Misleading prices keep on coming...

I am a checkout operator at Tesco. After reading through a number of posts here about misleading Point Of Sale information being displayed on shelf edges and on products, I want to share some of my own experiences.


There is no coherent policy. The displayed 'Our Promise' sign is often blatantly contradicted by staff members of all levels, including senior managers. This has led to a number of checkout operators (myself included) never divulging ANY information to customers about whether they will get a refund, discount or whatever on an overcharge in case a manager blatantly contradicts us five minutes later.

Most of my colleagues have developed ways around this. For many 'Buy 2 for £2' and similar offers, the tills used to offer ways around this in case of automatic discounts failing to apply. However, being able to do this has been gradually taken away, and the checkout operator is only able to alter the price of a few 'price verified' items which are subject to 'price-flexing' (also borderline unlawful, and used to drive down competition), leaving the only solution to a failed automatic discount to be a full refund, which stores are not inclined to do.

Tesco's policy on overcharging backfires against itself, which is why so many stores are unwilling to rectify their mistakes. Having to go 'above and beyond' what the customer expects (in theory) has led to the policy of a full refund + keeping the product, but when this happens for expensive items it becomes less appealing than when it's for a £1.99 bag of salad. The reports I've read on this forum of such incidents where stores have refused to refund expensive items are truly appalling. It is about targets - stores are monitored on their individual profit and loss figures - but this doesn't make it right. The fact that you could be refused a refund one day, then go in the next day and speak to a different manager and then actually get a refund isn't right either.

It's also interesting to note that all my knowledge of the refund and overcharging process has been gained from experience. Neither I nor any of my colleagues have received formal training on correct, legal refund procedures. This only adds further to the stupidity of Tesco's refusing to honour their refund policy.

Tesco's Misleading Price Indications

Whilst reading the earlier post about Tesco overcharging and being guilty of misleading price indications contrary to the Consumer Protection Act 1987, I recalled an incident in Norfolk in September 2001 where Tesco complained to Trading Standards about Asda resulting in Asda being investigated and ending up in court with a hefty fine for misleading price indications. Read about that on BBC News.

It seems to me most ironic that today whilst Asda don't seem to have a problem with wrongly labelled prices, Tesco have a huge problem hence their refund and retain (R&R) policy. Isnt it ironic that whilst Asda have sorted out their misleading prices, it is Tesco who complained about Asda that are now facing problems. Report any misleading prices to Trading Standards who can see to it that hefty fines are imposed and if Asda are reading - perhaps it's time to roll back some justice?

Tesco-Complaint Logo

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Does Terry Leahy Care about Customers?

Since Sir Terry took over as chief executive of Tesco eight years ago he has more than doubled profits and pulled in a record number of customers - but does he care about those customers? Nearly two months ago I emailed Sir Terry Leahy and was promised that he would respond to me personally by letter. A month later and emails go unanswered; he has clearly breached that promise. Here is the email promise as proof:

From: Tesco Customer Service [mailto:customer.service@tesco.co.uk]
Sent: 06 October 2006 19:09
To: [EDITED by Tesco-Complaint]
Subject: Tesco

Thank you for your e-mail addressed to our Chief Executive, Sir Terry Leahy. We are currently looking into this matter and I can assure you that Sir Terry will personally reply to you by letter once our investigations are complete. Thank you for your patience.

Kind Regards
Paul Welsh
Tesco Customer Service

So I ask the question in the title - does Terry Leahy care about Tesco customers? My experience is that Tesco breaks promises and so clearly Tesco and Terry dont care. If the CEO of Tesco doesnt care about his customers, why should any of their staff care about us?

TESCO-COMPLAINT EDIT: We have added a lovely picture of Sir Terry, apparently he stacks shelves one week per year but we cant seem to find a picture of that - keep your eyes peeled next time you're shopping for some baked beans and perhaps snap off a picture for us! Like you, we wont be holding our breath for Terry's shelf stacking picture...

Tesco-Complaint off to a good start!

Great news for this public Tesco complaint blog! Since we opened up on 6th October to take the complaints of Tesco customers and make them public we have had nearly 1000 visitors from all over the world and almost 2000 page impressions:
We even made it into the top ten search result in Google at number 6 (for Tesco Complaint) and that was after languishing in position 357 just a few days ago! Now that we are becoming more prominent on Google the visitors are really rising rapidly and this blog is certain to continue to grow from hereonin.

Please add your comments to posts and get involved; this blog is powered by YOU and is here to stay!

Richard Eisner
Editor
*Special thanks to Jean McKinlay, a Tesco Disservant, who is the inspiration for this blog. Keep down the bad "work" Jean...

Tesco Express blocks the high street...

The Tesco Express on England's Lane in NW3 Belsize Park should never have been granted planning permission. It sits on a small street with a number of old (and very good) local shops which are now seriously feeling the strain - thankfully the very good butchers next door is still open, but one wonders how long it will last.

However, this is not the reason for my complaint - my problem with this Tesco store is that they have nowhere to park their lorries except directly outside on a double yellow line within 20 yards of a zebra crossing and close to a T-junction. Every day, at least once a day, they purposely illegally park the lorry on the corner and seem oblivious to the resulting choas and danger to pedestrians and other road users. A £50 fine for the parking ticket that is always issued is I guess a small price to pay for Tesco. I fear that it is only a matter of time before this delivery routine causes a serious accident.

Why is it that Camden council didn't ask Tesco how they planned to make deliveries when they waved their planning application through without a second thought?

TESCO-COMPLAINT EDIT: You should somehow force tesco to use a smaller delivery vehicle just as this man did using the simple weapons of a chair and a cup of tea! You might want to log your comment here as well.