Power breeds arrogance.

This is true of politics, religion and big business. Tesco is big business and just like (some) filmstars and top footballers they reach a level where they feel they are "fire-proof" and can do as they please.

If you don't like how they play the game then vote with your feet and don't shop there.

Joe.

Yeah lol wasnt so funny at the time but can laugh about it now. You are so right about the over a barrell bit, I know in my area lots of mini Tesco's are popping up everywhere and the effect being all the smaller stores around them closing one by one.

Good luck on the bargain hunting for TomTom, great things them.

Thanks for the reply

Hi there, thought I'd join to share a Tesco "every little helps" to boost their profits item. Men's shampoo 80 p for 300 ml. Then it disappears off the shelves for 2 weeks only to re-appear - you guessed it - in a new bottle, still 300ml, but now a whopping 150% more expensive at £2!!! I'm sure Tesco will claim this is a new, improved formula (does this mean the old formula was rubbish?) but you would need a top-class chemistry degree to unravel the 30 odd ingredients in each bottle. Where can I buy men's shampoo for under £1?

bluepeter2323

More power to you Spoofy

To be honest IMHO Tesco are the 'spawn of the devil' and appear to be on a drive to take over the world. Is there any pie into which they don't have a finger?

But then again all of the 'Big Four' are not to be trusted.

From my own perspective Morrisons are my favourite, but their self service tills drive me insane with the constant "please place the item in the bag" a nano second after you scan it!!!!

As a caveat it has to be said if you can avoid the pitfalls of the many scams they all operate there are bargains to be had. We never buy anything if it isn't on 'offer' or reduced.

One of my favourite 'laughs' is when an item that is already on a 2 for 1 offer is reduced because it is past its sell by date is on the shelf as 50% off, i.e. the same price as a not past its sell by item!!! LOL!!

Are they stupid or do they think we are??

I do wonder how many people are taken in by these scams. Obviously enough for them to disregard those of us who do complain!

Well done Spoofy,

I see that you have had plenty of 'readers' but more importantly you are sticking
to facts.

Isn't it a national disgrace that trading standards and Food standards are so poor.
These departments cost millions each year, they have become simple self feeding
admin departments.

This is why the likes of Tesco do the things that they do, they know that the 'admin
boys' are still sleeping.

Two major points ;
Come on Mr Cameron, give these departments a boot or 'the boot' they are not
fit for purpose.

Secondly, keep up your factual 'revelations' and when your support has built up
you should aim to arrange a national boycott Tesco day, but that might not be till
2013 by the times things are set up, but it'll be worth the wait.

P.S look at Tesco financial services and car insurance !!!!

Life is like a box of chocolates - Someone always ends up with the damned coffee cream!

it does have to be noted that Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda etc do generally do a fantastic job and I am always impressed by how effeicient and pleasant the staff are in these stores for what is likely to be quite low paid jobs. There is always going to be the odd case of someone having their "cornflakes urinated on" (liked that) and unfortunately it means that someone has to be on the receiving end of it, but I would like to think that this is a vast minority to the general rule.

Saying that.....

I would not accept this behaviour from the manager or the staff member and i would suggest that you write a formal letter of complaint to Tesco Head Office and detail all that has happened including the subsequent behaviour by the store, the manager and any other staff member involved.

Crikey Dundee81! I just came across your blog quite randmonly as I was on the site, but felt I had to reply. Poor you! that must have been a horrible experience!

It hasn't happened to me - but it has to my friend (age 26). the assistant was certainly rude but not to the degree of abuse you were on the end of.

Sadly, while many of us would like to vote with our feet - Tesco has us over a barrell with the level of convenience and cost.

I'm buying a TomTom for my new car, was off to Tesco later... but now I will have a look online for an alternative. Wont make much of a difference to them... but you know the saying... "every little helps"!!! :-)

Im not surprised by any of the dodgy goings on ive read about Tesco. In my humble oppinion Tesco have become far too big for their boots and no longer care about the individual customer.

Tesco has become the size of a small universe with phenominal cosmic power!

My own experience is not of being ripped off but abused by staff with the intelect of a banana.

A few months ago as I was passing yet another new store near where I live i popped in for cigarettes. Being in my30's I was shocked when the assistant asked me for ID. With nothing but my bank card on me at the time I was refused the sale and in shock and disbeleif I left the store. Strange as the same assistant had sold me alcohol the evening before!

