Peter's Tussle with Tesco

[Peter Kazmierczak]

In rant mode so please shut your ears....

 

Just been to our local Tesco (Kinson Branch). Got all the items. Scanned Clubcard. So far so good.

 

Had a voucher for 25 extra points on a fresh chicken. Unfortunately it wouldn't scan at the till for the extra points.

Check-out lady calls over (more senior?) colleague but she doesn't have the authority to do anything.

 

Go to Customer Service and they'll be able to do it - check-out girl helpfully circles item on my receipt.

 

Arrive at Customer "Service" desk. Lady there wants to see actual item (despite it being on receipt). Of course it's at the

bottom of one of my many bags...... I put bag on counter and eventually find it (no help from those at desk so far). As I put

it on counter the chicken bag splits and juice comes out. Lady gives the impression I "threw" it on the counter.

"Would you change it for another please?" I ask. Blank looks all round. Told to get a bag to put it in.

 

At that point I almost say "You know what ........" but I hold my tongue.

 

Eventually get out of the store but not happy by customer "care".

 

On my receipt it says at the bottom "tell us about your visit.

 

I sure will.

[NorthBrit]

'Every little helps'

[Metr0Land]

'Changing the way Britain shops'

[Darius43]

Pay people minimum wage and give them jobs with no future and wonder why they are unmotivated and apathetic. They also seem to excel at finding members of staff that hate people and putting them in customer-facing roles.

 

Still I am sure the management keep telling themselves how superb and wonderful they are. That was my experience of the useless plonkers that ran Carillion when I worked for them 10 years ago.

 

Darius

 

PS fortunately I left Carillion 8 years ago.

[jjb1970]

I dunno, the staff at the Tesco Express near me and which serves as our "corner shop" are excellent. As with most things though, you're as good as your last game to borrow a sporting analogy.

[Kris]

Sounds like the same level of staff that I encountered outside of my local Tesco today. He thought that taking a quick cigarette break right next to the main trolley park was okay, well possibly it might have been but there was a big sign right above him the showed it was a no smoking area. A quick word to management caused some excitement for them. 

[Clive Mortimore]

In rant mode so please shut your ears....

 

Just been to our local Tesco (Kinson Branch). Got all the items. Scanned Clubcard. So far so good.

 

Had a voucher for 25 extra points on a fresh chicken. Unfortunately it wouldn't scan at the till for the extra points.

Check-out lady calls over (more senior?) colleague but she doesn't have the authority to do anything.

 

Go to Customer Service and they'll be able to do it - check-out girl helpfully circles item on my receipt.

 

Arrive at Customer "Service" desk. Lady there wants to see actual item (despite it being on receipt). Of course it's at the

bottom of one of my many bags...... I put bag on counter and eventually find it (no help from those at desk so far). As I put

it on counter the chicken bag splits and juice comes out. Lady gives the impression I "threw" it on the counter.

"Would you change it for another please?" I ask. Blank looks all round. Told to get a bag to put it in.

 

At that point I almost say "You know what ........" but I hold my tongue.

 

Eventually get out of the store but not happy by customer "care".

 

On my receipt it says at the bottom "tell us about your visit.

 

I sure will.

I am not sure what to say, most Tesco stores I have used have had very helpful staff but even the best can have an off moment.

 

I am lucky/unlucky as I am banned from shopping.

1st ban was because I came home with stuff not on the list. So?I like donuts.

2nd ban was I came home without stuff on the list....not being able to find it was not an excuse.

3rd ban was I came home without stuff on the list and no signed document from the shop staff saying it was out of stock.

4th ban was I came home without stuff we needed that wasn't on the list.

[62613]

I am not sure what to say, most Tesco stores I have used have had very helpful staff but even the best can have an off moment.

 

I am lucky/unlucky as I am banned from shopping.

1st ban was because I came home with stuff not on the list. So?I like donuts.

2nd ban was I came home without stuff on the list....not being able to find it was not an excuse.

3rd ban was I came home without stuff on the list and no signed document from the shop staff saying it was out of stock.

4th ban was I came home without stuff we needed that wasn't on the list.

 

The boy done good!

[cb900f]

Well I will say it. All this trouble over 25 points or am I missing something ?

 

Pete

[kernowtim]

The boy done good!

You could always try online shopping, although I have had food delivered from Tesco with that days use by date on at 9pm, and select no substitutes for out of stock stuff, or you may get a kettle instead of a toaster!!

[Alien]

We stopped using our Tesco last year when it changed from 24 hour opening because they were stocking shelves during the day with boxes and trollies everywhere. It became very dangerous trying walk around as the staff seemed to have a limited amount of time and were in such a rush and was only a matter of time before a customer got injured. We now use Saisburys, they have an excellent café!

[Clive Mortimore]

You could always try online shopping, although I have had food delivered from Tesco with that days use by date on at 9pm, and select no substitutes for out of stock stuff, or you may get a kettle instead of a toaster!!

We got a Cornish Pasty instead of a Cheese Pasty. I rang up and the lady said it was a fair substitute until I said it was not a good substitute for a vegetarian. I was expecting her to say "Well you can take out the meat before eating it".   

 

I am banned from doing on line shopping just in case I order donuts. :nono:

[Peter Kazmierczak]

25 points is 25 points - Got a good discount using Tesco Clubcard points to get my Senior Railcard.

