September 10, 2010

Check Those Grocery Receipts


There was a time when I could catch the checker as he/she was scanning the groceries if I noticed a mistake in a price.  Now they scan things as fast as I can put them on the conveyer belt, so I don't notice anything until I am out of the store. 

Today at a grocery store I noticed right after the checker handed me my receipt that I was not given a package of a dozen pastries for free.  Okay, to anyone who is eating right and watching their weight which is also me, I rarely buy pastries.  Since tomorrow is the Iowa Hawkeye vs. Iowa Cyclones college football game - big rivals - I decided that this would be great for breakfast - a real treat.  I used a free pastry coupon as I knew I would be purchasing over $35.00 of groceries from that one store - the required amount to spend to get the freebie. 

The checker reviewed the receipt and sure enough even though she had entered the coupon code, it was not taken off my amount so she gave it to me in cash - $7.00. 

Then I loaded my groceries in the back of my car, got in the driver's side and decided to take another look at the receipt.  I was not given $1.00 off on a package of toilet paper from an instore coupon and I was also charged full price and not the sale price on two bottles of dish detergent.  I went back in the store to customer service, showed them my receipt and was promptly given $1.50 in cash. 

It is definitely worth checking my receipts for any errors.  There have been times that when I have been charged full price instead of the sale price, I have been given the full amount back in cash. 

Perhaps I am a little compulsive/obsessive, but if I go through the sales ads, match things up with a coupon so that I am really getting the most for my money and then being charged the original full price - well it makes me a little crazy.  Today I would have been out $8.50 if I wouldn't have checked my receipt. 

So I am now in the habit of sitting in my car and taking a minute to look over my receipt to make sure that I have received the correct price.  And yes, I have gone back into the store when they have under charged me.  They have never asked for their money back, but I would be willing to hand it over to make it right.  It goes both ways. 

What have I learned?  Grocery store managers want to know if there has been a mistake as they do not want to overcharge customers.  They want to keep their customers and if a customer thinks that they are shopping at a store that is cheating them, they will spread the word and not shop at that store. 

So, check your receipts. 

2 comments:

Maureen said...

Maybe i have been lucky as I never find mistakes on my receipts, but I religiously check them just in case.

Paula said...

I am appalled at how many mistakes I catch at my local market. Whoever programs the scanner each week must be really careless. These mistakes add up to serious money. It is not obsessive at all to demand the advertised price. Sometimes even when I shop late in the day, there are serious mistakes. That means countless customers who don't bother to watch closely have been cheated. Fortunately at this store, the clerk takes the merchandise out of the cart. I partially make out my check before my turn comes so that I can watch carefully.