Peter's Tussle with Tesco

[SM42]

I avoid our local Tesco now. About two years ago they changed their parking regime because the car park was too full ( can't say I ever noticed except at Christmas)  and I cannot be bothered to faff about searching for my car in a list of those that have arrived in the last 24 hrs. Oh and I don't like that they insist I spend £5 per visit if I am there (there being between the entrance to the car park and me finding my car on the list) more than  30 minutes. I do sometimes have orders to  price check "luxury" items  against other stores when I pop in for a couple of items. 30 minutes can easily be lost whilst spending £2

 

It seems to have worked though. I was dragged there by Mrs SM42  a few months after they started this and the car park had plenty of spaces. Mind you the staff outnumbered the customers that Friday afternoon. 

 

Morrison's tried a similar thing about 5 years before and lost 30% in trade .Their scheme lasted 2 weeks. Tesco are persisting. Perhaps it makes customer relations easier when you have less customers. you could cut out the customer service desk to save money.

 

Life's too short to worry about shopping, but I avoid our main Tesco store on principal now. Mrs SM42 however quite likes the car search game (I think) , but she is a fickle beast and will shop wherever the fancy takes her and sometimes even several supermarkets on the same day.

 

Andy

[Brinkly]

Sympathies Peter, 

 

I refuse to shop at Tesco. The staff I find are quite rude at our nearest store, throwing stuff down to the bags - I often found myself asking them to slow down. The store at Lee Mill (near Ivybridge) sucked the life out of our high street. I get what I can from the independent shops and anything else comes from our local Co-Op, or the occasional monthly trip to Sainsbury's to top up on the things that Co-Op don't stock. Tesco even managed to get into the old ATS building in town, but the Co-Op staff said, if anything, they benefited from it being built as more people came to them in protest. 

 

As you can infer, I love Tesco! 

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[jjb1970]

The one argument against Tesco (or any other supermarket) I really can't have much sympathy for is the one that wants to keep them out of towns in order to try and preserve some vision of the perfect twee middle English idyll.

What that means is that some want to impose their own ideas of what towns should look like on others and deprive people of choice. If existing shops offer the right range of products at good prices and service then they will thrive. If they can't do that then why should others be forced to pay more or be constrained in choice simply to sate the desire of some to try and preserve towns in aspic? Tesco don't kill high streets, what damages existing businesses is that Tesco and supermarkets tend to offer more products, better prices and in my opinion a better shopping experience. If people don't like supermarkets then don't shop at supermarkets, but I don't see that they have a right to deny the choice to others.

My corner shop is a Tesco Express and there is no way I would want to swap it for Arkwright's shop.

[rockershovel]

I'm not a tremendous fan of Tesco. Their fruit and veg are neither the best, nor the cheapest (oddly enough, Morrisons have good fruit and veg here in Peterborough). Morrisons also have a cafe, and a trolley lockup for buggies etc which is always popular.

 

Tesco appear to me, to be too small for what they are trying to do - be the British Walmart. Not that I'm a tremendous fan of Walmart but you can find virtually anything known to man, somewhere in their vast caverns and plenty of choice too (unless you are looking for proper cheese, or proper bread, neither of which appear to be known in the US). Actually that's not really true, go to Publix or Winn Dixie for those. Tesco often seem to me, to be sacrificing actual choice for number of ranges. Oh, and I find it very difficult to actually find any given thing in Tesco...

 

One thing I've never understood, is those disgusting, greasy rotisserie chickens. Someone must buy them, but who? How do you put something like that in your shopping bag?

[rockershovel]

I quite like the Tesco Express style shops. There's one within walking distance of home, plus a similar Co-Op in the other direction and I use them quite a lot. Add in a weekly bulk shop delivery and with any luck at all we only shop for occasional items, I haven't been in the big Tescos for about three weeks and don't miss it at all.

[Rivercider]

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 service received by Peter on that visit to Tesco was clearly not good enough.

 

However I am certain there are many people who work in supermarkets, and elsewhere on at or near to the minimum wage,

who would consider that to be a rather sweeping generalisation.

(Though what it is like working for Carillion I would not know)

 

cheers

[alastairq]

I'm not a tremendous fan of Tesco. Their fruit and veg are neither the best, nor the cheapest (oddly enough, Morrisons have good fruit and veg here in Peterborough). Morrisons also have a cafe, and a trolley lockup for buggies etc which is always popular.

