A year or so ago, I stopped using Sainsbury’s. The store is conveniently close to where I live and Mrs L used to like them so I carried on after her death. Sainsbury’s enthusiastic embracing of the covid fannying about leading to long queues in the car park alongside their descent into abject wokery made me decide to go elsewhere. For a while I used the local Co-Op as I could turn up and walk straight in. This worked just fine until I had to isolate for 12 days last July prior to going into hospital. This meant online shopping and Co-Op don’t do deliveries around here. I ended up with Tesco as they were the only one with available slots.
Out of habit, I stuck with them. Until today. I had an order booked for yesterday evening between 19:00 and 20:00. No one turned up. I thought they might just be running late. By 22:00 I tried their contact number only to go through a menu system that bounced me out because I was asking the wrong question so I left an email message asking what the hell was going on.
It is now gone 10pm and no delivery. What happened?
This, then, was the reply I received this morning:
Thank you for your email.
I’m sorry that you didn’t receive your recent grocery order I understands this is concerning for you as you have not heard anything.
Having checked your order I’m afraid ir is showing as cancelled. We understand how important it is to provide a convenient and reliable service to our customers. While rare, there will be occasions that our store are unable to deliver your order. If we’re in this position, we’ll do our best to let you know right away. I’m sorry you had to get in touch with us to find out your order wasn’t being delivered.
I’ve sent you a £10.00 coupon to your account to use on a future order. Just enter the code when you’re checking out your next order and it will deduct the eCoupon value from your total amount to pay.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.
So, typical corporate platitudes. A £10 voucher doesn’t cut it. What I want is the grocery order I had placed and paid for.
Thanks, but what about my order? I’m running out of groceries.
I see no point beating about the bush here. The response was more of the same.
Thanks for getting back in touch with us.
I’m afraid you will have to reorder your groceries on this occasion. I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused.
I hope this helps and that you are having a nice day.
No, I am not having a nice day. I’m at work trying to sort out what should have been a fairly simple exchange. Having wasted time yesterday evening waiting for an order that didn’t arrive, I am now having to deal with inane platitudes and will have to try and schedule in a shopping trip that I would rather not do as I have other things planned. And telling me to reorder my shopping when it’s fairly obvious that this will have to be at least a week hence and I already have an order in the system for then doesn’t help fill the fridge, does it?
Now I understand a bit about customer service having done a bit of it in my time. The measure of a company is not whether it makes mistakes as everyone does that from time to time (and I am pretty forgiving when they happen), but how well they deal with them. Inane platitudes and a £10 voucher is not an adequate response. The only appropriate action is to restore the situation to that which would have existed if the mistake had not occurred. In other words, reschedule the delivery at a mutually convenient time.
Sorry, not good enough. I booked this slot three weeks ago. You sent me a receipt yesterday and I waited in for a delivery that never came. My bank is showing the money as having gone out.
The correct response here was to offer to reschedule at my convenience. I am not interested in a £10 voucher, I want the groceries I ordered. I will now have to try and find time to go out to do a shop.
As it is, I’ll be cancelling all future orders and going elsewhere.
If you think I’m being harsh here, it’s because I’m being fobbed off and obviously so. What I want is the groceries I’ve ordered and paid for. Not much to ask. However, it is clear that they do not have a mechanism to deal with this situation and are telling me where to go. Well, two can play that game. Oh, I’m under no illusion that this will affect their bottom line. But poor customer service does have consequences. One is that you lose the customer and the other is that they tell others as I am doing here.
Thanks for getting back in touch with my colleague.
I’m very sorry to hear you did not receive your order on this occasion
Unfortunately, we are unable to arrange a reschedule on this occasion. I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused.
The voucher is still valid if you want to use this to rebook another order for a later date.
Your patience has been much appreciated.
No, I don’t want the voucher. I want the groceries I ordered and paid for.
As I started writing this blog post, the money was still missing from my account so I rattled off a reminder and see that they have now refunded it. I should not have needed to remind them.
But, then…
You are kidding me, right?
Now those of you who have been lurking around here know that my attitude to these things is to ignore them. However, on this occasion, I broke the habit of a lifetime and obliged. I wonder if they will take in my use of the word “woeful?”
Let’s just say that I have never come across such appalling customer service as I have with this shower and, like Sainsbury’s, I will never darken their doors again.
Tesco service has gone downhill fast.
Crap produce, broken packaging, dismissive staff, and even a refusal to provide basic carrier bags.
I think they’ve expanded their delivery operation too quickly, and expended quality.
I’ve gone elsewhere, as well. Ocado is much better produce and service.
