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Cheating Butcher

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  • 17-09-2013 12:41pm
    #1
    dipdip
    Closed Accounts Posts: 537 ✭✭✭


    Hi there. I am looking for a bit of advice on how to proceed.

    I am living in the UK having just moved from Ireland. I found a local craft butcher who offers a deal of 6 items for £20 - 1lb of mince, 1lb of pork etc. etc.

    When I got home I found that he had stiffed me to the tune of 50g on every item except one - and that one was excess to the 6 items, and was sold by weight. In this case I had asked for half a pound (227g) and he gave me 321g. Of course I was charged for this.

    I have written to him to complain and there has been no response.

    I am annoyed about this because he is cheating poor people in a poor area. Is there anything I can do? Surely this is illegal?

    Thanks for your advice.


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    #2
    snubbleste
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 31,117 ✭✭✭✭snubbleste


    You can complain to the Consumer Authority
    http://www.consumerhelp.ie/report-a-business


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    #3
    dipdip
    Closed Accounts Posts: 537 ✭✭✭dipdip


    Great. I will look for the UK equivalent.


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    #4
    SCOOP 64
    Registered Users Posts: 5,267 ✭✭✭SCOOP 64


    Fairplay to you for spotting it.


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    #5
    dipdip
    Closed Accounts Posts: 537 ✭✭✭dipdip


    I like to cook so I have a good eye for weight. I could see that the amounts he was weighing out were small so I checked for myself when I got home. They weren't pre-packaged - he purposely supplied 400g of each item which he weighed out in front of me instead of 454. It is so disappointing. He is basically on my street and gives a spiel about knowing how hard it is to buy good quality food on a budget in his publicity. Pity.


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    #6
    mlumley
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭mlumley


    Trading standards officer at your local council is the place to go for help.


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    #7
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    Your local Trading Standards is the place to go. They'll come down on him like a ton of bricks!


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    #8
    emeldc
    Registered Users Posts: 2,597 ✭✭✭emeldc


    How do you know your 10 bob scales is right and his €1k scales is wrong.


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    #9
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #10
    dipdip
    Closed Accounts Posts: 537 ✭✭✭dipdip


    I don't think his scales are wrong. I think he is knowingly cheating his customers.

    My scales of course is not impervious to making mistakes. But if I put a half a pound of butter on it, it weighs 227g.


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    #11
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    When you get on to TS, THEY will check his scales. Then there is no argument.

    My Mum was taken like that in London, years ago. She thought nothing of it until she read in the local rag that the greengrocer she used was done for cheating his customers in the same manner!


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    #12
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,382 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Fred Swanson wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.
    It could be, and the error is not always linear.

    So if a half pound is 227g it doesn't mean a pound will be correct. You should always verify with the closest thing you can in weight to it.

    A pint of room temp tap water is 568ml and will be about 568grams, not including the glass of course!


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    #13
    TBoneMan
    Registered Users Posts: 118 ✭✭TBoneMan


    I caught out a craft butcher in Ireland for the same thing...

    i order quarter pounder burgers for a BBQ but when i got home they looked a bit thin,he had given me 100g burgers instead of 114g ... big difference...

    I confronted him in the shop and got him to weight them up in front of customers...he was speechless


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    #14
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    14g is hardly a big difference. It's very time consuming making burgers and most butchers will weigh them out with 10g give or take either way. They would be there for a month trying to do a batch at exactly 114g! That's a new level of scabby making a show of yourself over 14g of mince.

    The lad in England definitely sounds like he's taking the piss. Lots of people do go home and weigh everything themselves so I'm surprised he hasn't been caught out sooner.


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    #15
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #16
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,382 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Uaru wrote: »
    14g is hardly a big difference.
    Sounded like they got several, and all were under.

    You would not expect all to be 114g exactly, but there should be as many over as under if he is genuinely not trying to fleece people.

    In tesco I have often got very oversized packs of chicken, i.e. they state 500g and I take a look at a few and pick the biggest and it could be 600g.


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    #17
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    Uaru wrote: »
    14g is hardly a big difference. It's very time consuming making burgers and most butchers will weigh them out with 10g give or take either way. They would be there for a month trying to do a batch at exactly 114g! That's a new level of scabby making a show of yourself over 14g of mince.

    I don't understand your mentality. Why is it 'scabby' and 'making a show of yourself' to expect to receive what you PAID FOR?? If the butcher is selling the meat short, then he is stealing! Don't you understand that?

    It's hardly the customer's problem if the butcher is 'there for a month' weighing out the correct amount of meat. That's his business. That's what he's paid for.

    Like Fred S says. A small difference might be OK. A 10% difference most certainly is not.


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    #18
    Cabaal
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 28,497 Mod ✭✭✭✭Cabaal


    Uaru wrote: »
    14g is hardly a big difference. /QUOTE]

    Its 10%
    If you went into a shop and bought your cigarettes...say a pack of 20 and when you went home you found they sold you 18 you'd be pissed off right?


