Does this just happen to me?

[Beryl]

I get the publicité for a well know supermarket in my post box every week, I check their special offers and go into the store and find when I get home and check my receipt that I have been charged a not very special price. [:@]

This week there was supposedly a three for two on a certain brand of pizzas and I checked the ticket on the shelf as well as I could with my eyesight and still got charged for all three.

My French is not up to complaining standard yet, so I will certainly take the offers with a pinch of salt in future. Have I got a very slack store or is this kind of thing common ?

[Miki]

Yep, common as pizzas [:)]

[SaligoBay]

Yes, it is quite common.  The tills are often not updated with the same information as the shelves.  Watch what she's putting through the reader if you can, or check your receipt as soon as you've paid and go straight to the Accueil to sort it out.   Lots of pointing usually works, and don't worry if the person behind the desk is in a bad mood, it's just part of the job requirements. 

Bon courage!

[Deimos]

I've also found you have to watch the dates on the offers posted through the letter box. They are often for just one week and are posted out in advance. I have most often nearly been caught out on Bricomarche doing this - but when it has happened I've questioned it and arranged to collect/pay on the day the offer starts.

Ian

[Graham & Brenda]

Because I have had similar problems in the past, I lined up my 3 special offers first on the tapis today (Auchan Cognac by the way) and mentioned them to the checkout girl. Surprisingly, they all went through correctly - although she kindly said I was quite right to tell her.

Another plus today, when I asked at the photo counter to see a battery charger on special at €14.90 they said they didn't have any so would I like the €29.90 one for €14.90. It was not a tough decision and was the second example of good customer service I've had there recently. Of course it is still hit and miss finding a vendeur/vendeuse for the particular section when you need one - but that's normal everywhere.

 

 

 

[Will]

Congratulations, it's not often you see the words 'good customer service' in the same sentence as 'Auchan'.

It's strange how in Normandy many of the supermarkets have English-speaking checkout lines, but as soon as there's a problem they forget their English.

 

[Miki]

Since about three years, we no longer receive any early warning of promos, it has saved us a fortune.

We opened the spare room one day and two ton of "that's cheap, better buy it, it's on promo" stuff fell on us, took 24 hours to get it all back in and then it it hit us.........we never wanted it, or even knew we wanted it all in the first place, until the damed promo guff landed in the box....................and we couldn't resist the French charms of the Liquidation Totale either (whilst work done !!!!!!!)

OK we were weak, I admit it [:)]

[Evianers]

Not just to you Beryl, and not only in France. Our local supermarkets here in Belgium have many special offers - naturally - but one has to be very, vey careful to check the receipts and then have the courage to complain when the mistakes noted: how curious that they are invariably in favour of the supermarket.

 

[La Vette]

In order to receive the special offer you have to have a fidelity card.  The card reader then deducts the cost of the third item and gives you a cash total at the bottom of your receipt under the heading Detail des avantages obtenus.  You can then use your fidelity card to pay for goods up to this value.  We let it add up and use it to pay our bill every few months or so.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="La Vette"]In order to receive the special offer you have

to have a fidelity card.  The card reader then deducts the cost of

the third item and gives you a cash total at the bottom of your receipt

under the heading Detail des avantages obtenus.  You can then use

your fidelity card to pay for goods up to this value.  We let it

add up and use it to pay our bill every few months or so.[/quote]

I was under the impression that there were two types of "specials." One

which is a manufacturer's promotion and is marked up on the packaging -

buy two boxes of "wizzo" and the third is free sort of thing. In this

case the freebie is physically packaged up with the ones being paid

for. The other is as La Vette says - a promo by the store itself and

these are marked on the shelf, not the packaging, and are given as a

credit on the loyalty card. The system common in the UK of deducting

the cost of an item in a multibuy promotion from the till receipt does

not seem to occur in France (it may even be forbidden) but money off

coupons can be deducted at the till.

[Graham & Brenda]

Jon, no wish to be pedantic but that is just what does happen for multi-buys. E.g. at Auchan we bought  a 2 for 1 on wine and a case was shown as a deduction. Similar at Super U - where they also do extra points added to your card when you buy product 'X'

 

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Ah, but were these both with loyalty cards? Sorry, I should have been

clearer: many of these offers only apply against a loyalty card,

whereas without a card multibuys are not taken off. Even then I thought

the discount had to then appear as a credit on ones account, not as a

straight discount, though that credit can be cashed on the transaction. French law has some funny quirks about gift-giving

and discounting. There is, as far as I know, no limit on the number of

loyalty cards one can have.

[Beryl]

I have a loyalty card , so I will go back tomorrow and try and solve the mystery.

[Benjamin]

[quote user="Jon"]French law has some funny quirks about gift-giving

and discounting. There is, as far as I know, no limit on the number of

loyalty cards one can have.

[/quote]

Urban myth or do you have first hand knowledge?

We always move away from the till and check our till roll for errors. I don't think we've ever found one on our side.

The most annoying was a 2 for 1 offer which just charged for the two items on the till roll. Approaching the reception desk holding our till receipt and the purchase in our hands, the young lady didn't even ask and just handed us the 8,20€ and took our copy of the till roll and marked it accordingly - they knew all about the error in their software!!!!!!!!!!

Benjamin

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="Jon"]French law has some funny quirks about gift-giving

and discounting. There is, as far as I know, no limit on the number of

loyalty cards one can have.

[/quote]

Urban myth or do you have first hand knowledge?

[/quote]

Well....the lady in front of me chez Leclerc last Thursday evening had

about 30: supermarkets, shoe shops, sports shops, the lot. Except, of

course the one for Leclerc. Plus, I've never been asked whether or not

I already have a loyalty card when I have sought another one.

As to the other point: there was an article about this very thing on TV

a scant fortnight ago. The program was called "Anti-Arnaque" and it's a

kind of consumer programe. It is unlawful in France to give a gift of

more than nominal value as an inducement to purchase anything unless it

is directly related to the item being purchased. So, one could not sell

a house and offer a free car along with it, but one could probably get

away with offering a fitted kitchen as a gift. Rinse aid could be

offered as a freebie with dishwasher powder, but a free pizza could not

be offered. This could explain why there is nothing more exciting than

free cereal bowls offered on the back of corn flake packets in this

country.

I'm not sure if that counts as first-hand knowledge, but I was convinced.

[Dick Smith]

Benjamin - Why should there be a limit? Every store I go into wants me to have one, who would choose which I can have and which I can't? No-one has ever asked me if I have any loyalty cards when I get a new one.

[Benjamin]

Sorry Dick I quoted badly from Jon's  earlier response. The bit I was querying concerned gift giving and not the number of cards you can have.

Jon seems to have explained, quite adequately for me, why the offers in supermarkets here are so derisory. It's a point which has perplexed me for a long time now so thanks for clearing that one up.

Benjamin