Husband brought Weatbix this week from Woolworths, not a bargain

hsk on 08/04/2013 - 08:03

Partner was so pleased with himself when he came home on Friday with 3 packets of weetbix and said they were only $1 for each box, great I thought what a bargain. On the weekend I checked the docket to see he had paid $4.60 each box, and asked him how come. He said there was a huge sign on the side of a pallet of weetbix boxes in our local woolworths and it said $1 per box, I just went onto the Woolworths site and saw this.
http://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolwor…
Wonder what is the chances of taking it all back as I am not happy with $4.60 per box. Not a deal.

Food & Grocery

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Woolworths
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Comments

  • snappy1234 on 08/04/2013 - 08:10
    +13

    Sneaky and they know it… clap your hands

    • Hearay on 08/04/2013 - 19:39
      +4

      The big "1" (of $1) is 278 pixels in length the small "1" is 32 pixels in length.

      278/32 = 8.6875 times bigger!
      32/278 = 0.11510791366 or the small print is 11.5% of the large print. (someone guessed 25%)

      Example: http://i.imgur.com/M34E8bB.png

      Now imagine reading that from a distance…

    • MildMax on 09/04/2013 - 15:01

      +1. This ain't an accident, and it's not the first time either. Says a lot about how much they think of their customers.

  • snappy1234 on 08/04/2013 - 08:12
    +22

    Just take it back…i know i would- they will refund without question :)

  • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 08:12
    +41

    See if you can swap your hubby for 3 more packets of Wheatbix. :)

  • bluedufflecoat on 08/04/2013 - 08:14
    +2

    If you can prove their signage at the store was misleading, you would have a case. Not a problem just taking it back as long as they have not been opened and you show them your receipt, I think.

    • Miss Dior on 08/04/2013 - 17:36

      Has anyone else experienced supermarkets not wanting to take food back now, even unopened? I've heard of a few cases at various supermarkets, woolies and aldis included. Docket produced of course.

      • Hearay on 08/04/2013 - 19:27

        Was it for change of mind or something wrong?

        • Miss Dior on 08/04/2013 - 19:38

          Usually picked up the wrong product, similar packaging, that sort of thing.

        • Circly on 08/04/2013 - 19:48

          no they usually take it back as long as it is not cold items

      • bluedufflecoat on 08/04/2013 - 20:40

        I have returned baby formula. But had a bit of trouble with margarine. Bought the wrong thing online, returned it the next day. Got a bit of resistance, but they let me return it.

      • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 21:25

        I once bought a can of pink salmon from ALDI and wanted to swap it for a (more expensive) can of red salmon. Can unopened, had docket (heck, I'd just been through the check-out and hadn't even left the store) and… no refund. "It's our policy with food items" said the manager. I told him it was ridiculous and left.

        Enjoyed a very nice salmon fricassee that evening, even though it was made with pink salmon.

        • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 21:29
          +7

          Aldi are weird at the best of times…butterfly effect I suppose, you returning that can of salmon may have triggered a chain of events that resulted in their fearless leader being kidnapped & held for ransom again! ;)

        • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 21:39

          A blanket policy that may be overcautious, but think of what might happen if some psychopath decided to return a tin with poison. This happened back in 1982 and has not been solved.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders

        • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 21:43
          +1

          The Mysterious Case of the Salmon Kidnapping.

        • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 21:53

          greenpossum, I found you an avatar: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=green+possum&hl=en&source=…

        • snappy1234 on 08/04/2013 - 21:57
          +2

          hmmn…more like worried about Salmonella Poisoning ;)

        • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 21:58

          Thanks. Would you believe I've never been that far north? Sunshine Coast is the furthest north I've been if you don't count a transit in Cairns airport. Also I picked my moniker before I discovered that such beasts actually exist. It's a long story, maybe we can swap stories over beer some day.

        • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 22:13
          +1

          Wow, I remember the Tylenol case from the news in the 80's…I had no idea it remained unsolved for all of these years.

          I can hear strangeloops now, I'd have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you darn kids & that pesky dog! Stew-be-do-be-doo! ;)

        • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 22:21
          +1

          Sure! I liked the way you said "beer", as in tanker-size or vat-size, and not "a beer" or "beers", as in glass(es) of the stuff:p

        • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 22:25
          +1

          Drat! My attempt to be Dr. Naughty (apparently Dr. Evil is copyright) has been thwarted. Curse you, SlowcookedTesticles!

          Wasn't there an Australian version of the Tylenol caper, or did that one turn out to be a hoax?

        • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 22:26

          An OzBargainer after my heart, er, gut. :)

        • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 22:33

          Cairns has an airport? :p

        • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 22:47

          Sure looked like one to me unless it was another one of the sneaky tricks you Mexicans play on us from time to time. :)

        • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 23:03

          ¿A quién llamas mexicano?

        • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 23:32

          Miras en el espejo. :)

        • [Deactivated] on 09/04/2013 - 18:30

          that's one way to lower prices and get a bargain… hmmmm

        • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2013 - 09:09

          Wow - we've returned lots of things to Aldi. A few times we've even taken FRUIT back because it was so unripe it was inedible but the next day it was off with fuzz growing on it.

      • BlackV8SS on 09/04/2013 - 11:16
        +2

        They're reluctant because they have to throw it away, even if unopened, and give you your money back as well.

        Woolworths company policy doesn't allow returned items to be re-shelved after an incident a few years ago with someone deliberatly infecting perishables with a disease (AIDS if I recall correctly) and them being reshelved.

        • snappy1234 on 09/04/2013 - 11:44
          +2

          Think we would all know- if someone got infected from food sold by a Major chain…

      • antzz on 09/04/2013 - 21:57

        I have had people returning half empty sunrice cause they said there are stones in the rice. We just have to take it. Customer satisfaction guarantee

        • Daabido on 11/04/2013 - 16:02

          Not in Sunrice but I have had stones in a lesser known brand of rice.

    • Geewhizz on 09/04/2013 - 06:39

      If you can prove their signage at the store was misleading, you would have a case.

      Assuming the signage in most stores is the same (I imagine it would be,) it's not misleading. It's quite clear. That's not to say that if you only glanced at it, it wouldn't be easy to miss the required minimum spend.

  • drdolphin on 08/04/2013 - 08:16
    +14

    Definitely take it back, they are good with returns.

    I saw the signs too in store, and the caveat about the $100 purchase is very easy to miss (especially with a crowd, trolley, kids etc). They know this. I thought it was very sneaky using the same signs as they do for normal specials, but having the "with $100 purchase" in a different font/colour down the bottom of the sign.

  • muskawo on 08/04/2013 - 08:34
    +9

    I would contact the accc. If your husband made this mistake others will too.

    Personally I don't think the signage is easy to understand at all. It has definitely been designed to deceive the customer.

  • hsk on 08/04/2013 - 08:48
    +2

    Yes, I think it was not clear, and then as he had the kids with him, he did not notice at the scanner when the price was different. Shame on them, I do think it is very misleading.

  • mick123 on 08/04/2013 - 08:50
    +20

    Saw the same thing at local woolies.
    It was quite clear you had to spend $100 for this deal, from my opinion.

    You can also see the screen when they scan each item.

    But yeah, will assume they will refund you if you want

    • ESEMCE on 08/04/2013 - 11:03

      Agreed.

    • cloudy on 08/04/2013 - 12:14
      +1

      it was clear.

      and woolies are happy to refund anyway, so do that.

    • sophiasmith on 08/04/2013 - 13:28

      You can also see the screen when they scan each item.
      Too fast for me to read.

      I'm hoping someone has a photo of the sign.

    • Bargain-Boy on 08/04/2013 - 19:27

      Was clear to me and I took advantage of the offer and grabbed a box.

    • Yarkin on 08/04/2013 - 20:29
      +3

      They would scan at full price if you hadn't scanned $100 worth of stuff first.

  • c64 on 08/04/2013 - 09:27

    woolworths will accept returns. if you complain to woolworths that the signage was misleading they might even give you them at the discounted price. depends on who is serving you i suppose

  • taylor111 on 08/04/2013 - 09:33

    it will all depend on who is serving you. if you get someone who has had had an excellent weekend, then you will most likely get it at a discounted rate!

  • sparkles on 08/04/2013 - 09:36
    +7

    There are going to be so many people who fall for this "promotion".

  • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 09:51
    +14

    My wife almost fell for this one too, so don't feel too bad. Luckily, Captain Cynical was with her at the time to point out the fine print.

    • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 10:48
      +8

      Great work, Capt'n!

    • ESEMCE on 08/04/2013 - 11:04
      +4

      Fine Print?
      Looks pretty big and the Bold black against white stands out plain as day to me!

      • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 11:14
        +6

        Not at our local…as the OP's hubby discovered, the 'buy for $1' was huge, the 'if you buy $150 worth of other groceries' part was not so large (font size maybe 75% smaller at least). It is actually skating a very fine line between blatantly misleading & just plain sneaky.

        Even I had to look twice, but since my standard response to everything is 'oh yeah, what's the catch' I am always anticipating shenanigans.

      • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2013 - 09:14

        I think the thing with this "promotion" is, it's a fairly new thing for WW. i.e. Spend $x and get this for $y. I saw it in a catalogue recently and my first thought was, "Now I'll have to double-check every item on the docket, in case I've been tricked."

