Changes made to price check
28 April 2011
We created Price Check to provide real transparency for our customers and to reassure them in the face of misleading claims by Asda.
We created Price Check to provide real transparency for our customers and to reassure them in the face of misleading claims by Asda.
When we compare our customers’ baskets with Asda’s prices, nearly 80 per cent are the same price or cheaper in Tesco than they would be in Asda.
For the minority of customers whose shopping would have been cheaper we offered to reimburse double the difference. The vast majority of our customers use Price Check fairly to check their normal shopping. And Price Check comparisons by customers shopping normally have given rise to a negligible number of cases where we have had to double the difference.
But Price Check and Double the Difference have also given rise to a cottage industry of savvy and determined people. They identify products which are on short-term promotion in Asda then buy them at Tesco, claim the coupons through Price Check, buy more of the same products with the coupons and go on recycling coupons in this way just to make money.
As we’ve said before, we commend their ingenuity and determination, but that wasn’t why we set up Price Check.
So to protect the scheme for the majority of our customers, we are changing it so that we give customers the difference, not double the difference.
It is still a commitment, and we remain as determined as ever to providing transparency on prices and to reimbursing the few customers who might find their shop was on that rare occasion cheaper at Asda.
A Tesco spokesperson said:
‘Price Check has given our customers confidence in our prices and transparency. But some people have misused the scheme to cash in. So we have taken this step to protect Price Check for the majority of our customers.’
ENDS
For further information please call the press office on: 01992 644 645
Tesco Corporate & Legal Affairs, New Tesco House, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Herts, EN8 9SL
Telephone: 01992 644645 Fax: 01992 644525 http://www.tesco.com/corporate