Modelzone Being Greedy?

[Guest Natalie Graham]

Just going off piste to pick up on the wine issue for a minute.....

 

As a regular wine buyer from my local Tesco, I'm convinced they now follow the MFI/DFS process of sale prices. Take a bottle of wine with a value of £5 and put it on sale for £10. If you sell some at that price great, but a month later put it back on sale at 50% off and it's now down to £5. Everyone thinks they're getting a bargain and sales increase dramatically. It's often this changeover that causes the issues Keith describes.

 

I know the wine we buy is really worth the £5 price tag, so I buy it at that price. As soon as it goes back to £10, leave well alone as it will be back to £5 in a few weeks time.

 

They probably do. We could always spot next period's wine offers by which ones suddenly jumped up in price.

[Russ (mines a pint)]

I once put a complaint into trading standards about a local Spar shop as it seemed everytime the bill came to alot more than expected, again largely due to wine. This was a convenience shop and were frequently offering 3 bottles for a tenner (the supermarket price) the reason I fell out with them was that the 'deal' was for all bottles on that section of the shelf.

 

When you went to the till. It always came out to be more than the tenner promised they always made excuses about rogue bottles being dumped after people had seen the offer. I got pretty bored with that and went back to buying from asda even though I would have preferred to shop local.

 

As far as I know the item should be sold according to the price on the shelf according to sale of goods act, but I am not sure about multibuy offers?

 

As already identified most people will just vote with their feet as I did?

[melmerby]

One of the problems with modern shopping and EPOS systems, which probably leads to a lot of the supermarket problems, is that quite often at no time is it possible for you to check the price you are paying until after you have paid and a receipt is issued. Often discounts are included only when the receipt is being printed.

 

OK, you could check with the cashier as each item is being put through exactly what price you will pay, but that would be ridiculous! Imagine a trolley full of e.g. 40 or 50 items and a bill over £100 and you are saying "how much is this item going to cost me?" each time. You would soon get your marching orders.

 

As regarding getting something for less than the displayed price: I wasn't aware that supermarkets had "Special offer - £5 more this week" promotions!

 

Keith

 

 

Edit: Way off post:

Some years ago I booked a Hotel room, last minute, by phone. I knew their range of room prices but wasn't informed at the time what exactly I was to pay. After the stay I was presented with the bill, which was within the range I had expected and I paid it.

Sometime later I received a letter from the Hotel's Lawyers saying I had not paid enough and I owed them £X amount and would I pay the difference or they would take action!

 

What would you have done?

[coachmann]

OK, you could check with the cashier as each item is being put through exactly what price you will pay, but that would be ridiculous! Imagine a trolley full of e.g. 40 or 50 items and a bill over £100 and you are saying "how much is this item going to cost me?" each time.

And this of course is how the b*stards win! Our local supermarket is in a small town where people talk and it has been haemorrhaging customers for some time. Another way is to split the big shop into several visits so that bills can be more readily checked.

[kevinlms]

If the goods are repriced because the VAT percentage has changed, then it cannot be that the retailer is 'being greedy'. They are only reflecting the costs of selling the product (higher taxes) and so are quite entitled to sell it at a higher price. If any one is being greedy, it is HM Government as the 'extra' increase is going to them.

 

VAT is payable based as a percentage of the product 'On The Day' it is sold.

 

Kevin Martin

[coachmann]

If the goods are repriced because the VAT percentage has changed, then it cannot be that the retailer is 'being greedy'

I don't know why VAT has been brought into it. No VAT change is taking place at the moment.

[big jim]

ive just been into modelzone in birmingham and i can't see any notices about the Hornby prices, certainly not anywhere near the cabinet, the locos in the cabinet are all unpriced too, whether or not they are being greedy i cant say but its not good shop keeping to have nothing priced, there are however a few bargains to be had in there at the moment, last week i picked up a Centro livery Bachmann 150 (that ive been after a while) for £59 which is cheaper than hattons

 

the group wide pricing policy is puzzling, i recently bought a LM 170 from the signal box via ebay, the paypal payment showed "modelzone", i paid £59.99 for it, called in to the birmingham shop the next day and the guy was putting one in the cabinet priced up at £109

 

regards supermarkets, i know tescos policy used to be if an item is mispriced on the shelf you got a full refund AND got to keep the item, i only ever did it once with a load of baby milk formula, noticed the price on the reciept was wrong (unbelievably in our favour) so we went back and got a good 8 to 10 of them, paid for them then went to customer service and quoted the policy, the result was about £70 back and a load of baby milk formula!,

 

i learned that one from an ex tesco employee who had done similar to get the likes of tv's, electronics, dvd's when shopping at different stores, smash the system from within!!

