OTT 'basket' check for Tesco scan and shop

[alwayswantchocolate]

I had my second 'basket check' today in Tesco, I've done about 5 shops this way so far. The first time I used it, I had about 25 items checked, but that's fair enough it was my first go and she randomly scanned the items from a few of my bags. No errors found.

Today, I had my entire £122 family weekly shop checked. Literally every single item except two items in a freezer bag on the end of the trolley hook that I think she mustn't have seen. Every carefully packed item was taken out of my heaped trolley onto a customer service desk over the course of about 20 minutes. It was so humiliating and when I kept asking, once we were about half way through, if she was going to scan every item, I was ignored. I felt like a criminal. No errors were found, but it wasted my time and I was late for work as a result (I'd got up early to fit the shopping in, being a busy mum and all).

Not to mention, it didn't get re-packed by me very well as I was flustered and trying to rush.

I complained to the Head office afterwards via whatsapp chat, and got several off-hand replies when I persistently pointed out it was totally disproportionate and there was no need to do the whole trolley if no errors were being found. They said 'random checks', 'it's so we can check that you aren't being over charged', 'etc.' and didn't seem to see there being any issue whatsoever. They weren't apologetic, and the store staff were a bit frosty as well.

Honestly I don't look like a criminal and I don't believe I was acting like one, I was reasonably dressed and not scruffy looking, and it eventually emerged that I'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

I wonder if I'm being unreasonable to be so annoyed about this? I wouldn't have minded a random check of items at all. I just minded this. I would have walked out and left my shopping but I thought that would make me look guilty so I stood there and waited but as I say, I was late for work as a result. I don't think I can face that experience again, which is a shame as it should have been a time saver for me.

They just need to bring back staff at tills, if they are so concerned about thefts. I actually used a till today and the checkout lady was so lovely. She said hello to my DS, it's the small things. Some people could go a whole day without talking to someone.

This is part of the reason we stopped shopping in Tesco. The scanners are shit and take forever to load each item you scan

Not remotely the case in my Tesco's. The scanning is instant.

We are told to scan a certain number of items if someone is selected for a check. The only reason the whole shop would need be scanned is if something we scanned as part of the check hadn't been scanned by the customer. It's easy to do, I've done it myself! It's not personal but the person that served you sounds dreadful.

The record monetary value of unscanned items when we've had to do a full rescan because a customer failed a random check is currently £348 in my store.

I always do scan and shop and very rarely get stopped for a check, and when I have, it's only been 5 items. A whole trolley sounds bonkers!

Unless I’m only buying 2-3 items, I now go through the standard tills as it’s such a faff.

I’m as stubborn as you are….I very rarely use DIY tills and have never been stopped and checked. If I was I’d like to think I’d let them do it, then ask for a full refund and walk out

As far as I’m concerned they either pay for enough staff at the checkouts. Or they make us as customers do their work for them. What p*s me off is if i do the work for them in self service checkouts or self scan and then they have the cheek to want to check I’m doing it right. Guys - I have no training and you’re not paying me… feel free to have enough staff for a pleasant checkout experience and we’re all sorted

It’s not true that it affects new scan users most. I’ve been scanning my shopping for years and still get chosen all the bloody time for rescanning checks . I had it again today In Sainsbury’s- knackered after a day at work and someone’s toddler shrieking all around the store , I honestly felt like weeping when they said they had to scan 20 items .

@Gherkins34565 do you honestly believe scanning your own shopping is in any way like working in self scan? It's not.

I think you were flagged up. The store can do this, the minute you scan on if they think there may have been a problem with your last shop.
I have worked on this department and l would say for every customer we checked, one in two would have "forgotten" to scan at least one high value item.
I don't know why they don't scrap it,they lose a huge amount of money. But our store is only interested now in the online side of things, that's where they take the most money, not through the tills, tills are a thing of the past, supermarkets don't want them and have moved on. It's also why they don't give a shit about the abuse the poor online pickers face every single day, customers ask all the time why can't you pick from a warehouse, not knowing the store we are actually picking in is slowly being prepared for just that.

