An Interesting Conversation In M&S.

[Tilly2]

On Wednesday, I bought, amongst other things, a £4.00 punnet of Strawberries. On getting them out of the fridge, yesterday, I noticed that the 'best before' date was 29/07/20. Some of the strawberries were beginning to 'turn' a bit but I did manage to serve up two very nice dishes.

Today, I took back the empty punnet and receipt and spoke to a customer service assistant, explaining that they had sold 'best before' produce on the actual day.

Him. 'Best before' means you can sell them on that date.
Me. No it doesn't. It means they should not have been sold.
Him. Sorry, darlin' you are wrong. The law says that 'best before 'is ok on the best before date.7
Me. I am not your darlin'. Why wasn't this a reduce product?
Him. Because we don't reduce them until much later in the day. All the shops do the same thing, Sainsbury's, Tesco...
Me. No, they don't. If you find a product that should have been taken of the shelf the day before, they will reduce it.

Anyway on and on we went in the same vein. I eventually left with another punnet of strawberries and phoned customer services when I got home. They agreed with me and have now sent me an e-voucher for £4.00.

The next time I go to that branch, I shall ask to speak to the manager and suggest that some of the staff need further training. I know that M&S customer service have opened a case on this, so the manager should be aware of what I'm talking about.

There you go. My Friday tale.

[kat1]

Well done you! I hate being called Darling or Love!!

[MargoTester]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/2093154/the-time-when-your-supermarket-starts-reducing-items-with-yellow-stickers-revealed/
According to this Marks start reducing from 6.30 pm. Worth a read anyway

[emeritus]

I guess you don’t live in Yorkshire then Kat !

[Tilly2]

Thank you, Kat. :-)

[THECORBYLOON]

"maybe they need to make their customers aware that 'best before' means 'actually they might be alright'."

He telt you the law said they could be on sale still.

Maybe their customers need to do a wee bit research on Google before telling them they're wrong?

[Tilly2]

Thank, Margo.

'M&S Food - Final reductions at 6.30pm in stores that close at 7pm and 8pm at stores that close at 9pm. Some items marked down due to sell-by date after lunchtime rush.'

The final sentence is pertinent to my story. We went shopping at 2.30pm.

[Tilly2]

Without doing any Googling, my thoughts are that food produce, especially fragile things like strawberries, should not be sold at full price after the 'best before' date. Customer service agreed with me.

[ummmm]

Please tell me you only live a short walk from M&S?

[Tilly2]

No, Ummmm. We have to drive there. Why?

[gulliver1]

Want your cake and eat it,

[ummmm]

I just couldn't be bothered to do that over £4. I would if it was at the end of my street but certainly not a car journey. My time costs much more than that :-)

[Tilly2]

I don't eat cake, Gulliver.

[Tilly2]

I have all the time in the world, Ummmm. Passed away a Friday afternoon with my tale.

[AuntPollyGrey]

'Best before' is just an indication of the product starting to lose quality, unlike 'use by' which is an indication the product should not be consumed after the date.
You bought them on the 29th, with a best before 29th ticket. They should have refunded you the punnet and given you a voucher -that is what some stores like asda will do. Like you say its neither here nor there if you ate them or not, they should have have some indication on the packaging that they were passed their 'best before' date when you purchased them.

[Arrods]

It’s not pertinent: Sell by is different to best before.

[THECORBYLOON]

Your original thought was they should not have been on sale at all, not that they should have been at a reduced price.

Google would have put you right.

[Rosie29]

Tilly - you are a woman after my own heart. So many people equate "complaining " with making a fuss and a song and dance about something. Stick to the point and stay pleasant as you did - it usually works wonders I find.

[Captain2]

Here's how we do it at Morrisons. Today is 31/7, from 7pm today Produce Dept (Fruit & Veg) and Fresh Food Pre-packed (Meats, Pies, Sausages, Bacon, Yoghurts, etc) will go round, remove all items dated 1/8, reduce them by some 25% and place them in the Reduced Section.
Tomorrow those items that still remain unsold will be further reduced down to 25% of original price - that usually gets rid of them to the '19p Brigade' as we call them.
(Butchery does first reduction for 1/8 at approx noon on the 1/8 and final reduction as other departments).

PS I don't call any customer 'Darlin' - well at least not to their face ;))

I thought all other Supermarkets followed a similar procedure.

[chelle7272]

But there really wasn't much to complain about apart from precieved rudeness. Okay it would have been nice / good practice for them to have been reduced, but the retailer can legally sell them, doesn't have to reduce the price, and the date was on the product at time of purchase. Customers choice.
Nice gesture from customer service to offer voucher, winner all round.

[Mamyalynne]

A good business model that Cap'n.