Friday, September 2, 2011

Letter from a Reader: This Store's Computer is Bad at Math


 Dear Fashion PULIS,

I would like to share the experience of me and my bother that happened a few days ago in a toy store. I remember reading an article of your site regarding the inconsistent pricing from a certain supermarket. The same thing happened to us today and I just want to share this with all your readers. 

I received a text message from this toy store that they will be having a one day special sale. On top of the special sale, if you are a member of the store's loyalty program, you will get extra 10 percent discount. Since my niece's birthday is fast approaching, my brother and I decided to take advantage of this opportunity. 

My niece gave us a wish list from the said toy store and she even included the prices so it would be convenient to everyone. My brother choose 2 items, one was priced at 699.75 and the other at 1199.75. If you add the two items, the total amount will be 1899.50. If you less the 10% discount because of the special sale, it will be 1709.55 then less another 10% for being a member of the loyalty program, the final amount should be 1538.595. 

The funny but thing was I was confused when  the cash register final amount was 1589.88. I noticed that we were being charged 51.38 extra. We called the manager and I told him that " mahina yata sa Math ung IBM computer nyo." My brother has to explain the whole thing twice to the manager before he understood the complaint. 

We both kept our cool because we want to see how if it was really a computer error or human error. The manager tried it for 15-20 minutes but the same result came out so he said "i-manual na lng natin sir." 

Normally we just give our credit cards and let the lady at the cashier swipe it thinking that computers will not make an error in computation. I hope this will serve as a lesson to all your readers that they should also do their own computation. Now, I am not wondering why the store owners are getting so rich.

Yours truly,
Harry F.

34 comments:

  1. this instance happened to me when I shopped at their 3-day sale. tsk! un lang napansin ko na siya pag-uwi ko.

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  2. Even T K does that?! Kala ko supermarket and department store lang nila. :| Thanks for the heads up!

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  3. oh my gosh! this is quite alarming already. this practice is really greedy and immoral.

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  4. ang sama na nito. next time i go to this store i'll make sure to bring a calculator! grabe!!!!

    - W

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  5. Wow! This is kinda scary. The difference is unnoticeable kasi konti lang... pero if they're doing this on every transaction, huge amount din yung nage-get nila.

    I'm not paying much attention pa man din pag nasa counter na lalo na if konting amount lang yung naa-add sa purchase ko. Pero yun nga, if they're doing this lagi, medyo alarming nga.

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  6. grabe, computer na yan ah.... tsk tsk...

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  7. pangalanan niyo naman anung shop ito... saka complain sa DTI and BIR, para narin sa nakakarami.

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  8. so i'm a math nerd and i computed. instead of 10% loyalty discount, they gave you exactly 7%. maybe they have a rule on loyalty discounts everytime they have a sale? baka there's fine print somewhere in their sale rules.

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  9. whoaaaa! di ko na chine-check mga purchases after they punch it in their computer ah. next time i'll be more careful. buti na lang 2 items lang yung binili ni letter sender kundi ang hirap mag-compute nun!

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  10. Syeeeet! I often shop to their stores. I think I have to be careful next time. Sayang din yung pabarya-barya ha!!

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  11. actually, this should have been a total of 20% discount. that's how it usually works

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  12. I think there's an error on there program. Kawawa naman yung mga hindi nakapansin sa receipts nila.

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  13. Oh gosh! Thanks for sharing! What is happening to this company?!?!?!?!?!?

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  14. Di ba puwede ipost ito for DTI to know? They should sanction the establishment.

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  15. i have a loyalty card from them pa naman. hahaha!

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  16. During the 1st 3 hours of their 3-day sale, supposedly there is a total discount of 20% (10% from the sale itself and 10% if you have their loyalty card). But when I get home and scrutinize the receipt, only a total of 19% is deducted. This has happened several times already. One can only wonder if they get 1% of all transactions on the 3 days x how many branches nationwide = ???

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  17. Last time i went to their grocery in Makati naman, I bought a few veggies and the price had errors too, different yung lumabas sa nakaprint na price sa veggies. buti konti lang binili ko so easy to notice. I called the manager and it was "fixed." but the total price of the whole purchase was wrong pa din. i ended up not buying na lang. hassle and ang daya nila!

