Waitrose's bubbly 'special offer' didn't check out

Photograph: Alamy

At the end of December, I placed a Waitrose online order for delivery a week later. Before I reached the checkout, a message headed “before you go” told me that I could order various bottles of champagne with up to a third off. I took advantage of this, and the online checkout applied a £21 discount.

On the day of the delivery, the receipt showed I had been charged the full amount. Customer services told me the offer had expired before my delivery date. Nowhere does it say that the advertised price might change, and I had entered the delivery date before the offer popped up.
SMW, London

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Waitrose refunded the price difference after I made contact and it blamed a “glitch” for the failure to warn that offers depend on delivery, rather than order, dates. “We have fixed the issue and customers should only see offers applicable to their delivery slot,” it said. It didn’t reply to questions about how long this “glitch” has existed – days, months, years? – and how many others might have been affected.

This is not good enough. You were told no refund was due and if a customer doesn’t compare the receipt with the checkout total, they might not even realise.

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