Jo Swinson: how together we made supermarkets price it right

I very much share Malcolm’s concerns about politicians, and I am equally disappointed by ineffective regulators. That is only part of the problem. Companies are taking the opportunity to exploit their customers and no doubt look for new opportunities when legislation catches up with their underhand tactics. It is not just an unfortunate oversight that supermarkets don’t usually show the unit price for products.

I would like to see it made illegal for companies to use underhand tactics to cheat customers, with large fines being levied where appropriate. When fines are handed out, the amount should depend on the previous record of the company, so that other companies do not have to cheat customers to be able to compete for custom.

If supermarkets and other retailers get their act together then we don’t need to rely so much on ineffective politicians and regulators to sort out the problems. Look at many of the topics covered in the magazine and on Which? Conversation and it is clear that many companies need to clean up their act.

Getting some supermarkets to agree to display slightly clearer unit pricing is better than nothing, but far too weak. At the very least, we need ALL the supermarkets to be FORCED to display clearer unit pricing, and not just that, but also CORRECT unit pricing (something that we all know that Tesco will never be able to do). Maybe this need not be restricted to supermarkets either.

In situations where:
* the pack sizes on the labels are incorrect (very common)
* the offers have expired but the labels been left behind (very common)
* the prices are incorrect or the unit prices are incorrect
* the price label is nowhere near the product it concerns, but a similarly named product has a label nearby
* or any other kind of basic mistake,
then the supermarkets should be forced to honour the price displayed, or if they have already overcharged, then refund the customer TWICE the difference between what the customer paid and the lowest price that was effectively displayed (Tesco used to do this, but it doesn’t help that their receipts often don’t name the items bought or the product codes, just a general category), plus some kind of additional penalty fee for the inconvenience.

The current system of the supermarkets not caring when customers report incorrect pack sizes or prices, or expired offers, is just not good enough. And when customers are overcharged, having to wait 20 minutes at the “Customer Service” queue just to get “put right” (often a couple of quid), often without so much as an apology or for the problem to be fixed on the shop floor, is not good enough.

This is especially so when the (sole) customer service assistant at the desk (which at least in Morrisons happens to be a tiny counter tucked away in a corner of the store without even having proper till facilities – highlighting the clear disregard that the supermarkets have for customer service) says that lots of customers are affected by expired offers that are still advertised every Monday, most of the offers expiring on a Sunday, but still make everyone wait while they wander around the store to check you are telling the truth about the offer displayed (for the sake of your couple of quid), and complain that it is “not their job” to ensure that the offers are displayed correctly. They also claim to be “doing you a favour” by honouring the advertised offers or prices, rather than feeling that it is their legal duty to do so. Then, after signing something, you get your couple of quid back, now having waited about half an hour. Not a good return on the time spent, probably why most people don’t bother, and hence the need for a penalty to be payable by the store. But, as a matter of principle, I do not want the supermarkets to be exploiting me by charging incorrect prices, in addition to the thousands of other tricks they already have to exploit customers.

There really needs to be an incentive for them to get this right, and soon!

I keep looking for bin liners for a parent’s under sink kitchen bin. It is a well known brand and is a 12 litre bin – I know that because that is what is written inside it. The local supermarket has lots of dimensions and their descriptions don’t match. Consequently we have a variety of bags of the wrong size. It is a minor irritation getting more irritating as time passes by and the solution hasn’t been found locally yet.

Deception is rife. it seems, in many shops. I watched Panorama a couple of nights ago that identified many allegedly misleading “deals” in TKmax where it seems the RRP shown to make you believe you are getting a bargain might not always be quite right. The product allegedly might not be what you imagine either.Think it only sells mainstream brands at low prices? It was claimed a lot of products are made for themselves under a large number of different appealing brand names (of their own invention) at low prices, but with a high RRP shown also; think it must be a bargain?. Other outlet shops seem to trade on the trust the customer has in brand names – but they are not all what they seem. A defence of the sort “some things will always slip through the net” always ends up with the customer losing out, not the store.

The problem is not just stores trading on our trust, but a seeming general lack of interest and action from trading standards in dealing with their underhand activities. Perhaps TS should be separated from local authorities and made a national body. Perhaps Which could feed misleading or illegal activities to TS to spark some action? Perhaps Which could formally ask all its subscribers to keep reporting any misdemeanors to it to collate information and produce some action. Best not leave it all to the politicians.

Does Trading Standards have any money to pursue any complaints?

Aren’t they another casualty of the Government’s and so Local Authorities’ cuts?

Joining in the chorus about the unfair practices supermarkets have been able to maintain, I would like to ask if doubling the price of an item bought online from Tesco is indeed legal.
On Wednesday I placed an order online for home delivery, which included two bags of dishwasher tablets which were on special offer at half price. £7 instead of £14.
Toilet paper was also on special offer, two 9 roll packets for £7.
I only needed a few items, so my basket totalled £55.48 when taking into account delivery charges £3.50 and using a voucher for £9.50. Times are hard and I now always consider prices everywhere when shopping, which is why, when I received the delivery yesterday evening, I was able to spot that the cost of my shopping had gone up to £74.30
Tesco had decided that the half price offer on the dishwasher tablets no longer applied, and neither did the “2 for £7” for the toilet paper. When you calculate the percentage of increase, this is a wapping 33.92%!
I run a business which sells products online and can only imagine what my customers’ reaction would be if I followed such a practice!
I only spotted the price difference on the dishwasher tablets and sent them back with the driver, but in the confusion of getting the delivery I didn’t realise it wasn’t the only item on which they hadn’t honoured their advertised price.
I would like to ask: “How on earth can this be legal? How can they change the price of items which they are advertising as a special offer, and only advise the customer ON DELIVERY?”
I can imagine thousands of customers receiving bags and bags of items and being totally unable to check all prices to send items back, and hey presto, 34% more money to Tesco.
I know they have a disclaimer to this effect, but I honestly thought it would refer to a variation in pence of the prices, not a doubling of a price from a day to the next.
I called their Customer Service Centre to complain and they sounded totally bored and uninterested and more or less said “well, you sent the items back so you won’t be charged for them” which was a big concession, I guess.
Not impressed. But please, could you tell me if they can just do this?