 

Tesco appear to me, to be too small for what they are trying to do - be the British Walmart. Not that I'm a tremendous fan of Walmart but you can find virtually anything known to man, somewhere in their vast caverns and plenty of choice too (unless you are looking for proper cheese, or proper bread, neither of which appear to be known in the US). Actually that's not really true, go to Publix or Winn Dixie for those. Tesco often seem to me, to be sacrificing actual choice for number of ranges. Oh, and I find it very difficult to actually find any given thing in Tesco...

 

One thing I've never understood, is those disgusting, greasy rotisserie chickens. Someone must buy them, but who? How do you put something like that in your shopping bag?

If Walmart is one's barra, then there's the UK iteration, Asda?  Asda, to me, are good for clothes, but not very appetising for food.

 

I prefer not to shop at Tesco......but sometimes find they are fair for veggies.

 

{The roasted chickens and stuffs get put in special bags..and used to represent an alternative for an excellent packed lunch. On the buses, my colleagues and I would often roll up with a hot Tesco roast chicken to scoff.....but then, we were of the hairy backsided sort of bus driver, in those days}

 

Being a pensioner singly [won't have women actually living with me!!], I prefer , for price & quality [as well as a very unusual choice?] Lidl.   Their local store have excellent staff....

 

I'm not a fan of Aldi...even though I have persisted in the past [and never learnt!!]

 

Waitrose?? Cannot understand how they manage to sell anything when their prices are significantly higher than Lidls, or , even Tesco. Yet their 'quality' really is no different.

 

Morrisons are good 'n cheap for veg, but much pricier [than Lidl] for everything else.  Rubbish for fresh fish...I have had several fresh fish disappointments form Morrisons.

 

For meat, I use a rural farm butcher [only open 2 days a week......if you want to know where the beef came from, you could have stroked it in the paddock the week before!]......eggs from there too.....and the  vac-bagged bacon bits for £1.50 are splendid...same bacon as the back bacon they sell, just the awkward pieces.  Worth a trip down muddy lanes.

 

Wilko for cleaning stuff.....so I do pop down the so-called High St on occasions.......

 

But I agree about the High St retailers...it' OK if one is into gucci stuff, and have money to spare.......no good if living off a tight budget.

Sorry, I won't buy from a High St. retailer if the prices are higher than the supermarket...I cannot afford to be charitable and  provide income of an excessive nature for someone else.

[Baby Deltic]

I find my local Tesco pretty good for groceries, but I prefer Aldi and Lidl when it comes to buying useful tools and gadgets.

[kevinlms]

 

One thing I've never understood, is those disgusting, greasy rotisserie chickens. Someone must buy them, but who? How do you put something like that in your shopping bag?

KFC?

[jjb1970]

Despite my enthusiasm for my local Tesco Express, if I go to a bigger shop it is to Morrisons and Aldi, simply because they are both on a retail park a mile away from my house. Funnily enough I don't find Aldi that cheap but I like some of the cheeses, chocolate and meat there. I go there because I like some of the goods, not because it is cheap. I like Morrisons for veg and bread.

 

When I worked in Lockerbie an MSP of the ruling party made some snide remark about Lockerbie being Tesco town. The fact that Tesco improved the lot of local people hugely by expanding the availability of goods in the town (evidenced by the fact locals were almost all delighted when the store opened and made use of it) was clearly secondary to ideological objections and social snobbery.

Edited March 11, 2018 by jjb1970

[APOLLO]

Tesco Wigan has gone down the nick recently. The staff however are friendly & helpful - the problem I find is with wrong pricing and ever changing prices - mind the others do this also - I'm getting to hate the big supermarkets. I find our Lidl & Aldi mostly OK and more convenient.

 

As to Tesco meat -----

 

 

Brit15

[tamperman36]

Could be the staff you dealt with may have just received there £1.50 meal voucher as a thank you for struggling into work during all the recent winter snow storms.

 

I dare say if that was the only thanks I got for battling into work during red weather warnings Id be a little peed off.

[tomparryharry]

I do like Tesco.