Just to add: I received an email telling me that it was a system fault and that 79 other people were similarly let down. They apologised again. Yeah, yeah, I get it. However, when things go wrong, you have one golden opportunity to shine and they didn’t.
“…when things go wrong, you have one golden opportunity…”
Absoutely! If they’d dealt with the mistake, corrected it, apologised and given you the £10 voucher as a thank you for your understanding you’d have been singing their praises and they may got more customers. Tesco would have gone up in my estimation after having plummeted years ago when they fined a disabled couple who’d spent more than two hours in the car park having spent a substantial sum doing their Christmas shopping.
Amazon have also taken to secretly cancelling orders and hoping you don’t notice. They’ve done this atleast 6 times to me now, when one of their own delivery vehicles loses the parcel.
You have to notice that the ‘dispatched parcel’ never arrived, view the order transit status, where they say ‘Parcel lost/damaged. Order cancelled. Please reorder’.
They’ve also removed the ‘view open orders’ option, so it’s much harder now to find items that are ordered and not delivered.
The basic concept of saying “Sorry, we bungled and have had to create a reorder. All sorted now.” seems to have escaped them. Perhaps they’ve hired ex-Tesco people?
A shame, because Amazon service used to be first class. Not any more.
I’ve never tried online Tesco, but the local filling station Tesco staff are friendly and have never once complained about absence of muzzle.
We tend to get a lot of stuff from our local butchers now, including most of the veg. Always great quality and it’s a proper well run family business with lovely staff. The other bits we do click and collect from the local Morrisons on the basis they can’t fuck it up and cancel it. Judging by how busy our butcher has got since lockdown a lot of people are doing the same.
I’ve just placed an order with Morrison’s for tomorrow.
Just guessing but I would not be surprised if they ran out of drivers…
Possible. But letting us know would have been a start.
Indeed, but usually the company only finds out a driver won’t show up at the start of the shift. 🙂
I agree with you though, mistakes are made but it is how one deal with them that shows the quality of service.
Quite so. However, sending out a text as soon as they know is the least they can do.
I gave up on Tesco about a decade ago due to their customer service. Not given them a penny since.
Well, I may have been lucky but I’ve had a very different experience with Tesco. I’ve been using the delivery service for eighteen months as my Partner was designated as highly vulnerable. Early on in the present difficulties I could only book a ‘Click & Collect’ slot but then out of the blue I had a call from the girls on the Customer Service desk to say that they would collect the order in their own time and bring it to our home personally. Beyond the call of duty I would say.
Since then Tesco’s haven’t missed a beat. Maybe they perform better in the wilds of Norfolk.
That’s good for you, of course. I do accept that things go wrong. They went downhill when they failed to let me know what was going on. I shouldn’t have had to contact them. The bland corporate speak simply wasn’t helpful. But different people will have different experiences.
Not good CS, as Tesco knew 79 others affected the should have offered ASAP re-delivery and £xx
l’ve never had a problem with Tesco deliveries. Drivers friendly and helpful. One delivery had spilt milk, Tesco refunded all wet and driver re-delivered milk on his way home.
Another, driver delivered. When he tried to restart engine, starter wouldn’t engage with ring gear. Few mins later a text: “Your order may be delayed….”
Sainsbewokes: seems they will not require masks after 19 July. No doubt Gov’t pressuring them to change: “How would you like an HMRC audit?”
Precisely this. I would have forgiven the original failure, but the response was so poor, walking away and letting them know it was the only adequate response.
Tried the ‘click and collect’ in Tesco Cork one time. Wasn’t impressed. Previously underwhelmed with any supermarkets delivery services either in Ireland or the UK because they substitute stuff I didn’t order, then turn up late or not at all.
Wouldn’t shop in Tesco or Sainsbury’s unless there was absolutely no alternative. I’d rather pay the higher prices in places like local stores, Dunnes (The Irish Marks & Spencers) and smaller supermarkets in person. At least I can find what I need there and then, not what some minimum wage employee thinks I’d want if I was their head office.
There’s also the point that these home delivery services need a two to four hour window, which means you’re already going to be hanging around for that length of time, so you might as well go to the store in person.
Too many substitutions as well. ASDA is just as bad. What? No alternatives to two litre bottles of Gordon’s London gin? Outrageous.
Substitutions wasn’t an issue for me. It was only occasionally that it happened.
I quite enjoy grocery shopping so I don’t use these online order and delivery services. My local store is an Asda, I’ve been shopping there for years and have very few complaints.
An abiding memory of my local Asda is of a twenty something woman screaming the length of the fruit and veg aisle, holding aloft said veg, “Is this what f*cking broccoli looks like?” OO
I use Tesco and Morrisons, I find them to be much the same in quality of goods and service.
