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Midlands Co-operative Society Limited Central House Hermes Road Lichfield |
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Complaint Date 20/06/2004 |
Complaint entered by DHS Dudley |
| The Complaint Shop All Your Complaints under one Roof |
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Last update 02/11/2007 |
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Midlands Co-operative Society Limited Central House Hermes Road Lichfield |
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Complaint Date 20/06/2004 |
Complaint entered by DHS Dudley |
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Several weeks ago I received a coupon for a FREE pack of Lurpak Lighter Spreadable as per the above picture and took it with me to my local Co-op in Dudley.
When I picked up the item from the shelf I did not look at the price, after all it was FREE, and it was not until I got to the till that the cashier informed me that I still had to pay 16p for the FREE packet as the shelf price was £ 1.15 and the coupon was limited to 99p.
I was naturally rather puzzled and I consequently wrote to Arla Food, the distributors for Lurpak, and I asked them to explain to me why I had to pay 16p against a FREE item. The English dictionary describes the word FREE as ‘requiring no money to be paid’ which clearly was a contraction when the FREE item cost me 16p.
Arla Foods responded quite quickly and informed me that the 99p allowance was their maximum Recommended Retail Price for this butter product and that it was beyond their control how much the retailers charge.
Subsequent enquiries have shown that all major Food Retailers in the UK actually charge below that price and that the Lighter spreadable butter is on their shelves at 97p.
As a consequence I wrote to the Midlands Co-operative in Lichfield, who are the owners of the Dudley store and I asked them to explain to me how they can possibly justify an astonishing profit margin of 15% above the RRP making the product an incredible 18½% more expensive than TESCO or ASDA just to name a few.
I was expecting a reply telling me that they had made a mistake but regretfully they just ignored my letter and never replied. A further letter a month later got the response and, 4 month later, the shelf price of Lurpak Lighter Spreadable is still £1.15 which just confirms that this item is intentionally overpriced.
So here it goes. Let us look at the facts and make some calculations
Ø The Co-op charges an amazing 18% more for a basic food item than any of the other major food retailers. Ø If you spend £100.00 per week on groceries you could have saved over £ 15.00 had you done your shopping elsewhere Ø If you spend £100.00 every week in the year you could have saved yourselves nearly £800.00
If you are a Co-op shopper do your homework – the store, as it was for me, might be handy and just around the corner but are you prepared to pay nearly £800 per year for this convenience. I have learned my lesson – I go elsewhere now
And just to sum it all up let us look at the Co-ops own statements – it sound good, it’s just a pity they don’t mean it
Our Vision - 'Making a Difference'
By providing our customers with real reasons to be loyal to us Being open, honest, fair and consistent in everything we do Inviting feedback, listening and responding to all our customers needs
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Update: 07/07/2004
West Midlands Co-operative Society
has just sent us the following statement which we will publish in
full as we feel that it explains their pricing policy and their
consumer attitude:
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We have been taking a very long and
hard look at all our prices and most importantly, what our customers buy
and expect from us. In other words, what good value means to them.
Unlike some of our competitors, we still offer strong promotions that our customers have come to expect, with more 'Buy One Get One Free' and '2 for' offers than ever before. These will be on products that really matter to our customers and which they buy most regularly. All these offers will be clearly advertised in our shops, so that our customers can take advantage of the extra value that they bring. We are benchmarking other products against a wide range of our competitors' stores to make sure that our stores, whether small convenience shops or large superstores, give customers value for money. In doing so, we recognise that we will not always be the cheapest on every product, nor will we be the most expensive on every product. Overall we believe that we are providing our customers with very competitive prices, attractive promotional offers and delivering better value. |
| We don't know who sent this e-mail or who will accept responsibility for this e-mail but we must admit that we are flabbergasted to read its contents. What are they trying to tell us and their customers? We fully admit that we are charging a substantial amount more than the other national food chains and with the amount we overcharge our customers we finance our 'Buy One get One Free ' offers. How can you claim that you give value for money when you charge in excess of 18% above the Recommended Retail Price? What about the customers who just buy one item and don't want two? How can you possibly deliver a better value when you charge more than anyone else? The logic of that statement beats us - but then it is not for us to judge them. We leave that to the consumer |
| Complaint Status: closed | Overall Efficiency |
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