Big Bazaar needs Arithmetic teachers-buyer beware. Review on Big Bazaar, Mumbai

Now that I have been shopping at the Phoenix Mall, Lower Parel franchise of Big Bazaar for some time, to be precise 3 years, I believe I have some experience to write a review.

(1) Firstly and most importantly be very careful of what appears on your bill. Most people are reassured by the beep beep sound that they hear when there product is scanned and the price is displayed.

However, there are subtle tricks going on here. Several times over, the total appearing on my bill was higher by 10-15 rupees than what it should have been whereas it has never appeared lesser than what it should have been. If it is a random error, how come that the prices/quantity is only inflated in the bill and never deflated. Forgive me for saying so, but it is an old grocerman's trick and Big Bazaar does the same on its customers. This makes me think that Big Bazaar needs Arithmetic tutions so that percentages and additions are done accurately.

(2) Once I bought loose sugar and noticed a thin looking sheet placed on the weighing machine. After the clerk had weighed my sugar, I got suspicious and asked her to weigh the paper sheet(the kinds you would see in saree/lungi packets) alone. Lo and behold, it turned out to be 40 gms. The clerk appeared surprised and changed the sticker pasted on my packet. Imagine the kind of cheating they would be doing in the entire day.

(3) Once I saw that only very large packs of a particular detergent brand were displayed with large stickers of massive discounts. When I asked for a smaller pack, I was told that the company has done away with those since larger packs were coming cheaper and customers were buying only the large packs. I knew the truth. On searching behind some other detergents, I saw the smaller packs which in effect were cheaper to buy(for the same weight) and had been purposely hidden from customers.

(4) Today itself, I noticed that everywhere in the store, it was marked that an Axis Bank debit/credit card would fetch an additional 10% discount. Only at one place was it written that this applies only for shopping above Rs. 2500/-

(5) The trick mentioned at Sr. No. 1 is mostly tried when there is a rush in the store as everyone is wanting to finish his purchases quickly and move out.

There are several other tricks in vogue such as mentioning the wrong(inflated) weight of a packaged product on the display so that a customer thinks that he is getting better value for money when actually he is'nt. Most customers do not double check the weight which is often printed in microscopic size on an odd corner of the product.

However, I still go there because I can compare several brands which is often not possible in a Mom and Pop store.

While the above review has been written keeping in mind the now closed lower parel franchise of Big Bazaar, now I will relate the incident which happened to me yesterday at the Mumbai Central Big Bazaar which means February 21, 2016. I am now going to Big Bazaar Mumbai Central since that happens to be the closest one to me. When I was paying my bill I felt a bit awkward regarding the price of tata pulses I had been charged. The price written on my bill for Tata Moong daal 1 kg was 170 Rs. After that they had shown a discount of 10% and charged me 153. I was a bit taken aback because I had noticed that the MRP written on the pack was 150 and after a discount of 10% I should have been charged 135. Similarly a half kilo pack of urad daal of tata brand the price on my receipt was given as 116 over which a discount of 10% was shown and I was charged 104.60 when the MRP printed on the pack was 96 and after a discount they should've charged me only 86.60. When I pointed this out to the counter clerk she promptly sent me to the customer care desk. A juvenile kid tried to act fresh with me and immediately handed me 12 ruppees back. When I pointed out to him in detail the cheating that the store was doing, he ultimately refunded me almost the entire money(even then gave me 1 ruppee less but I would allow him that). Meanwhile an important looking uncle/obviously an aged store employee had come who was trying to defuse the tension. Overall a very crooky third grade experience. Avoid it like the plague.

An example of the tricks that I have mentioned above can be seen in the pictur that I have uploaded. The 500 ml bottle of mustard oil has been shown as a 1 ltr bottle. A customer could be taken in thinking that he is getting a 1 ltr bottle of mustard oil for only Rs. 64/- and that too of a reputed brand when elsewhere it costs much more. The tag says 1 ltr whereas the bottle itself has 500 ml printed on it.