Forum Topic

rip off tesco

Apparently Tesco are trialling that before you pay for petrol a deposit of £99.0 is required, balance to be repaid whenyou actually buy  Also some Tesco's make a charge now of £1 49 just to drive on to forecort  I am not a driver but am outraged at both these charges

Barbara Shillabeer ● 1048d19 Comments

The thread is headed 'Rip Off Tesco' and is about supermarket practices.  Have you heard of word clouds?

Philippa Bond ● 1041d

Post is about forecourt Tesco filling up your vehicle, not your belly and brown paper bags.

Barbara Stevens ● 1041d

So how loyal is everybody when supermarket shopping?  I know they'd all love us to be super loyal but I for one am never going to go specially out of my way to get to a particular supermarket. It's whichever is nearest depending on the day's other chores.I much prefer a lot of vegetables from a local vegetable shop - the leeks don't have all their green leaves AND root chopped off and the parsley isn't in small pieces and blown everyway up and all into plastic.  An old fashioned bunch of flat leaf parsley in a brown paper bag takes a lot of beating.

Philippa Bond ● 1041d

Well done, Michael W.The thing is that my son, who has returned from abroad a few days before, did not know about the "deposit".  Tesco's explained to him that they do/did this mainly to ensure there are funds in the card - and having the card number in case a person drives off without paying?.I did not know about this arrangement I because I do not use Tesco's out of principle.I understand that, a few months after my son's experience, Tesco's increased the amount they withhold to £100.

Ivonne Holliday ● 1042d

Mmm ... I bet they're doing some sort of tracking to try and reconcile the number of items scanned is correct? Perhaps a scaled down version of the Amazon Prime tracking and scanning system with no checkouts? Quite impressive technology, not sure about the selection of goods :)

Michael Ixer ● 1042d

Not all self service tills weigh the items to bleap out:  "Place the item in the bagging area"  "Unexpected item in the bagging area"Some of Marks and also Waitrose have some much smaller tills  with just a shelf and no scales but they do have a light on top like a Dalek's ear!So quite possible to scan twice.

Ed Robinson ● 1042d

You might get it wrong, David, but I think the checking that ensures you don't skip scanning something would get confused and find something unexpected in the bagging area ... but I'm sure anything is possible if you're really determined! :-)

Michael Ixer ● 1042d

"An advantage of self service tills: no double scanning!"I wouldn't put it past me.

David Ainsworth ● 1042d

An advantage of self service tills: no double scanning! :-)

Michael Ixer ● 1042d

I DO drive a car, often fill up at Tesco and am blissfully happy with their charging policies.I wonder how many people suspecting Tesco of a "rip off" are content to routinely pay an additional 5-10% for their groceries in order to enjoy the perceived social cachet of shopping at Sainsburys or Waitrose?

Michael Winstanley ● 1042d

Well you do have to check everything nowadays... if you can. I even noticed that a recent shopping trip to Waitrose showed an small item had been double scanned!

Philippa Bond ● 1042d

Interesting, Ivonne. I know of instances when my online credit card account continues to show the reserve after the transaction shows as well but it gets dropped before statement production. Annoyingly, I don't think any bank's online system indicates what is just a reserve in case of a future payment and what is an actual charge against one's credit limit.

Michael Ixer ● 1047d

Well, my son filled up at the Tesco in New Malden last year I think it was.His card showed there was a charge of £10 which did not correspond to the amount he spent filling up the car.When he queried this, Tesco's said they took a "token fee" which would be deducted from the total he paid, though this charge would appear later on his card.When the amount he paid showed on his card, it was the total amount he paid and there was not deduction of the £10.He phoned them up again to enquire what was happening.  They did refund the £10 but, of course, it was a computer glitch....

Ivonne Holliday ● 1047d

It don't  think it actually make a charge it just reserves that amount (say £100) to ensure you're able to pay. The specific amount is charged when the transaction is completed.  It's similar to when one collects a hire car (when the reserve is likely £1,000) or a hotel where the bill is going to be settled on leaving. It ensures (a) you've got sufficient credit to cover to estimated charge, particularly if you do a "runner"! I guess with fuel costs rising and other costs going up perhaps more motorists are driving off without paying or, more likely, when they come to pay the bank's refusing them more credit? I'm not certain, just guessing ...A problem is if you don't complete the transaction the reserve stays active for around five days meaning that credit can't be used for anything else.

Michael Ixer ● 1048d

Not in my car!!!  £40 did very nicely indeed, though not a full tank, 3/4!!

Ivonne Holliday ● 1048d

In June a tank of petrol cost over £100.

Philippa Bond ● 1048d

Barbara, I think they have been doing this for some time for people who pay next to the pump as opposed to going into the shop.There were very irate people complaining that, although initially it was £1 taken from your card, it suddently went up to £100, or £99.99.....

Ivonne Holliday ● 1048d

In the US  it's been standard for a while in some places to pay or deposit or validating a credit card before fuel is dispensed and, yes, it's to stop people filling up and driving off without paying. Not heard of a forecourt charge.

Michael Ixer ● 1048d

Barbara, I think it is to stop people driving off without paying, or filling up their tanks with more than they can afford.

Martine Guy ● 1048d