The Price Is Not Right? I Got Cheated on my Grocery Bill at Big Bazaar inside Bharat Mall

The Price Is Not Right? I Got Cheated on my Grocery Bill at Big Bazaar inside Bharat Mall

Mangaluru: When You Shop at a Mega Supermarket or a Mega Department store, it is advisable that you Check Your Bill Before You Go Too ‘Far’! This kind of shopping experience at a grocery/department store has happened in the past quite a few times, and it has happened again -I am talking about being overcharged for items that have on sale or priced low. I was over-charged two other super-markets- and also two times over charged at Big Bazaar, and after that experience I rarely shop there. But recently when I had received a two gift cards of Big Bazaar of Rs 1000 each, I had no choice but to shop Big Bazaar again- and guess what, I had yet another experience of being over charged on the grocery bill.
Have you ever left a grocery store or a departmental store, gotten home, looked at your receipt, and realized you were over-charged? I’m guessing that you have… and if not, it’s probably because you never look at your receipts! And you better believe that whether you are buying a huge cart-load of groceries from the supermarket, a few things at the mini-market, clothing from the mall, or even dinner at a restaurant…Shopping at various big chain grocery stores like Big-Bazaar and other supermarkets or departmental stores, I have experienced discrepancies in prices on the store receipts. Since then I have been always checking my receipts before I leave the check-out lane or before I exit the store, or for sure, after I reach home.

I always check my receipt before I leave! I know this might sound overly “cheap” but I’ve been burned too many times. And once I’m home, a few rupees doesn’t really seem worth a trip back to the store. However, when I’m right there, only a few steps away from the service counter, it is worth it for me to explain the errors and collect my well-deserved refund! All of these savings were simple cashier mistakes, items that didn’t ring up according to the advertised price, or errors due to the store employee who didn’t enter the right price in their system. It really DOES pay to check your receipts! Have you had similar experiences with being overcharged? Did you catch it… and did they refund your money?

Mistakes happen and the easiest time to correct them when shopping is while you are still in the store, either at the register or customer service desk. I am not saying that the store management or the employees are intentionally trying to charge or dupe you by over-pricing-it could happen to anyone due to hurry-bury or non-alertness or carelessness. We should all know that everyone makes mistakes, and we need to correct them. When checking out items at the cashier’s desk, always look at the screen to ensure that you pay the right price for the right number of things. There have been times that items are on sale, and they aren’t reflected during checkout. Bring this to the attention of the cashier, at this time is much easier than coming back at a later time. Also, when you’ve bought multiples of the same item, some cashiers unintentionally miscount, and you end paying more for what you’ve actually bought. Even after all this, still look at your receipt just to make sure.

Are you being overcharged for groceries? I have experienced it because I was overcharged quite a few times for my groceries or other items.That is why I now check my receipt before leaving the store or if I am in a hurry, I check the receipt when I get home. I buy a lot of things on sale and often times the store employees have not entered the sale prices into their computers. Another reason is just carelessness on the part of the check-out person. Here is my recent experience where I was overcharged at Big Bazaar, during mys hopping spree at the store on 20 January 2020.

On 29 January at around 1 pm shopping at Big Bazaar inside Bharath Mall-Bejai, among many items I bought two 650ml Pantene shampoo bottles (which were Buy 1 Get 1 Free) at the price of Rs 450. So I should have been charged Rs 225 on each shampoo bottle, since they were Buy 1 Get 1 Free, but while checking the receipt at home I noticed I was charged Rs 225 of one shampoo bottle, and Rs 250 for the other- so I paid Rs 25 more than the offer price. Another item over-charged was on Saffola Gold Palmolein Oil, where the price tag right below this product read Rs 106 (see photo), but when I checked the receipt at home, I was charged Rs 139- so I was charged Rs 33 more.

So next day morning on 21 January I went to Big Bazaar to rectify my issue, and the staff at the customer relation desk was kind enough to address my complaints. Moving to the shelf where the Pantene shampoo offer bottles were kept, I showed him the price of each bottle that I bought at Rs 450- so as buy 1 Get 1 Free, is should have been Rs 225 each, which the staff agreed with their mistake and obliged to refund the extra money charged. Then we moved to the shelf where Saffola oil was kept, but as per the sign posted below the saffola oil was for the Saffola Active brand and not Saffola Gold, which was Rs 106. But even though I kept arguing with the staff why the Rs 106 was placed below the Saffola Gold brand, he was quite reluctant in giving a answer back. And funny part was, the store didn’t even had Saffola Active in stock.

So whose fault was it- Mine or the store? Absolutely the fault of the store for placing the sign of Rs 106 below the Saffola oil which was Rs 139- and in fine print on the sign was mentioned the offer was for Saffola Active, and the store was not ready to give back the refund, instead they asked me to bring the product back and get the whole refund- but unfortunately I had already opened the pack, and used some of the oil. I was not happy with the store staff on the issue regarding the saffola oil price, even though they obliged me with the refund on shampoo purchase. Oh well, I said “That’s Bull@#@@?”, and left the counter without any further discussion.

Therefore to all the shoppers, I say Please take a minute to look at the cash register price display device or check your receipts. It could be worth your while. Watch the display screen at the register as your groceries are being rung up. If you are overcharged, speak up. Before you leave the store double check the receipt and make sure that the prices were correct. If you catch the mistake before you leave the store you can quickly get a remedy at the service desk. The majority of all mistakes are not in your favor. Always watch the cash register as your purchases are rung up for scanner errors.

I don’t blame the cashier fully, but he/she should also be alert when the items are on sale. There is a fault also on the management side too on such kind of sale items, instead of changing the price on the system, they apply a small yellow sticker somewhere on the item, which the cashiers have to make sure they see it and punch in the amount said on the sticker, and not scan the product. But I have a suggestion for the management or manager in charge of ‘Big Bazaar’ store next time they have such kind of special sale on certain items, they should apply the special priced yellow sticker right on the bar code, so that the item won’t scan and also it alerts the innocent cashier too. This would also save all the hassles a customer has to go through if they notice that they have been charged a different price than the advertised sale price.

In conclusion, all I have to say is that no matter where you shop for your groceries, clothes, food, medicine etc, but always make sure you check your receipts before you leave the shop/store or, at least, check them when you get home. Mistakes by store clerks/management do happen, it’s our duty to bring to their notice their mistakes so that they will serve you better next time. Until then, keep “Shopping”, but Keep “Checking” your sale receipts?