Asda 24 can multipack cat food AKA the "boggy is tight" thread

[Desperate Daniella]

Apart from anything else it's clear that the people at my Asda can't do sums very well. The week before Christmas they were offering an extra special promotion price of £4.44 for 12 cans of Kitekat. However if you bought a pack of six cans of Kitekat they cost £2.17!!!!!!!

[Thailand]

Apart from anything else it's clear that the people at my Asda can't do sums very well. The week before Christmas they were offering an extra special promotion price of £4.44 for 12 cans of Kitekat. However if you bought a pack of six cans of Kitekat they cost £2.17!!!!!!!

 

It's possible that they put pressure on, sorry, struck a deal with the Masterfoods, and got a promo out of them on this brand, at that size. Masterfoods will potentially lose out, the supermarket will gain sales and create the image of greatness at the same time via the customer. The supermarket having no offer on the bigger packs will keep them at the same price, and be the discounting wonders they are on the smaller product, in this instance. They care not which size you choose, IMO.

 

You have to be savvy as possible and keep your eyes open to get the best deal, because whatever happens the supermarkets wins.

 

I doubt it's about the 'sums'.

[Thailand]

What I said doesn't answer what you said DD. Just realised.

 

Yep, they are backwards...in any case they will have made sure they 'make' come what may.

 

More proof their promotions aren't worth the paper they are written on!.

[tonycee]

Just got back from Asda.

 

I couldnt find a cat anywhere.

[Gilbert_O'Sullivan]

Apart from anything else it's clear that the people at my Asda can't do sums very well. The week before Christmas they were offering an extra special promotion price of £4.44 for 12 cans of Kitekat. However if you bought a pack of six cans of Kitekat they cost £2.17!!!!!!!

 

Yes, have a look at my earlier post, Tesco did this too!

[gyzmo]

In a week or so they'll knock the price back down to what it was and call it a rollback or something, then advertise themselves as being cheaper than everyone else (who also claim to be cheaper than Asda).

 

Just as well they don't advertise double the difference cons otherwise you could go backwards and forwards between two different supermarkets and before long could end up owning the branch....

[pennash]

I run a small cat rescue and use about EIGHT of these 24 tin trays per month on average. So my bill could easily have gone up 16 quid a month due to this .. but read on...

 

Up to 18 months ago I bought the cheapest food I could get, looking for offers all the time etc etc .. and THEN an ASDA store opened up two miles from me. GREAT I thought, noticing that at that time it was 6-92 for a tray of 24 tins, then in the spring/summer of 2008 it went up to 7-18 and then to 7-28.. and last Saturday I was most surprised to see it had gone up to 9-28 literally overnight. that is a rise of almost TWENTY SIX PER CENT in one fell swoop.

 

I queried the price at the till. YES IT'S CORRECT.

I queried the price at customer serviecs. CHECKED THE SYSTEM, YES IT'S CORrECT, MUST HAVE BEEN ON A ROLLBACK FOR THE LAST YEAR...(Why then did the price go up over the year and was almost on a par with MORRISON'S?)

 

So, not being one to give up, I called head office customer service via the website data on Monday morning first thing, and even the guy who took the call was shocked at the amount it had risen by.

 

They gave me a reference number and told me the pricing people would look into it and get back to me, and to give it 48 hours.. WELL. that has now passed and so tomorrow I am going to ring again and I WANT ANSWERS..

 

I also have a pet food collection box in this ASDA store and it has seen a HUGE drop in donations lately and this will probably put a stop to any donations at all. Putting prices up by this much! OTHER animal charities must be going through the same thing. I can definitely see animals suffering if prices of pet food get put up by such huge amounts at one time, especially when people are struggling to get by themselves without having to go that bit further for their pets.. .

 

Meanwhile, although it is much farther away than ASDA I sometimes buy catfood in Morrison's which up till late 2008 was on a par with ASDA, but now appears to be much more economical with 24 tins at only 7-22 a time. So I popped along to Morrisons on Monday and bought 7 trays in one go, which actually makes it more economical than shopping for one tray at a time.. (the store is 12 miles from me).

 

Oh and by the way I told all the ASDA staff who I spoke with on Saturday about this price hike that Morrisson's WAS cheaper as I already knew their price.. AND that I would buying from them in future.. so maybe we ALL need to get in touch with ASDA and let them be aware of our annoyance, and that there is an alternate to their product..as well as being on here and make our feelings known to each other. I am also telling ALL my cat and dog rescue friends about this AND I have it all over my facebook profile about ASDA doing this.. BAD publicity is never good for stores...

