What do you think of this con

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I have been a regular customer at a local supermarket for the last 15 years, and have one of their membership cards. The other day I got a special offer voucher. It was "save £6 when you spend £60". I filled the trolley with £87 pounds worth of stuff which included £46 worth of beer to ensure I was eligible for the discount. The voucher was refused at the till as there was alcohol in the order. When I got home, I looked again at the voucher and was surprised to read "Valid in store only, in a single shop. Not valid on alcohol only baskets". When I returned and queeried this, they were adamant that any alcohol automatically disqualified anybody using the voucher. What do you think of that?

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Effectively this voucher has to be paid for by the other customers I don't see why I should pay more so someone can get pissed on the cheap.
Really I don't think anyone should be buying non essentials, like alcohol, cigarettes, gambling products, high value-added products like take away food, low nutrition luxury food like ice cream and similar unless they have at least £1k in the bank. Maybe more and perhaps it should be in the form of a special savings certificate that can be redeemed only in case of pandemic or similar emergency that interrupts their usual income stream. Then there would be fewer people sponging off the taxpayer when things get difficult.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Tell us what you really think!

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

I don't know which supermarket you visited, but Sainsburys say that alcohol cannot count toward a minimum spend for discounts because of government legislation, but the link they provide to an explanation of the rules is dead. I assume that they are referring to the government's alcohol strategy which prohibits the sale of alcohol for less than the duty and VAT charged on it. If so, they are probably erring on the side of caution, as whilst the regulations only require that the total price of the goods bought on promotion is greater than the duty and VAT on the alcohol, this would be impossible to calculate for every shopping basket.

Taking a litre bottle of whisky, taxed at £28.74 per litre of alcohol, the duty would be £11.50 and the VAT on this would be £2.30, a total of £13.80. This would only be 60p a bottle on the legal side if Tesco for example offered 10% off a basket containing nothing but Famous Grouse at their clubcard price of £16.

I agree that the wording and interpretation of the offer leaves a lot to be desired, but if your supermarket applied the same rules as Sainsburys, your qualifying spend would only have been £41, less than the minimum for the promotion.

Brian G

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

petrol and fags don't count either, all high value items.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by old mart on 21/09/2021 20:04:14:

"Valid in store only, in a single shop. Not valid on alcohol only baskets". When I returned and queeried this, they were adamant that any alcohol automatically disqualified anybody using the voucher. What do you think of that?

I'm surprised at some of the replies you've received here. If what you've quoted is what the voucher said without further qualification, then the shop has been adamant on the point without any justification.

Your basket wasn't alcohol only. If what the shop meant was "any alcohol in your basket will not count towards the basket's total value" or "any alcohol in your basket will automatically disqualify you from entitlement to the offer whatever your basket's total value", then they should have said as much. It was you who were justified in being adamant, not the shop.

These things are happening more and more. Generally there is no need to look for an explanation that goes beyond ignorance on the part either of the people setting the terms of the offers or of the staff interpreting them, or both.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by old mart on 21/09/2021 20:04:14:

[…]

The voucher was refused at the till as there was alcohol in the order. When I got home, I looked again at the voucher and was surprised to read "Valid in store only, in a single shop. Not valid on alcohol only baskets". When I returned and queeried this, they were adamant that any alcohol automatically disqualified anybody using the voucher. What do you think of that?

.

I think they need to comprehend their own words [see my emboldening]

… You just can’t get the staff !

MichaelG.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I don't know if I'm missing something, but I can't see where the con is. It is not unusual for offers to have T's & C's, just important that you read and understand what they are and if your not sure, best to ask before using the voucher.

Regards Nick.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

It's been no booze fags or petrol for years with vouchers

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 21/09/2021 22:44:39:

Hi, I don't know if I'm missing something …

.

I think Bill and I have both explained … It appears to be the person on the till who has missed something : the concept of an “alcohol only basket”

MichaelG.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Poor staff training by the looks of it.
I'd hope an email to head office, with scanned copies of your receipt and voucher should sort the matter.

If that fails, a comment on their Facebook page will likely get a response from the customer service team.

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 21/09/2021 23:36:40

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ady1 on 21/09/2021 23:11:31:

It's been no booze fags or petrol for years with vouchers

.

Last time I used a Waitrose voucher … my ‘basket’ included six bottles of decent Sherry

Not only did they honour the voucher, but they also honoured the bulk-buy offer … so I got one bottle free, and the discount.

Noting Duncan’s recent jibe on another thread: I don’t do much general shopping at Waitrose, but I do like a bargain [it tastes even better].

MichaelG.

.

Manzanilla Pastrana … if anyone is interested

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 22/09/2021 00:20:26

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

That's an awful lot of sherry you're downing Michael so it must be for baking

The Liberal Fascist Eutopia of Scotland does apparently allow booze with vouchers, subject to certain restrictions

England will have even less regulation so it is apparently permitted

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

Posted by Bazyle on 21/09/2021 20:18:13:

Effectively this voucher has to be paid for by the other customers I don't see why I should pay more so someone can get pissed on the cheap.
Really I don't think anyone should be buying non essentials, like alcohol, cigarettes, gambling products, high value-added products like take away food, low nutrition luxury food like ice cream and similar unless they have at least £1k in the bank. Maybe more and perhaps it should be in the form of a special savings certificate that can be redeemed only in case of pandemic or similar emergency that interrupts their usual income stream. Then there would be fewer people sponging off the taxpayer when things get difficult.