  • MementoMori on 08/04/2013 - 10:27
    +14

    *bought, not brought. Brought = 'to bring'. Bought = 'to buy'

    • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 10:42
      -5

      he came home on Friday with 3 packets of weetbix

      Did he not bring them home??? Expect negs bro, grammar nazis are never well received…

      • MementoMori on 08/04/2013 - 13:16
        +7

        Only trying to help. I have faith the OzB community is a bit more intelligent and mature than that.

        • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 13:24
          +6

          It's a mistake that's so common in colloquial speech that the terms are almost used (rightly or wrongly) interchangeably nowadays. Remember, the practice of linguistics should be descriptive, not prescriptive! ;)

          Just FYI, if you're going to correct all of the spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors on OzB, then I'd suggest you free up a fair bit of your spare time…

    • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 10:43

      Didn't he bring them home?

      EDIT: Note to self: Always, always press Back button before posting, lol.

      • MementoMori on 08/04/2013 - 13:09

        Bring them home? Clutching at straws surely?

        The context of this discussion is what was paid.

  • tonyjzx on 08/04/2013 - 10:47
    +2

    how can you mistake paying $3 vs. ~$15?

    • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 10:49
      +4

      The Weet-Bix may not have been the only things in the trolley.

      • kwaker on 09/04/2013 - 19:01
        +2

        any true ozbee would be checking as thing scan because if it scans wrong you get it free

  • strangeloops66 on 08/04/2013 - 11:00
    +1

    The fine print is interesting. To get three packets for $1 each, you would need to spend $300, to get 2 packets, a $200 spend is required. Very misleading. Most people would assume that every box bought once you spent the qualifying $100 would be $1.

    • ESEMCE on 08/04/2013 - 11:05

      This, I concede, is fine print only.

    • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 11:06
      +1

      A cynic^WOzBargainer would tell you right away such an offer would lead to people brodening $1 packets after an initial outlay of $100, which some people already spend, so can't be true.

    • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 11:19

      Seems very interesting, the threshold at our local was $150…perhaps it's different at individual stores/states?

      • DarwinBoy on 09/04/2013 - 08:20
        +1

        Darwin $150 as well

    • MementoMori on 08/04/2013 - 13:07
      +2

      To me it's obvious there would be some kind of limit.

      I.e. spend $100 on groceries, then buy 100x packets of Weetbix for $100?

      2x would be better though :)

  • coolhead on 08/04/2013 - 11:17

    i am sure they will return without any issues…

  • snappy1234 on 08/04/2013 - 11:23
    +7

    You know Woolies could have made a win /win just by offering a coupon to all the people spending over $100 during promo time -just by offering a printed coupon at the end of transaction "hey would you like Weetbix for $1 next time you shop…press yes for OK. (maybe time limited) instead now just some annoyed people/staff having to sort later.

    • cloudy on 08/04/2013 - 12:38

      +1, but in hindsight you're spot on.

  • terrimc on 08/04/2013 - 12:21

    I didn't know that you had to spend $100 until the checkout operator scanned it through and was surprised that I still got the packet for $1 even though I only spent $94 on groceries.

    • cloudy on 08/04/2013 - 12:38
      +1

      maybe its coz you bought a few, and when full price ur just over $100, and then discount kicked in to make it less than $100.

  • cloudy on 08/04/2013 - 12:40
    +1

    can i also advocate people to self check out as well, this allows you lots more time to look through prices of items and cancel them before paying. I've done that a few times, pre-check before paying.

    • kabigon on 08/04/2013 - 13:59
      +1

      Except if you want to void something you have to call staff over to do it for you.

      • Miss Dior on 08/04/2013 - 17:40

        Which slows down check out, about the only benefit of self service gone in the time spent waiting….

    • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2013 - 08:48
      +1

      And will also cost people jobs

      • _Bruce_ on 10/04/2013 - 09:00
        +1

        This is why I don't have a washing machine and employ cleaning staff. Of course I also never drive myself and have a secretary to dictate all of my work into a typewriter.

        • _Bruce_ on 10/04/2013 - 10:36

          More seriously, are you against ATMs?

          I view this as a net gain for society, like pretty much all advances since the industrial revolution. If we are as a society achieve the same result with less labour it just results in more leasure/arts/learning.

          Not saying the transition is always perfect, but would you prefer to live in the middle ages?

      • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2013 - 09:26
        +1

        I said that to WW staff one day, when they invited me to use it. They replied, "Oh, no that won't happen." Yeah. Right.

