Customer Services

allthingsgreat

I am contacting you for information as to whether or not I have a right to complain to the store manager about this?


On Saturday 6th June I purchased €83.48 worth of goods in the store, I don't know if I'm allowed mention names, so we'll call it Shelves. I generally tend to find a taxi when I've done a week's worth of shopping in any supermarket but was surprised when I was told by a staff member in a blue shirt that I could take the trolley from the store for 48 hours with a deposit. I informed her that I simply required assistance to a taxi. She went to speak with her manager who then returned to inform me that I could not leave the store with the trolley. I then inquired as to the possibility of finding a member of staff to then accompany me to the car park in order to get a taxi from there. The same member of management who was called to me was quite rude in letting me know that she wouldn't send anyone to assist me due to "health and safety" reasons, however a month ago in their sister store on P. Street, a member of staff gladly helped me to a taxi with a similar purchase so I found her statement contradictory. I asked if she would call me a taxi and she said no, that I would have to arrange my own transport. She then walked off.

I felt stranded in the store, even after informing the manager that I had nobody to help me, and that I could not physically take all of those bags out with me alone I was refused assistance. Had I been informed that a large purchase could not be made in their store I would not have done so and would have most gladly taken my money and spent it elsewhere. I looked around for signs on the wall to say staff will not assist customers with any thing of this kind and I found nothing but a sign saying “For €40 deposit trolleys may be removed from the store for 48hours”. I tried calling the taxi company which I knew locally but all of their cars were busy. Without further option I then went to customer services, proffering my receipt and the trolley and kindly requested a refund as I had no way of transporting the goods. The staff member called her manager and it was only at this point that the same manager was called and then offered me assistance. She called me a taxi herself, using the golden pages. She then took one of my bags and the laundry basket I had purchased from the trolley and told me to come with her that she would lead me out of the store to meet my taxi. I took the other heavy bags, of which there were quite a few. Upon meeting the taxi she handed the driver the two items she had in her hand and walked off.



Can anyone please let me know if I should keep my mouth shut? I am rather vexed by this.

Nody

Why do you think the store should call you a taxi or carry your stuff out? I can't recall any food store doing this.

allthingsgreat

I don't think they should do either, I was going to do it myself but they would not permit me to leave the actual building with the trolley and did not provide any assistance to me by way of calling a taxi rank nearby until I asked for a full refund. I did not know I could not take the trolley from the store, this was not written any place near where I had taken the trolley. I found it terrible how I had spent so much money and then was treated the way I was.

Kess73

It is a grocery store that provides the use of a shopping trolley, but if you want to use the trolley to take your groceries to your car or taxi, then you cannot use the trolley?


Is there a car park outside there or a multistorey car park? If so, how are customers meant to carry large purchases to their transport?



Without knowing the store or location, it is hard to comment, but it does seem odd that a grocery store would provide a shopping trolley and then not let you use it to carry your purchases to your mode of transport.



Even the smaller grocery stores like Centra, Spar, Lidl etc let you use the trolley to get to your car.

catch88

Dear OP,

Have your groceries delivered from now on. Many of the big stores do it.

Then everyone is a winner.

jor el

Kess73 wrote: »

Without knowing the store or location, it is hard to comment, but it does seem odd that a grocery store would provide a shopping trolley and then not let you use it to carry your purchases to your mode of transport.

Agreed. Most shopping centers don't let you go beyond the building, or car park if it's outside the building, with the trollies, but stopping you from going beyond the till is very unusual. Location and circumstance would dictate whether they were being reasonable or not.

Don't shop there anymore. A complaint may simply fall on deaf ears, and if it's the stores policy, then you're not likely to change that, unless you can find other customers who threaten to bring their business elsewhere too.

Lollipops23

OP some stores offer assistance to customers who are alone as an extra; they are not obliged to get someone to carry all your shopping out,especially as they probably don't have the staff to spare right now. it's s bit much to ask IMHO.

delllat

shes talking about tescos in the jervis centre and it is a particularly badly run branch of tescos

although saying that i have no idea why the op thinks she is allowed a member of staff to help transport her goods to the taxi area or anywhere else

next time buy what youo can carry

or go twice

itys not up to the store to help a person who has defied the laws of physics and bought more than they can lift

veryangryman

allthingsgreat wrote: »

I am contacting you for information as to whether or not I have a right to complain to the store manager about this?


