Tesco's "No quibble Guarantee"

Stinicker

So today I went to Tesco @ Manor West in Tralee to fetch some padded envelopes and 3M Scotch tape as I have to mail something to a friend over the weekend.

I nearly had a heart attack at the till when two padded envelopes and the tape came to over €9. I queried with the checkout operator and she informed me that the tape was over €6.00 despite it being marked at €2.80, I told her this and she paged some guy and I showed him and he told her it was marked as €2.80, by now this had held up the queue for about 3 minutes.

The till operator then proceeded to charge me €4.50 or thereabouts and once again I questioned her as I told her the scotch tape should now be free under Tescos "No Quibble Guarantee" as they had charged me a higher price than displayed and they have on a big sign up next to the till stating this very fact.

The she got all defensive and actually cussed me out! :eek: This was at the Customer Service till and all :eek:, I politely asked to see the Manager and another woman came down and I queried the fact that firstly they had their prices wrong and I should get the scotch tape for free under their "No Quibble Guarantee" and she got all defensive also and made no apology to me for being cussed out by the girl at the till. I then read out the sign for her and asked her to define charge for me?

Apparently Tesco's interpretation of this is that to be "charged" would entail I actually having to pay for the bloody thing first! However as I had not paid as I spotted the mistake I would not get it for free only getting it as the displayed price instead.

Naturally I did not buy anything and reported the incident to the Store Duty Manager in a telephone call when I left the store later and also rang Tesco HQ in the UK to report the fact I was cursed at in their store.

I have never in my life met such thick ignorant staff and the way they treated me in the store was disgraceful. The same person at the till in my opinion should not be left facing the public and if she did the same thing to me in America with Walmart or the likes she would be fired instantly.

Disgraceful, Tesco what a shower of w*nkers.

wyndham

Stinicker wrote: »

Apparently Tesco's interpretation of this is that to be "charged" would entail I actually having to pay for the bloody thing first! However as I had not paid as I spotted the mistake I would not get it for free only getting it as the displayed price instead.

This is correct. If you have a misprice it's best to keep your mouth shut and pay. Then collect your money from customer services desk. There are other threads with the same issue, it has to be paid for first.

Stinicker

wyndham wrote: »

This is correct. If you have a misprice it's best to keep your mouth shut and pay. Then collect your money from customer services desk. There are other threads with the same issue, it has to be paid for first.

Yes, however their definition of charging is very vague and to me "charged" is past tense eg. The Shopkeeper charged me €25 however I decided it was too expensive and went elsewhere for my groceries. The sign should state customers who have Paid a price higher than advertised are entitled to the no quibble guarantee because I think at the moment it is probably open to legal challenge.

It is not the first time Tesco have put up signs saying one thing but meaning an entirely different thing. If Tesco did road signs left would mean right and exit meaning entry.

eg.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7590440.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7591905.stm

MitchKoobski

Stinicker wrote: »

The till operator then proceeded to charge me €4.50 or thereabouts and once again I questioned her as I told her the scotch tape should now be free under Tescos "No Quibble Guarantee" as they had charged me a higher price than displayed and they have on a big sign up next to the till stating this very fact.

The she got all defensive and actually cussed me out! :eek: This was at the Customer Service till and all :eek:, I politely asked to see the Manager and another woman came down and I queried the fact that firstly they had their prices wrong and I should get the scotch tape for free under their "No Quibble Guarantee" and she got all defensive also and made no apology to me for being cussed out by the girl at the till. I then read out the sign for her and asked her to define charge for me?

Apparently Tesco's interpretation of this is that to be "charged" would entail I actually having to pay for the bloody thing first! However as I had not paid as I spotted the mistake I would not get it for free only getting it as the displayed price instead.

You pointed out the error to the staff.
The error was fixed, and the price was corrected at the till.
You were then charged the correct amount.

I really don't see how you can try and claim it for free when you pointed out the error before paying for it , then paid for the correct amount.
If you wanted to claim it for free you should have paid for it, and then complained about the charge.

