Shortchanged at food marts
Shortchanged at food marts
A shopping trip to any supermarket could leave you poorer by a couple of hundreds if you are not careful. As in most instances, the devil is in the details. In this particular case, it is the bill.
Since customers don’t scrutinise bills, the supermarkets bill them for stuff they didn’t buy. Even cautious customers tend to overlook the quantity details listed in the bills and end up paying more than they ought to. “I went to Spar recently to buy groceries. when I checked the bill a day later, I realised that I was billed for three packets of oil when I had purchased only two. I was reimbursed only after much hassle,” says P. Renuka, a shopper. Ketan Agarwal, a techie, had a similar experience at Ratnadeep in Srinagar Colony. “I was charged for 1 kilo of flour when I bought just 500 gms. the manager admitted the mistake, but I was forced to pick something for that amount.
Supermarkets are also cheating customers by announcing sales of goods under discount price and then billing them at maximum retail price on the sly.
“I’ve been charged higher more than once for goods supposedly sold at a discount,” said Shanti, who frequents the Food Bazaar outlet in East Marredpally. “I picked up microwave popcorn packets as four of them were being sold at a lower rate. But while billing, they charged me the MRP. When I pointed it out, the cashier sheepishly rectified it. Instances like these happen a lot at this outlet.”
Supermarkets, however, claim that these are isolated instances that are caused by human errors.
“I cannot ensure that all the store’s personnel are not at fault, but no one will intentionally overcharge,” says Sandeep Agarwal, managing director of Ratnadeep supermarket chain. “These must be cases arising from human error. We warn the cashiers thrice and if they repeat the mistake again, we ask them to resign. If a customer faces this problem, he can bring it to the management’s notice and we will refund the money with apologies,” he adds.
Food World’s legal manager, Murali Krishna, also said customers would be paid compensation if they brought such issues to the notice of the store manager.
Source ::deccanchronicle
