Yesterday went
to a nearby “Easyday”, a departmental store.
It was written they are running a discounted sale and part of that will
give Gift voucher worth Rs. 50 for every Rs 500 (10%) purchase which can be
redeemed in next purchase. How they are offering this? Read….
Took some of our
requirements (about 15 items) and gave it for billing. He was quite fast in
scanning the bar code for billing, touching the touch-screen of the billing
computer. In between he was offering to buy onion also which is only Rs. 10 per
Kg. I declined it but something spotted
in my mind. Is it not the same something what in petrol bunks happening (The
person will divert your attention while filling petrol and stop it before your
requirement & reset the meter OR will start filling without resetting
earlier filled meter reading)
The person in
the cash counter said bill amount was Rs.2060 which I felt is on higher
side. I asked him to tell the cost of a
particular item by taking it and reading the MRP. The MRP on the item was 415 but was billed as
485. I asked for one more item in which
MRP was 455 but was billed 525.
When I pointed
this he said some time mistake may happen in the system and he corrected for
the said items. I asked him to re-bill everything
now holding one by one and seeing MRP.
Total bill came to Rs 1510 !!! There was an increased billing of Rs 550
which is 36% on the purchase cost MRP. This is nothing to do with buying cost
or over heads etc the shop incurred which is taken care in MRP. I made this as a point and everyone in the
counter started billing one by one. When I presented some acceptable vouchers
and credit card, he refused to take and it was clear he want to avoid me. I returned without buying anything.
Lesson for
everyone
- Don’t think all departmental stores will work correctly and honestly
- Don’t be under the impression that if billing is done using bar code reader, it will be correct. (Second time I noticed that bar code reads something and cash counter person corrects it manually)
- There is enough space in the billing system to modify anything and everything.
- Be careful if the cash counter person starts modifying something after reading through bar code reader, check twice about that item
- Never allow people to divert your attention while billing.
- Before leaving the shop, once verify items Vs MRP written Vs billing amount.
- Check whether no additional items were billed which you did not buy. (It is easy for them to include some items in between your bill especially during busy hours and during bulk buying)
- Some of the departmental stores even don’t print item name but only code so that it will be difficult for you to verify