Until you actually handed over the money, you weren't charged for it.

mikemac

In future, say nothing, pay up and only then go to customer service

Our local Tesco used to have the wrong price for a motorsport magazine and never fixed it

Free magazine for me every week

busman

There are a few threads on the "No quibble Guarantee" here!

The last one I think is this one:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2056136345

I sent a letter to Tony Keohane about there policy and got an acknowledgement letter back saying they are investigating the details outlined and that further contact will be made in due course. That was on Jan 18.

A lot of people come here to complain but don't take it any further

Suggest that if you fell strongly enough about it that another letter on the subject to him would do no harm

Here is a copy of what I sent :

Mr Tony Keohane,
CEO.,
Tesco Ireland Limited,
Gresham House,
Marine Road,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.

10-Jan-2011

Dear Mr Keohane,

I’m writing to you with regards to your “Corporate Social Responsibility policy” and in specific to your “No Quibble Policy”

Your CSR makes many references to the Customer loyalty and that “We are committed to achieving and maintaining high standards of service for our all our customers”. And indeed your “No Quibble Policy” would seem to be a great way of showing customers that you care.
Just to refresh your memory here is the policy taken from your website :

It states that: "in the unlikely event of you being charged a price at the checkouts that is higher that the price mounted on the display, we will give you that item absolutely free and without quibble".

My understanding is that the aim of this this policy is to show your customers that they can trust you and that the price they see on the shelves will be the price that they will be charged at the checkout. Is this correct? And in the unlikely event that they are charged a higher price at the checkout then they will be given that item for free and without quibble?

Unfortunately, the implementation of this policy in stores does not reflect this. If you are charged a higher price at the checkout and point this out at the time, you are then told that there is no actual mistake in pricing and you will be charged the correct price and that the item will not be given to you for free or without quibble!

The procedure you must follow to actually get the item for free and to get Tesco to admit there was a pricing error requires that your customers say nothing until they have actually handed over their cash and purchased the goods and then tell you of the error.

Surely this is not “building goodwill and trust with our customers”
On the other hand I would say that it builds distrust and resentment and that they must act in a somewhat dishonest or sneaky way!
Is this what Tesco’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy is about?

Your Sincerely,

"busman"

mikemac

Don't fight the system busman, use it

If you are aware of a mistake you can even stock up

It's pretty clear how it works, there is nothing sneaky or dishonest about it.
If you're aware of a mistake, then you'd be crazy to point it out before paying.
Just pay, go to customer service and get your refund

Nonoperational

Clear as day and has been discussed many times here. You only get it for free if the transaction is completed and you get overcharged. If you don't pay the incorrect price why would you expect to get it for free? Ridiculous.

busman

gpf101 wrote: »

If you don't pay the incorrect price why would you expect to get it for free? Ridiculous.

Ok, here we go again ...

http://www.tesco.ie/csr/index.html

Our "No Quibble Policy" is our way of showing customers that we always charge the right prices in our stores. It states that: "in the unlikely event of you being charged a price at the checkouts that is higher that the price mounted on the display, we will give you that item absolutely free and without quibble".?

The only thing ridiculous is tesco's redefining the word "charged"

Kimono-Girl

busman wrote: »

Ok, here we go again ...

http://www.tesco.ie/csr/index.html

Our "No Quibble Policy" is our way of showing customers that we always charge the right prices in our stores. It states that: "in the unlikely event of you being charged a price at the checkouts that is higher that the price mounted on the display, we will give you that item absolutely free and without quibble".?

The only thing ridiculous is tesco's redefining the word "charged"

"charged" past tense, as in when the money is taken by them for your purchase,

which in Tesco doesn't happen until after you have scanned your items in and hit that "Finish & Pay" button, and once they have charged you your receipt is printed....so if he was "charged' he'd have his receipt to back up his free claim.

what he did was correct an error before payment and thus he wasn't 'charged' the money was in his hands not Tesco's.

it is exactly like these people who see those 75% off signs and don't notice the 'upto' in small print in the corner.....

Mr. Presentable

As has been pointed out, until you have had your money accepted you have not been charged. I think the OP owes Tesco an apology for

a) Misrepresentation of the incident

b) Trying to work the system to get free tape

Irish_Elect_Eng

I won't comment on the nit-picking over the fine print of being charged or not.