One thing to beware of if you switch to Morrisons is their substitutions. When Tesco makes a substitution it is usually the same or better at the same price, Morrisons charge the new price. E.g. 1.5kg bag @ £2.50 replaced by 2 x 1kg bags @ £2 each; Tesco would charge £2.50, Morrisons would charge £4.
I’ve boycotted all the major supermarkets for one thing or another, until I ran out of places to shop. Now I just stick with Tesco
On one occasion, I actually had exactly the same experience as you though; no order, no contact. I phoned up and it turned out to be down to a driver phoning in sick. I rambled on about how poor it was that they never told me, but I stayed on the phone until the operator had rebooked my delivery and appended my £10 voucher for me
Thier customer service for online orders is terrible, but for the most part, the drivers are very good and helpful, the prices are good and I like the way you don’t pay extra for substitutions, as I always order the cheapest stuff
Also, if they deliver you a rotten apple, you get another £10 voucher
You were fortunate that you could get hold of someone. That was part of my irritation. They didn’t let me know they weren’t delivering, I couldn’t speak to anyone so by the time I left an email message, they had already pissed me off. Given that, I wasn’t exactly receptive to the scripted email replies that followed. I’m not sure that they get it. The probably never will.
Morrisons for me everytime. British meat – the best in the world !
We shall see.
@Bill
Dunnes (The Irish Marks & Spencers) – indeed. Their “St Bernard” own brand a copy of M&S St Micheal – same colours, font etc
@Dr Evil
Tesco substitutions never an issue for me. Always same/similar, but more expensive at the original price
eg 2 x 10 packs instead of 1 x 20
Heinz Beans instead of Tesco
@Stonyground
I don’t enjoy shopping, but I do prefer grocery in-store to online – especially trying new foods date reduced by 75% – 95%
@FrankH
Thanks for the Morrisons fyi – duplicitous behaviour
@All
Never forget, the supermarkets operate on tiny margins. Net profit is 2% – 4%
I was aware of their profit margins. I worked for Sainsbury’s for a year when we came back from France. Bloody awful experience.
After shopping with them for 40 years I dumped Sainsbury’s at the start of the Great Catastrophe as they wouldn’t even allow me on the website, yet insisted on sending me daily emails from the CEO telling me how marvellously they were doing. They seemed to be able to bar all but those designated vulnerable – presumably by IP addresses. It’s slightly sinister to me that they would be able to do this. Given their woke antics I’m glad not to have put a penny in their tills since and never will again.
Yes, I got that. Pissed me off too.
Had a similar thing with Ikea. Nearly 2k of kitchen. All booked in, account page shows order being put together. Email from them the day before confirming delivery the next day (Saturday). Then…..nothing. Emailed Monday morning…..nothing. Go on the phone Tuesday(50 minutes of Abba while hanging on – what sort of diseased mind come up with that bit of mental torture). Stroppy young woman who answered every one of my questions with “don’t know”. No help so cancelled order. Call up customer services….another 50 minutes of Abba. Bloke eventually offers a £15 gift card…….
As predicted Sainsbewoke’s ‘circles back’
Sainsbury´s and Tesco to Continue Telling Customers to Wear Face Masks After `Freedom Day´
https://lockdownsceptics.org/2021/07/15/sainsburys-and-tesco-to-continue-telling-customers-to-wear-face-masks-after-freedom-day/
Mike Graham on talkRadio angry about their U-Turn
Abysmal service? They’re following Gov’t Project Fear instructions:
“Due to Covid…” – or else Tax, VAT, H&S… audit
Unfortunately the women run HR are happy to comply – balls
Timpsons again says NO
Is an HMRC audit that scary for a company like Sainsbury’s or Tesco?
They have teams of accountants and the like on staff. Surely it would just be another day for them…
@Chernyy
Yes. It’s the “C” bit – Blair/Brown – a tax investigation can mean arrest, forced entry to business & homes, seizure of assets until proven innocent, shutdown…
Then there is H&S and Fire Safety they can always find a shutdown reason. Same with License – we’ve had complaints, license suspended while we investigate. Add on Covid rules
Tesco’s and the like intentionally run a VAT debt as the fines for doing so are less than the interest payments.
I had an email this afternoon from the CEO of Tesco inviting me to wear a face muzzle in store. My reply was:
“Fuck off Jason, I have not and will not wear a face muzzle.”
Perhaps I will be banned from their online service. Ho hum.
Indeed. I’ve not had any such emails for a while now.
Same here: no emails recently
Also still no email or in-store ‘voucher’ from Morrisons about ‘More’ points ended and must redeem by 9 Aug or gone (£95 of points)