Supermarket, spit roast chicken scam

[Diana]

This has happened to me too many times in my local supermarket for it to be just coincidence. Asking amongst friends its happened to them too.

It goes like this: Your shopping comes to more than 80 euros, so you pay, go home and unpack. Only if you check your till receipt do you find that you have been charged for a non existant cooked chicken or crate of beer etc. What do you do? go back to the supermarket and say you did not have these items, how do you prove it?

What i don't understand is how anyone profits from it. It seems the only thing to do is check the receipt before leaving the checkout.

Diana

[opas]

Yes , always check your bill at the end of the checkout but not in such a way that you cause havoc.  Some items are inputted by a code ie a cucumber from memory(sad or what ) is 672  the code for a cooked chicken could be 762, just simple operator error.

If it had happened once to me it would be enough for me to check my receipt.

[Russethouse]

Have a good look around the checkout and make sure there are no items lurking about, say a bottle of wine, the assistant just adds it to everyones shopping until someone notices and then they point to the bottle of wine and say they thought it was yours. An old fiddle.

[Graham & Brenda]

Yes, there has been a thread about this in the past. Always check your bill before you leave and go to the Acceuil with any problems not the cashier who served you. I won't bore you with details but we have had several errors at different supermarkets - the most recent was the double counting of an item at Super U yesterday I don't consider it a scam but usually human error and it is just as common in the UK.

[Deby]

I always check now.  Got charge 13euros once for a 2E birthday card, not to mention the 'extra' items that do seem to appear. I think it is usually wrong error codes, but it is frustrating especially when some stores insist on sealing your bag up on entry!  A good friend got charged 600Euros once for a 60 Euro shopping bill, he only noticed it when the amount was deducted from his bank account.  He spent months trying to get it back and never did.  He was a fluent french speaker and knows his droits too!

Deby

[Benjamin]

We picked up a 2 for 1 offer once in a Super U that was advertised in their publicity magazine.

We always check our till receipt and on this occasion we found that we'd been charged for both items. I approached the caisse with receipt and item in hand only to be given back, without even asking, the price of one of the items.

In other words they knew all about the error but unless you checked your receipt you would never have known.

[Paysages de France]

You are barely, only very very barely touching on the subject of supermarket scams.

       'Les Coulisses de la Grand Distribution' by Christian Jacquiau (ed Albin Michel) will open your eyes to such an extent that you'll never enter one again!

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Russethouse"]Have a good look around the checkout and make sure there are no items lurking about, say a bottle of wine, the assistant just adds it to everyones shopping until someone notices and then they point to the bottle of wine and say they thought it was yours. An old fiddle.[/quote]

Yep, what I posted is a scam, but much of what other posters experiences may have been human error.

[Ford Anglia]

I've been charged twice for the same item a couple of times at the local (UK) Tesco. Each time I just went back, explained at the customer services, and they refunded. Each time it was a new, or trainee checkout operator.

 

[Wendy]

Last time we were charged for 'extra items we went to the customer 'service' counter to ask for a refund. The 'assistant' actually accompanied us to see inside our car to check that we were not hiding those 'extra items thus trying to con them. We weren't and, after various accusations from them and some strong words from me, we got our refund.

I always stand and watch the operator scanning each item.

[MrCanary]

Thanks for the warning, and I will be checking in future - but I fail to see how any individual can profit from this? Surely the 'scam' is just putting extra money into the company's business account?

[Chezstevens]

I would suggest after the fraud the scammer could remove cash from the till!!

[opas]

No they couldn't , not if an electric till is used. There is a "read" done, this then prints out a till receipt that tells the "reader" ie the cash office/manager(whoever perfoms this task) how much has been taken in Cash, same in Cheques and again by EFT(credit card) same for coupons/gift vouchers or any other means of payment one can think of.  The money/cheques taken etc then have to tally with this till receipt.  The only way I can think that the operator could benefit from this would be to literally walk out of the store at the end of his/her shift with all the goods that had been "accidently" rung on to your bill!

[MrCanary]

Chezstevens, as opas has explained, that is not possible.

And opas, surely to walk out with the goods, they would have to be scanned to get through the store's 'exit system' - and doing that would create another computerised demand for payment?

