SCOTLAND'S largest garden centre chain is passing on the government's VAT cut to customers only if they complain, an internal memo obtained by The Scotsman shows.
Staff at Dobbies have been told to try to "pacify" shoppers asking about the 2.5 per cent reduction, and offer it to them only if that fails.
The company, which has 13 branches in Scotland and 11 in England, is one of the few major retailers not t
o have passed on the saving to customers.
In November, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, cut the standard rate of VAT from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent until the end of this year to help boost spending. Ministers have urged shops to pass it on to consumers, but it is not compulsory to do so.
Julia Clarke, of the consumer organisation Which?, said: "In these difficult financial times for consumers, we would hope businesses would treat them fairly by passing on any price decreases they possibly can."
The Dobbies memo informs till staff that a customer asking whether the firm was reducing VAT should be told it was "running lots of promotions and price cuts".
If the customer remained unhappy, the duty manager should be called, to "take the customer away from the check-out area if possible". The customer should then be told that reducing VAT was "a very complex process" because Dobbies sold products with different VAT rates.
The memo then stated that if "the customer continues the discussion", they should be offered the VAT reduction.
Tesco, which bought Dobbies last year, said it was one of the first to have passed on the VAT cut, but said the garden centre chain operated as a separate company.
A senior member of the trade body representing garden centres said a majority of them had passed on the cut to maintain consumer trust.
Dougal Philip, a member of the council of the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), said: "Most people have chosen to give the customers the 2.5 per cent back, largely because they feel it could otherwise be seen as a scam."
Mr Philip, who owns the New Hopetoun Gardens garden centre at Newton, near South Queensferry, said: "We are all very careful to treat our customers fairly. There have been some hideous price rises, such as on fertiliser based on petrochemicals, so the VAT cut will help make these hits less hard."
The British Retail Consortium, which represents 70 per cent of the industry, said its members had "made great efforts" to ensure the VAT cut was introduced quickly.
Dobbies, which is a member of the HTA but not the BRC, said that it had cut prices rather than pass on the VAT cut. However, it was unable to say what proportion of its products such offers covered.
A spokeswoman said: "We have been running more in-store offers than ever to offer great value to our customers. In January we are giving an average discount of 43 per cent.
"The purpose of the memo was to ensure that any customers who had concerns were given the opportunity to speak to a duty manager, who could explain the reasons behind our decision. We've had exceptionally few customer complaints, as they appreciate the good value we offer."
What the company's memo saysVAT for till operators. Please find below a four step process for handling customer comments about VAT at the check-out.
1. Till operator asked if we are reducing the VAT should answer with the following statement: "Dobbies is reducing costs by running lots of promotions and price reductions (more than double that of last year)."
2. If the customer is not happy with this a duty manager should be called immediately. The duty manager should take the customer away from the check-out area, if possible, and attempt to pacify the customer, with the following: "I completely understand your comments. A lot of the products we sell have different VAT rates. This means reducing the VAT is actually a very complex process. However, we are working with our software suppliers on this."
If the customer has been removed from the check-out and is happy to proceed at this stage the duty manager should process their shopping for them so that they do not have to queue at the check-out again.
3. If the customer continues the discussion the duty manager should offer to take the cost of the VAT off the customer's purchase, reassert that he/she takes on board the customer's comments, has made a note of what the customer said and will ensure this is fed back to head office.
4. If the customer is still unhappy, reassert that you take on board their opinion, offer to take their name and number to pass to head office.