???????!!!!!!!!!

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Odd that this wasn't simply sorted by the checkout computers. Don't they just scan the voucher and basket contents? Not that I’ve ever had a voucher for anything – you probably need to buy newspapers or read junk fliers in the mail to get them…

pgk

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 21/09/2021 23:27:43:

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 21/09/2021 22:44:39:

Hi, I don't know if I'm missing something …

.

I think Bill and I have both explained … It appears to be the person on the till who has missed something : the concept of an “alcohol only basket”

MichaelG.

Hi, good morning MichaelG, maybe I should have read old mart's post this morning instead of just before I retired last evening. However, it could be that the alcohol made up more than half the basket value, could be something in the small print and maybe the scanning system rejected it for that reason. Might pay old mart to contact the complaints department to clarify the situation. It could be a badly worded condition that wasn't flagged up during a review.

Regards Nick.

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

£5 for £50 in mine with exactly the same T & C ref., Same first letter as a burger giant? T & Cs printed on back of voucher, pale green 1mm high. How many wrinklies have a binocular microscope to be able to read these? Bet the late Sir Ks ashes are rotating like a tornado.

 

Regards Ian.

Edited By Circlip on 22/09/2021 08:02:21

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ady1 on 22/09/2021 06:57:41:

That's an awful lot of sherry you're downing Michael so it must be for baking

.

Basic stock-control:

Buy cheap — Store in appropriate conditions — Enjoy at leisure

MichaelG.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, +1 for MichaelG's "Basic stock-control" I do the same thing with my shopping of long lasting goods, although I don't like sherry, but currently have several bags of ground coffee at a discount price, which will all get used before the use by date runs out at the end of next year. Take advantage of quantity of the offers that you know you will use, before they become unusable, but not like some who seem to buy stuff just because it's got a bargain price on it and may have to bin it because it's gone bad.

Regards Nick.

[Ebenezer GoodParticipant @ebenezergood76202]

I'd have walked away and left them to put the shopping back on the shelf.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

The interpretation of the conditions is down to the system software not the checkout staff or the store manager. Take it up with trading standards or Which? No point arguing with the checkout assistant.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, the checkout assistants do only what it says on their screen these days, it reminds me of an Autumn coat that I got from Matalan three years ago, the rack had a price on it that said "only £11.00" but when I got to the checkout it came up at nearly double the price. I queried this with the young lady who after a little bit of polite discussion said "I don't know what to do" to which I replied "call your supervisor" the supervisor confirmed that the higher price was correct, I said that the price on the rack was the lower one and being there was no other price tags on the coat I said that that is the price I should be paying, she replied that someone must have put the coat back onto the wrong rack, so I said that they did that with the whole rack of a dozen or so of identical coats then. I had to take her to the rack in question and she saw the price of £11.00 which she promptly removed and said the staff had obviously put the wrong price tag on that rack but she couldn't see a rack that that price should have been on, so no one had swapped any price tags over either. I simply said that by law that is the price that I should be charged whether it is correct or not, she replied saying that they don't have to sell it to me at all, I simply said I'll buy it for £11.00 as stated on the rack when I picked it up, or not at all, she relinquished and I got it for £11.00. Sometimes you do have to stand your own ground.

Regards Nick.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Nick we had a similar experience in a local garden centre last weekend, we saw some chrysanthemum plants that we wanted, there was a rack with larger plants at one price and a rack with smaller plants at a correspondingly lower price. We chose two plants from the lower priced rack, not because we are tight but they were the size we wanted, get to the checkout and the price came up for the larger plants, well the wife picked up on it straight away and pointed out that they were the smaller plants and the wrong price, the assistant was quite flummoxed, she was obviously only a Saturday girl, anyway after some discussion she deleted them from the till display and used a barcode from a master ledger that is kept behind the till and charged the appropriate price that was displayed at the rack we got the plants from. I must say that a young Saturday girl didn’t stand a chance in a confrontation with my wife, she can be quite outspoken and forceful where money is concerned, I might add that I played no part in the discussion, I just stood aside and left the wife to the negotiating. Dave W

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by John Haine on 22/09/2021 10:35:10:

The interpretation of the conditions is down to the system software not the checkout staff or the store manager.

It is if you let it.

For those of us not yet ready to acknowledge we're living in the technolatrous dystopia you posit there, the interpretation of conditions of offers is, as it always has been, down to the meaning of the words in which the conditions are articulated. Since software does not understand, properly speaking, human language, it cannot reasonably be appealed to as an authority, whether interim or final, in this case.

Assuming Old Mart has not overlooked crucial parts of the conditions and failed to communicate these to us, the conditions are crystal clear and his position is vindicated. It looks like the shop staff either need some English language training, or, if they have been instructed to be guided by software's very imperfect powers of interpretation, more autonomy to act like thinking beings.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 22/09/2021 13:02:29

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