But, I think the key point here is how retail business treat their customers here in Ireland. Like the OP, I have day to day experience of dealing with retailers in other countries, US, Canada, France, Italy, Malaysia, China & Japan and I can honestly say that the way customers in Ireland are treated would not be tolerated in most of those countries.

I find shopping in other countries (Except the UK) a more pleasant experience than here in Ireland, retailers make you feel welcome and that your business is important to them, that is a rare experience here in Ireland. (Except for a few exceptions, generally smaller owner run businesses)

I wonder will the recession improve customers service as customers get fewer and spend less?

Mr. Presentable

Irish_Elect_Eng wrote: »

I won't comment on the nit-picking over the fine print of being charged or not.

But, I think the key point here is how retail business treat their customers here in Ireland. Like the OP, I have day to day experience of dealing with retailers in other countries, US, Canada, France, Italy, Malaysia, China & Japan and I can honestly say that the way customers in Ireland are treated would not be tolerated in most of those countries.

I find shopping in other countries (Except the UK) a more pleasant experience than here in Ireland, retailers make you feel welcome and that your business is important to them, that is a rare experience here in Ireland. (Except for a few exceptions, generally smaller owner run businesses)

I wonder will the recession improve customers service as customers get fewer and spend less?

Look. The OP (rightly) queried the price, a manager was called and the price corrected. The system worked.

Dan133269

HOLD EVERYTHING!

I've just a thought. If you are overcharged and get your money back. Can you then run to the aisle and pick up every stock of that particular product, bring it to a different till and pay for them before they have a chance to change the price in the system, and get all of that product for free? :eek: Wouldn't mind getting 100 chicken fillets for free, would freeze them and that's my meat for the year

Zab

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

As has been pointed out, until you have had your money accepted you have not been charged. I think the OP owes Tesco an apology for

a) Misrepresentation of the incident

b) Trying to work the system to get free tape

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Look. The OP (rightly) queried the price, a manager was called and the price corrected. The system worked.

Are you in Fianna Fáil?

No matter what bs Tesco and people in this thread are spinning, under the spirit of the "no quibble guarantee" OP should clearly have been given the item for free. Okay, we're all in agreement that it would have been in OP's interest to have wasted Tesco's and his own time by paying and being refunded but that doesn't excuse their actions, it's simply what would have worked in practice.

dudara

Dan133269 wrote: »

HOLD EVERYTHING!

I've just a thought. If you are overcharged and get your money back. Can you then run to the aisle and pick up every stock of that particular product, bring it to a different till and pay for them before they have a chance to change the price in the system, and get all of that product for free? :eek: Wouldn't mind getting 100 chicken fillets for free, would freeze them and that's my meat for the year

Here's a novel idea. How about you don't scr*w the system. When people scr*w the system, it eventually leads to the system being closed down for everyone.

TBH - in such a blatant case of profiteering, i wouldn't blame Tesco at all for refusing to honour the "No Quibble Guarantee". In fact, IIRC, they stopped honouring the guarantees at some stores in the UK, as price differences were being posted on the internet and people were coming in deliberately to take advantage of the guarantee.

wmpdd3

busman wrote: »

There are a few threads on the "No quibble Guarantee" here!

The last one I think is this one:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2056136345

I sent a letter to Tony Keohane about there policy and got an acknowledgement letter back saying they are investigating the details outlined and that further contact will be made in due course. That was on Jan 18.

A lot of people come here to complain but don't take it any further

Suggest that if you fell strongly enough about it that another letter on the subject to him would do no harm

Here is a copy of what I sent :

Mr Tony Keohane,
CEO.,
Tesco Ireland Limited,
Gresham House,
Marine Road,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.

10-Jan-2011

Dear Mr Keohane,

I’m writing to you with regards to your “Corporate Social Responsibility policy” and in specific to your “No Quibble Policy”

Your CSR makes many references to the Customer loyalty and that “We are committed to achieving and maintaining high standards of service for our all our customers”. And indeed your “No Quibble Policy” would seem to be a great way of showing customers that you care.
Just to refresh your memory here is the policy taken from your website :

It states that: "in the unlikely event of you being charged a price at the checkouts that is higher that the price mounted on the display, we will give you that item absolutely free and without quibble".

