The cheek of it !

Good morning. I'll zap this one out quickly before I go about my daily business. If an idea comes into my head I have to act on it quickly before it gets lost and buried in the grey matter. An incident I recall from last week. I was in Sainsbury's looking for offers on cat food, Bugsy likes the small tins of pate type foods. They are a bit expensive, but they agree with his dodgy tummy so I buy them for him. I don't get much at all from Sainsbury's most of it is too expensive for me. There is an odd yellow sticker from time to time, or a special offer, but that's about all. I couldn't do a whole shop there.

Anyway, the small Pate tins were on offer at 4 for £1.50, so I picked out two turkey and two chicken flavour. I waited my turn at the checkouts and when my goods were transported up the moving belt ready for scanning, the lady on the till asked if I had a Nectar Card. I answered no. She reached for a new card from the rack and proceeded to scan it before she started scanning the goods. She handed me the card and said fill the form in and send it off to register. I was so taken aback I took it.

Scanning done, bag packed, and shopping paid for, I checked the receipt. I noticed that the offer for the cat food had not been accounted for and I had been charged the full 45p per tin. I went straight to customer services to query this. It turned out that the chicken flavour was not included in the offer. I said that was very confusing for the customer as it was in the middle amongst all the other flavours. There was large signs on the shelf, clearly stating 4 tins for £1.50. The assistant had removed the signs, and handed me 30p. I asked why couldn't the chicken tins be stacked at the end of the row with a clear sign on. She said,that's how the shelf plan is. Pathetic answer I thought, where is common sense?

While I was at the desk I decided to complain about being given the Nectar card when I didn't ask for one. I was quite annoyed actually and needed to get it off my chest. How dare someone assume I want a card, and thrust it into my hand without asking. Was the woman on some kind of bonus I wondered, earning points herself for the amount of customers she managed to recruit. I was told she should have asked me first, I gave the card back and said I don't need it. My goodness, it would take me a million years to build up a substantial amount of points, the way my spending is, or should I say my non spending.

I think you have to make a stand over these things. Generally my shopping experiences in supermarkets are problem free, but occasionally mistakes are make, staff training may be lacking in some areas, and sometimes they take us customers for mugs. It's up to us to be vigilant, to keep track of prices, and make sure the offers are fair and complain if they are misleading.

I see some people walking around in a dream, loading things willy nilly into their trolleys. Ok if you can afford it, but for those of us on a tight budget, checking every price and searching for offers is a fact of life. It has to be done.

Sun shinning, I'm going out. Toodle pip.