Comet

[richw]

I tend to shop in Tesco mainly these days as the "everyday value" products seem considerably better quality and value than Asda smartprice products. Clubcard points are a bonus.
I use Iceland about once a month, just after payday to fill the freezer as their bulk packets are excellently priced.

 

[Butts]

I tend to shop in Tesco mainly these days as the "everyday value" products seem considerably better quality and value than Asda smartprice products. Clubcard points are a bonus.
I use Iceland about once a month, just after payday to fill the freezer as their bulk packets are excellently priced.

I shop at the nearest Supermarket to me - at the moment it is Tesco.

However if it were Asda , Sainsburys or Morrisons I would use whichever one it was.

 

[radamfi]

Better for who though? That's Asda's approach but more customers shop at Tesco. Do people really think about Clubcard or Nectar rebates when they are looking at prices, or think "I'll go to Tesco/Sainsbury's and use my card to get something back later"? The 'Loyalty Premium" is pretty strong in marketing terms.

It's not just groceries, either: if I want petrol I'll mentally deduct 1p a litre from BP prices because I know I will get that back in Nectar points.

Clearly it is better for the store to make you pay more upfront then give it you back as a bonus as people are fooled by it.

However more people shop at Asda then Sainsburys!

Obviously you have to join each scheme as if you don't you are subsidising those who are in it. It is OK if you are making a mental deduction but you do have to be careful that you are actually paying less once all discounts have been applied.

 

[jon0844]

At least Tesco do date checks, I have on a couple of occasions come home from Sainsburys with something (a dairy product last time I think) around 3 months out of date, if I have forgotten to check the dates in store. This is something they have been fined for.

You say that, but I nearly bought out of date SMA baby milk formula (small powder sachets). It was almost six months out of date!! What was odd is that it hadn't been on sale before, so it was if it had been found in some central warehouse and then put into a store (in this case, an Extra store near Tesco's HQ). It was correctly labelled on the shelf, so someone had put it out long after it had already expired.

As you can imagine, they quickly removed it. I chose not to go to the Daily Wail, but can only imagine how they'd have reported on this! It had all the ingredients to making a wonderful story.

More recently, SMA baby formula (in liquid form) has changed from cardboard cartons to plastic bottles - along with a hefty price increase. The original cartons had expiry dates ranging from Jan-April 2013.

Last week, Tesco suddenly put a load of old cartons out - as if they'd secured a job lot from somewhere. Still in date, just, but usually you might expect to have almost a year - not just a few months.

I am also frustrated at having to check every single supposed deal in Tesco carefully, having been aware long before the media highlighted it, because many deals are not what they seem.

Add in their policy on land banking and holding local residents and councils to ransom, as has been the case in Welwyn Garden City, or gradually trying to get rid of more and more till trained staff in favour of self checkouts, and I try to stop as rarely as possible at Tesco.

They are, finally, introducing self scanning at some stores (something I use every time at Waitrose) which makes shopping quicker, but I have still come to dislike Tesco for many reasons. It's not as if the other supermarkets are squeeky clean, but it's my own personal protest and I can't be that unique given their recent downturn.

 

[richw]

You say that, but I nearly bought out of date SMA baby milk formula (small powder sachets). It was almost six months out of date!! What was odd is that it hadn't been on sale before, so it was if it had been found in some central warehouse and then put into a store (in this case, an Extra store near Tesco's HQ). It was correctly labelled on the shelf, so someone had put it out long after it had already expired.

As you can imagine, they quickly removed it. I chose not to go to the Daily Wail, but can only imagine how they'd have reported on this! It had all the ingredients to making a wonderful story.

More recently, SMA baby formula (in liquid form) has changed from cardboard cartons to plastic bottles - along with a hefty price increase. The original cartons had expiry dates ranging from Jan-April 2013.

Last week, Tesco suddenly put a load of old cartons out - as if they'd secured a job lot from somewhere. Still in date, just, but usually you might expect to have almost a year - not just a few months.

Sma cartons normally had about 3 months date, cow and gate plastic bottles had around 18 months. When I worked out costings I bought a flask to take hot water in and one of those plastic baby milk dispensers with the 3 divides. Works out considerably cheaper than the ready made milk.