My understanding is that the aim of this this policy is to show your customers that they can trust you and that the price they see on the shelves will be the price that they will be charged at the checkout. Is this correct? And in the unlikely event that they are charged a higher price at the checkout then they will be given that item for free and without quibble?

Unfortunately, the implementation of this policy in stores does not reflect this. If you are charged a higher price at the checkout and point this out at the time, you are then told that there is no actual mistake in pricing and you will be charged the correct price and that the item will not be given to you for free or without quibble!

The procedure you must follow to actually get the item for free and to get Tesco to admit there was a pricing error requires that your customers say nothing until they have actually handed over their cash and purchased the goods and then tell you of the error.

Surely this is not “building goodwill and trust with our customers”
On the other hand I would say that it builds distrust and resentment and that they must act in a somewhat dishonest or sneaky way!
Is this what Tesco’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy is about?

Your Sincerely,

"busman"

The letter was going OK until you said this:
'Is this what Tesco’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy is about?' a 13 yr olds studying cspe would know what meant.

What's the bet they change the wording. Its obviously not a major marketing asset if no other supermarket has adopted it.

Mr. Presentable

Zab wrote: »

Are you in Fianna Fáil?

What is this supposed to imply?

Zab wrote: »

No matter what bs Tesco and people in this thread are spinning, under the spirit of the "no quibble guarantee" OP should clearly have been given the item for free. Okay, we're all in agreement that it would have been in OP's interest to have wasted Tesco's and his own time by paying and being refunded but that doesn't excuse their actions, it's simply what would have worked in practice.

So you think the "potential" to be overcharged is sufficient grounds for Tesco to hand over free stuff? What if the OP had had no money when came time to pay - still free stuff?

Stinicker

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

What is this supposed to imply?



So you think the "potential" to be overcharged is sufficient grounds for Tesco to hand over free stuff? What if the OP had had no money when came time to pay - still free stuff?

I was perfectly capable of paying having over €300 in my pocket at the time, the reason I mainly made a big deal out of it was the sheer contempt shown to me by the checkout woman when I asked shouldn't I be getting it for free as I was overcharged.

The comment about Fianna Fail makes sense as you defend the indefensible, even though clearly I was right and Tesco were wrong.

Mr. Presentable

Stinicker wrote: »

I was perfectly capable of paying having over €300 in my pocket at the time, the reason I mainly made a big deal out of it was the sheer contempt shown to me by the checkout woman when I asked shouldn't I be getting it for free as I was overcharged.

The comment about Fianna Fail makes sense as you defend the indefensible, even though clearly I was right and Tesco were wrong.

I presume English is not your first language. I shall explain, again. You had not been charged, no payment had been made, the price was corrcted at your request before you had to pay. The Tesco policy explains you must have completed a transaction and been out of pocket to qualify for their compenation.

You were not overcharged. Not overcharged.

fergpie

The "spirit" of the no quibble guarantee(as mentioned in previous posts) is surely to compensate customers who have paid more for an item than was advertised on the shelf.

Looking for the item for free even though you havent paid for it seems illogical and and nonsence to me.

Zab

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

I presume English is not your first language. I shall explain, again. You had not been charged, no payment had been made, the price was corrcted at your request before you had to pay. The Tesco policy explains you must have completed a transaction and been out of pocket to qualify for their compenation.

You were not overcharged. Not overcharged.

OED:
charge
verb
1. demand (an amount) as a price for a service rendered or goods supplied
noun
1. a price asked for goods or services

Tesco:
"in the unlikely event of you being charged a price at the checkouts that is higher that the price mounted on the display, we will give you that item absolutely free and without quibble"

fergpie wrote: »

The "spirit" of the no quibble guarantee(as mentioned in previous posts) is surely to compensate customers who have paid more for an item than was advertised on the shelf.

