (that was 63 hours ago!).

[Patrick Bateman]

I would if delivery was free. Not paying £5. I'll just go myself.

 

It is - Sainsburys do free delivery over £100 - if your weekly shopping is less than that, I'll be staggered.

[Unbelievable Jeff]

From a retail point of view they are two different products, products are identified by having a unique registered EAN, which are not identified by the retailer.

 

The issue seems to be that the offer has not been applied to both EAN types.

 

However, the tickets on the 'promotional' larger bottles say the price is £2.09. This is the price that is charged based on those bottles, and by taking those bottles up you are 'accepting' the contract to pay £2.09 per bottles.

 

If you want to have a look at the SOGA to see what you can do then fine, but I really wouldn't bother if I were you.

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Fair enough, they may well not be under any "obligation" to sell me anything, but I don't see what difference that makes. Just to clarify, both items are priced identically (£2.09 each) and also the shelf-edge tickets for both items describe them as "Old Speckled Hen 500ml bottles".

 

The impact of not honoring the 3 for £5 offer on the "extra free" bottles does mean that if you buy 3 "extra free" bottles, Tesco are charging you 42.3p more per bottle. It seems ludacrous to me that they state that there is 50% extra "Free" in a product, and then charge you a premium over the standard sized pack?

 

I've had a look at the Department for Business Inovation and Skills "Price Practices Guide". It states:

 

Part 2: Actual price to the consumer

2.1 Indicating two different prices

2.1.1 The CPRs prohibit traders from giving misleading information about prices, which could include indicating a price for goods or services which is lower than the one that actually applies, where this would cause, or be likely to cause, the consumer to take an different transactional decision. In many cases, a different transactional decision is likely to mean whether or not to buy a product, but it could include other decisions taken about transactions.

 

They are advertising 3x bottles of OSH for £5, but charging £6.27 for them. I think I'll quote the above when their customer service team finally reply. I had an automated response telling me that they would provide me with a personal response within 24 hours (that was 63 hours ago!).

 

But they're not are they? I thought they were advertising one set of bottles in one area (without the free drink) for 3 for £5, and then ones on the promotional cardboard (the extra free bottles) for £2.09 each.

 

If you couldn't differentiate between the products, or the extra free ones were placed above a 3 for £5 ticket then yes, you would have some sort of argument.

[KingdomCome]

Fair enough, they may well not be under any "obligation" to sell me anything, but I don't see what difference that makes. Just to clarify, both items are priced identically (£2.09 each) and also the shelf-edge tickets for both items describe them as "Old Speckled Hen 500ml bottles".

 

The impact of not honoring the 3 for £5 offer on the "extra free" bottles does mean that if you buy 3 "extra free" bottles, Tesco are charging you 42.3p more per bottle. It seems ludacrous to me that they state that there is 50% extra "Free" in a product, and then charge you a premium over the standard sized pack?

 

I've had a look at the Department for Business Inovation and Skills "Price Practices Guide". It states:

 

Part 2: Actual price to the consumer

2.1 Indicating two different prices

2.1.1 The CPRs prohibit traders from giving misleading information about prices, which could include indicating a price for goods or services which is lower than the one that actually applies, where this would cause, or be likely to cause, the consumer to take an different transactional decision. In many cases, a different transactional decision is likely to mean whether or not to buy a product, but it could include other decisions taken about transactions.

 

They are advertising 3x bottles of OSH for £5, but charging £6.27 for them. I think I'll quote the above when their customer service team finally reply. I had an automated response telling me that they would provide me with a personal response within 24 hours (that was 63 hours ago!).

 

You were aware of the fact that the price was not 3 for £5 for the 50% extra bottles before handing over your money. The BIS guidance would not assist you as you were fully informed before concluding the purchase. They have also seemingly done all they could to ensure you were aware of this on the shelf. You state yourself that the 3 for £5 bottles were in the chiller, the 50% free were in a cardboard stand. They are obviously running two different incentives (one of which is initiated by the manufacturer) and have done as much as possible to differentiate between the two.

 

They may well both be described as OSH 500ml, but that does not make them the same product.

[Minty]

The description is wrong. One should've said 'OSH 750ml'. It clearly isn't a 500ml bottle... the 50% free packaging may lead the price to be the same as the 500ml bottle, but it is clearly NOT a 500ml bottle, it is a 750ml. So Tesco have made a mistake here IMO, by using the same description.

 

And as much as I hate Tesco myself (it rankles even more when you realise that their own roots was as a market stall trader) this is clearly just a mistake on the part of whoever did the labels. As highlighted already, the problem comes when you have staff who have no idea how to deal with that situation, and no manager to deal with it.

[Dr Who?]

Love Tesco..... That is all.

[Bucks Saint]

My weekly shop is £30

 

Lucky you, getting to eat out so often

[JackFrost]

 

Surely Tesco can't sell bottles clearly stated as having 50% extra FREE in them at a higher price than the same products without 50% extra free in them can they?

Are they not required by law to honour special offers advertised in store?

 

Absolutely not, hence why it is an "offer". In theory Tesco can charge you whatever they want, and they can refuse to serve whoever they want.

 

 

Despite me attempting to reason with him logically, he would just go back to saying "the bar-codes are different!"

 

 

That's because they were different, hence why there were two separate special offers.