So much for all the ads on telly with ASDA being the cheapest week after week, NOT ANY MORE, they only need to do this to one product that is widely used to have a backlash. let's give them that backlash.

 

AND just in case Morrisons does the same thing I am trying to stockpile, as this one price rise COULD have cost me an extra 16 quid minimum per month or 192 quid EXTRA over then next year...It may only be cat food but when you need to buy a lot of it, it can cost lots and lots. AND Iam not even going to go in to DRY cat food which I feed my cats too...and I AM feeding the cheapest I can get, which is a shame for the cats.. who really wants to eat cheap stuff all their lives?

 

I currently have 12 cats and another woman I know who runs a much larger rescue has 50-100 cats and dogs in her rescue at any one time and BEFORE any price rises she was spending 700 pounds a month on food alone..

 

So it may only be two quid to ASDA but it is oh so much more than that to those who rescue animals and have to find the food for them somehow.

[pennash]

PS I also invest in metals and there isn't enough metal in the 24 tins to warrant an increase of this amount...

[pennash]

PPS All the promotions on BRANDED PETFOODS .. the supermarket doesn't do that, the MANUFACTURER does.. They do a deal with the supermarket..and we poor customers think it is the shop that has the offer on.. but if you look carefully you will often see ONE make of cat food with the same offer in more than one supermarket..For instance 6 packs of Felix tins on special offer at Tesco and were on THE SAME special offer in Asda at the same time, for the same price...

[SOD'EM]

Just seen the Asda advert. They now only have 1000 or so name brand products cheaper than other Supermarkets. I'm sure it used to be a couple of thousand:confused:.

[Thailand]

Good for you pennash.

 

I emailed that Asda bod earlier, with a link to this thread, let's see if he responds.

 

I'm sure it used to be thousands too SE.

[Desperate Daniella]

Pennash,

 

Firstly you are a megastar. Anyone who takes on lost/stray/frightened/ill-treated animals is an absolute hero/ine.

 

Almost all of the cats I have ever owned have come from rescue centres, including an RSPCA 'case cat' (signed over by her owners so the RSPCA would drop charges against them) who had been so ill-treated I could hardly touch her. I was told she would never be picked up or sociable, but I thought that was a pretty lousy prospect for a relatively young cat and every day for six weeks I picked her up and stroked her for 10 seconds three times a day - you should have seen the scratches! I also stroked her by standing on my stairs and reaching through the bannister to the landing, and finally she got it, and I was so proud of her, and she became the most loving, sociable, friendly cat in the world. She died a year ago after 11 years with me and I still miss her so much. She was an absolute lady.

 

I know how much love you must be giving these cats, and you deserve all the support we can find for you. In the Spring I adopted another cat from a small rescue organization. She was being fed on these incredibly expensive tins - not Sheba, the tiny, tiny tins - can't remember what they are called. They were getting sponsorship from this 'expensive cat food' company, not the usual Felix/Whiskas. Obviously everyone, every company, is cutting back, but it might be worth your contacting one of these smaller companies, especially if you could get a local newspaper to cover the story of their generosity. Or again, maybe Morrisons or another supermarket would like the publicity.

 

Good luck, and thank you for caring for these cats who have no-one else.

 

DD

[Gilbert_O'Sullivan]

PPS All the promotions on BRANDED PETFOODS .. the supermarket doesn't do that, the MANUFACTURER does.. They do a deal with the supermarket..and we poor customers think it is the shop that has the offer on.. but if you look carefully you will often see ONE make of cat food with the same offer in more than one supermarket..For instance 6 packs of Felix tins on special offer at Tesco and were on THE SAME special offer in Asda at the same time, for the same price...

 

Then maybe it is the manufacturer who has increased the prices and not Asda? Got to work both ways surely?

 

Asda will not be making cat food but they will be supplied by a company who makes cat food and branded as Asda.

[Thailand]

Gilbert, do you love supermarkets? You defend them often enough.

 

Really, no offence, but can you not see what they are made of?

 

Let's be clear...aside from the fact Asda used the cost of inflated Aluminium (which was actually massively decreasing) and would be dropping faster if it weren't for the weaker pound, we are now talking about the cost of the food contained within said tin.

 

Why does it work both ways? Manufacturers daren't increase their prices by 20 odd percent! They'd be slaughtered for daring to try.