        The thing I really dislike about WW lately, is I suspect they've introduced some kind of new staff "training". Nearly every time I go through the checkout, they sound like… viral marketers - commenting on some item I've bought, nearly congratulating me on purchasing it. I thought it was just them being nice the first couple of times until my cynicism kicked in after I realised every operator was doing the same thing. ;-p

  • endotherm on 08/04/2013 - 12:48
    +8

    I agree this is designed to be misleading. Just like when they post the Everyday Rewards Card price on certain items in a big font, and hide the normal price amongst the other information on the tag, which you either can't be bothered reading or can't see without glasses etc. It angers me when I see deliberately deceptive marketing like this. It really should be reported to ACCC, this is really pushing the boundaries.

    • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 13:16
      +3

      Just like when they post the Everyday Rewards Card price on certain items in a big font, and hide the normal price amongst the other information on the tag,

      Yep, I really, really hate that. From what I gather, the staff aren't too keen on it either…it was so confusing when they first started doing it that our local was just overriding the scanned prices & giving the cheaper one whenever anybody queried it at the checkout.

      • sophiasmith on 08/04/2013 - 13:33
        +6

        Oh that's just dodgy.

        Price: $1.231

        1. with everyday rewards. normal price $500 ↩

        • nikey2k27 on 08/04/2013 - 22:34
          +1

          that real get to me to.

    • Mistymoo on 08/04/2013 - 18:20

      The Everyday Rewards promos are not misleading at all. The promo price is in the orange part, and the regular price is in the white part. Easy. It even says "everyday rewards price" in capital letters. Maybe people should learn to read labels properly?

      • snappy1234 on 08/04/2013 - 18:24
        +7

        Maybe we should be all given the right price

        • Mistymoo on 08/04/2013 - 18:34
          -2

          Or just get an everyday rewards card, link it to frequent flyers and profit?

      • DarwinBoy on 09/04/2013 - 08:23
        +2

        Everyone thinks little special tickets mean specials, now they make conditions on the special tickets of course people are going to be caught out.

  • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 13:17

    I would post about this shenanigan on their FB page. I'm sure many other people got caught too. Bad publicity will do the job better than reporting to the ACCC.

    • sophiasmith on 08/04/2013 - 13:29
      +2

      Who visits Woolworth's Facebook page? Hell I don't even have Facebook.

      • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 13:33
        +2

        The point is to make management worry not just to warn off other people.

        • sophiasmith on 08/04/2013 - 13:34

          Good point!

        • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 13:35
          +7

          A great way to make management worry would be to return all of the Weetbix…digested! :p

          PA: Wayne, cleanup on aisle 3…

        • retiredfeline on 08/04/2013 - 13:37
          +2

          But in the original packaging of course. For that one might even forgo the redress. :D

        • StewBalls on 08/04/2013 - 13:38
          +2

          I believe that the custom is to ignite the top, knock & run… ;)

  • techpoida on 08/04/2013 - 13:27
    +1

    Yep, wife just did the same thing yesterdays when using Woolworths online shopping (for the first time). Noticed the 5x boxes she bought none were $1. Went to pickup today and had 'issues' - not sure exactly what happened yet.

    I checked the fine print and it reads "…^ For each $100 spent in a single transaction at a Woolworths Supermarket or Woolworths Online, you can purchase one Sanitarium Weet-Bix 1.2kg for $1 at the time of that transaction. That is, spend $100 and get 1 Sanitarium Weet-Bix 1.2kg for $1…"

    The bold info does distract from the the fine print though….
    http://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolwor…

  • [Deactivated] on 08/04/2013 - 14:02
    +4

    I was caught with this one too. Luckily I checked the receipt outside the store and returned them straight away. I was served by another employee who told me she had been advising all her customers of the $100 spend requirement. So I assume many were duped by this offer. Yes when I looked at the advertising later it was clearly stated, but not prominently. Poor form Woolies.

  • Windows7forever on 08/04/2013 - 16:14
    +1

    I saw this sign in store today.
    Before getting excited and stocking up on 100 boxes, I sniffed out the fine print(aka "the catch"), conceded it was "no deal" for me and went on my way.

    • Miss Dior on 08/04/2013 - 17:47
      +1

      They're probably relying on people being too busy to look at the "catch", and probably too busy to look at their dockets too. I dislike being asked every time "Would you like a receipt?". I'm tempted to say "No, but I'll return it tomorrow without the proof of purchase, I'm sure that's ok with you isn't it?" but I know they are just doing their job. It's management who are the cause. When you have to make a return: "Do you have proof of purchase?" Response: "No the check out assistant didn't give me one" Woolies: "Oh, that's ok then, no problem". Yes, right, dream on…

  • c64 on 08/04/2013 - 18:20
    +6

    why pay $10 for a bbq chicken when you can pay only $9.88 at woolworths :)

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