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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Alice Peacock

Shoppers slam 'extortionate' price of deodorant in Tesco and Boots as cost of living bites

Shoppers are accusing Boots and several major supermarkets of "extortionate" pricing after spotting cans of Dove deodorant on sale for £4.50 and as much as £6.

A Boots customer initially expressed their outrage after spotting an aerosol containing 250ml of the daily essential for sale with a price tag of £6 - but Boots has since admitted its pricing was a mistake.

However, people commenting on the customer's tweet said the £4.50 being charged by Boots - the same price it's being sold at Sainsbury's and Tesco, was still "extortionate".

In the original tweet, Paula Louise shared a picture of the product in the Glasgow Fort branch and said: "Hi Boots, are you ok? It's just you're selling a can of deodorant for £6 and I can't quite believe it."

Boots replied: "Hi Paula thank you for flagging this.

Boots is actually selling the deodorant for £4.50 (Getty Images)

"This new product has been incorrectly priced in our stores. It should be £4.50 in line with the RRP. We are rectifying this and hugely apologise for the error.

"Any customer that has paid £6 will be offered a refund for the difference."

But another Twitter user replied: "£4.50 is absolutely still a p***take".

It appeared the problem wasn't restricted to Boots, with Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's also "shocking" consumers.

"Now, I thought @Tesco were having a moment when I went to order my deodorant and saw it was £4.50!!!" another internet user wrote.

"I was shocked. This is clearly a @Dove and @Unilever decision to increase the price to their customers, meaning silly prices to us as end users."

Sarah, from Manchester, wrote: "I noticed this deodorant in Tesco yesterday at £4.80 for 250ml."

Another woman said: "I saw it for £4.50 in Tesco and took a gasp."

Dove deodorant and anti-perspirant products are listed online elsewhere for a lower price - though in-store prices can vary.

Dove original scene aerosol deodorant is advertised for £2.10 in Waitrose, while Wilko and Ocado are selling the product for £2.

However, the same product is listed on the Superdrug website for £4.79.

A Boots customer service adviser said: "This new product has been incorrectly priced in our stores. It should be £4.50 in line with the RRP.

"We are rectifying this and hugely apologise for the error.

"Any customer that has paid £6 will be offered a refund for the difference."

The dispute over deodorant pricing comes as the recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation figure for the UK last month sat at 10.1%.

Despite January being the third monthly fall in inflation, the price of food is continuing to rise strongly.

Grocery prices are still up a massive 16.7% with the price of food a huge contributor to why inflation is so high.

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