Inspectors from the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs are to begin checking supermarket prices in all major chain stores from Monday. The director, Ms Carmel Foley, has ordered the checks because of public concern following reports of overcharging at Tesco stores.
Ms Foley met senior Tesco management yesterday. Afterwards she said she had asked them to put in place measures to rectify the situation immediately. These included the publication in the press of the remedial measures being undertaken, the introduction of speedier procedures to deal with the type of complaints she was receiving and a report within two weeks to confirm that the problem of overcharging had been resolved.
Ms Foley's office has 10 inspectors who will be carrying out spot checks, rather than systematic screening of stores. They will be checking other major chains besides Tesco, although Ms Foley said last night that, in the case of Tesco there "does seem to be a lot of things in a mess. There are so many special offers and moneyback coupons and human interventions that definite inefficiencies and inaccuracies are emerging. Our advice to people is to be particularly careful with coupons," she said.
She accepted that "with 20,000 items there is always a margin of error and shoppers should keep an eye on their receipts."
A spokeswoman for Tesco described the company's pricing system and technology as "robust" but added that "a number of procedural weaknesses in promotional pricing and price displays have been identified. Remedial steps are now in place and are being implemented in all stores," she said. The company would be "maintaining contact" with the Director of Consumer Affairs "to confirm that all necessary procedures are in place".
Tesco's "no quibble" policy still stood, she said. "Should any customer be charged a price which is at variance with the price shown on the shelf, on the packaging, or in print, that product will be given to the customer free of charge and a full refund of the price charged will also be given."
The main cause of confusion related to the manual labelling of some bargain offers and coupons for Roma rice and Maclean's toothpaste.
The spokeswoman said that, with regard to labelling, simpler procedures were being introduced. Discussions were taking place with suppliers to clarify the wording on coupons.
The Minister of State with responsibility for consumer rights, Mr Tom Kitt, welcomed "the speedy action" of the Director of Consumer Affairs. "As Minister responsible I would stress again that it is essential that customers be sure that prices displayed are prices charged. It is imperative that consumers have full confidence in the retail sector.
"Full transparency in the retail system will be underpinned by the action taken by the director this week. I look forward to early confirmation of remedial action by Tesco to rectify the problems highlighted this week."
Meanwhile Ms Foley's office is continuing its investigation of allegations that Superquinn is charging suppliers "hello money", a prohibited practice. It is expected to take some time as it requires trawling through the company's records over several years.
Ms Foley's handling of the Tesco case shows that she has decided that publicising complaints can be a more effective sanction than pursuing companies through the courts.