Since about 6 month we (my family and myself) live in Alicante just in front of a big shopping center with a ?Carrefour? supermarket inside. Because it is so very convenient my wife does nearly all her shopping for food and sometime other things in this supermarket. Recently I went a few times with her, and when being on the cashier my wife did take a handful of little papers out of her purse where there was written ?10 % discount if you buy this, 20% discount if you buy two of those etc.? Of course not a single one of the discounts did work, because there was always a trick, as for example the discount on Marcilla coffee was only valid for decaffeinated and some other similar reasons. But it did take about 5-10 minutes to find this out and the people behind were getting very impatient. Especially in Spain, where the main quality of a very big part of Spaniards is definitely not patients, this can be very annoying. I am wondering what is the philosophy of the management behind this way of doing discounts. To me, as a client, it looks definitely very stupid and on the edge of insane. If it would not be so convenient to do our shopping just next door, without having to take the car, I would probably not go to Carrefour anymore.

I also shop in Carrefour and also get these vouchers and admit that they are quite specific but it does state on the voucher what it can be used against and when the expiry date is. I have used them on numerous occasions.

John

i aslo got the vouchers but one for half on condons , think need the full package ... Ja ja ja

shop in Elche , no problems there are out in Santa ploa

ex-Carrefour I am hooked on Mercadona now but whilst on the subject of supermercado can anyone point me in the direction of SPANISH gravy granules? I really begrudge forking out ?6 for a 500gm box of Bisto. They really are taking the Michael, or rather his hard-earned. Heck! It’s the same stuff as ASDA’s own brand, which is about ?1.20. You can escape rip-off Britain but not their rip-off prices.

Whereabouts are you Mike, I am sure Iceland does Bisto?

Maya

will be over later in the month if you want some Bisto and aint too far away happy to bring some over 😊

John

Hi Both   ...Playa Flamenca / Punta Prima. I have found out since that Iceland in Torre have gravy granules for a far more reasonable ?1.20. Far better than the local supermarkets rip-offs at ?6 for a pack just a little bigger pack. It sure does pay to shop around. It’s not just about saving money either. I would feel the same way if I were rich. Who wants to be mugged by a bloody retailer?

well nice two hear that alwas looking for good prices , any one shopping and see good price please post up here .... jurdy

fresh food for me ...... lol

Another scam (supermarket) I came across was one used by ASDA, though I suspect others do it too. The wine section had a special selection in which you got three of any for a tenner. As some were individually priced at ?5.95 and similar this seemed a good deal so I chose three.
Being of the old school I was able to mentally calculate my shopping bill without the need for a calculator and my shopping bill seemed a tad on the high side. When I got my stuff home I carefully checked the till receipt. I had been charged full price for each of the ‘special offer’ lines.
Being a bit of a rebel I went to considerable trouble to challenge them on it. Their lame excuse finally arrived. ‘It sometimes happens that a customer selects a wine from the section not on the special offer list. Changes their mind and puts their change of mind bottle in the ‘special offer’ section. If this happens the computerised till automatically relegates the lot to ordinary price. Sorry!’
Yeah! Yeah. I finally got a ?10 ‘shut up’ voucher when I threatened to highlight the scam in the Press. I queried the problem with a young shelf-stacker. He said, ‘Oh yes, people are always complaining.’  - yet, it isn’t in ASDA’s interest to do anything to put matters right. How many either don’t check their bill or can’t be bothered complaining?
Sainsbury do similar: their scam is to say, ‘Ah, but the three must be the same label,’ The offer is worded very ambiguously. They must employ some barrow boy just to dream up ways by which they can, just legally, scam customers.

abe sure to check your bills near the till so that you can rectify any problems straight away…..there have been several times that I have had to go to customer service for wrong entries, and they give the money back….no problem…which makes me think that they are organised in these errors. I was in Management in Head Office in Keymarkets back in the UK and the tills always had a tube of mustard on the till…..the cashier used to charge every one for this….if you noticed it, they just deducted it, but 9/10 they got away with it. I wueried this and they said it was to compensate for the shop lifting!!!
Good commission items are also put at eye level….companies who don’t please the buyers are at the bottom of the shelves.

My biggest query with Carrefour is the petrol situation. They used to deduct the 8% discount from the bill, so you paid less, now you have to wait days/weeks and do what with the bill???? I am still trying to figure it out!!!
Help!!!!