On Saturday 6th June I purchased €83.48 worth of goods in the store, I don't know if I'm allowed mention names, so we'll call it Shelves. I generally tend to find a taxi when I've done a week's worth of shopping in any supermarket but was surprised when I was told by a staff member in a blue shirt that I could take the trolley from the store for 48 hours with a deposit. I informed her that I simply required assistance to a taxi. She went to speak with her manager who then returned to inform me that I could not leave the store with the trolley. I then inquired as to the possibility of finding a member of staff to then accompany me to the car park in order to get a taxi from there. The same member of management who was called to me was quite rude in letting me know that she wouldn't send anyone to assist me due to "health and safety" reasons, however a month ago in their sister store on P. Street, a member of staff gladly helped me to a taxi with a similar purchase so I found her statement contradictory. I asked if she would call me a taxi and she said no, that I would have to arrange my own transport. She then walked off.

I felt stranded in the store, even after informing the manager that I had nobody to help me, and that I could not physically take all of those bags out with me alone I was refused assistance. Had I been informed that a large purchase could not be made in their store I would not have done so and would have most gladly taken my money and spent it elsewhere. I looked around for signs on the wall to say staff will not assist customers with any thing of this kind and I found nothing but a sign saying “For €40 deposit trolleys may be removed from the store for 48hours”. I tried calling the taxi company which I knew locally but all of their cars were busy. Without further option I then went to customer services, proffering my receipt and the trolley and kindly requested a refund as I had no way of transporting the goods. The staff member called her manager and it was only at this point that the same manager was called and then offered me assistance. She called me a taxi herself, using the golden pages. She then took one of my bags and the laundry basket I had purchased from the trolley and told me to come with her that she would lead me out of the store to meet my taxi. I took the other heavy bags, of which there were quite a few. Upon meeting the taxi she handed the driver the two items she had in her hand and walked off.



Can anyone please let me know if I should keep my mouth shut? I am rather vexed by this.

Oh my god - if ever there was a need for the opposite to "Thanks" button, i would use it here.

Buy a car, make a friend/use a relative to carry your shopping and quit thinking that the world owes you something

Just because Super Valu offer to do it doesnt mean that every other store can and should be bothered.

joes girls

my god.....shop somewhere else i would never go to that store again......yes someone should have helped you, why not?
its like been helped to pack your shopping it just should be done!

swingking

It's called good customer service and that in my opinion is priceless. I have worked in places and helped customers bring stuff to their car. They always thank me and this in turn will lead to the customer spreading good things about the store and returning in future. It's something that is very much overlooked in this country.

I hate this attitude of "why should I!!"

It's costs nothing to be nice and some people forget that

delllat

joes girls wrote: »

my god.....shop somewhere else i would never go to that store again......yes someone should have helped you, why not?
its like been helped to pack your shopping it just should be done!

wouldnt it be great if the checkout girl whipped out your equipment and gave you a blowjob while paying for your items

joes girls

delllat wrote: »

wouldnt it be great if the checkout girl whipped out your equipment and gave you a blowjob while paying for your items

could be a little bit hard dont have anything to blow on!!!!
I am a checkout girl......where i work we do pack your bags and would always help someone out of the store with there shopping....guess life is just a bit better out of the city......:)

bladespin

Must be the only one who's shocked that a store wouldn't let a paying customer transport their purchases to a taxi.
Surely they must have some plan for this kind of occurance given their location, is everyone expected to drive to the shops now, goes a bit against the pro public transport anti car movement (btw very pro car but understand the other side too).

delllat

bladespin wrote: »

Must be the only one who's shocked that a store wouldn't let a paying customer transport their purchases to a taxi.
Surely they must have some plan for this kind of occurance given their location, is everyone expected to drive to the shops now, goes a bit against the pro public transport anti car movement (btw very pro car but understand the other side too).

the op wanted them to "give" her a staff member to help with the groceries after they wouldnt let her have the trolley out of the store

if every customer wanted that they would have to take on more staff

and beside,what gives customers a right to demand that staff will carry their groceries ??

NOTHING

joes girls

delllat wrote: »

the op wanted them to "give" her a staff member to help with the groceries after they wouldnt let her have the trolley out of the store

if every customer wanted that they would have to take on more staff

and beside,what gives customers a right to demand that staff will carry their groceries ??

NOTHING

i dont think she was demanding anything, just asked for a little help.
sorry i cant see whats wrong with this, to have just helped her out would have been the easy thing to do.hopes she will never go to that store again.....

