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Original poster

Terrible customer service - this time it's TESCO

111 replies

wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 04/06/2024 08:52

Totally fed up of bad customer service! What do you make of this?

On 22 May, I bought a reduced meal for 2 at Tesco - a "Finest Chicken in Prosecco sauce". Checked the packet to make sure it was okay to freeze. Went home, put it in the freezer. Sunday night, I moved it from the freezer to the fridge to defrost, with the intention of eating it on Monday night for dinner.

So, Monday night, I look at the back of the pack for cooking instructions, and I notice on the back, in tiny letters it says “not suitable for home freezing”. Very odd, because it says the opposite on the front.

Husband and I decide it's not worth taking a risk and eating it, especially with it being chicken. The local Tesco is only 5 minutes up the road, so a pain in the bum, but I get coat and shoes on and drive up there to take it back.

Fully expected Tesco to be shocked at the conflicting instructions on the packet, but no, the woman on the customer service desk, immediately says they can't take it back because :

It's not fresh.

It's been frozen.

They don’t know if I froze it on the day I bought it.

They don’t know whether I defrosted it properly.

I got it reduced anyway (it was still £4).

The date on it is 22 May, so I didn't buy it recently.

How any of the above is relevant, I don't know. No apologies for the inconvenience. In fact assistant was quite snappy.

I asked assistant if she would be happy with this if she were me, to which she replied that she wouldn’t have brought it back, because she would have realised that SHE had made a mistake!

How is this my mistake? Ah, apparently I should have not taken the sign on the front at face value, and I should have read all of the small print on the back of the packet before purchasing. Hmm.

After arguing my point, I eventually got my £4 back on a gift card. Which didn’t work at the check out. Brilliant.

I'm pretty sure that some people (we have a lot of elderly people here) may have walked away £4 down, which could be quite a chunk of their daily shopping budget.

OP posts:
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Catza · 05/06/2024 21:05

MuseKira · 05/06/2024 12:04

Safe or not is irrelevant. The packaging was wrong and that needs to be flagged as the major issue that it is. It's not for a stroppy customer services assistant to decide on what's serious or not. Tesco were in the wrong and a refund is the least they should do, without stroppiness!

Show quote history

Why are you inserting yourself into a conversation that has nothing whatsoever to do with you? I was responding to a very specific point in the poster’s post. If you can’t bother reading the entire quote history, then maybe you shouldn’t be posting.
I addressed the OP elsewhere.

Tlolljs · 05/06/2024 13:27

Again it’s not the freezing aspect that’s the problem here it’s the inaccurate labelling.
My dgs is diabetic we have to calculate his insulin by the amount of carbs on a packet. If it’s wrong it could be disastrous. You should have been given a refund and the error should be flagged at a higher level.

Original poster
wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 05/06/2024 13:02

MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:40

Going to twitter and wanting someone "spoken to", along with the manager not wanting to deal with it all sounds like you might want to look at your attitude.

There will likely be body cam audio and video of you as body cams are worn on customer service desk, so they can see the incident either way though.

I'd love there to be footage. I was not horrible at all, she however was awful. And yes, she does need pulling up on it. You shouldn't roll your eyes at customers and tell them that it's their fault the packaging is wrong. I hope she gets her arse handed to her.

OP posts:
MuseKira · 05/06/2024 12:51

muddyford · 05/06/2024 12:44

There's an assistant in our local Sainsbury's with exactly the same attitude. After today I shall be avoiding her unless it's desperate. But I have frozen stuff that says you can't freeze at home - you are cooking it, not eating it cold from the packaging.

We have one of them at our local GP surgery. I just walk in, see her, and walk straight out again if I'm not there for an appointment (vanishing rare these days to get a face to face appointment). I just try again another day and get someone else as most of the others are actually helpful. Same on the phone, if she answers, I just hang up.

And no, it's not just me. I actually know her from a previous job where she was a receptionist (for a very short time as they sacked her). She was awful, rude and unhelpful there too.

muddyford · 05/06/2024 12:44

There's an assistant in our local Sainsbury's with exactly the same attitude. After today I shall be avoiding her unless it's desperate. But I have frozen stuff that says you can't freeze at home - you are cooking it, not eating it cold from the packaging.

MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:40

Going to twitter and wanting someone "spoken to", along with the manager not wanting to deal with it all sounds like you might want to look at your attitude.

There will likely be body cam audio and video of you as body cams are worn on customer service desk, so they can see the incident either way though.

Original poster
wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 05/06/2024 12:34

Yeah, he just didn't speak. Weird. I got £10 voucher when I raised it on Twitter. Happy with that. Also, the assistant will be spoken to.

OP posts:
MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:28

Did you not speak to him, did he not then reply?

Shift leaders don't have to be a certain age, it's a short training course, as you can imagine it's not a job many people want.

Fairyliz · 05/06/2024 12:24

Hope it gets sorted op.
I wish someone would start a thread entitled companies that give good customer service.
I can’t do it as I’ve not found any since Covid.

Original poster
wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 05/06/2024 12:21

It was weird. I asked for the Manager. She went and got him. He looked about 12. She carried on dominating the conversation and he said nothing. 😳

OP posts:
Rubbishconfession · 05/06/2024 12:18

MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:13

I would assume the woman had just had enough that day then, service desk is a mentally draining job.

If you end up in that situation again you're best off asking to speak to the shift leader than getting into arguing the toss over it, as the shift leader will likely want you out of the way quickly to get on with what theyre doing and will hopefully also clock that the assistant needs switching off for a break.

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Assuming she just had enough that day is such a cop out. Yes, most staff are helpful and nice and many customers are awful, but THIS particular staff member does need to be pulled up by management on her customer service.

MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:13

wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 05/06/2024 12:09

Absolutely not. I was really nice, not confrontational in the least, because I didn't think for one moment that she would argue the toss. I know what you mean about how some people speak to shop staff and waiters etc, and I hate it. I am always nice, always say please and thank you etc.

Show quote history

I would assume the woman had just had enough that day then, service desk is a mentally draining job.

If you end up in that situation again you're best off asking to speak to the shift leader than getting into arguing the toss over it, as the shift leader will likely want you out of the way quickly to get on with what theyre doing and will hopefully also clock that the assistant needs switching off for a break.

Original poster
wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 05/06/2024 12:09

MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:04

Did you go in with an attitude that the woman on self service is at fault and should be apologising?
It's astounding the way many adults speak to customer assistants.

Absolutely not. I was really nice, not confrontational in the least, because I didn't think for one moment that she would argue the toss. I know what you mean about how some people speak to shop staff and waiters etc, and I hate it. I am always nice, always say please and thank you etc.

OP posts:
MuseKira · 05/06/2024 12:04

Catza · 05/06/2024 10:52

It's not serious. People just lack basic biology knowledge and invent phobias out of ignorance. Perfectly safe to do what you are doing.

Show quote history

Safe or not is irrelevant. The packaging was wrong and that needs to be flagged as the major issue that it is. It's not for a stroppy customer services assistant to decide on what's serious or not. Tesco were in the wrong and a refund is the least they should do, without stroppiness!

MistAndFog · 05/06/2024 12:04

Did you go in with an attitude that the woman on self service is at fault and should be apologising?
It's astounding the way many adults speak to customer assistants.

Original poster
wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 05/06/2024 12:00

Catza · 05/06/2024 10:52

It's not serious. People just lack basic biology knowledge and invent phobias out of ignorance. Perfectly safe to do what you are doing.

Show quote history

If they get the packaging wrong for this, who is to say the ingredients list is right? What if someone has a severe food allergy? You can't just shrug and say it's not serious. And it's certainly not ok, for the shop assistant to tell me that it's my fault! I mean, wtf!

OP posts:
Catza · 05/06/2024 10:52

loropianalover · 04/06/2024 10:21

When it says not suitable for home freezing, does that just mean the consistency won’t be the same, it won’t be AS good if coming from frozen? I’ve always frozen things even when they’re labelled not suitable, now I feel like I shouldn’t! I didn’t think it was that serious, especially as I’d only freeze for a weekend or week, not for e.g. 3 months.

OP, I would have eaten it and then just emailed pics of the packaging to customer service, I’d never bother going back to the shop.

It's not serious. People just lack basic biology knowledge and invent phobias out of ignorance. Perfectly safe to do what you are doing.

MuseKira · 04/06/2024 18:33

northernballer · 04/06/2024 17:09

We need people like OP to complain about the small stuff or we end up with situations like thr Post Office where big companies take the absolute piss and get away with it

Good on you OP, MN's own Alan Bates 😀

Well said. Nail on the head there. We need proper accountability and that starts with people making organisations aware of their failings AND organisations taking things seriously. Far too many customer services staff and customer services departments are just "Fob Off" merchants and that must change.

LongSinceGotUpAndGone · 04/06/2024 18:04

Good result. Even if you had read the back as well, what were you supposed to do - toss a coin?

B1anche · 04/06/2024 18:00

wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 04/06/2024 17:20

I've had a reply from them on Twitter, and I have to say they were fantastic. The lady admitted she would have frozen it too, based on the logo on the front. They are going to speak to the store about attitude. And they've set me a digital card worth £10. So, I'm happy with that.

I think the thing that riled me up the most, was the woman in the store telling me over and over "this is YOUR fault, you should have read the back of the packet as well".

Well done OP, great result!

Rubbishconfession · 04/06/2024 17:33

Good result, OP. They need the bollocking from head office, and that will help the next person who complains.

Sounds like the stroppy assistant decided you were trying it on without looking at the facts.

Original poster
wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 04/06/2024 17:20

I've had a reply from them on Twitter, and I have to say they were fantastic. The lady admitted she would have frozen it too, based on the logo on the front. They are going to speak to the store about attitude. And they've set me a digital card worth £10. So, I'm happy with that.

I think the thing that riled me up the most, was the woman in the store telling me over and over "this is YOUR fault, you should have read the back of the packet as well".

OP posts:
northernballer · 04/06/2024 17:09

We need people like OP to complain about the small stuff or we end up with situations like thr Post Office where big companies take the absolute piss and get away with it

Good on you OP, MN's own Alan Bates 😀

Sahara123 · 04/06/2024 17:01

Valid8me · 04/06/2024 09:17

Tbh I would have eaten it anyway and then just sent them the label back so that they could rectify it, I couldn't be bothered traipsing back to Tesco to argue with a shop assistant over 4 quid.

Same here .

RichardsGear · 04/06/2024 16:58

wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays · 04/06/2024 10:58

Thank you! 👏

I also don't know why anyone would think that returning a faulty item to the place I bought it was wrong. To speak with a real person, and show them the packaging.

You know what I hate as well - even if you do get your refund, you never get anything on top for your inconvenience. Traipsing back to the shop, finding a place to park, queuing at the CS desk. One of the big supermarkets used to give you double back for faulty goods or if you were charged wrongly. I think it was Sainsbury's.

I checked my Aldi receipt the other day, and a bottle of wine was put through twice. They did refund me, but again, nothing for the trouble of having to go back to the shop.

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Well, that's over and above if they gave you the refund at a later date after you'd taken the shopping home, because how could they possibly know you didn't actually buy two bottles of wine at the time? Or do you mean you went back to the till from the packing counter when you realised you'd been overcharged? 😏