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

 

[Butts]

Back on track ( from me ??? - pot calling kettle black) has anyone secured a bargain in the "Comet Firesale" that they can tell us about

 

[wintonian]

They are, finally, introducing self scanning at some stores (something I use every time at Waitrose) which makes shopping quicker, but I have still come to dislike Tesco for many reasons. It's not as if the other supermarkets are squeeky clean, but it's my own personal protest and I can't be that unique given their recent downturn.

Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda all try to shoe horn you into using these self service things - something I refuse to do after they were starting to effect me blood pressure and out of principle.

Sainsburys have had self scan here for years and Tesco have brought it in i the last couple of weeks which goes some way to alleviating the need to play guess the price when either the product has been stocked in the wrong place or the self edge label is missing altogether or just plain wrong.

 

[Butts]

Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda all try to shoe horn you into using these self service things - something I refuse to do after they were starting to effect me blood pressure and out of principle.

Sainsburys have had self scan here for years and Tesco have brought it in i the last couple of weeks which goes some way to alleviating the need to play guess the price when either the product has been stocked in the wrong place or the self edge label is missing altogether or just plain wrong.

Don't you just love the old .....

"Unexpected item in the bagging area"

 

[richw]

Back on track ( from me ??? - pot calling kettle black) has anyone secured a bargain in the "Comet Firesale" that they can tell us about

I got a £50 tv stand for £17.50. It was previously 50% off, and then another 30% off in the administration sale.

 

[jon0844]

Sma cartons normally had about 3 months date

You must have been buying them from Tesco all the time then! I used to buy them in large boxes (the only way to get a discount because it's illegal to discount baby formula thanks to the 'breastapo') and they were all good for much longer than that - as in 6-9 months.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I got a £50 tv stand for £17.50. It was previously 50% off, and then another 30% off in the administration sale.

From what I can see here and elsewhere, TV stands are where the discounts are! Sadly, a TV stand isn't something I would rush out and buy in a sale as there are so many different types/styles, and most people probably have one already.

Now if they'd been doing big discounts on the TVs...

The thing is, a lot of big retailers enjoy price protection and can even return some old stock (such as Apple taking back an old iPod before the new one came out) so I wonder if the adminstrators would be seeking to give back some products to the manufacturers - especially if they were supplied on credit?

If so, there aren't ever going to be any amazing deals.

 

[richw]

From what I can see here and elsewhere, TV stands are where the discounts are! Sadly, a TV stand isn't something I would rush out and buy in a sale as there are so many different types/styles, and most people probably have one already.

Now if they'd been doing big discounts on the TVs...

The thing is, a lot of big retailers enjoy price protection and can even return some old stock (such as Apple taking back an old iPod before the new one came out) so I wonder if the adminstrators would be seeking to give back some products to the manufacturers - especially if they were supplied on credit?

If so, there aren't ever going to be any amazing deals.

The best discount they were offering on TVs was 10%. I wanted a tv stand, as we have just moved house, and I found a 15inch tv in a box of stuff that I'd forgotten about. Nowhere else locally had reasonably priced stands,

 

[Heinz57]

Have you got something against Heinz ?

Yeah what have I done?

 

[snail]

I shop at the nearest Supermarket to me - at the moment it is Tesco.

However if it were Asda , Sainsburys or Morrisons I would use whichever one it was.

Same here, though if I'm feeling deprived of local, quality food I'll nip into Booths (think Waitrose, with a Northern accent).

 

[Butts]

Same here, though if I'm feeling deprived of local, quality food I'll nip into Booths (think Waitrose, with a Northern accent).

And expensive produce ?

 

[jon0844]

Can't speak for Booths (lovely stores by the way!), but in Waitrose they do a lot of deals - including xx for £nn deals on baby food, which makes it far cheaper than Tesco that does seem to be quite selective on what it does deals on (perhaps quite deliberately).

So, along with Waitrose price matching most common items, I don't believe I am paying that much more than Tesco. What's more, as I use the self scanning facility, I keep a running total and get alerted to offers, so I can keep a tight control on my spending with no shocks at the checkout.

But, back to Comet...!

 

[wintonian]

Oh, did we start of discussing astronomy then?

 

[Butts]

Can't speak for Booths (lovely stores by the way!), but in Waitrose they do a lot of deals - including xx for £nn deals on baby food, which makes it far cheaper than Tesco that does seem to be quite selective on what it does deals on (perhaps quite deliberately).