Having never previously been asked for ID anywhere for over ten years I decided I would collect ID from home and return to the store to buy what was now a well needed ciggy. Upon my return to the store I presented my Passport and driving Licence to the same checkout assistant and again asked for my ciggarettes. The assistant then proceeded to scream at me that the store had a think 21 policy to which I replied that she was only 12 years out on the think 21 policy and 15 years out on the actual legal limit for buying tobacco products. To my astonishment she then lost controll and started screaming at me and told me I was never to return to her till.... excuse me?........

It was clear to me at that point that someone must have indeed urinated on her cornflakes that morning due to her apparent mania so I turned to leave the store, at which point I was accosted by a security gaurd who had been drawn to the area by the still screaming checkout assistant. I was then detained by the security gurad untill he was satisfied I wasnt a theif which took several mins as his understanding of English was at best poor.

So.. Instead of popping into Tesco for a pack of smokes I was abused by staff detained by security and humiliated in front of my local community and neighbours. This however was not enough for Tesco. Their campaign of incompetence was not yet over. Given their were several witnesses to the entire event including members of tesco staff I thought I would make a complaint. After calling Tesco head office I was assured that Tesco took my complaint very seriously and would investigate and contact me back. A week later no response so I called again. This time I was assured that the manager of the store concerned would call me, A week later no response! Again I called was told the same thing. A week later no response.

Now having being verbally abused, accosted, detained and now lied to for 3 weeks I was becomming increasingly irritated so i decided to visit the manager in store myself. When I arrived I was told that the manager wouldnt see me and if I wasnt happy I should shop somewhere else.

I have adopted Tesco's advice and had never darkened their door or website since.

Tesco's new mafia approach to complaints I beleive comes from their dominence in the marketplace. They no longer care for the individual. I feel im not even a number to them. My family now shops at Morrisons and long may it continue.

RE: the water content in Pork Loin Steaks from Tesco and the practice of supermarkets to pump water into meat.

I rang the trading standards to ask about the labelling issue regarding this dubious practice saying that surely an added ingredient and its percentage should be on a clearly marked label. and although they sympathised with me on this they couldn't answer the question because they were not sure that the added Aqua constituted an added ingredient. but they did say that the Food standards Agency would be able to tell me this. Unfortunately the Food standards agency is always busy [well their London telephone number is]

so i sent them an email

I have noticed that for a long time now Supermarkets are offering meat that has an ever increasing volume of water so that when you cook it the flesh actually is swimming in it.

I took the time to measure this a few times and found that with Tesco pork loin steaks [660g packs] when cooking 2 packs [1320g] in one go a total amount of water siphoned off was on average was 337 millilitres or 337g

I wanted clarification on this and rang the trading standards asking them about the law that all ingredients should be listed on the packaging their reply was that they couldn't make a determination on this issue because they didn't know whether the added water did indeed constitute an added ingredient and that your department would be better suited to answering this question.

So, I ask your department,

If fresh Pork Loin Steaks are pumped with water[Aqua] to increase it's weight is that water[Aqua] classed as an added ingredient?

your clarification on this matter would be greatly appreciated

Thanking you in advance for your time in this matter

am awaiting a reply

Another tactic of Tesco and other supermarkets is of course the price rise before the price slash and variants of this scenario.

I am a bit of a fan of Douwe Eggberts Coffee [ok i am a coffee snob]

the steady rise in price of this product has been quite alarming but the last rise was one that takes the biscuit

Tesco did a buy one get one free on this product which at the time was priced at £6.24 per 200g jar as the shelves didn't clear there was a clearance sale where all of the remaining jars which were gold blend were being sold at £3.12 whilst new stocks of a different blend of the same product were beginning to appear on the shelves at £6.54p so when the last 200g jar of gold blend disappeared the very next day the shelves were stocked up and the price had become £6.54p a price rise of 30p for this Product making the cost for this product 3.27p per gram.

within 3 days a large yellow label appeared which had "Price Drop" on it. and the sum £6.29 so a drop of 25p you would think. however upon closer inspection the jar contained not 200g but 190g which gave this product a gram price of 3.31p so tell me me where the price drop was on that item when you are paying 0.04p per gram more.

