Shoppers left baffled after being charged DIFFERENT prices for the SAME items at Woolies self-serve checkout
- Replies 10
For those of you who are planning on using the self-service checkouts at your local Woolworths for your weekly grocery run, we have some important information to share with you!
On social media, some customers have complained about a strange (and unfair) occurrence at the self-service checkouts in their local Woolies.
According to the customers affected, they were each charged different prices for the same grocery items when scanned at different cash registers. What exactly was going on here?
The issue came up at Woolies' self-service checkout. Credit: Facebook. (Stock photo)
One of the affected consumers described her checkout experience online, noting that she had the same things scanned at multiple registers but received slightly different totals.
The shopper said that the sum of all of her purchases initially amounted to $7.45 when she used one of the available self-service checkouts to complete her shop. When she tried to pay for her purchases, however, the register declined her payment, so she had to walk to a different one and re-scanned everything.
To her surprise, though, when she added it all up, she saw that it came to $7.50, five cents more than she had been issued at the previous register.
The woman spoke out right away to clarify that while she wasn't concerned about paying five cents more for her purchases, she was worried about how much these 'little charges' can build up to and how frequently this had happened to other unaware customers.
'Yeah, there are probably swings and roundabouts where people are paying more, or they're paying less over the span of a full shop. But how much is Woolies actually making from that? I'm very curious,' she said in the clip.
In response to the woman's post, another TikTok user shared that she had a very similar experience at her local supermarket, only that the prices of the products she purchased went down rather than up.
'This has happened to me – the first machine I used froze at $190, so I moved to the next machine, and it came to $170,' she commented.
Several viewers shared their thoughts in the video's comments section about how the prices of the same things scanned at different registers could vary.
According to one person, supermarket scales lose their accuracy over time and must be periodically serviced and recalibrated, so shoppers should be aware that the scales they use at the register may not be identical to one another.
However, a second user who claimed to be a Woolies employee replied and argued that they regularly do scale checks every morning, and a 'five-point scale check' weekly, so having different scales would be very unlikely.
For added peace of mind, it is reported that all manual and automated checkout scales undergo comprehensive checks once each week. Staff from Woolworths close any self-checkout or manned checkout scale that looks to be reading inaccurately right away, recalibrating it before customers can use it again.
A representative for Woolworths has already addressed the situation, saying the grocery store is eager to look into the customer's concerns.
'We are committed to ensuring the accuracy of all trade measurement scales across our stores in line with strict regulations and test our checkout scales daily,' they said.
'We strongly encourage this customer to reach out to our customer care team or the store directly, in order for us to investigate the items in the transaction and see what has caused the discrepancy.'
You read it here, folks! Be sure to notify a staff member right away if you ever find yourself in a similar situation so they can take appropriate action. And don't forget to double-check your receipts before you walk out the supermarket door! There's no telling what other small issues you could be overlooking.
On social media, some customers have complained about a strange (and unfair) occurrence at the self-service checkouts in their local Woolies.
According to the customers affected, they were each charged different prices for the same grocery items when scanned at different cash registers. What exactly was going on here?
The issue came up at Woolies' self-service checkout. Credit: Facebook. (Stock photo)
One of the affected consumers described her checkout experience online, noting that she had the same things scanned at multiple registers but received slightly different totals.
The shopper said that the sum of all of her purchases initially amounted to $7.45 when she used one of the available self-service checkouts to complete her shop. When she tried to pay for her purchases, however, the register declined her payment, so she had to walk to a different one and re-scanned everything.
To her surprise, though, when she added it all up, she saw that it came to $7.50, five cents more than she had been issued at the previous register.
The woman spoke out right away to clarify that while she wasn't concerned about paying five cents more for her purchases, she was worried about how much these 'little charges' can build up to and how frequently this had happened to other unaware customers.
'Yeah, there are probably swings and roundabouts where people are paying more, or they're paying less over the span of a full shop. But how much is Woolies actually making from that? I'm very curious,' she said in the clip.
In response to the woman's post, another TikTok user shared that she had a very similar experience at her local supermarket, only that the prices of the products she purchased went down rather than up.
'This has happened to me – the first machine I used froze at $190, so I moved to the next machine, and it came to $170,' she commented.
Several viewers shared their thoughts in the video's comments section about how the prices of the same things scanned at different registers could vary.
According to one person, supermarket scales lose their accuracy over time and must be periodically serviced and recalibrated, so shoppers should be aware that the scales they use at the register may not be identical to one another.
However, a second user who claimed to be a Woolies employee replied and argued that they regularly do scale checks every morning, and a 'five-point scale check' weekly, so having different scales would be very unlikely.
For added peace of mind, it is reported that all manual and automated checkout scales undergo comprehensive checks once each week. Staff from Woolworths close any self-checkout or manned checkout scale that looks to be reading inaccurately right away, recalibrating it before customers can use it again.
A representative for Woolworths has already addressed the situation, saying the grocery store is eager to look into the customer's concerns.
'We are committed to ensuring the accuracy of all trade measurement scales across our stores in line with strict regulations and test our checkout scales daily,' they said.
'We strongly encourage this customer to reach out to our customer care team or the store directly, in order for us to investigate the items in the transaction and see what has caused the discrepancy.'
You read it here, folks! Be sure to notify a staff member right away if you ever find yourself in a similar situation so they can take appropriate action. And don't forget to double-check your receipts before you walk out the supermarket door! There's no telling what other small issues you could be overlooking.