Listen! check your receipts
BULA vinaka shoppers, This week I want to emphasise the importance of always inspecting what you are being charged for at the supermarket checkouts.
Recently Mohini raised how she had shopped at a prominent supermarket because they advertised their specials on various items. She said when they reached the counter she realised all the items she was going to cash out had their original prices and nothing had been reduced even though they were advertised to be on is counted prices.
“When I bought the items that were on special the price did not match what the cashier charged us.
“The cashier notified me that their system was not upgraded with the necessary required changes needed when I queried,” she said.
Mohini said this was not the first time this had happened so she was quite observant whenever she noted a sale to ensure she was not paying more.
“I have faced similar problems in other supermarkets and I have since formed a habit of checking the prices when the cashier cashes our items,” she said.
Mohini reckons consumers should have a clear view of the prices of items being punched into the cash register by the cashier each time they go on their shopping runs.
“Goods on specials should be charged that special price, cause that is why shoppers show up to buy it,” she said.
Mohini, a businesswoman herself, said supermarket items printed on receipts are usually very faded too most times.
“You can’t even read what they have charged you, especially when you buy your monthly groceries and stuff.
She urged supermarket managements to ensure shoppers were issued clear legible receipts “Faded receipts are an issue with nearly all major supermarkets and cleanliness should be a compulsory measure,” she said.
Last year RNZ reported Consumer NZ was calling out “dodgy” supermarket specials after shoppers found hundreds of errors in grocery prices.
The watchdog received more than 300 examples of misleading deals and pricing errors as part of its campaign launched in September to clean up supermarket pricing.
People reported 78 cases where the ‘specials’ did not save shoppers money, while in 54 instances customers were charged more than the shelf price of items.
Another 18 cases involved misleading ‘multibuys’ where the products would have been cheaper if bought individually. Chief executive Jon Duffy told Morning Report it was a systemic issue affecting Foodstuffs and Countdown supermarkets around the country.
“We don’t necessarily think that supermarkets are deliberately going out to do this, but they have created processes that allow these regular errors to sneak through.”
Despite a recent market review by the Commerce Commission which highlighted issues with incorrect pricing, Duffy believed supermarkets had not changed.
“The fact that they haven’t introduced any innovation to, for example digitise their shelf pricing as we see in other jurisdictions, is an indication that they’re not keen to invest in fixing this problem.
“Supermarkets need to stop making pricing errors because they are unfairly costing people money.
He said with the cost of living pressures on people, shoppers were always looking for specials, and this is so true. “They’re really vulnerable to, if it’s intentional, this type of misleading activity, (or) if it’s accidental, this kind of negligent activity.
“Supermarkets need to realise when they make these mistakes it costs people money”.
Duffy said the solution to misleading pricing was a new supermarket entity coming into the market, not engaging in misleading pricing, and offering an alternative for shoppers.
So this problem is not just common in Fiji. It seems that shoppers can easily be misled to pay more for items they buy. If this has happened to you learn to raise your concerns with proper authorities within the store or to the Consumer Council of Fiji to address your plight. Happy shopping shoppers!