[Thailand]

In other words...Greeding, filthing supermarket.

[Gilbert_O'Sullivan]

Gilbert, do you love supermarkets? You defend them often enough.

 

 

Oh c'mon Thai, I only defended supermarkets once when you said to support your local shop but I said it is too expensive to do so.

 

As with cat food, my local shop sells single Whiskas at 72p as opposed to about 54p in Tesco. Clover butter in Tesco is about £1.55 for 500g but my local sells 250g for £1.41!! Milk, eggs, anything has a huge mark up compared to supermarkets.

 

They would try and sell newspapers and postage stamps more expensive too if they could I'm sure.

 

And I get rewarded with cashback each time I use a supermarket, all my local shopkeeper does is grunt when I go to the checkout.

 

Why would my sister for example buy from her local when she lives on £60 a week? People have to watch the pennies and supermarkets enable you to do that which is great.

[Thailand]

Oh c'mon Thai' date=' I only defended supermarkets once when you said to support your local shop but I said it is too expensive to do so. That was only a bit of what I said!, and was posed as a question rather than a statement, IIRC but fair enough.

 

As with cat food, my local shop sells single Whiskas at 72p as opposed to about 54p in Tesco. Clover butter in Tesco is about £1.55 for 500g but my local sells 250g for £1.41!! Milk, eggs, anything has a huge mark up compared to supermarkets. Your local shop sells Whiskas at 72p....move!

They would try and sell newspapers and postage stamps more expensive too if they could I'm sure. Agreed.

 

And I get rewarded with cashback each time I use a supermarket, all my local shopkeeper does is grunt when I go to the checkout. Rewarded with cashback? That's not a reward!, whilst I agree it's handy...the supermarket just wants the cash out of the till.

 

Why would my sister for example buy from her local when she lives on £60 a week? People have to watch the pennies and supermarkets enable you to do that which is great.

 

Yes, screw every last penny out of the suppliers, pretend to be bargainous, put the little guy out of business and make the people believe they are wonderful. Wouldn't it be great if they really were what they claim to be? Don't you get their plan! They blag your belief in their system then kick you everytime they think they can get away with it....and they are all so big and powerful now, they almost can do what they want. Who regulates these beasts?

 

You are talking about 'convenience shops', of course they are generally more expensive, they don't have the same trade to cover their overheads...simple. Plus they have the supermarkets playing dirty games. Even when they are playing fair they have the numbers traipsing through their stores so they can cut their prices, and they are always trying to undercut their competitors (they would have us believe this anyway, sometimes, as said, it's just pure blagging).

 

My local butcher sells nothing but quality and is cheaper than the supermarket, the queue is always long and I'm just lucky to have it, I realise, and know from previous addresses, that the norm is higher. But I could mention lots of other things that are cheaper than supermarkets.

 

It's a game. I know people need to use them because they are often cheaper, the supermarkets know it, pretend to be gods and then put £2 on a tray of cat food hoping for it to go unnoticed (and filth themselves in lies to justify it, and not even a good lie in this case!)

[pennash]

Thanks DD for your kind comments, I am even looking for bulk supply online as that may be cheaper.

 

Anyway.. the saga with ASDA continues, as I rang them back today regarding the reference they gave me on Monday and lo and behold my comments have been passed on to the buyer! That is ACTION? Don't think so.

The person on the line told me that the "colleague" who had handled the info had come back with a report that the supplier is having to raise the price due to the cost of tin going up 35 %.. now haven't we just rubbished that in an earlier post? .. oh yes we have! So I told them that the price of tin is not currently up and that if it WAS the case how come ALL tinned products have not gon up by the 25% that this cat food has.. couldn't give me an answer on that. Then I went on to tell them that others are complaining in blogs about this huge price rise.. and I am probably not the only one who will be complaining. (0845 300 1111.. THE MORE WHO CALL THE MORE THEY NOTICE)

 

They said it was with the buyer and I told then that just BEING with a buyer does not amount to action on pricing and that it didn't float my boat AND that others are unhappy about the costs leaping up 25% overnight and not just me.

 

I also told them that I for one will no longer be buying catfood from Asda whilst it works out cheaper for me to travel a greater distance to Morrisons and buy from them AND that I would be recommending every one I know to do likewise. They will HOPEFULLY notice and maybe do something. I also mentioned the CEO's message on the wesbsite and told them my opinion about that , that it was a load of rubbish as many of those with pets are on low incomes right now and putting up cat food by TWENTY FIVE PER CENT would no way be of any help to those suffering financially and in fact MANY pets will be suffering due to actions like this.