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    #19
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    It would be very unlikely the butcher went out of his way to measure each one at exactly 100g, that would be stupidly time consuming to save a few cents. Most likely some were over and some were under and the poster could have been unlucky in the ones he got. It could also have been an apprentice using the burger press and could have lost some out the side.


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    #20
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    Cabaal wrote: »
    Uaru wrote: »
    14g is hardly a big difference. /QUOTE]

    Its 10%
    If you went into a shop and bought your cigarettes...say a pack of 20 and when you went home you found they sold you 18 you'd be pissed off right?

    You can't compare something pre packed in a factory to something made in house. Do you think when you go to a restaurant and order an 8 oz steak that it weighs exactly 8 oz?


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    #21
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    It's generally understood that the weight of the steak is the pre-cooked weight. Of course, it'll weigh a little less when cooked!!


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    #22
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    It also won't weigh 8oz before it's cooked because it would be impossible to cut each steak at exactly 8oz.

    Obviously when you're buying from a butcher the vast majority of items will be weighed individually and you will be charged whatever is on the scales. If you ask for a pound of mince it will never be exactly a pound but you will be charged the amount by weight. This is impossible with burgers because they would fall apart. Next time you buy burgers from anywhere weigh them and I can guarantee you it will be about 10g either way on most of them.


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    #23
    bobmalooka
    Registered Users Posts: 1,521 ✭✭✭bobmalooka


    Uaru wrote: »
    It also won't weigh 8oz before it's cooked because it would be impossible to cut each steak at exactly 8oz.

    Obviously when you're buying from a butcher the vast majority of items will be weighed individually and you will be charged whatever is on the scales. If you ask for a pound of mince it will never be exactly a pound but you will be charged the amount by weight. This is impossible with burgers because they would fall apart. Next time you buy burgers from anywhere weigh them and I can guarantee you it will be about 10g either way on most of them.

    Please tell us why burgers fall apart when placed on a weighing scales?

    the ones I get manage to get bagged, driven home, unbagged, and fried/barbequed without falling apart


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    #24
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    bobmalooka wrote: »
    Please tell us why burgers fall apart when placed on a weighing scales?

    the ones I get manage to get bagged, driven home, unbagged, and fried/barbequed without falling apart

    Depends on the burger and how it's made I suppose. Most butchers tend to pre pack them though as they are more delicate, stick to things and each other so it's easier to pack them.


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    #25
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    If the poster bought single weighed burgers and they were 100g but was charged for 114g that's a different story altogether.


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    #26
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Uaru wrote: »
    If the poster bought single weighed burgers and they were 100g but was charged for 114g that's a different story altogether.

    That's what is unclear. My "craft" butcher sells what are commonly referred to as quarter pounders but they are not sold on a per item basis as the total is weighed and charged accordingly.


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    #27
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #28
    Guest0000
    Registered Users Posts: 66 ✭✭Guest0000


    Uaru wrote: »
    It also won't weigh 8oz before it's cooked because it would be impossible to cut each steak at exactly 8oz.

    Obviously when you're buying from a butcher the vast majority of items will be weighed individually and you will be charged whatever is on the scales. If you ask for a pound of mince it will never be exactly a pound but you will be charged the amount by weight. This is impossible with burgers because they would fall apart. Next time you buy burgers from anywhere weigh them and I can guarantee you it will be about 10g either way on most of them.

    The ops point is that it is a special offer on a set amount of cuts, at a said weight, the cuts are not individually weighed, so you won't be paying the displayed amount, if they were, chances are they would be as cheap to buy in single items,
    Kinda reminds me of the guy selling bags of logs for 3.00 a bag or 6 for twenty......


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    #29
    draiochtanois
    Registered Users Posts: 2,655 ✭✭✭draiochtanois


    This post has been deleted.


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    #30
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,382 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Uaru wrote: »
    If you ask for a pound of mince it will never be exactly a pound but you will be charged the amount by weight. This is impossible with burgers because they would fall apart.
    They can weigh the final bag to double check.

    The poster said they looked thin, if a regular punter can visually spot they are thin then I would expect a butcher to have noticed too, they should be well used to eyeballing weights.
    Uaru wrote: »
    Next time you buy burgers from anywhere weigh them and I can guarantee you it will be about 10g either way on most of them.
    But it sounds like this is what the poster did, and they were under. They did not say its one burger, it was burgerS for a BBQ, so could have been a lot.


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    #31
    Uaru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭Uaru


    Brooke Yellow Jell-o wrote: »
    That's what is unclear. My "craft" butcher sells what are commonly referred to as quarter pounders but they are not sold on a per item basis as the total is weighed and charged accordingly.

    That's probably the best way to do it as you are paying the exact weight for what you are getting.

    It's the same with steaks, the butcher cuts a steak, lays it our for display, you choose which one you want, they weigh it and away you go.

    There's no way in hell that each 8oz steak weighs 8oz, it would be impossible to cut that consistently off a piece of meat. Think about the logistics of it.


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