Dodgy goings on at The Drum Inn, Cockington

Sunday June 19th 2016, Father's Day.

My daughter has brought me here for Lunch as we have had nice lunches here in the past. Today however was not to be so successful. There was a special fathers day menu offering two courses for a fixed price of £15.50, which we decided to have. We all ordered different main courses but mine, Roast Beef, when it came had a number of shortcomings. The menu promised endless gravy, but this did not materialise. The Beef was extremely fatty, and I cannot eat fat at all. I managed to separate a small amount of beef from the fat but that was all. A few vegetables were included, I could see about a dozen peas, hiding under the cabbage (which I don't like, a couple of roast potatoes and parsnips. I could neither cut through or bite through the parsnip. There was a Yorkshire Pudding but it was dry (no gravy!) and slightly burnt. All in all, a very poor dinner.

Glynis and Emily had different dinners that were acceptable. On complaining to the manager he offered to not charge for my dinner. We decided to order puddings as I was still hungry, and the puddings came and were acceptable.

When we had finished I asked for a bill and we calculated what we should be paying as £44.50 including drinks or £50.50 if they charged for my pudding, whch I thought I should get for nothing as compensation for the poor dinner.

However, when bill one arrived it was for £54.58. So we asked for the itemised version and discovered that they had not charged the fixed price for 2 courses but had charged seperately for all the items we had except my dinner which was free. They had also included the charge for my pudding.

On pointing out this error we waited for a second bill, and this time it came to £47.85. Again I said this was incorrect and asked for the itemised version.

This time, when it came I noted we had now been correctly charged for the two meals, but two extra drinks had now mysteriously been added? I pointed this out and the manager agreed to remove the two drinks we did not have so I paid the £44.85 I was expected to pay.

I still wonder if they added the two drinks in the hope of recouping some of the lost revenue from the free meal they had given me, but then I'm getting suspicious in my old age.

Morrisons - Deliberate deception, incompetence or what?

Once again I find I have a problem with Morrisons pricing of products. Beer is normally found in the Beer section of the store, so when I find a rack of beer by the freezers with two labels on it stating that it is a pound a bottle I decide to buy a few as it looks like a genuine good price offer. However, once I get it home and check the till receipt I discover that they have charged £1.65 for 4 of the six bottles purchased.

As this is not the first time I have had problems with Morrisons product I decided to go back to the store to make sure I hadn't misread the prices. I took a picture of the rack of beer and the only price on it is £1 which is displayed in two places. I assume (wrongly it seems ) that all the beer on this rack is £1.

I asked Customer Services to call the manager and asked him to explain. He said someone had forgotten to put the correct prices on and agreed I could have the bottles I had purchased for £1 each instead of the £1.65 they had charged me. I did point out I had driven back from Marldon to get this sorted out but he offered no compensation for this.

I wonder how many other shoppers have done this but have possibly not noticed they have been charged £1.65 a bottle for anything off certain shelves of this rack? I may go back tomorrow to see if the beer has been priced correctly, if it hasn't I will take another photo and send it to the local trading standards office. I know these supermarkets are always looking to make more money, but not pricing goods clearly is not really a fair way to make their profits.

I would advise that when you shop at Morrisons you check your till receipts carefully to make sure you have not been overcharged for items.

Update 21/6/2016. Morrisons have put the missing labels on the shelf today, if you look closely enough you will see them on these pictures. I've highlighted the new labels to make them easier to spot!

see my previous blog on the subject in 2013.