to complain about the 'Customer Service' in Sainsburys today?

[LilRedWG]

... or am I being oversensitive?

I took DD(4.6) to have her hair cut and as we were early popped into Sainsbury for a couple of bits.

I am on crutches, due to severe SPD, and in a fair amount of pain. DD - bless her - picked up a basket for the shopping but once we'd picked up some chicken it was too heavy for her and kept banging into her legs and hurting (it was an old heavy wire one) so I took it off her. I also wanted to get her some new woolly tights for school but didn't know if that branch sold them so hobbled to the nearby Customer Service desk to ask. I am very obviously pregnant btw.

I politely asked the lady at the desk if she knew if they stocked tights. She stared at me as though I'd asked for a pink fluffy dildo and said, "I don't know". I said, "Okay, thanks" (again pleasantly) and went to walk off to find someone who knew - there were plenty of other staff nearby. As I moved off she suddenly said, "I'd have to look". Me - stupidly thinking this was an offer of assistance - smiled with relief and stood there like a moron whilst she stared at me. When it became obvious that she wasn't offering I asked where they might be and she directed me to the other end of the store.

So - is this appalling service or am I being over-sensitive and expecting too much from Customer Service.

Poor customer service. I've found recently in Sainsbo's that if you ask where the (obscure item) is, they actually take you to the aisle where obscure item is, check it's OK and then ask if there's anything else they can help you find (implication: poor sad individual can't find obscure items). I'd assumed it was in their staff training, or maybe just my local store.

If you're obviously pregnant and on crutches, they should be helping more.

When I am old, I will wear purple with a red hat.

I will also work at my local branch of Sainsbury's.

I will reprimand customers who get in the way of my shelf-stacking (don't they know I have a job to do - they should wait until I've finished putting all the chickens out before just helping themselves).

Our Sainsbury's is well-known locally for offering Customer Service with an attitude... so YANBU.

Thanks both, am glad I'm not just a hormonal whingebag. piprabbit, I just checked your profile to see if you are near this branch - you are miles away.

It must vary from shop to shop as our local Sainsburys offer the best customer service for miles.

P.S. you can send the hamper now

YANBU I am currently boycotting Next as not one of the three people I asked on Sunday were able to tell or show me clearly where their maternity clothes were, I'm also pretty sure that one sent me to the wrong floor because I had the audacity to interupt her conversation about which club she'd been to on Saturday night. It's really annoying.

Sainsbury's don't impress me. I rarely go because our local one is filthy and stinks (dried blood in the meat fridges, that sort of thing).

I have house insurance with them though and they sent me £30 in vouchers for renewing (so obviously over charged me at least £50 ). I'll shop around next year!

Anyway, not only did very rude checkout manager criticise me when I asked why they were closing 8 tills in a row simultaneously when there was at least 2 people queuing at each till. Apparently the queues were "reducing", well they aren't going to keep reducing if they close 8 tills at once are they??!! I have hip pain and am 22 weeks pg so tend to be a bit about being made to stand around.

We bought a gym ball to help my posture at home. No word of a lie, all over the box in big text it says "DON'T LOOSE YOUR BOUNCE"!!! "loose"? they mean "lose"! I honestly can't believe such a big error from a UK company. Totally disgusted - never going there again.

2 employees of our local sainsburys actually saved a customers life recently - elderly lady with heart attack, they did CPR till the ambulance came - won an award, all over the papers etc - so they are not all bad

In my experience any written complaint to a supermarket results in a £5 or £10 goodwill voucher, more for a more serious "offence" - not that i make a living out of it!

I was in a MASSIVE hardware store in Canada once and asked the guy on the Service Desk if they sold UK plug adapters. He said (with a smile) "They're in aisle 80B on the second shelf". Good customer service comes from staff taking pride in themselves and their work. YANBU she is a mardy bitch.

I agree, YANBU.