 

[Butler Henderson]

Signal Box is run as a separate operation but it is annoying when their is so much difference in price. Just wonder how their profits would be affected if they did sell in the high street stores at SB prices as I am sure many of us have wandered in and looked at something only to then order it on-line - would the extra sales outweigh the lower prices. Some stores do price match (London with SB and Manchester with Hattons are examples that have cropped up here in the past) but mine will not as their is "no competition".

[petethemole]

Some stock is transferred from the shops to Signal Box; I've seen it packaged and labelled ready to go, along with packages for other stores and "Central" or a similar name. Presumably the later sale through SB means less profit, but if it's not shifting from a particular shop, why keep it there?

[Steve K]

As a regular wine buyer from my local Tesco, I'm convinced they now follow the MFI/DFS process of sale prices. Take a bottle of wine with a value of £5 and put it on sale for £10. If you sell some at that price great, but a month later put it back on sale at 50% off and it's now down to £5. Everyone thinks they're getting a bargain and sales increase dramatically.

I've heard that champagne is a case in point. All year around, it's overpriced, and then heavily "discounted" for Valentines Day, Mothers' Day, New Year etc, so we all think that our romantic gestures are also bargains!

[CoViAnna]

My local "Modelzone" shop which is TAG models in Doncaster has notices on the cabinets saying they will match any local price. On enquiry I was informed that effectively meant Rails. And they have. Just a pity their stock is somewhat limited.

[kevinlms]

I don't know why VAT has been brought into it. No VAT change is taking place at the moment.

 

Sorry, intended as a reply to post #10.

 

Kevin Martin

[melmerby]

ive just been into modelzone in birmingham and i can't see any notices about the Hornby prices, certainly not anywhere near the cabinet, the locos in the cabinet are all unpriced too, whether or not they are being greedy i cant say but its not good shop keeping to have nothing priced, there are however a few bargains to be had in there at the moment, last week i picked up a Centro livery Bachmann 150 (that ive been after a while) for £59 which is cheaper than hattons

 

the group wide pricing policy is puzzling, i recently bought a LM 170 from the signal box via ebay, the paypal payment showed "modelzone", i paid £59.99 for it, called in to the birmingham shop the next day and the guy was putting one in the cabinet priced up at £109

 

regards supermarkets, i know tescos policy used to be if an item is mispriced on the shelf you got a full refund AND got to keep the item, i only ever did it once with a load of baby milk formula, noticed the price on the reciept was wrong (unbelievably in our favour) so we went back and got a good 8 to 10 of them, paid for them then went to customer service and quoted the policy, the result was about £70 back and a load of baby milk formula!,

 

i learned that one from an ex tesco employee who had done similar to get the likes of tv's, electronics, dvd's when shopping at different stores, smash the system from within!!

 

 

Re: Modelzone in Brum: The Hornby cabinet items were unpriced and had a notice on the glass about new pricing and the racks with the coaches in also had a notice (Thursday 8th at 2:30pm approx)

 

Ian Allan in Ethel Street consistently better Modelzone's prices on many items. They are usually 10-15% below on Hornby & Bachmann non-discounted prices E.G. the Railroad "County was £65.45 I think - Modelzone wanted £78.99 (If I remember correctly) and if you use Ian Allan's loyalty card that equates to another 5%

They had a Centro unit (or two) in their sale recently. Can't remember what price.

 

Signalbox quite often has Modelzone stickered products, they sell the limited editions after all!

 

Asda used to refund the price and add £2.50 to a shopping card if you were overcharged. I made a pretty penny that way. They seemed to have stopped that and just charge the lower price.

 

I can't understand Modelzone's action. Why didn't they just take batches of items off the shelves, re-price them in the back room and replace them on the shelves with their new price labels affixed? Very strange!

 

Keith

[The Stationmaster]

I've heard that champagne is a case in point. All year around, it's overpriced, and then heavily "discounted" for Valentines Day, Mothers' Day, New Year etc, so we all think that our romantic gestures are also bargains!

Best time to buy champagne in our local Tesco would appear to be in the week after any sort of special occasions as it is then massively discounted - mind you never having bought any it might be not so wonderful and that's why it didn't shift on the first place?

[big jim]

 

 

 

Re: Modelzone in Brum: The Hornby cabinet items were unpriced and had a notice on the glass about new pricing and the racks with the coaches in also had a notice (Thursday 8th at 2:30pm approx)

 

Ian Allan in Ethel Street consistently better Modelzone's prices on many items. They are usually 10-15% below on Hornby & Bachmann non-discounted prices E.G. the Railroad "County was £65.45 I think - Modelzone wanted £78.99 (If I remember correctly) and if you use Ian Allan's loyalty card that equates to another 5%

They had a Centro unit (or two) in their sale recently. Can't remember what price.

 

 

definatly no notices today, i went in specifically to have look to be honest

 

i visit ian allen most days on my way between moor st and new st stations, they have had some good stuff on the sale table recently, if fact today there is a dcc fitted mpv at £100, the centro unit you saw was the 158 at £45 which is a bargain price really but then i found out how much they were trade price!

