Checking your supermarket bill

[carolegif]

Do you check yours? Today I was nearly 'diddled' out of 31p by 2 supermarkets who charged me the wrong amount for goods. I never used to check, but several years ago whilst shopping just before Christmas, I thought the bill was a bit more, but put it down to the Christmas extras. My father-in-law was with me and was appalled that I never checked. Anyway, Tesco had charged me �20 for some non existent jeans. Apparently it should have been for a bar of soap at 84p! Since then I have always checked and I have saved pounds. Just think if 1,000 peop;le lost that amount to them every day, how that would add up - and why is it always in their favour?

[Ethel]

I always check before I leave the store

[Gormless]

I shop daily in small quantities (<10) and keep a running total in my head. It's good exercise for the brain and means I know immediately if there is a mistake at the checkout - very rare.

[FoxLee2]

I always run my eye over the bill as I'm walking back to the car. I've spotted many mistakes in overcharging or the wrong product coming up or a special offer not being taken into account. Last week in the exotic fruits at Tesco, it was 3 for the price of 2. I was charged �2 for 3 and as it was only Sharon fruit, it worked out more expensive. Then you have to queue up at Customer Services but they do give you back twice the overcharge.

[B00]

It's not always in their favour.

Occasionally at work (Co op) we've overlooked a price increased item. If that happens we sell the item to the customer at the price that's on the shelf label. Last week a customer got a fiver off a bottle of whiskey.

[heathfield]

I always check our Co-op shelf prices, then watch the display at the checkout as each item is scanned. Last week there was a �1 overcharge for a packet of frozen food. I also check that items don't register twice when they're scanned, as sometimes happens when the assistant waves it back and forward in front of the scanner..

[sandmaster]

I think Tesco are the worst for this. I wanted a DVD last December marked at �3, it was the only item I was buying so immediately knew it was wrong when I was asked for �4. The cashier virtually accused me of swapping the price tag even though the shelves had several at that price. A month later I tried again - and nothing had changed.
I have caught Sainsbury's out as well especially with special offers.
I must wonder if it is official policy - who notices when you have a full trolley?

[pips1]

I have been annoyed by this for ages, I can honestly say they add up wrong more times than they are right. It doesn't matter where you shop, they are all the same. I've lost count of the times the special offers have not been taken into account, it happens so often to me I used to think I was jinxed. Also, I have very rarely got twice the difference back!

[Nannyjill]

Our Tescos certainly don't give double the money back - they used to many years ago but the company policy has since changed,or so I was told when I enquired.

I know I bought 2 computers 1 Christmas which were wrongly charged and not ony did I get double the money back but I got to keep the computers too.

Agree it is a nuisance queue at Customer Service desk for their error after you've queued up to buy your shopping.

[LoftyLottie2]

I generally check, but was caught out this week. I bought some corned beef but it was weighed as labelled as best ham off the bone. Mr LL was quite disappointed when he opened a pack of best ham to make sandwiches and found rotten old corned beef.

I did get a refund from Morrisons though.

Got some spring onions for nothing yesterday. No bar code and the supervisor couldn't be bothered to go and check the price!

[LoftyLottie2]

weighed and labelled!

[Buenchico]

Er, has nobody around here (apart from Gormless) ever heard of mental arithmetic? I simply add everything up, in my head, as I put it in my basket. So I know what I should be charged before I get to the till. Quite often I'll find that special offers haven't been registered (e.g. "two for the price of one") because, for example, I've picked up two apparently identical cans but one was old stock, bearing a different bar code to the new one. (Those sort of errors seem to happen most frequently in Morrison's).

Tesco used to have a policy of dealing with any pricing error by refunding the full amount paid and giving the customer the product for free. A friend of mine bought a 'half price' DVD from Tesco, only to find that she'd been charged full price. So she then purchased several more (at the wrong price) before taking the whole lot to customer services and leaving with a pile of totally free DVDs!

Chris

[carolegif]

Tesco's no longer give you your money back plus the goods - too many mistakes perhaps? I think it is caused mainly by offers coming off at the till but nothing is done to change the pricing instore. Also the 2 for 1 where you pick 2 different flavours, but you only get two of one flavour - they don't tell you that though!

[LoftyLottie2]

OMG Chris - I was always good at mental arithmetic but I meet so many people I know in the supermarket and stop and have a chat - I would never remember where I had got up to!! Besides, at my age my brain has got a little rusty!! Well more than a little actually.

I can do a rough estimate every time I shop though and always know roughly what I have spent and I usually watch the items come up on the screen as they get scanned. Missed out with the corned beef though when it came up as ham!!!

[FoxLee2]

It's all very well adding up the shopping as you go until you get to the fruit and veg that have to be weighed - not all supermarkets have the facility of weighing and pricing the goods yourself.