I'm surprised that your store takes most money from online shoppers, I'm sure I read that since the pandemic online food shopping is decreasing and that still the supermarket haven't worked out how to make it profitable

I always get pulled for a check on both Tesco and Waitrose. Sometimes it’s a 10 item check but more usually it’s the whole lot and takes a long time. I’ve never been overcharged nor had products in the bags which weren’t paid for. I just don’t understand why it’s always me they check!

This is exactly why I won't use the self scanners.

Multiple, frequent checks of what you are scanning, all your bags unpacked. So annoying and it takes way longer than going through a normal checkout in the first place.

And the last time I was checked, he was really rude, annoyingly he then found an item I'd missed (or the scanner didn't pick it up as I swore I'd scanned it) but anyhow either my error or the scanners, I certainly wasn't trying to steal anything, and he was so rude and accusatory, I just handed him the scanner said I'd never use the bloody thing again and took my shopping to a till.

Not used it since and don't intend to go back. I go to a till with a person on usually. Much nicer experience.

If you get flagged for a rescan and then abandon the shop or go to a manual till you will get a full rescan everytime as the system thinks you've walked off with the shopping as the two systems are not connected.

I got the 'random ' check every time so I stopped bothering with it

DemBonesDemBones Yesterday 21:20

We are told to scan a certain number of items if someone is selected for a check. The only reason the whole shop would need be scanned is if something we scanned as part of the check hadn't been scanned by the customer. It's easy to do, I've done it myself! It's not personal but the person that served you sounds dreadful.

This is not the same in my local store. Full shop scans happen randomly from the outset, and mine always come up as correctly scanned by me. (though many years ago I did miss a reduced to 7p sachet)
There has been an issue of correctly scanned reduced goods that are wrongly labelled, but it's easy to see the labels haven't been tampered with.
I don't know if being a high crime area has anything to do with it. There is a visibly high incidence of walk outs and and people setting off alarms. (the later seems to often be hidden security tags still on paid for items)

I've taken to traveling to a different store where I've only ever had a few item check. Never been checked at all at Asda's or Sainsburys.

I like it because I can see how much I’m spending as I’m going around the shop and it’s packed into shopping bags as I go along so no need to unpack trolley onto a belt then put back in to a trolley and bags

Doesn't matter as I've never used it again.

Seeing how much you've spent as you go is literally the only benefit to this system as far as I'm concerned and I can manage without that.

This whole thread makes going to supermarkets seem archaic to me. Getting the shopping delivered is so much more convenient than walking around aisles and scanning things.

I stopped shopping that way for the same reasons. I never had my full shopping scanned again, but just got really fed up that we were getting ‘randomly selected’ a disproportionate amount of times ie, more often than not. It was really frustrating taking the additional time & then having my well packed and organised shopping ransacked. All of this defeated the object of shopping that way in the first place.

My nearby big Sainsbury only has ONE bloody checkout open on a Saturday morning! There is always a long queue of elderly and disabled people for it, and one poor checkout woman trying to get through as fast as she can.

I don't use the self-scan because I don't like it.

Finding something you haven’t scanned has nothing do to with whether they carry on scanning or not. The are given a specific number of items to check, sometimes it’s a while shop.

How did you get a refund when the rescan is done before payment is even taken?

I think this is standard procedure when you first start using the self scan system, it’s to reassure their AI that things haven’t been missed or over scanned as the same happened to me. Now I never get checked and it is a huge time saver as I hate food shopping.

Honestly, i think I'd have let her get to the end and then say I'd changed my mind and go elsewhere. Someone up the thread said if you haven't got a few minutes - it wouldn't be a few minutes, it would take a while to unpack and repack everything.

I don't use self-scan and have no intention of doing so.