Tesco motto "every little helps" I think was not meant for the customer but for the company.

with regards to the supermarkets price check I am beginning to think that this is really for their convenience and not the customers as prices seem to go up steadily within days of each supermarkets new price rises and i have a feeling that Price checking is not about giving the customer the cheapest possible deal but seeing how far and how high each supermarket can raise their prices and get away with it.

more to come

maxsteam:

Spoofy:

I tend to walk straight passed the offer

It's often best to keep walking until you get to another supermarket.

I wonder if the next supermarket will have 17% less water in their meat....somehow I have major doubts that they will.

I have actually complained about this myself to big brand supermarkets that it is a large percentage ingredient designed to bulk out a product and yet prices have constantly risen with the increased mass of water added.

Unfortunately I also doubt that if this this a practice carried out by Tesco that they are most likely not alone in this but being the bigger chain they are more likely to be spotted. I am sure that other brands have either taught Tesco everything it knows about this practice or have learned to do it themselves very quickly if there is an extra pound to be made.

With that said, it is always good that there are diligent shoppers out there that will make a fuss over this.

Spoofy:

I tend to walk straight passed the offer

It's often best to keep walking until you get to another supermarket.

there is a tactic with Tesco that I use with regards to their offers

Tesco have for sometime now been offering buy 3 packs of meat for £10 or 4 packs for £12 and they make a big deal out of that offer.

when i see Tesco making a big deal out of an offer I tend to walk straight passed the offer making a note of it and then wander through the shop. In a lot of cases especially with this meat offer there are better offers dotted through the store.

Meat in this offer include
packs of 454g chicken breast
packs of 660g pork loin steak
packs of 700g mince [fat ratio 12%]
bacon dual pack 300g smoked/ unsmoked

walking through that very same store i found

packs of mince [fat ratio 12%] 900g £4 or 2 for £6
packs of chicken breast 550g £6 with buy one get one free

clearly buying two packs of chicken + two packs of mince from their separate offers will get you more for your money than buying the same amount of packs of chicken and mince doing their 4 for £12 offer in fact you will be better off by 212g of chicken breasts and a whopping 400g of mince.

about their pork loin steaks i questioned them once asking why all the ingredients are not on the ticket the manager responded by saying that it said pork is the only ingredient and it was there. But when i mentioned that the 17% extra water pumped into the meat which was not in the pork originally and therefore technically should be classed as an added ingredient and should listed he declined to comment.

anyway i am sure there are many many horror stories about this company

I've not read all the post but I agree that Tesco mistakes do seem to happen a lot more than other supermarkets and other supermarkets are more willing to put things right (I occasionally get a £2 voucher when I spot Asda mistakes, for example).

You do not have to look hard in Tesco to see a great price for 12 bottles of beer yet on the shelf next to the promotion poster there are just packs of 10 and 15 at not so great prices and yes, the two for one offers don't always come up at the till. One Tesco store piles bottles of water (all marked "keep away from direct sunlight") next to a window. If you mention anything, the staff always try to make you feel that you must be in the wrong.

Every now and then I find myself in a Tesco store to buy a paper and look for something nice for tea. Usually I come away with just the paper and the phrase "I'm not paying that much!" going round my head.

I thought it would be good to start up a post about Tesco's and the way they handle their customers.

My experience with this company over the passed year has been one of ..... well shall we say enlightenment.

My main cause of complaint is this company's complete lack of respect for the law and it's inability to be able to change or rectify errors at a local level.

I had noticed a marked increase in their ability to add a few pence onto my bills by over-charging me on items that were on sale. The frustration of having to go back with ever increasing frequency to the shop and argue with the manager about this unacceptable practice that they insisted were "honest mistakes" was taxing my patience to its limits.

I asked a manager of tesco once "Legally when do you think an honest mistake becomes habitual and thus a crime?" As you can imagine the person shied away from answering that question.

But I ask you out there. When does an honest mistake become a habitual crime?

i will give you an example of what I would define as an habitual crime.

earlier last year Tesco offered buy one get two free on a pack of 4 Branston beans in tomato sauce for £2.55 the offer sounded good it meant that a can of high quality beans would cost me 21.25p which when considered that Tesco own brand beans at the time were 34p per can was an excellent deal so I put 3 packs into my basket and went to the checkout only to find that the checkout lady wanted to charge me £7.65 instead of £2.55p. I queried this which meant a 10 minute wait whilst the manager was called and then the usual search for the item and then the confirmation of the price. by this time of course people behind me were getting impatient at having to wait so long. [you know that look you get from someone in the queue who is saying did you have to complain now?] the matter was resolved in my favour and the manager promised to fix the issue asap.

