Now it's illegal to write down prices in a Tesco supermarket

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/...P=FBCNETTXT9038

I am nearly arrested for the 'crime' of doing a price check on some bottles of water

 

 

I was almost arrested in Tesco this week. My crime? Comparing prices. Evidently, this is such a security issue for Tesco that it wants you booted out of the store. The deputy manager rushed up to me within minutes of my arriving at one of its London supermarkets. The security cameras had spotted me with a pen and paper in hand, noting the prices of goods on the shelves. "Excuse me, what are you doing?" he said. I told him I was, well, writing down prices.

 

"You're not allowed to do that. It's illegal. Where are you from? Are you from the media?" I don't feel Tesco has any right to demand my employment status, so I just said: "I'm a private individual, I'm buying some stuff here, and I'm comparing prices."

 

It obviously didn't satisfy him. "It's illegal to write things down and you can't take any photographs, either. If you want to check the prices, take the item to the till and pay for it there. The price will be on the receipt," he said, pointing me to the exit.

A store manager turned up, while another Tesco employee in a suit hovered in the background. "He's writing down prices," the deputy said to his superior, identifying a practice that evidently brings the bosses out in force.

 

I asked the manager if there had been a law passed which made it illegal to write down Tesco prices.

 

"Look, it's company policy, you're not allowed to do it," he said, perhaps accepting that Tesco doesn't actually write the laws of the United Kingdom – well, not yet at any rate. I showed him my notebook. Scribbled down were prices for Highland Spring sparkling water on the shelves right in front of me. Three 1.5 litre bottles were £2 (66p a bottle). On the shelf below, a pack of four identical bottles were £3.08 (77p a bottle). In other words, buying in bulk was a worse deal. Can you explain that? I asked. "It's an offer, innit? There's lots of offers in the store. Why do you want to know?" At this point I volunteered that I was doing "market research".

 

I said I would continue to look around the store at prices, using my eyes only. Would Tesco object to me using my eyes? At this point they left me alone, but, before buying my goods and leaving, I felt I was being followed. Goodness knows what would have happened if I had tried to take a photograph. Perhaps Tesco would have pushed for a custodial sentence.

 

But there's a serious point here. Consumer journalists should be able to scrutinise prices without being harassed. How else can we be sure of the veracity of "half price" offers? And should it be the case that security staff can throw me out for taking a photograph of a bottle of Highland Spring?

 

If we on Guardian Money bought every item available in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons or Asda every day, we would be able to check prices, and see if that bottle of wine, or those washing powder tablets, really are half price. But we can't, and trading standards officers don't have the resources to, either. Spot checks are about the best we can do.

 

But even that, it appears, is unacceptable to the likes of Tesco. Next time I'll wander round the store speaking the prices into my mobile phone. It's got a record function. Note to Tesco company policy writer: ban customers from speaking into their phones.

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So, here we have it.. Pretty outrageous stuff if you ask me.. And an example of just how out of control big Corporations are becoming surely, that certain individuals within them who are management seem to blur the lines between what is "company policy" and what is the law of the land. Now, call me old fashioned, but I dont think that company policy should trump what's a perfectly legal activity. We've already had this sort of crap going on in a shopping centre in Glasgow where a parent was arrested for the "crime" of taking a photo of their own child eating an ice-cream. They can ask us to refrain from certain activities, but it should never, EVER be made out that it carries the full weight of the law, and they certainly shouldn't be able to call upon the Police to stop people from doing what is perfectly legal activities.

 

God forbid that consumers actually want to get the best deals, I know plenty of people who compare prices between the "big 4", and no, they're not journalists. But even supposing they were, then that shouldn't matter anyway. If it wasn't for consumer journalists actually identifying where the big stores are doing "special offers" which aren't really special at all, then they have a public duty to expose that. Perhaps Tesco and the others shouldn't be trying to pull a bloody "Del Boy Trotter" and make out like "every little helps", when in fact, it quite often isn't any help at all...

 

Screw you Tesco, and the jumped up Little Hitlers you have working for you.... Mind you if you think this is bad, just look online as to what happened when Citibank customers in New York tried to close down their bank accounts, they were subjected to false imprisonment by bank employees and arrest under utterly spurious charges..... Like I say, Corporations are just out of control and our duly elected officials need to do something about it.... -_-

Tesco are truly evil.

Oh dear. I imagine if there is a supermarket in hell, then it's probably a Tesco.

 

'Every little counts'

Tesco are truly evil.

 

So, I'd be fine to this in Morrisons then.... :lol:

All supermarkets are too big for their boots. I was kicked out of Asda a few years ago for breaking the thick stalk off the broccoli. I don't eat the thick bottom stub so why should I pay for it?

Edited November 5, 201113 yr by Common Sense

Becuase it's part of the the product and it is edible. Do you take the bones out of pork chops or take something with you to remove an apple core?

Becuase it's part of the the product and it is edible. Do you take the bones out of pork chops or take something with you to remove an apple core?

 

No of course not. There were very long threads about this on both Haven and DS and lots said they wish they'd the balls like me to do it. Some obviously disagreed. The trumped up manager threw me out! Wasn't theft as I was paying for what I wanted to leave the store with. I still do it today in there and Tesco.

 

Bit off-topic but another example of store managers acting like little Hitlers. :rolleyes:

Edited November 5, 201113 yr by Common Sense

No of course not. There were very long threads about this on both Haven and DS and lots said they wish they'd the balls like me to do it. Some obviously disagreed. The trumped up manager threw me out! Wasn't theft as I was paying for what I wanted to leave the store with. I still do it today in there and Tesco.

 

Bit off-topic but another example of store managers acting like little Hitlers. :rolleyes:

No, it's store managers trying to make a profit. The price is set based on the full weight, not just the bits you eat. The same applies, to use Mark's example, to a chop. If they sold chops without bones or just the edible part of broccoli, the price per pound would be higher.

All supermarkets are too big for their boots. I was kicked out of Asda a few years ago for breaking the thick stalk off the broccoli. I don't eat the thick bottom stub so why should I pay for it?

 

Sorry, I've no sympathy for you there, because you're quite clearly being totally stupid.... -_- And, frankly I cant believe you're even comparing the two. Trust me, if you tried that shite on the fruit and veg market in Camden, you'd get a severe GBH of the earhole from the stall holder, and you'd deserve it...

So, I'd be fine to this in Morrisons then.... :lol:

I've never witnessed anyone being hassled by management at all unless they are actually shoplifting.

Sorry, I've no sympathy for you there, because you're quite clearly being totally stupid.... -_- And, frankly I cant believe you're even comparing the two. Trust me, if you tried that shite on the fruit and veg market in Camden, you'd get a severe GBH of the earhole from the stall holder, and you'd deserve it...

 

And he wouldn't me trading any longer as he'd be in jail. ;) :D

And he wouldn't me trading any longer as he'd be in jail. ;) :D

 

You clearly didn't quite get my meaning... GBH of the earhole, as in, you'd get a volley of four-letter expletives (probably most of them beginning with the "c" word) that would make it seem like you'd had GBH... These market traders dont take any crap from anyone, and they're not shy in telling anyone...