Thoie

OP could have paid the deposit, taken the trolley to whereever, returned trolley, got deposit back. I'm sure they don't insist that you have to keep it for 48 hours.

Sponge Bob

I am not a bit surprised their trolleys are not allowed out anywhere for less than €40 upfront. They would be found in the liffey with dead dogs or dead bodies in them otherwise and the corpo would be up to Tesco with a littering fine the next day.

Kensington

You mention it was a Saturday OP. Was it pretty busy in the store at the time? Perhaps they weren't able to let someone off the floor to your car? Sure, it would be nice if the staff members were able to assist you but if it was to the detriment of other customers?

Where I worked we would obviously always arrange taxis and transport for customers when we were not busy but I lost count of the number of times I got narked at because I couldn't stop serving the next 9 customers in the queue just to order a taxi for someone who decided to buy a ridiculously large item, with no transport, in the spillings of rain...

Its ironic really - the ones who'll complain about staff members not being able to help them arrange taxis/bring their 8+ bags of shopping to their car are the very ones who'd turn around and moan that there are no staff out on the floor or on the tills, if said members of staff helped customers organise to get their shopping home. You just can't win!

joes girls

Kensington wrote: »

You mention it was a Saturday OP. Was it pretty busy in the store at the time? Perhaps they weren't able to let someone off the floor to your car? Sure, it would be nice if the staff members were able to assist you but if it was to the detriment of other customers.

yeah but how many times did the sales ass; go to a manager,was that not detriment to other customers that might have been waitin on her....and why did the manager think she had the right to be rude, give them a gold name badge and they think they are someone.....its just nice to be nice and to help people as much as you can.....but then city stores are alot different than our little ones......

MysticalSoul

Someone mentioned it was Tescos in Jervis Street. If this is indeed the case, there is actually a sign by the trolleys about not taking the trolleys off the premises without a deposit, so in this case, I would say you have no come back OP.

Kensington

joes girls wrote: »

yeah but how many times did the sales ass; go to a manager,was that not detriment to other customers that might have been waitin on her....and why did the manager think she had the right to be rude, give them a gold name badge and they think they are someone.....its just nice to be nice and to help people as much as you can.....but then city stores are alot different than our little ones......

I'm not defending the actions of the manager if she was actually rude as the OP states. However, it's quite easy to take someone up as being "rude" or "unhelpful" or "condescending" when they're not telling you what you want to hear or what you think you should be hearing. And btw, it's not just "city stores" - I've encountered many examples of ignorance and rudeness in stores, big and small, all over this country, not just in Dublin.

joes girls

im sure you have but all im sayin is i think it is easier to be nice, i have had customers that i would like to pull over the counter but i just smile and that sometimes can just annoy them even more. i would call them every thing under the sun when they are gone.....

the groutch

there may be some circumstances not mentioned here, and of course they have no obligation to help her with her shopping

but in the current economic climate they should be doing everything they can to hold on to customers, instead they've just lost the guts of €100 a week in sales, and there may be other people reading this thread who will also be put off shopping there

delllat

the groutch wrote: »

there may be some circumstances not mentioned here, and of course they have no obligation to help her with her shopping

but in the current economic climate they should be doing everything they can to hold on to customers, instead they've just lost the guts of €100 a week in sales, and there may be other people reading this thread who will also be put off shopping there

or this thread could be a "invented" by the manager of dunnes across the road to make tesco look bad and increase his own sales

or even by the manager of the other nearby tesco at parnell st which has such "friendly staff"

:rolleyes:

wmpdd3

Of course if you can you will help people to the car or get bulky items carries to the car especially if the customer also had a buggy etc.

But if you can't do this due to lack of staff that's when the problem starts, you try to explain that you can't but they say they have always got this service.

Ends in a complaint to head office. Can't win.

MOH

allthingsgreat wrote: »

I was told by a staff member in a blue shirt that I could take the trolley from the store for 48 hours with a deposit. I informed her that I simply required assistance to a taxi.

Why not just pay the deposit and use the trolley to take the stuff to the taxi, then return the trolley?

Corruptedmorals

I work in a city centre Dunnes, not in the grocery but I see the staff there all the time helping people to the car park/taxi rank. The trolleys lock once they reach the exits and they need a staff member to unlock it- I'd imagine that curbs people nicking them. It's really short-staffed too, so if we can Tesco's can..

Danno

It costs nothing to be nice and helpful.