Coles No Longer Following Price Scanning Error Policy and Has Stopped Giving Free Item?

growler on 20/03/2020 - 15:28
Last edited 20/03/2020 - 15:35 by 1 other user

I purchased a packet of curry paste at my local Coles in Surry Hills. After I paid for it I noticed the price scanned higher at the checkout than the shelf price so I went to the customer service counter showed the staff and they refunded me the difference.

Previously I have received the item free when this had happened so I noted this to the staff member and the she pointed to the new policy about no refunds for change of mind purchases that had recently come into effect. I read the notice and it didn't mention scanning price errors at all and I then pointed out to the staff the Scanning Code of Practice sticker on the front of the service counter clearly states the item should be free. The staff member then started to rip the sticker off and tell me it was now wrong. So not wanting to be argumentative I started walking away.

But then I thought I'd check out the Coles website on my phone and on the bottom the page announcing the new changes to "change of mind" refunds the website stated "scanning prices errors" get the first item for free. I went back, showed the staff member the website, then showed it to her manager and they gave me a refund but they still insisted the policy has changed and the website is wrong.

Does anyone know what is going on? Did Coles change the price error scanning policy when announcing they would change the change of mind policy hoping no one would notice or are the staff at my local store confused….I certainly am.

Food & Grocery

Related Stores

Coles
Coles

Comments

  • PissLUR on 20/03/2020 - 15:33
    +11

    well done.

  • Fergy1987 on 20/03/2020 - 15:54
    +1

    This policy nearly got me fired from Coles - When someone found a Roast Pork sitting where the sausages were and insisted it should be free, even though she was comparing Roast Pork to Sausages and not the ticketed price……….She copped a piece of my mind…Management was not impressed.

    • ozhunter on 20/03/2020 - 16:06
      +10

      Lol, so it wasn't the policy. It was you that almost got yourself fired.

      • Fergy1987 on 20/03/2020 - 16:46
        +1

        Well…….yes :P

    • HighAndDry on 20/03/2020 - 17:19
      +5

      You ran into a Karen in the wild!!!

  • Ryanek on 20/03/2020 - 16:12
    +8

    This would not be a priority for me to be honest.

  • Smulder on 20/03/2020 - 16:16
    +1

    No soup for you!

  • [Deactivated] on 20/03/2020 - 16:17
    +1

    Coles usually have the policy stuck on the service desk.

  • Hithere on 20/03/2020 - 16:20
    +8

    Staff member is 100% wrong.

    The Price Scanning Error Policy is completely separate to the new current change of mind policy which was introduced to stymie the a***holes who have cleaned out many stores and will probably try for refunds when they can't use all their hoarded stock.

    Well done OP for sticking to your guns.

    • growler on 20/03/2020 - 16:39

      The staff member was so adamant the scanning error policy had changed and their supervisor agreed with them. After trying to rip the Scanning Code of Practice sticker off the service desk she then covered it with a computer printed paper notice about the changes to the Change of Mind policy…..They maybe wrong but for some reason they believe it's changed.

      • Yola on 20/03/2020 - 16:50
        +3

        Some people will not listen to reason. I asked Woolworths employee if there was stock of a catalogue item that was not on the shelf. He confirmed it was out of stock. I then asked for a rain check, this was a few moths ago, he was adamant there was no such thing/they did not have them. He was half my age and I told I had been getting them for years, he did not believe me and said he was a Manager and knew everything. About 10 minutes later I got one from the staff at the service desk. I was going to show it to him but then I thought maybe they were not supposed to issue them and I did not want to get anyone in trouble so I did't.

        • vinrocated on 21/03/2020 - 10:20
          +1

          That is actually included in the new policy, no rain check at the moment

          • Yola on 21/03/2020 - 12:42
            +1

            @vinrocated: Yes I said - it as a few months ago.

  • Yola on 20/03/2020 - 16:30
    +3

    Yes Coles seems to think that existing rules can be suspended. They suspended the catalogue this week and it could not be seen online. They said they did not want to disappoint customers when items are not available, but I for one would still like to know what these items are so I can look out for them. They also announced a change to Flybuys where accounts will have to be connected to a mobile phone- for security they say- to verify accounts, but they can do this through email like Woolworths does. I do not want to get junk SMS from Coles. In this case it seems like you had to deal with difficult employees, since the policy is still in place. I would complain about them, in writing. Did you get their names? I find asking for that or writing it down in from their name tags makes them think twice. There is much to be said about being a Karen. We should all insist on our rights. Good on you. And when we do not stand up for ourselves we feel humiliated and powerless. I much rather the people who are being officious are the ones that end up feeling bad.

