Countdown 'special price' more expensive than original price

Saturday, 17 September 2022

A photo taken at an Auckland Countdown sotre of a special price for feta cheese being more than the normal price.

A special discount price for feta cheese in an Auckland Countdown is more expensive than the normal price, a photo posted on Reddit shows.

The photo, posted on Reddit by a user with the name twobefancy, showed Bouton d'Or Feta on special for $4.90. The normal price was $4.80.

A Countdown spokesperson said if there was a mistake with their shelf pricing in store, they would always correct it.

“We’ll always make it right for our customers. If any product is charged at a higher price than stated on the current ticket, and the transaction has been completed, we’ll refund the price paid, and the customer can keep the product free of charge,” the spokesperson said.

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It appeared that the white shelf ticket had not been updated to reflect a recent price change, the spokesperson said.

Countdown has a number of processes to help with pricing and a team dedicated to price integrity in every store, they said.

“We never intend to mislead our customers and would encourage people to let our team know if they see a price ticketing issue in store so that it can be fixed immediately,” the spokesperson said.

Reddit users had a lot to say about the photo.

JordanFrost commented: “To be fair. Special doesn't mean price drop. It just means a special price. They are just specially marked up”.

Other comments were more scathing, with Redidt user EeveeHobbert saying such practises should be illegal, and user mrmilpool saying, “Can’t count the number of times I’ve bought something on special and it scanned at full price. It’s a straight-up con job”.

There were also more practical comments, such as user TooHardToChoosePG saying, “if you get that, complain to help desk right then. Once they verify price signage at the item, you’ll get a double refund of purchase price. That’s Countdown standard policy.”

Magicalteapots said, “I had this happen with baby bottles. It was years ago but they gave me the bottles and refunded me”.

Rightfallen said, “from now on, I’m taking a photo of the pricetag on everything I usually buy so I make sure they don’t do that to me”.