Shoppers shocked as supermarkets’ online prices jump after ordering

theguardian.com:

You’ve put your shopping in the basket, visited the checkout and handed over your payment – so it might be a bit of a surprise if the cost of your groceries later goes up. That’s exactly what can happen when you shop online with some of the big grocery chains. You may not have realised it, but at some supermarkets the prices shown online when you check out your trolley are “guide prices” that can not be relied upon.

At a time when the UK is experiencing record high levels of food price inflation, not knowing how much you are actually going to have to pay for your groceries until after you have agreed to buy them may be a worrying prospect.

One Sainsbury’s customer who uses a wheelchair and shops online wrote on Twitter recently that “sneakily increasing” prices at the point of delivery feels “discriminatory”. “I’m disabled, I can’t do a full weekly shop in store,” she tweeted. “When I check out online, for a set price, I expect that to be what I actually pay, not for them to go up literally overnight.”

Her case highlights a detail in Sainsbury’s terms and conditions that allows it to change prices before delivery. It’s something about which its customers, and those of some other retailers, need to be aware. “When doing a supermarket shop online, customers are often given an estimated price for fresh produce – such as fruit and vegetables – and then charged for what the item costs when weighed in store on the day,” says Adam French, a consumer rights expert at Which?.

He points out that if items cost significantly more than expected when shopping online or you receive substitutions which aren’t suitable, you can opt to return them on the doorstep.

“It’s essential that supermarkets are upfront about their terms and conditions