I bet many a 699-er has entered the Checkers competition to win an Audi.
Entry is very easy and simple – just write your name, e-mail address and cell number on the back of your till slip and pop it into a competition box on your way out of the shop.
What’s not to like about that?
Well, in so doing you’re surrendering your proof of purchase, and with it your Consumer Protection Act right to return goods should they be defective in some way.
Supermarkets don’t just sell groceries – the bigger ones sell household appliances, clothes, toys and many more things, which made me question Shoprite’s chosen mode of competition entry.
Responding, spokesman Sarita van Wyk said that when it came to returns – defective or just change-of-heart, the shops would “make exceptions” if the consumer couldn’t produce a till slip because they’d used it to enter a competition.
“These cases are handled at store management’s discretion,” she said. “In the case of small appliances, the instruction manual would be stamped, which will remove the need for a till slip as proof of purchase, provided the item is still in the warranty period.
“Our own-brand products will also be exchanged or refunded without insistence on a till slip, subject to our standard conditions on goods returned.
“It remains the customer’s choice whether to enter the competition. Furthermore, we quite regularly print duplicate till slips to assist customers with other problems.”
I remain of the view that it’s not a good idea to expect customers to use their proof of purchase to enter a competition, and an exceptionally bad idea for a consumer to go ahead and do it.