A MATHS student has accused Tesco of coming up five inches short on their “6ft” Christmas tree.
Megan Sutherland first noticed that the supermarket was selling the tree as “6ft (180cm)” when the conversion from imperial to metric should be 183cm.
But she discovered much worse on opening the box and discovering the tree is just 5ft 7ins tall, including the stand, or 170cm.
The 19-year-old, who is studying maths at Glasgow University, took to the supermarket’s Facebook page to complain.
Writing on the Tesco Facebook page Megan wrote: “Hello Tesco, I bought a 6ft Christmas Tree from you. I’ve measured it and its 5ft 7in. So I checked if the box said approximately, and it said “6 foot (180cm)”. 180cm is not even six foot it’s 5.9 feet.
“What is going on? I know its a bit premature for Christmas but I expected my fake tree to be fully grown. Please help x”
Speaking about the undersized artificial evergreen, Megan – who at 5ft 7ins is the same size as her tree – said: “I was in care when I was younger so this was my first tree I’ve actually bought.
“I was so excited when I bought it and couldn’t wait to build it but when I realised how short it was, I thought ‘that’s definitely not 6ft’.
“So I went and got a tape measure to check and it’s only 5ft 7in. It didn’t cost too much, around £15, but I was really disappointed since it’s my first tree.”
Megan says she was told by Tesco to take the tree back but can’t afford the taxi fare and doesn’t want to lug it on the bus.
“So I’m looking at the trading standards agency for advice,” she said.
Megan’s post online has attracted dozens of comments from other social media users, suggesting Tesco send her another replacement tree.
Angie Turner said: “Come on Tesco, it’s not going to grow 5 inches before Xmas, it would be nice to offer a free tree (6′) as a goodwill gesture. Lugging a Xmas tree backwards and forwards to Tesco is no-one’s idea of fun!”
Jackie Mccartney wrote: “That’s not good enough. Hope Tesco sorts this out for you. So wrong to sell something that is not as it was advertised to be.”
Grace Neill responded: “I bought a 6ft Christmas tree once and it was just over 5ft tall with nearly a foot long individual branch at the top that need to get folded down to be strong enough for a topper. Was gutted as it was smaller than me with the topper on and I’m only 5’6! I don’t understand why companies don’t just make the tree to the size it says on the box.”
A Tesco spokesman declined to respond directly to Megan’s complaint.
He said: “If a customer is ever unhappy with a product they purchase from Tesco, they can return it to any store with their proof of purchase and get a refund within 28 days.”