Our Sainsbury's is, on the whole, brill. (Even better now that they deliver)

Apart from the snotty cow on the deli counter who refused to slice serrano ham without putting those faffy bits of cellophane between each slice. When I asked for her to slice it without cellophane between each slice, she told me in her best Hyacinth Bouquet accent 'THIS IS A QUALITY PRODUCT YOU KNOW, AND IT NEEDS TO BE PACKAGED AS SUCH'. (snigger) I told her to forget it, and complained to the manager, who promptly went and sliced £10 worth of serrano ham himself, without cellophane between each slice. Snurk

Meant to say, £10 of serrano which he gave as a goodwill gesture.

In my local Sainsburys the staff on the floor couldn't be more helpful. They take you directly to item you are trying to locate and then check if you need anything else, mostly all with a smile...
However I have found the staff on 'customer service' often appear disinterested and sullen if you approach them with a query, request or problem. I find them to be generally [but not always] unhelpful. Not sure what is going on there, perhaps someone on MN might work for Sainsburys and may be able to shed some light on this conundrum... Although perhaps it could be just the staff in my local store?

'Poor customer service. I've found recently in Sainsbo's that if you ask where the (obscure item) is, they actually take you to the aisle where obscure item is, check it's OK and then ask if there's anything else they can help you find (implication: poor sad individual can't find obscure items). I'd assumed it was in their staff training, or maybe just my local store.
If you're obviously pregnant and on crutches, they should be helping more.'

Mardy that is sainsburys training, to the manual exactly, I know someone who works there!

You wouldn't get that in Waitrose . In Waitrose they drop everything and escort you to the item. I want to manage to be in Waitrose one day when there's actually a fire or a robbery in progress and see if they still do it - I want to know what it takes to get poor service there.

There are useless employees who are not very good at their jobs all over the place. Sounds like you unfortunately crossed paths with one this time!

My local store has got a bit better recently, but a long long time ago the service was so bad when I was 9 months pregnant (the cashier refused to help me pack when the bump stopped me reaching over) that I did write a letter of complaint. Got a beautiful bouquet sent with 20 pd gift voucher (11 or so years ago now).

I have a friend who works in Sainsburys and indeed they are supposed to drop everything and take you to where exactly the item you require can be found. And they do 'secret spy' checks to make sure that shop floor workers are doing this, rather than just pointing vaguely.

That´s pretty bad.

Youd think she could either call a member of staff to help or look on a computer to see if they stock them.

thefurryone - I'm impressed you found a Next with a maternity section. I went round loads when I was pregnant, including Oxford Street/Regent Street, and never found a single piece of maternity clothing. Had to order stuff in the end (DH worked there at the time so wanted discount).

YANBU! You should write a letter - bet you'll get a voucher. In our Sains they also take you to the item you've enquired about (often when I only want to know the aisle number ) - AFAIK that's company policy.

Generally I find Sainsbury's really good on CS. The manager of Homebase spoke to me at the paint isle and then took his time to advise on what kind of paint i needed and the cheapest - so overall I like them.

Next - was in one day and a little girl collapsed and the mum was trying to help her and the floor assistant just stood there and did nothing at all but fix some hangers and left it to me to run to a store to get her some Coke or chocolate while continuing to fix said hangers.

Thanks all. Will get writing tomorrow and let you know their reply.

Meant to say. The thing that peed me off most is that they don't stock any children's tights at all, so it was a waste of pain and energy.

I often find it more fruitful to ask another shopper - however this kind of question has to start with "I know you don't work here but..."

I find SO often that staff in supermarkets simply do not know where things are - apparently they have their own "areas" and don't ever go down the other isles.

I've often interfered helped other shoppers with my superior supermarket stocking knowledge and know that if you want to find something that you know should be on a certain isle and is not, that they do not stock it - enquiring is worthless and usually even more upset when you get a moron.

I havent shopped in sainsburys since they stopped the frozen free from range (for ds with food allergies) due to supplier issues but I didn't know that when I asked someone at customer services who prompty told me she didnt know if and when they would again and started to laugh and why couldn't you just eat normal food