Consumer group Which? is asking for presidency action over ‘dodgy discounts’ and ‘misleading multibuys’ despite supermarkets insisting that mistakes are right down to human error.
An investigation during which? claims that lots of deals across all four major supermarkets, in addition to online retailer Ocado, that either didn’t offer customers a saving or ended up costing them more. Included is an Asda offer for Innocent’s pure fruit smoothie which the supermarket is asserted to have raised the regular price from £2 to £2.78 because it went on a two for £5 offer.
Supermarkets also are offering discounts on products that were sold on the higher price for an issue of days before happening offer for weeks. Included is a Sainsbury’s deal for Carex handwash that was available at the next price of £1.80 for seven days before it was wear offer at 90p for 84 days.
Ocado, Morrisons and Tesco were also accused of using similar practices on discount products. Which? says these break Office for Fair Trading rules that supermarkets agreed to a year ago and is looking at the government to update its guidance on special offers and enforce the guidelines.
“The problem with a majority of these offers is that the offer price can effectively becomes the ‘normal’ price instead of a unique one,” says Which?
“With consumers hit hard by rising food prices, it’s unacceptable that we’re still finding issues of special offers. The supermarkets’ pricing systems are so confusing that it’s hard for consumers to inform if they’re getting a great deallots.”
However, retailers insist that errors in discounting and multibuys aren’t deliberate attempts to mislead consumers but honest mistakes. The British Retail Consortium says that with the massive choice of discounts available it isn’t surprising that errors occur.
It points to figures that 35 per cent of all food was bought on promotion in October and that last month marked the sixth consecutive month of reductions in retail prices as signs that buyers have become “good value”.
“Retailers are committed to giving customers a lot and in a really competitive market they work flat out to give the keenest promotions and the proper value.
“Across the tens of thousands of promotions available each day, regrettably, occasional errors do slip through. Retailers work in a short time to rectify these mistakes whenever they’re found,” says the BRC.