 

On the days when I'm bored, I go to try to find some fresh bread there. You never know, I might get lucky. So far, no luck.

 

The Isle of Wight branch always, always, get fresh bread. At least, that's when it gets loaded on the lorry. By the time it's been to Mozambique and back, it's still good for the pigeons.

 

Never mind. I can always take my own, and pretend....

 

I do like Tesco.....

 

 

Ian.

[The Stationmaster]

I do like Tesco.

 

On the days when I'm bored, I go to try to find some fresh bread there. You never know, I might get lucky. So far, no luck.

 

The Isle of Wight branch always, always, get fresh bread. At least, that's when it gets loaded on the lorry. By the time it's been to Mozambique and back, it's still good for the pigeons.

 

Never mind. I can always take my own, and pretend....

 

I do like Tesco.....

 

 

Ian.

 

Don't they bake it in the shop locally?  Here the dough mix is delivered and then baked 'instore' (as they call it) hence you get warm, freshly baked, bread if you arrive at the right time.

[flubrush]

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.

 

Tesco customer services staff are not paid at the minimum wage level.  My grandson worked part time in the local, large Tesco Express for two years on customer services and he was not apathetic or unmotivated - his fellow staff likewise.    My own experience of the staff in that Tesco branch does not lead me to believe that they exhibit any tendencies to hate customers.    So perhaps you can appraise me of your research which supports your sweeping statement about all customer facing staff in Tesco.

 

It's easy to demean people in jobs which you might consider to be inferior to your own.  But someone has to do them or we would all be up the creek.

 

Jim.

 

PS  I might ask my grandson for some of his experiences with some customers.

[Big James]

I’ve worked in Retail now for about 10 years now. In 2 if the big 6 supermarkets and if you work hard is show initiative you’ll go far in most of the stores. But the small minority of stores the management will promote their friends not the people who are good at their jobs. But these are the supermarkets you can see are failing. But the majority of the people I’ve worked with are good hard working people.

 

Big james

[tomparryharry]

Don't they bake it in the shop locally?  Here the dough mix is delivered and then baked 'instore' (as they call it) hence you get warm, freshly baked, bread if you arrive at the right time.

They do bake fresh bread locally: That's the problem. Once baked, it takes a holiday to the Azores, Faroe (to get the shipping forecast), Rockall, Dogger & German Bight. Then, a quick trip to Ipswich, then to our local store.

 

 

Let them eat cake....

 

Ian.

[Oldddudders]

Supermarkets do not bring out the best in everybody. After her exec job (Marketing Manager for an off-licence chain) nosedived into the swamp in 1990, Deb spent some time working in the small-ish local Gateway/Somerfield. Several people whom she knew, but who had no idea she was working there, completely blanked her, probably never seeing a need to make eye-contact with a checkout girl, anyway. She did enjoy grumpy, silent customers, offering them profuse thanks for their custom, while the queue sniggered.

 

A few years later, in the supermarket shakeout, the store became a Co-op, and there were a number of locals who, realising their street-cred would be forever damaged if they were seen shopping there, opted instead to drive the Volvo a number of miles to Tenterden, and the middle-class security of Waitrose.

[Horsetan]

Supermarkets do not bring out the best in everybody. ....

 

Understatement of the year, surely?

[alastairq]

Isn't the  baking-of-bread in store more to do with creating the baking-bread pong? Which appears to make customers nicely hungry, thus buying more?

 

Some years ago...my local Tesco had a real issue with the card readers on their tills......which were  probably a bit 'grubby' inside.  Many customers cards were being 'rejected'.....with the customers' cards [or financial state] being blamed by checkout staff & supervisors alike.....but the real culprits were the electronic readers...which their management knew about..but couldn't get 'fixed  right away.

 

I was in a long queue, with a good trolley-full....and I noticed several customers around & about, having their debit cards refused by the machines......and being roundly told to leave their shopping there, go outside to the ATM, draw the cash, & come back in to pay!  [imagine the queue at the ATM?]

I noted the embarrassment of customers, especially with the long queues forming........ Not all cards got rejected.....it was a bit hit & miss............when it came to my turn, sure enough, my card was 'rejected'.....and I got told the same thing, quite loudly... [come back to pay with cash].....

That really annoyed me......

 

Really?   

