I took a reduced item to the till at my local Tesco this morning and they said it had been mispriced. They refused to sell it to me at the price on the yellow sticker even though it would have been straightforward to do so.
I told them this was an offence under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (barrack room lawyer, me?), but all they did was take the item off me and try to destroy the evidence by defacing the price label with a pen. I considered summoning a constable or making a citizen’s arrest.
This then, is the secret of Tesco’s massive profits. Fraud[1]. The spirit of Lady Shirley lives on!
Footnote: I believe the reason for their refusal lies in Tesco’s IT systems. Doubtless the bar code on the yellow reduced sticker is linked to an actual stock item with a sell-by date. The system would alert management that an item had been reduced before its correct date and the employee responsible would feel the full weight of Sir Terry’s wrath. Fearful of this, they would rather annoy their customers.
[1] I am not a lawyer. If I was I definitely wouldn’t accuse Tesco of fraud - I’d be too scared of their libel lawyers. Good job nobody reads this.