Hamilton chicken lover fights Frankton Zinger $1 stinger
Hamilton chicken lover Lee Mcgarvey had a less than “finger lickin good” experience at his local KFC when prices didn’t add up.
Mcgarvey treated himself to a Zinger burger and a couple of chicken strips on Wednesday night at the Frankton branch.
He approached the self-serve kiosk because the front counter wasn’t staffed, and they appeared to be really busy.
“I looked at the price of the Zinger, and it's $10.99 except I'd looked on the website before I left home to do a budget and it said $9.99.
“So I looked up on the front counter board that they display, and the front counter board had $9.99.”
When Mcgarvey examined other items on the kiosk the price difference ranged between 50 cents to $1.50 more on the in-store kiosk compared to the front counter billboard just a couple of steps away.
“I went to the counter and I told the staff I was like ‘hey mate, your prices are more expensive on this. I'm going to order here’.“
Staff acknowledged the price differential, saying the kiosk required an update.
Mcgarvey then saw other customers heading to the kiosk and warned them, one had noticed the price disparity about two weeks ago.
“I could see the staff getting very annoyed as I was telling every person that was coming through the door, not to go to the kiosk including a family of eight. I just took one look at the big family. I was like, you're going to spend an extra 30 bucks here just by using a machine.”
Mcgarvey doesn’t know if it's specifically Frankton KFC or if it's nationwide, but says it’s misleading a lot of customers.
“There's a lot of extra money coming in that customers aren't expecting. By taking two steps, I saved myself $2.
“You expect the non contact to be cheaper, if anything, because you're not using the staff.”
He has notified Restaurant Brands, which owns KFC, about the discrepancy.
“At the end of the day I don't really want to go trashing someone. But I don't think a company should be treating its customers as idiots. We put a lot of faith into the companies we deal with to treat us respectfully and to not do stuff like that.“Consumer NZ communications and campaigns adviser Abby Damen said businesses can’t mislead their customers.
“They have a responsibility to ensure their pricing is accurate and clear. If there are two prices for the same product or service, this needs to be made obvious to the customer. If it isn't then it risks breaching the Fair Trading Act.
“People shouldn't have to second-guess the pricing they see.”
Restaurant Brands was approached for comment but failed to respond.