    • bengal tiger on 20/03/2020 - 17:09
      +4

      Here's a link to this week's Coles catalogue for Melbourne Metro, I saved the PDF to Google Drive before they took it down:

      Coles catalogue for Melbourne Metro from Wed 18th March to Tue 24th March

    • Celia9 on 20/03/2020 - 18:20
      +1

      Ill send u and op a pm re Coles experience mum had recently, mgmt cites policies, store staff hates customers lol :)

      I don't know how to delete this comment.. :/

      • elgrande on 20/03/2020 - 18:40
        +2

        Just edit it and delete all text. Then click unpublish

        • [Deactivated] on 20/03/2020 - 19:51
          +2

          Lol! Did you do block them from editing on purpose?

          • elgrande on 20/03/2020 - 22:30
            +2

            @[Deactivated]: It was accidentally on purpose =)

            • Celia9 on 21/03/2020 - 07:10

              @elgrande: Ooh invaluable assist, truly helpful guy, so so many thanks. Defn on my way to figuring out how to forum.

              (: :/

    • Allwentmarching on 20/03/2020 - 19:33
      +2

      I was just considering dumping flybuys. They want too much personal data. You have my address you dont need my mobile number. Its not really worth the effort, I get $10 every 6 months or so. Woolies I get $10 about every 2-3 months and I shop at both equally.

      • try2bhelpful on 20/03/2020 - 23:22
        +4

        Yes, but this “points” buying is why I have spare TP and cleaning product stocks, at the moment.

  • Islund on 20/03/2020 - 18:41
    -6

    I bet the people you encountered were new Australians.

  • Blue Cat on 20/03/2020 - 19:40

    I have similar posts/comments about Woolies and Coles refusing to honor their scanning policy.
    Can't find it now, but they always find a million excuses not to honor it.
    Nothing new.

  • jjjaar on 20/03/2020 - 20:09
    +3

    I was in my local Coles just an hour ago and got the first item free for scanning wrong.

  • Cheapskate Paul on 20/03/2020 - 22:46

    That's a very misleading title. A correct statement may be "Coles Did Not Follow Price Scanning Error Policy and Did Not Give Me A Free Item"

    But I guess you think that putting a question mark at the end of your statement means that it should be read as "Are Coles No Longer Following Price Scanning Error Policy and Have They Stopped Giving Free Item?" It doesn't!

    • growler on 21/03/2020 - 09:56
      +2

      My apologies I forgot to put an "Is" at the start, it was an honest mistake. In my defence I have dementia but I am not that far gone that I should be loosing my is's….thanks for pulling me up.

  • MrsPofferjie on 21/03/2020 - 09:11
    +3

    The policy should still apply and you were correct.
    But all retail staff have been working under unbelievable stress in the last fortnight so their reaction is also understandable.
    You got a result. Perhaps put the rest down to extraordinary circumstances.

    • Ozpit on 21/03/2020 - 09:38
      +1

      I got a free tub of peanut butter at Coles yesterday because it scanned at the normal price when there was a sale sticker stating 70c off on the shelf.

      Before refunding, the customer service chick went and checked the shelf price and then removed the sales sticker. She told me that the sale was for last week and the sale sticker should have been removed.

      Anyway, whenever a low-ranking Coles staffer tries to fob me off when I ask for a refund for a wrongly scanned item (which is quite often), I ask to speak to the manager, who invariably tells the low-ranker to give me a refund.

  • OzHunterNSW on 21/03/2020 - 12:07
    -7

    LOOK, do you understand that we are in a CRISIS?

    Do you understand what is going on around you?

    Do you need mental health care?

    and you are worried about a free plastic toy… that ceases next week anyway.

    • MrBear on 21/03/2020 - 12:33
      +2

      Why are YOU here then? Go away.

    • Speckled Jim on 21/03/2020 - 15:43

      Do you understand what is going on around you?

      Do you?
      You ask all these searching questions of the OP, yet all YOU did was read the title and interpreted "Has Stopped Giving Free Item" as "Has Stopped Giving Free Stikeez".

      Topic isn't about "free plastic toys"!

  • Ayadan on 21/03/2020 - 17:45

    No one seems to understand how scanning policy works. You get the item for free if the actual ticket price of that item differs from the scanned price, NOT when the item is placed on the wrong section of the shelf, under tickets for something else.

  • chichi on 22/03/2020 - 01:56
    +1

    I think some of the staff may be a bit confused about what to do since these new no refund rules have started. A Woolworths staff member told us we couldn’t return faulty products now and pointed to the notice regarding no change of mind refunds. He was worried about getting in trouble.

    As someone else said above the staff have been under quite a bit of stress and woolworths/coles keep bringing in new rules.

  • addict on 22/03/2020 - 14:08

    Perhaps we need to relax on this rule. The rule should be suspended if it's not already… Grocery shops are chaos at the moment… Staff are just trying to fill the shelves as best they can. They are putting as much out as the can, which often means in the wrong spot. Their focus is not price tags..

    Instead of giving staff a hard time, perhaps thank them for going into work doing a job most of us be worried about doing.

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