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  18. grabe naman....they are really known for being an sobra maningil) one store nga mega patong ng sale tags only to find out mas mahal pa sale tag sa original price tag. I was a victim too...the tag price was different from what came out on the screen then they said..."ma'am nag price increase...di lang napalitan"...sabay kutkot ng price tag! My gosh! chnxj74

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  19. oh my dko naisip pwede mangyari eto... since naisip ko regulated mga machines sa stores hehe i'm so naive!

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  20. I've stopped shopping at their supermarkets and dept stores a long time ago. I don't want to support companies who cheat me and others of their hard-earned money.
    Despite the numerous complaints, they still obviously continue their modus operandis. Tsk tsk tsk.

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  21. In fairness to IBM or any computer manufacturer for that matter, these machine just follow what you tell it to do.

    It's the logic behind the program that's questionable.

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  22. i am really sure the store has everything for you.

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  23. Sa grocery nga nila eh! They sell expired goods! Grabe! Nalaman nalang namin na expired na when we wanted to cook the noodles. Syempre out of trust hindi na namin tinitingnan ang expiration date. Buti nalang pinalitan pa rin nila yung item kahit lagpas na ng 1week. Biruin mo ha. 1month na pala expired pero binenta pa rin nila!

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  24. For supermarket buyers, make sure you know the prices of the items you buy. When you buy weekly, same stuff lang din naman. Makakabisado mo rin. And usually you'll look into how much you're paying for sa price rack nila. Hirap kasi sa iba, kuha lang ng kuha without looking sa price and hindi binabantayan bawat swipe pag nasa counter na.

    Two thumbs up for the sender! :) Observant much!

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  25. kinda scary... we buy all our keme in this store... hayss ngaabuso n nga ng mga tauhan nila pti b nmn s computation maduga... hayss karma is also electronic let us see

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  26. This also happened to me at a resto in magallanes. Upon receiving the bill, i told my daughter to get the sum of orders + tax + service charge (as a math reviewer for her). I covered the total, btw. I checked her answer and was surprised that the total on the bill was over by P30+ I even used my phone's calculator cos i thought i was wrong since it was a computer that did the math, right? I told the manager and he agreed that the total was wrong. I don't know if the computer was programmed this way or if it malfunctioned that day. I guess the lesson for us is to always check.

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  27. last time i bought bacon worth 160 pesos aba nsa resibo b nman x2 so naging 320 pesos.so nagreklamo ako sa Cutomer Service pinatawag yung cashier.Hindi man lang nagsorry ibawas n lng daw s cash register nya..Kaya ang sinasabi kya yumayaman ang Mall na toh puro kayo pandaraya.

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  28. geez.. from this time on i should ALWAYS check the receipts... thanks for sharing this

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  29. sa super sikat na drugstore mali din computation ng VAT kapag senior citizen card holder yung bibili. nakalagay 12% for VAT pero if you compute it 10% lang yung kaltas

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  30. Grabe naman sila. Isipin na lang natin kung ilan tao ang nabibiktima nila dyan. Grabe! Ang laki talaga ng tulong ni FP! Dahil dito nalalaman natin ang kalokohan ng mga tao at nagiging aware tayo. More powers to you! Di bale na magkaeyebugs basta updated ako dito hahaha!Grabe naman sila. Isipin na lang natin kung ilan tao ang nabibiktima nila dyan. Grabe! Ang laki talaga ng tulong ni FP! Dahil dito nalalaman natin ang kalokohan ng mga tao at nagiging aware tayo. More powers to you! Di bale na magkaeyebugs basta updated ako dito hahaha!

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  31. Dati suppllier's lang ang ini-isahan nila.. now pala pati consumer's tinitira na din.. Lesson dapat dito to all consumers is avoid buying from their stores. Madami pa naman other companies who are honest & professionals!! Yun di tayo linoloko.

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  32. Same experience here at one of their neighborhood grocery stores. Chicken nuggets were labeled at P62 but the machine showed P65. Akala ko I can save more by buying from them, yun pala they earned more!

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  33. Kaya siguro Hyper.

    -H

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  34. thanks fashion pulis for posting. and to mr anonymous sept 2 2011. 9:28 am. galing sa bibig ng manager, staff, and sa text nila na additional 10% discount. walang nakalagay or nagbanggit ng 7%. un nga ang complain namin. if there's a fine print that says 7%. eh di sana ndi pinalitan nung manager dba. haayssss

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