Countdown underweighting groceries in online orders

Just wondering if anyone has problems with Countdown underweighting your groceries in online orders. Example: ordered 3kgs of bananas, only 2.6kgs were supplied but 3kgs were charged; ordered 1kg of grapes but only 900grs were supplied etc. For grapes the difference in weight might seem small but given how expensive grapes are the amount that I effectively overpay is non-trivial.

I place about 2 orders a week, the underweighting problem happens to me about 50%, half of the times the amount is small enough for me not to bother (e.g. 50g underweight out of 3kgs of bananas). I have contacted online chat a few times, I sent them videos showing how the items were underweight, and they refunded those items, but it's just time consuming and I believe this is not a decent way for a big business to make a buck.

I use 3 Countdown stores for online orders, one has been consistently doing that more often than the others. I don't know if this is store-specific or a Countdown-wide problem. Do the staff supplying the orders gain anything from this practice? Why do they do that?

Related Stores

Woolworths NZ
Woolworths NZ

Comments

  • +5

    I’d suggest just raising a complaint straight to the Commerce Commission as a breach of the “Weights and Measures Regulations 1999”

    There are some pretty significant penalties for breaching the regulations. Ended up getting into a dispute a few years ago with a landscape supply company not supplying the correct volume of fill and once they realised they were in the wrong under that regulation they backed down very quick, so you could always just let Countdown know directly about your experience and concerns under those regulations.

    • +1

      I would suggest phoning rather than submitting it online as I have often hear nothing back from them. I think they lack resources to investigate everything.

  • Interesting issue, as I would have expected them to be weighing the actual goods supplied, rather than charging exactly what you ordered.

    Call me naive!

    • Yeah I would have thought the same…I get that if someone orders 3kg of bananas (for example), due to the variance of individual items on a bunch it might be more/less as you can't expect them to cut off the overweight portions of a bunch….but to charge you for something you are not receiving just doesn't make sense (in terms of the business model) and would have assumed they charge for what is delivered. TIL

      • Also, if they aren't weighing, you would expect that the unders and overs would balance out over time, but if they are always erring on the side of short-measures, then that seems like it would be a breach of the Fair Trading Act?

  • +3

    Weird, I havent had this.
    When Ive ordered 0.5kgs of bananas (for example), my total in the app comes out as $x.xx
    However, when I receive the invoice a couple of hours later, its always been adjusted to the actual amount on the day.
    By the same token, sometimes Im winning on it too - if I order 2x 200g bags of coffee, and they arent in stock, theyll put a 500g in there instead, for the same price as the 2x200.

  • Weird, as others have mentioned generally you get 1 full receipt for the full weighted price, then some time later after they pick your goods you get the actual proper amount charged.
    Its common for meat especially, would expect the same for vege and fruit.
    I always check, and it can be a bit confusing at times depending what receipt you look at

  • We ordered 1kg mince, and it was under.
    Our fix was we just don't shop their anymore.

  • Put it out on social media or report it to Media. Best way to get this addressed. Just have to be ready with facts to prove it.

  • +2

    They've done this a few times mostly with frozen stuffs, like when i get frozen veges and they don't have that brand and give me something else like Watties.
    I often go through their chat thing and explain that the weight difference like instead of 2x500g I got 2x450g/2x400g, usually their automated bot just refunds me on those items, I'm fine with it since they become free food so don't bother with complaining about it.

  • +2

    Check the final as delivered invoice, which should have the final weight on it. For things like bananas it's hard to get an exact round number, so while you've ordered 3kg, a bunch might be 2.8, and adding one more banana makes it 3.1 say. They probably err on the side of less than what you wanted rather than more. From an order email I have:

    This is NOT an invoice, it's an order confirmation. Your final invoice will be emailed to you when your order is dispatched.

    &

    Weighted Items Charges
    Because our weighted items can vary in weight, we provide an approximate price based on the average weight of the item. When you purchase any weighted item (either via quantity or weight), the price you pay will be for the weight of the items you receive.

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