So, along with Waitrose price matching most common items, I don't believe I am paying that much more than Tesco. What's more, as I use the self scanning facility, I keep a running total and get alerted to offers, so I can keep a tight control on my spending with no shocks at the checkout.

But, back to Comet...!

I'd forgotten about the old Kingfisher Group which amongst it's Brands were WOOLWORTHS and COMET

 

[snail]

Can't speak for Booths (lovely stores by the way!), but in Waitrose they do a lot of deals

This is getting a bit off topic, but Booths and Waitrose have a purchasing agreement to give them more clout in negotiating offers with major brands.

 

[wintonian]

I'd forgotten about the old Kingfisher Group which amongst it's Brands were WOOLWORTHS and COMET

I still have a couple of Kingfisher Group vouchers - I managed to get rid of most of what I had hanging around in Superdrug in Guildford a couple of years ago. I was expecting some funny looks and possibly a difference of opinion over their validity but they took them no questions asked.

B&Q were the other big brand and one they still own having moved to concentrate on the European DIY market.

 

[Butts]

I still have a couple of Kingfisher Group vouchers - I managed to get rid of most of what I had hanging around in Superdrug in Guildford a couple of years ago. I was expecting some funny looks and possibly a difference of opinion over their validity but they took them no questions asked.

B&Q were the other big brand and one they still own having moved to concentrate on the European DIY market.

Talking of B&Q you used to have Sainsburys/Homebase and Boots/Payless - was it ? other mixed DIY oufits.

 

[wintonian]

Talking of B&Q you used to have Sainsburys/Homebase and Boots/Payless - was it ? other mixed DIY oufits.

Never heard of that one but we used to go to Texas until it closed around 96/ 96 - it was just down the road or round the corner from B&Q though.

 

[Butts]

Never heard of that one but we used to go to Texas until it closed around 96/ 96 - it was just down the road or round the corner from B&Q though.

That used to be owned by Ladbrokes when I worked in the Bingo Division

 

[wintonian]

That used to be owned by Ladbrokes when I worked in the Bingo Division

Is there a place for working mans recreation that you haven't worked in?

 

[Butts]

Is there a place for working mans recreation that you haven't worked in?

Hey hang on not all Bingo Halls are full of plebs you know !!!

When I worked at Burnt Oak in the smoke ...hee hee there was a punter who used to park their Roller outside.

Sadly I never worked for EMI when they had Bingo Halls - and indeed used to make Films, had Cinemas (ABC) and Hotels as well as The Record Business and HMV Stores.

I only worked for Ladbroke Entertainments (Bingo) which was seperate from Betting Shops - we also had Casinos till they lost the Licences after a spat with Playboy.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

a TV stand isn't something I would rush out and buy in a sale as there are so many different types/styles, and most people probably have one already.

I needed one once about 10 years ago and couldn't find a suitable design anywhere, so I simply resorted to making one myself. Took one day and saved quite a bit of money. Now that the TV it was built for is long since retired the stand is in use in my study for storing some of my art materials - a task for which, it turns out, it is the perfect size.

 

[Heinz57]

In other news, some business tycoon is actualy making a bid to save Comet.

He hopes to save about 140 of the stores, along with more than 2000 jobs.

Thats about all I know atm.

So what do you reckon? Good, bad? Do you think it could indeed be saved?

 

[Butts]

In other news, some business tycoon is actualy making a bid to save Comet.

He hopes to save about 140 of the stores, along with more than 2000 jobs.

Thats about all I know atm.

So what do you reckon? Good, bad? Do you think it could indeed be saved?

For the sake of the employees I hope so

 

[richw]

In other news, some business tycoon is actualy making a bid to save Comet.

He hopes to save about 140 of the stores, along with more than 2000 jobs.

Thats about all I know atm.

So what do you reckon? Good, bad? Do you think it could indeed be saved?

Another consortium have said they want to save the brand to operate as an online business only.

 

[jon0844]

Another consortium have said they want to save the brand to operate as an online business only.

Less good for the staff, although hopefully many staff will be in a better position to get another retail job than others.

I know DSG is hiring a lot for Christmas and if they do well, many might be kept on.

 

[Butts]

Less good for the staff, although hopefully many staff will be in a better position to get another retail job than others.

I know DSG is hiring a lot for Christmas and if they do well, many might be kept on.

I bet DSG with their Currys/PC World presence are shedding a few "crocodile tears " over all this.