The "spirit" of the guarantee is that, as part of a marketing/advertising venture, Tesco are saying that they'll give you the item for free if they make a mistake at the till. They made a mistake a the till. They did not give the item for free.

the groutch

the only spirit you'll get off Tesco is in their off licence

what matters is the law, and you hve zero legal right to the free item

Kimono-Girl

Zab wrote: »

OED:
charge
verb
1. demand (an amount) as a price for a service rendered or goods supplied
noun
1. a price asked for goods or services

Tesco:
"in the unlikely event of you being charged a price at the checkouts that is higher that the price mounted on the display, we will give you that item absolutely free and without quibble"

i have highlighted in bold the part you are not seeing, that extra 'd' makes a big difference it means past tense, Tesco's policy applies to the charged amount, they can charge all they want, but it is not charged until the payment has been processed, in this case the payment was not processed, therefore it was not charged at the higher price, its not that hard to understand the OP was misunderstanding their wording and policy.

Zab

Kimono-Girl wrote: »

i have highlighted in bold the part you are not seeing, that extra 'd' makes a big difference it means past tense, Tesco's policy applies to the charged amount, they can charge all they want, but it is not charged until the payment has been processed, in this case the payment was not processed, therefore it was not charged at the higher price, its not that hard to understand the OP was misunderstanding their wording and policy.

Please provide a reputable reference showing that using the past tense of "charge" changes to meaning of the word from demanded to actually paid/received.

the groutch wrote: »

the only spirit you'll get off Tesco is in their off licence

dudara

Zab wrote: »

Please provide a reputable reference showing that using the past tense of "charge" changes to meaning of the word from demanded to actually paid/received.

Stop the silly bickering.

The OP has taken up the wrong end of the stick here. Until the cash has been handed over, the purchaser has no title to the goods. You can't honestly expect Tesco to hand you free goods before you even pay for them. At this point, you have suffered no financial harm and Tesco are under no obligation to you.

However, if you have paid for them and an error is found, then Tesco offer you compensation for the error.

Zab

dudara wrote: »

Stop the silly bickering.

How was that silly bickering? I've taken what Tesco have written and given my honest and referenced appraisal of what it means. Others have said what they think it means but they have provided no references as of yet.

The OP has taken up the wrong end of the stick here. Until the cash has been handed over, the purchaser has no title to the goods. You can't honestly expect Tesco to hand you free goods before you even pay for them. At this point, you have suffered no financial harm and Tesco are under no obligation to you.

However, if you have paid for them and an error is found, then Tesco offer you compensation for the error.

I don't see how title comes into this. OP isn't applying his basic consumer rights here. Perhaps if there's no contract until the goods are paid for then the terms can't come into play in a contractual sense, but it should at least be false advertising unless someone can show that "charged" does actually require a payment to be made. I also don't see why I can't expect Tesco to hand me free goods before I pay for them if they've told me they're going to hand me free goods before I pay for them. I think it's clear that this policy can be abused whether it requires payment or not, but that isn't OP's fault nor was it his intention.

rubadub

There are load of threads about this, here and on UK forums, you would think tesco would cop on and make the policy 100% clear.

Looking for the item for free even though you havent paid for it seems illogical and and nonsence to me.

Well it could be seen as a thank you gesture for something they should be already doing -checking that their prices are correct, they are very often not and they are getting off very lightly. Dunno if many supermarkets have been prosecuted for incorrect prices, I heard bits about the law on it before and it seemed quite vague.

theavenger

Damn Tesco the B*****ds for providing us, well the people who can understand it with a policy that benifits us........im off to dunnes:cool:

Tayla

Stinicker wrote: »

It is not the first time Tesco have put up signs saying one thing but meaning an entirely different thing. If Tesco did road signs left would mean right and exit meaning entry.

eg.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7590440.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7591905.stm

You weren't entitled to the item for free, as others have said already next time you should allow them to take your money first.

and as for those examples you provided who doesn't understand '10 items or less'??

foggy_lad

This no quibble guarantee came in at the same time the scanning checkout did and when items lost their individual price stickers. Tesco wanted to assure customers that they would rarely if ever get the prices wrong at the checkout and they would guarantee this by providing any goods charged incorrectly for free.

It really says a lot about their attention to detail and how well stores are run and pricing done when they still have to keep this guarantee going because og the huge number of pricing errors.