The next day I popped into Tesco and bought another 3 packs of 4 Branston beans on the same offer and yes you guessed it they overcharged me by £5.10p but instead of querying it at the till this time i decided to pay the price and then go to the counter to make a formal complaint. after the matter was resolved again in my favour and the sum of £5.10p was refunded to me once again the manager [a different one this time] gave me same old grovelling excuse and promised to have the tills changed to reflect the offer that was posted where the beans were being displayed.

5 days later i went into that same shop once again and this time bought 9 packs of Branston beans [not that i like beans that much but stocking up on offer items such as this which have a shelf life of over a year can save a huge amount of money in the long run]

yes yes I was charged £22.95 instead of £7,65p so I dutifully paid the sum asked for by the cashier which was inclusive of the £15.30p overcharge and went straight to the customer service and complained once again. I had then bought the other two till receipts with me because if this was to happen again I was going to confront them about this practice. Clearly the manager was not interested and I felt he begrudgingly returned the overcharged sum and wanted to get away as fast as possible afterwards.

This was not good enough for me so over the next 2 months i catalogued every single incident with both my local Tesco and my nearest medium sized store.

It will not surprise you to hear that i had gathered enough incriminating evidence to be able to type out a 6 page complaint [A4 size] which ranged from goods on the shelves passed their sell by dates to health and safety issues with their open baking counter [trays not washed when empty and new items placed onto those trays, no tongs supplied at these counters so that customers were obliged to lift their purchases off with their hands] these and other health and safety issues were passed on to my local health and safety department. Now, along with the usual suspect of overcharging there were no clear price labels or no price labels to even price labels which were totally confusing. Like 50p off then a crossed out original price of £1.67p and the new offer price of yes you guessed right again £1.67p.

10 days later I received a letter a curt 3 paragraph grovel letter written clearly by someone who was thinking about their dinner break more than the concerns bought up by one of their customers. [well that was what the letter felt like]

did all of this change the way Tesco treats its customers?

not a single thing has changed save perhaps their presentation.

I bring to your attention one of their latest overcharging scam [ I call them Scam because I define a scam as someone who tries to relieve you of your money by all means foul and all means foul in my definition means not changing an error that was bought to the attention of the person committing what they call an honest mistake].

Tesco's latest is once again a buy one get two free offer for Glade Relaxing Zen Candles which cost £3.61 each so naturally when I bought three of them I expected to pay £3.61p.
No you are wrong they didn't charge me for three candles instead they charged me £4.00p by times 3 at £3.61 totalling £10.83 and then subtracting £6.83p for the buy one get two free offer. Of course once again I dutifully paid what the cashier asked and went to the customer services and queried this saying to them that I thought banks were the only ones who were creative accountants because the last time I was at school two times £3.61p was £7.22p and not £6.83p in fact if you are deducting something which is times two then surely anyone would know that the last figure of the sum had to be an even number? That didn't strike a chord at all in fact the manager looked at me with one of those blank looks. You could nearly see the cogs turning as he struggled with this equation of Newtonian proportion. Eventually he agreed that indeed i had been overcharged by 39p and duly repaid the difference. however i stood there looking at him expectantly and that confused him. until i pointed out to him that on the sign behind him it stated quite clearly "That in the unlikely event that Tesco makes an error it will refund double the difference" he was about to give me another 39p when i questioned that saying that it would get very expensive if he were to do that as not refunding me double the difference was in fact another "unlikely" error so we settled on a further 78p. and a promise that he would change this.

So, today, two days later I returned and bought another 3 candles but low and behold there was no label on the item on the shelves this had been removed which is I believe contrary to trading laws which state that items should be clearly labelled. Anyway before purchasing the candles i asked an assistant to check if the buy one get two free offer was still in effect he did this and confirmed that it will still be running for a few more days.

I took the three items through the checkout and yes....sighs... I was charged £4.00 another 10 minutes later and i am walking out of Tesco with a refund of 78p and a promise that the matter would be sorted out. To that I replied that I would be back in two days to buy another 3.

I reiterate the question I asked earlier

When does an honest mistake become a habitual crime?

I shall update this in two days just to let you know what happens though odds are..... yes you guessed it I shall be walking out of the shop with 78p refunded money for their overcharging.

I am also now keeping evidence of their behaviour regarding overcharging by insisting on a till receipt and then storing these in a large box [i fear it wont be long till it is full]