 

SO, I left the full trolley  there & then, walked out, and complained by email  [because I could]

 

The card readers were replaced very quickly..it was a 'reader' issue.....which the management knew about....but the tactic of 'blaming the customer, and their card' was not one that endeared me to the store....especially when it was obvious, rather too many were being rejected all of a sudden?

 

Leaving a full trolley  I have noted is a useful way of making a point with Tesco, on a local basis..........if one has the time, or even, can be bovvered?.   

[tomparryharry]

Supermarkets do not bring out the best in everybody. After her exec job (Marketing Manager for an off-licence chain) nosedived into the swamp in 1990, Deb spent some time working in the small-ish local Gateway/Somerfield. Several people whom she knew, but who had no idea she was working there, completely blanked her, probably never seeing a need to make eye-contact with a checkout girl, anyway. She did enjoy grumpy, silent customers, offering them profuse thanks for their custom, while the queue sniggered.

 

A few years later, in the supermarket shakeout, the store became a Co-op, and there were a number of locals who, realising their street-cred would be forever damaged if they were seen shopping there, opted instead to drive the Volvo a number of miles to Tenterden, and the middle-class security of Waitrose.

I did a couple of years at Tenterden on sub-contract. The waitrose shop never had any food when I went there. The chippy up towards Northiam was always pretty good, though.

 

Ian.

[Intercity125]

Tesco Wigan has gone down the nick recently. The staff however are friendly & helpful - the problem I find is with wrong pricing and ever changing prices - mind the others do this also - I'm getting to hate the big supermarkets. I find our Lidl & Aldi mostly OK and more convenient.

 

As to Tesco meat -----

 

 

Brit15

 

Fantastic!!!  I laughed that much, it made me cry.  You've made my day.

[Coppercap]

Quite a few years ago my sister was embarrassed on two consecutive occasions in a Tesco on the northern fringes of Hull. When she went to pay (by card), it kept getting rejected, as in there was a problem with the card, like it was reported stolen or something. In front of lots of other shoppers she was escorted to the 'manager's office' and was asked a few questions. After a call to her bank, it was found to be OK (which it would, as she and her husband were hardly likely to be crooks), and the manager let her go saying it was just a routine 'spot check' for security purposes, and was given a feeble apology. Can you imagine how she felt when her card was rejected the same way on the next visit? She (quite loudly) let the staff and everyone else within earshot what had happened on the last visit and refused to 'come to the manager's office'. She made the manager go and call her bank and get it sorted - and when it was come back and apologise - in public! She was not going to suffer the embarrasing indignity of people thinking she was some dodgy person who had a stolen card or couldn't pay for her trolley load. It was eventually sorted out, but she was livid. I don't recall if or how Tesco apologised for her double embarrassment.

[F-UnitMad]

 

As to Tesco meat -----

 

 

Brit15

Oh come on - be fair

 

Apparently in the recent 'horsemeat scandal" Inspectors were actually quite impressed that they found any actual meat at all in a Tesco burger...

 

[Ohmisterporter]

My wife went to Tesco and among the stuff she bought were a dozen bottles of own brand tonic water, enough to last a week. Passing through the till the cashier said she could not have that many bottles. Wife asked to see the manager to find out why not but a supervisor came instead. She told my wife that she couldn't take so many bottles because Tesco sell them so cheaply that we could be selling them on at a profit in our own shop. Also if we took a dozen bottles it would leave a gap on the shelf that would have to be restocked. We told her we don't have a shop and would drink the pop ourselves. Wife left the trolley and walked out. As she got into the car the woman, who had followed her out, banged on the window to continue badgering my wife about the non-existent shop we were supposed to sell Tesco's goods in. Wife had been reversing out of the space and had to stop to avoid hitting the mad woman who tried to prevent my wife driving off whilst she continued to rant. Wife told the woman that she would now go to Asda where they NEVER question your motive in buying stuff, indeed they ask if you want help packing it. Meanwhile other shoppers were coming out wheeling trolleys loaded up with cases of booze, no questions asked. 

That night we wrote to Tesco head office and the store manager and complained. A mealy mouthed apology arrived with a ten pounds voucher and an assurance that the supervisor would be retrained. We avoid shopping at Tesco when possible.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Ohmisterporter