 

SOME people when faced with the choice of paying more long term for petfood or a fixed price right now for euthanaisia, will take their pet to the vet to be put down, as they will not be able to keep feeding it long term.. and if an owner absolutely insists, a vet has no choice but to comply..NOT all unwanted pets can be taken in by rescues or are even taken to a rescue. I hope the CEO feels good about that.

 

I also emailed a link to this blog to the asda customer services team and asked them to point their buyer towards this.. Will anything really happen.. I doubt it, for this is just one tiny blip in the inflow of cash in to their tills is it not.

 

It won't hurt them as much as it hursts us UNLESS we boycott their pet food TOTALLY. And that is what I am going to do. AND anything else I can get cheaper when I am at Morrisons...like petrol..etc etc

[Thailand]

I just called them, and I shocked myself how calm I was! (after the automated system has bored you to death, you need to ask for the product team)

 

Mr Bond won't be able to call me back, but somebody will, allegedly. (within 48hours). I presented my case clearly, which is miraculous for me.

 

I loved giving my CAG email addy to them. I rubbished the metal blag, and the guy agreed and even admitted 25%+ was 'steep'.

 

Mr Bond has not yet replied to yesterday's email.

[pennash]

Within 48 hours.. no they don't, which is why I had to call THEM again today.. I take it they gave you a ref number.. keep it handy you will need it when YOU ring THEM...

 

I never asked for the product team, but got the same replies anyway... the poor guys who speak on the phone are NOT specialists and everything just gets handed on to someone else who never gets back to you, they just update the file... which you get told about when YOU ring THEM again!! Grr!

[gyzmo]

I would love you to get a reply from Mr Bond. I think any TSO would love to get e response from Mr Bond as well.....

[pennash]

Oh yes forgot to mention.. no matter how much you spend in ASDA , you wil neverget loyalty points or casback, so that argument doesn't wash in this thread.

Morrisons however, give points on petrol, which works out at more cashback than TESCO per pound spent..and the petrol is already cheaper than anywhere else. AND the voucher they give me then gets spent in the shop on catfood which is also cheaper than anywhere else. So what I save on petrol I just see as an investment in my cats anyway.

[pennash]

Puppy love cooled by credit crunch - Scotsman.com Living

 

and this sort of thing is BEFORE huge petfood price increases take effect..

[pennash]

Ditto..

The canine credit crunch starts to bite - News, Pets - The Independent

[Thailand]

I just called them, and I shocked myself how calm I was! (after the automated system has bored you to death, you need to ask for the product team)

 

Mr Bond won't be able to call me back, but somebody will, allegedly. (within 48hours). I presented my case clearly, which is miraculous for me.

 

I loved giving my CAG email addy to them. I rubbished the metal blag, and the guy agreed and even admitted 25%+ was 'steep'.

 

Mr Bond has not yet replied to yesterday's email.

 

Within 48 hours.. no they don't, which is why I had to call THEM again today.. I take it they gave you a ref number.. keep it handy you will need it when YOU ring THEM... That is something I would always do, but as this was not really about me, as much as it still bugs me, I didn't

 

I never asked for the product team, but got the same replies anyway... the poor guys who speak on the phone are NOT specialists and everything just gets handed on to someone else who never gets back to you, they just update the file... which you get told about when YOU ring THEM again!! Grr! The funny thing is, is that they said the same to me, I expected whatever excuse...but no, we are all getting the exact same blag, which is useless since only the opposite is true. BIG mistake Mr Asda

 

Oh yes forgot to mention.. no matter how much you spend in ASDA , you wil neverget loyalty points or casback, so that argument doesn't wash in this thread.

Morrisons however, give points on petrol, which works out at more cashback than TESCO per pound spent Yes 1.5p rather than 1p..and the petrol is already cheaper than anywhere else. AND the voucher they give me then gets spent in the shop on catfood which is also cheaper than anywhere else. So what I save on petrol I just see as an investment in my cats anyway.

 

LOL - what a game it is. Hope you get your cat food food for less. I wouldn't be hopeful of said charlatans giving way, as it's all they know how to be. (and just like Bank employee's, they have to pay their bills...yawn)

 

The decision makers hidden up many layers of the heirachy have this totally sussed, and they couldn't give one sh*t! Their day will come....