 

i was quite surprised to see the LM desiro in there today for £124, only £6 more than i payed from my local independant shop last week, modelzone have it in for £149!

[piranha230]

how much was the trade price then?

[big jim]

i dont really think its my business to publish the cost price as im not in the model trade but i believe they were in a Bachmann flash sale a couple of weeks back along with things like the res 47, white 108, voyagers (xc and virgin) etc hence why quite a few shops have those items "reduced" at the moment.

[melmerby]

definatly no notices today, i went in specifically to have look to be honest

 

Maybe they've got wind of this forum and realised what they did was a little bit silly!

 

Keith

[rope runner]

Well, I just got a Farish Seacow for £5.99 in the Metro-centre branch - so I can't complain about their pricing....

 

Paul A

[Black Sheep]

Some stock is transferred from the shops to Signal Box; I've seen it packaged and labelled ready to go, along with packages for other stores and "Central" or a similar name. Presumably the later sale through SB means less profit, but if it's not shifting from a particular shop, why keep it there?

 

I know Antics often transfer items between shops if it's in stock in Sheffield and a customer in Coventry wants it then it can be quicker than waiting for a supplier to get it to the shop or the item is discontinued and so transferring items between shops is just good customer service.

 

items sat in stock in a shop for some time often get recalled to the warehouse so that if a customer in a shop wants it, it doesn't have to be transferred to warehouse and back out to the required shop.

 

 

I can't understand Modelzone's action. Why didn't they just take batches of items off the shelves, re-price them in the back room and replace them on the shelves with their new price labels affixed? Very strange!

 

Keith

 

I remember a friend working at an antics who, after getting into work one day was told "all the Dapol needs re-pricing, strip it off the shelf, re-price it, if the warehouse doesn't have any of that item, send it to them and then re-stock the shelf"

 

been a while since I've seen him, might have to go visiting.

[brushman47544]

One of the problems with modern shopping and EPOS systems, which probably leads to a lot of the supermarket problems, is that quite often at no time is it possible for you to check the price you are paying until after you have paid and a receipt is issued. Often discounts are included only when the receipt is being printed.

 

One of the supermaket chains (Jumbo/Auchan) here in Portugal has a separate customer screen at the till that lists the items as they are scanned together with the price. I always use this to check individual items that were on offer or similar, to ensure the aisle price is what I'm being charged. Never seen the same technology used in the UK, but it does exist.

[Guest Natalie Graham]

In the UK, by law, there must be a clearly visible display which shows you the price being charged on the till, along with the weights of any loose items sold by weight. It isn't always easy to keep an eye on it while packing up all your groceries at the same time though.

[petethemole]

That's usually ok in supermarkets, but many corner shops/convenience stores have them obscure or turned round. I can't imagine why.

[cctransuk]

Re: Modelzone in Brum: The Hornby cabinet items were unpriced and had a notice on the glass about new pricing and the racks with the coaches in also had a notice (Thursday 8th at 2:30pm approx)

 

Ian Allan in Ethel Street consistently better Modelzone's prices on many items. They are usually 10-15% below on Hornby & Bachmann non-discounted prices E.G. the Railroad "County was £65.45 I think - Modelzone wanted £78.99 (If I remember correctly) and if you use Ian Allan's loyalty card that equates to another 5%

They had a Centro unit (or two) in their sale recently. Can't remember what price.

 

Signalbox quite often has Modelzone stickered products, they sell the limited editions after all!

 

Asda used to refund the price and add £2.50 to a shopping card if you were overcharged. I made a pretty penny that way. They seemed to have stopped that and just charge the lower price.

 

I can't understand Modelzone's action. Why didn't they just take batches of items off the shelves, re-price them in the back room and replace them on the shelves with their new price labels affixed? Very strange!

 

Keith

 

Tesco offer double the difference on any item which appears on the till at a different price from the shelf-edge price.

 

As part of quite a large shopping session, I recently bought several packs of 'Taste the Difference' frozen scallops that had, it turned out, been put in a freezer compartment priced for the economy version.

 

After some pressure and pointing to the displayed notice about double the difference refund, I got the items at the lower price plus double the (very considerable) difference.

 

Apart from coppers, I got all of my shopping free!!!

 

It pays to 'stick to yer guns'!!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[melmerby]

In the UK, by law, there must be a clearly visible display which shows you the price being charged on the till, along with the weights of any loose items sold by weight. It isn't always easy to keep an eye on it while packing up all your groceries at the same time though.

But it cannot display the actual price to be paid if there is a special offer which is calculated at the end. (BOGOF etc.)

I bought some items in Sainsbug's today and called the assistant to the self scan till because the special offer hadn't been shown. I was informed it only does the discount after the method of payment has been chosen! This concurs with what I mentioned earlier. (post#53)

 

Keith

 

Edit: AFAIK Ian Allan's hasn't increased the price of "old" Hornby stock.