Shoppers shocked as supermarkets’ online prices jump after ordering

[dutchman]

At some big chains’ sites, the cost shown when you check out is a ‘guide price’ that may change later



You’ve put your shopping in the basket, visited the checkout and handed over your payment – so it might be a bit of a surprise if the cost of your groceries later goes up. That’s exactly what can happen when you shop online with some of the big grocery chains. You may not have realised it, but at some supermarkets the prices shown online when you check out your trolley are “guide prices” that can not be relied upon.

At a time when the UK is experiencing record high levels of food price inflation, not knowing how much you are actually going to have to pay for your groceries until after you have agreed to buy them may be a worrying prospect.

One Sainsbury’s customer who uses a wheelchair and shops online wrote on Twitter recently that “sneakily increasing” prices at the point of delivery feels “discriminatory”. “I’m disabled, I can’t do a full weekly shop in store,” she tweeted. “When I check out online, for a set price, I expect that to be what I actually pay, not for them to go up literally overnight.”

Her case highlights a detail in Sainsbury’s terms and conditions that allows it to change prices before delivery. It’s something about which its customers, and those of some other retailers, need to be aware. “When doing a supermarket shop online, customers are often given an estimated price for fresh produce – such as fruit and vegetables – and then charged for what the item costs when weighed in store on the day,” says Adam French, a consumer rights expert at Which?.

He points out that if items cost significantly more than expected when shopping online or you receive substitutions which aren’t suitable, you can opt to return them on the doorstep.

“It’s essential that supermarkets are upfront about their terms and conditions and if prices or special offers could change on the day of delivery,” he adds.

Last month Morrisons started applying an extra 5% charge to online orders, explaining to customers that this is a “payment deposit” to “allow for any changes at delivery or collection that could alter your order total”. This is added to your card after the checkout price is calculated and not included in the total you are shown.
What the supermarkets charge

When contacted by Guardian Money, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose all said they displayed only guide prices online.

It is only after “loose weight” items, typically fresh food, are actually chosen, weighed and delivered that the “final amount” of an online customer’s basket can be accurately calculated, the supermarkets say.

However, the variation in the final amount you pay can also reflect changes in the prices of goods you are buying that have occurred between the day of ordering and the day of delivery.

Prices may also be affected by promotions, which are valid when you place the order but expire before the date of delivery, or substitutions for unavailable items, depending on the policy of the supermarket.

The food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe said on social media that changing online prices “feels obscene” to her: “They [supermarkets] should honour the price at the point of ordering – surely the price factors in whether you order something or not?” she wrote.

[rebbonk]

OK, flip side, I've had prices go down.

Swings and roundabouts, and I guess it depends on how far ahead you order. - I tend to order 3 weeks ahead, would it be fair to ask them to hold those prices?