 

To keep a balance, here's a more positive aspect of Tesco - a Daventry to South Wales Tesco liner, heading away from Gloucester.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

In all such operations the overall staff attitude and performance hangs on the management on the spot. If headed up by a Surly Joe or Snarky Joan permanent office dweller, you can be sure it will spill down and affect all but the most determined. With someone good who regularly walks the floor and bears a hand when the going is hard, and hears and responds appropriately to what any employee suggests, the whole team performs.

 

I would enjoy getting Pete's complaint. It makes a perfect training scenario for 'what to do when it goes wrong', so how do you handle this one? (The store staff do the 'make good' running around and smile while about it. To make sure that this keeps on happening, all the 'suits' are rostered on customer care on a standing rotation. Those that cannot hack it tend to move on fairly swiftly.)

[TheSignalEngineer]

Our local Tesco has really gone down lately. After it changed from 24 hours there was still a shelf stacking shift. They got rid of that then you couldn't get round for carts of stock lying around or being pushed from behind. Now they don't seem to restock during the day, many empty shelves and lots of what there is has use by dates only a day away. What's more a lot of the prices seem to to have gone up recently. Think it will be off to Aldi next week.

[chris p bacon]

Pay people minimum wage and give them jobs with no future and wonder why they are unmotivated and apathetic. They also seem to excel at finding members of staff that hate people and putting them in customer-facing roles.

 

Still I am sure the management keep telling themselves how superb and wonderful they are. That was my experience of the useless plonkers that ran Carillion when I worked for them 10 years ago.

 

Darius

 

PS fortunately I left Carillion 8 years ago.

 

 

 The Tesco we have in town pays way above minimum wage and by all accounts is a very good employer. The staff are very positive and seem happy when I visit.

 

But then there is a big difference between Tesco as a major retailer and carillon as a ......whatever...

[caradoc]

I used to have a Tesco credit card which was also my Clubcard. Then, because I hadn't used it for a while, Tesco took it on themselves to cancel it ! Hence I no longer shop at Tesco.

[The Stationmaster]

The staff in our local Tesco are very good and the vast majority are very friendly while most of the pharmacy counter staff always address me by name. (they are by far the best pharmacy in the town).  They have recently cut out the night shelf-stacking shift - part of the crackdown on costs which is happening in many supermarket chains - and some stuff seems to go out of stock all too easily with slow restocking.  overall i would say in my experience that the staff are almost without exception far nicer and more helpful than some of the idiots who shop there or drive around the car park like myopic brainless zombies.  And I doubt they'd have any staff at all at our local branch if they paid minimum wage and they must be one of the very few employers in this area who actually have a staff canteen staffed by someone who cooks meals as opposed to popping things in a microwave.

 

By way of comparison Waitrose really do pay some people working for them the minimum wage but they get round that because they are contract staff supplied by outside companies - one of their ways of saving money.

[Ashcombe]

My daughter is a DH at a school in Staffordshire where recently they organised a day for Y6 children from half a dozen schools to meet for various activities. A few months ago Tesco agreed to supply a bag of “goodies” for each participant. By the preceding week, none had been delivered so my daughter spent much time being passed from one member of staff to another without satisfaction and as the event was last Monday, this encroached on her weekend, too. At the eleventh hour, Tesco delivered the items but not all to the right school. Only when my daughter suggested that adverse publicity could result if they didn’t fulfill their commitment, did the wheels get put into motion.

[Ceptic]

I try to avoid shopping at Tesco, Peter. At the very least, it can turn out to be 'An experience', I base this opinion on my rare 'encounters' with the store.

 

My latest being during  a shopping trip to Tesco, Castle Lane. Bournemouth. (I could elaborate, but, it's rather long winded)

[jjb1970]

I find the local manager of our Tesco Express seems to have some authority to take decisions on what they sell. More than once I've asked about certain products, they've agreed to give them a try and a couple of them are now kept in stock. For example I like German multigrain bread (the very heavy dark stuff, it's probably an acquired taste) and the said they'd give it a go, now they always have it in stock.

[4630]

At the very least, it can turn out to be 'An experience', I base this opinion on my rare 'encounters' with the store.

 

 

 

 

Sounds very much like my experience at Tesco in Brighouse which I now conciously choose to avoid, preferring instead the well stocked and staffed large Sainsburys in Huddersfield.

 

In many respects thought I actively choose to avoid Tesco due to their questionable business relationships with some of their suppliers (and I know that Tesco are not the only ones with 'sharp' practices).   Based on a court case, now in abeyance I believe due to illness, some of their management accounting procedures are allegedly a bit too 'creative' as well. 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Just had a call from a very nice Scottish-sounding lady from Tesco. I said it was no big deal; she was very apologetic.

 

At least they listened and responded.

[alastairq]

Some years ago now....a good proportion of staff at my local Tesco had a lottery syndicate.

One day, they won the jackpot!

 

Interesting staffing situation come Monday morning......  

[Guest]

Tesco is the Devil itself. Or so you'd think.

For years, they'd tried to  get a foothold in sleepy Sheringham. Cue the anti-Tesco protestors, countless petitions and local news stories about how it would cause a blight to the town. Local traders wailing about lost business etc etc blah blah.

Fast forward a few years, a couple of rather nice Victorian dwellings are bulldozed and a shiny new Tesco rises from the ashes.

It's always busy and, not surprisingly, those that were so vocal against it are now to be seen wheeling their trollies around.

To misquote that Kevin Costner film...

"If they build it, you will come"...