[Russethouse]

For the scam to work at some point the till would have to be 'over'. This is much more difficult in this electronic age, I suppose it could be done if goods 'will not' scan and had to be entered manually.

[Wendy]

Take the time to check your receipt. The French take their time waiting until they get their total before deciding to look for the chequebook and their pen, plus add in those customers who like to chat for a while; of course, what about those with those damned coupons...no, you go over your receipt, hold up the line and make sure you are not paying one centime more than you should.

I do. [6]

 

[Chezstevens]

One scam SWBO watched in disbelief was only half the groceries being scanned for a 'friend'.  SWBO looked at the bill on the little screen and it was laughable - sadly it is all of us who pay in the end.

 

[Owens88]

>Have a good look around the checkout and make sure there are no items lurking about, say a bottle of wine, the assistant just adds it to everyones shopping until someone notices and then they point to the bottle of wine and say they thought it was yours. An old fiddle.

 

The trouble I have with that statement is that the supermarket is complicit in the fiddle. How does the operator benefit without the supremarket tacitly accepting overcharging? 

[jc]

Yesterday,I bought four identical items as Asda at 8p. each,got home and noticed only one on the bill;must go in next week and give them 24p..

[jc]

Also,I have been short-changed and the cashier claimed that I had given her a smaller note than I had,complained and was told to come back at closing time,so they could check the till.Said"No thanks-I'll just stand here blocking the till until it is sorted".Immediate refund.

[Suze01]

Not a scam, but I get really annoyed at how often the checkout staff 'miss' the stickers for immediate reductions, if they would only slow down a bit rather than throwing everything through at lightening speed - I can't reload my trolley as fast as they're chucking it  at me!

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Owens88"]

>Have a good look around the checkout and make sure there are no items lurking about, say a bottle of wine, the assistant just adds it to everyones shopping until someone notices and then they point to the bottle of wine and say they thought it was yours. An old fiddle.

 

The trouble I have with that statement is that the supermarket is complicit in the fiddle. How does the operator benefit without the supremarket tacitly accepting overcharging? 

[/quote]

Its not really easy or worth it in the electronic till age unless the manager feels their store is struggling, or is engaged in some inter store promotion etc and wants to inflate their sales figures in which case it would have to be done on quite a large scale.

You used to sometimes see 'spot checks', a whole till draw would be removed for checking and another put in with a reasonable float.....haven't seen that for a while.

 

 

 

[AnOther]

[quote user="wen"]The French take their time waiting until they get their total before deciding to look for the chequebook and their pen[/quote]Surely this is a female thing is it not...[Www]

I cannot recall how many times I have stood behind a woman (who has herself often been waiting in line) and only when presented with the bill starts to dig in her handbag for her purse.

Me, I'm there ready wallet in hand or, better still, with the exact amount if I know and have it.

I'm not saying all women are like this but I tend to notice these things and cannot recall standing behind a man and witnessing the same thing.

[trumpet]

In Brittany the norm seems to be for French people to. Talk loads to the cashier........and anybody else. Pack their shopping away meticulously. Then get their bonus points, then decide whether card cheque or cash...........more talking........then with a big flourish decide cheque then scrutinize every detail.....more talking and just when you are about to make your transaction......they return to ask about something else, completely ignoring you and worse still the cashier responds.................Oh well.

[opas]

[quote user="Mel "]

Chezstevens, as opas has explained, that is not possible.

And opas, surely to walk out with the goods, they would have to be scanned to get through the store's 'exit system' - and doing that would create another computerised demand for payment?

[/quote]

Exactly!

I worked for 10 years on checkouts and customer sevices for ASDA and know a lot of fiddles............non of which I have personally practiced but have lost what I thought were good friends through their own fiddlings of the system, some of these fiddles include setting up their fellow colleagues. I had one done to me , a lot of money, and i do not mean a few quid was missing from the till i had been working, i named 2 suspects, one went off on long term sick leave and the other , a manager was moved to another store.........strange that my till was the one infront of the security camera that appeared to not be working on that day. Bitter, you bet! I nearly handed in my notice, my manager persuaded me not to. I hate dishonesty.