 

 

He point blank refused to allow me to purchase 3 of the 50% extra free bottles with the advertised discount.

 

And he was 100% right in doing so.

 

Ambigious advertising may be daft but it doesn't give you the right or make it practically possible to apply one special offer on top of another, and if you think consumer law has anything to do with it I'm afraid the Tesco employee isn't the simpleton.

[JackFrost]

The description is wrong. One should've said 'OSH 750ml'. It clearly isn't a 500ml bottle... the 50% free packaging may lead the price to be the same as the 500ml bottle, but it is clearly NOT a 500ml bottle, it is a 750ml. So Tesco have made a mistake here IMO, by using the same description.

 

And as much as I hate Tesco myself (it rankles even more when you realise that their own roots was as a market stall trader) this is clearly just a mistake on the part of whoever did the labels. As highlighted already, the problem comes when you have staff who have no idea how to deal with that situation, and no manager to deal with it.

 

Correct

[Patrick Bateman]

My weekly shop is £30

 

What do you buy, one loaf of bread a week?

[SuperMikey]

Sorry Dunko, having worked in shops similar to Tesco through most of my teens they were right not to sell you the larger bottles at the same price. Although one is the standard version and the other is standard + x% they are not the same product, and will be on their systems as two different ones. Because Tesco include the standard bottles in the 3 for £5 deal does not automatically include any similar products as well - it's their offer and they can include what they like on it. Although both bottles contain the same produce, they aren't the same product.

 

I imagine normally the 50% extra free bottles will be priced the same as the regular 500ml versions, but they're not obligated to include them both in the offer as they're separate products. It's like complaining that the larger tubes of Pringles aren't included in a snack-sized Pringles offer, although the point about labelling Minty made is valid as they should technically be labelled as 750ml bottles rather than 500ml + extra% to distinguish them from similar products.

[Lord Duckhunter]

As an ex retail manager I came across this plenty of times . We had packs with % free, that then went on offer. Unless the product is short coded you take the % product off sale and add them to your back stock. You then sell the normal bottles at the offer price . When the offer ends , you put your % product back on sale. That way your OSH customer gets the perception that you've always got offers on his favourite tipple , which creates a bit of loyalty and you stop this sort of nonsense happening over a couple of quid.

 

The manager of this store is clearly an idiot or doesn't know enough about his stock and offers

Edited 8 September, 2014 by Lord Duckhunter

[Halo Stickman]

The manager of this store is clearly an idiot or doesn't know enough about his stock and offers

 

Cock a doodle doo, but the cock at Tesco’s don’t.

 

[StDunko]

The description is wrong. One should've said 'OSH 750ml'. It clearly isn't a 500ml bottle... the 50% free packaging may lead the price to be the same as the 500ml bottle, but it is clearly NOT a 500ml bottle, it is a 750ml. So Tesco have made a mistake here IMO, by using the same description.

 

And as much as I hate Tesco myself (it rankles even more when you realise that their own roots was as a market stall trader) this is clearly just a mistake on the part of whoever did the labels. As highlighted already, the problem comes when you have staff who have no idea how to deal with that situation, and no manager to deal with it.

 

Minty has struck the nail on the head, in my opinion.

 

What Tesco should have done is label the larger bottles as "OSH 750ml bottles" and then put them on sale at a reduced price of £2.09. But they didn't.

 

What they actually did was label them clearly as 500ml bottles (albeit with extra free) when there was an another offer clearly stating that 500ml bottles were 3 for £5, with no visible restriction applying to the larger bottles.

 

Tesco gave me a call and the first thing they did was offer me £7 of vouchers, which I'm more than happy with, seeing as I didn't actually buy the beer following the argument.

 

They also stated in an email:

(Tesco) ..."agreed that your query should have been dealt with more professionally and apologises for the entire confrontation. The person you spoke to was a Team Leader from a different store as their permanent member is currently on holiday. Becky is ensuring that your complaint is fed back to the staff member."

 

The funniest thing about their response was that in the first email Customer Services sent to me they stated:

 

"I can understand that technically the products are the same"

 

Which was quickly followed by another email that stated:

 

"My statement regarding the bottles being ”technically the same” by no means is a statement from Old Speckled Hen and Tesco’s indicating a factual representation of my findings."

 

WTF? LOLs! I assume his manager was not happy with that initial statement?

[Marsdinho]

Phew, glad this got sorted out....was worried for a moment there. So, we have found out that....

[Marsdinho]

Oops..posted before i finished.....

 

So, we have found out that....

 

- a 750ml bottle, looks the same as a 500ml bottle apparently.

- Mehball is on some sort of weird diet.

- Tesco's are the devil.

- Tribute and Doombar are much nicer that OSH.

[Halo Stickman]

Phew, glad this got sorted out....was worried for a moment there. So, we have found out that....

 

… no matter what offers supermarkets do, or do not, put on their beer, they’re still cheaper than most rapidly-disappearing UK pubs.

[StDunko]

So I was doing my weekly shop in Waitrose.

 

They has a special offer on packs of 3 Mars bars, 50p off. Some of the packs on the shelf were also labelled as containing an extra free bar. Obviously, I picked up one of packs with 4 bars in, rather than 3.

 

Took them to the till.

 

Did Waitrose cop a strop and refuse to sell them to me, because they were "separate offers"? No of course not.

 

Makes me realise what a bunch of twunts Tesco are.