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Original poster

To think that Tesco don't give a monkeys - twin trolley issues

234 replies

Ilovemyself · 28/05/2013 13:52

I have been having an on and off battle with my local Tesco (the only supermarket without driving 13 miles or so) for a while.

Ever since my twins were born I have struggled with trolleys.

When they needed the reclining seat trolleys, they were always tucked away at the back so I had to pull out 10 or 20 trolleys to get them out. I would the have to clean them as they were always filthy (I did find a manager once and gave him a handful of really manky baby wipes from where I had cleaned one)

Now they are in the normal trolleys, I always struggle to find a twin one. They are normally half way down a row of trolleys because the trolley boys don't seem to have a brain cell and put them there.

I have complained to the store manager and have even been on a customer focus group where I made my feelings known about the trolleys. I was told then ( over a month ago) that trolleys were on order.

Today, after searching the lines of trolleys in the dry storage area, I had to check all of the trolley bays in the car park, in torrential rain. There were none, so I had to put one twin in the seat and the other in the trolley (which I detest as it isn't fair on the next user to have dirty shoes in the bottom of a trolley)

Should I really kick off about this now?

OP posts:
BlueberryHill · 28/05/2013 21:10

Er, I generally get my own trolley so long as they provide them. In this instance they only provide one which is probably really difficult to find. I don't think that people in the service industry are there to make my life easier. I think that Tesco as an organisation should look at how they provide services to people to enable customers to shop as easily as possible. I don't consider myself to be a 'chosen' one or 'entitled', just a customer who can shop elsewhere.

How difficult is it to get a couple of trolleys, for the staff moving trolleys in the car park to return them to one place.

beachesandbuckets · 28/05/2013 21:12

You are totally being reasonable. Why the hell have them in the first place if people can't use them. And why shld you be penalised for them being out of action etc by forking out £4 online charge. I kept making the point about wet trolleys with kids seats at my local Homebase and they now keep them inside. I am due twins in August and have contemplated doing on line shopping but like finding the good meat and other deals and getting stuff with a longer due date. There is a really helpful trolley guy at my tesco who ui will ask to get me a trolley and bring it to my car, totally reasonable I think. And if issues I will hound the manager, customer service desk, etc etc.

beachesandbuckets · 28/05/2013 21:14

Whoops not 'due date', I meant 'best before date'!!! Babies on the brain.

Bearbehind · 28/05/2013 21:16

But you are suggesting having these trolleys where they are convenient to you, which by definition is going to be by the parent and child spaces, which are by the door, which means other people will use them first because they are closest.

ChewingOnLifesGristle · 28/05/2013 21:16

Supermarkets do try to cater for shoppers with young children. They have some parent/child parking and trollies with child seats, some with doubles.

There always seem to be upsets on here of one sort or another about parent/child parking, now the trollies aren't the right sortHmm.

Tesco aren't going to gear the whole supermarket setup around one set of circumstances that doesn't affect the majority.

Life isn't going to be perfect. If you have young children in tow it'll be tricky a lot of the time. It's how it goes and lots of us have been there.

Original poster
Ilovemyself · 28/05/2013 21:20

Shitsinger. They are 15 months old. They are hardly going to walk all the way round. And read the posts. The twins enjoy shopping and it is something to do during the day. Along with small of the other things we do. It isn't a case of why make things difficult when it shouldn't be difficult in the first place.

Bearbehind - I repeat that I searched the whole car park so I hardly was bothered by not just "tripping over one". And I don't consider myself a chosen one. Just a customer who spends an awful lot of money with them.

Apostropheuse - we like to make every activity fun with our children, even the humdrum boring things like shopping. That's probably why they are so well behaved and happy

OP posts:
BlueberryHill · 28/05/2013 21:22

The Tesco I use put the twin trolleys as one of four lines, closest to the store, so people who don't need them get the single ones which are closer to the door. I know where to go to get the twin trolleys, so it is really quick for me to run and get one and then leg it back to the car to get the twins (love me on the leaving children in a car thread). It is fine and it makes it a bit easier for me, so I pick that shop to go to. It gets the cash for my horrendous shopping bill, seriously the amount of nappies etc that I get through is awesome. It is economics not entitlement.

Original poster
Ilovemyself · 28/05/2013 21:31

Bearbehind - think what you like. I went round the whole car park as it was quickest than queuing for 5 minutes at customer services and then waiting 10 minutes for them to find someone who then has to go and look.
My wife sat with the children. And the name ilovemyself was a pisstake of the people on here who are really up themselves. Like you maybe.

For the trolleys to be in the specialist area with a sign saying please do not use for only one child is not unreasonable.

Blueberry Hill. Well said. I have the option of either shopping there or driving 12 miles or more to an alternative. I am NOT going to shop online and have them chose alternatives for me I do not want if the item I want is not in stock.

The bottom line is that there are simple answers and I have been promised action by the manager and nothing has happened. As soon as Asda or Sainsbury moves to town I will show Tesco nothing but my heels. And from most people I know, so will they due to the dire levels of customer service.

OP posts:
zzzzz · 28/05/2013 21:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ChewingOnLifesGristle · 28/05/2013 21:35

If there were two of you couldn't you have used two singles?Confused

zzzzz · 28/05/2013 21:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Ilovemyself · 28/05/2013 21:41

Chewingonlifesgristle. It's easy isn't it, to come up with such glib answers. If we were doing a massive shop then maybe we would but why should we need to. We only need one trolley. It's not difficult.

OP posts:
ChewingOnLifesGristle · 28/05/2013 21:43

Not glib, perfectly reasonable. It's a matter of finding a logical solution to life's little problems.

zzzzz · 28/05/2013 21:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ZenOfPetals · 28/05/2013 21:46

I have twins, and our Tesco has lots of competition, and a separate bay for twin trolleys (that don't link in properly to non- twin trolleys, so they cannot be stored together) but when they were baies I got tired of all the attention twin babies get in trolleys, so I had to wait till DH could take care of the babies while I shopped.

Bearbehind · 28/05/2013 21:46

I still think you are making life ridiculously difficult for yourselves.

There were 2 of you and yet you couldn't push a trolley each. I'm pretty sure it's not me that's 'up myself' as I don't expect priority treatment in places I go to.

Bearbehind · 28/05/2013 21:48

Genius zzzzz Grin

apostropheuse · 28/05/2013 21:49

Good grief. I've just realised that you were there with your wife. You're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Just put two of the children in a buggy and the other in a trolley. What's the problem?

Two adults can easily cope with the situation you described.

Original poster
Ilovemyself · 28/05/2013 21:52

Bearbehind. I am not expecting priority treatment. Just a decent level of customer service like the other customers that are going through the door. And 2 trolleys. So we either walk side by side and block the aisle or we walk one Heinz the other and when we stop block twice as much of the shelves. Really doesn't work.

And zzzzzzz. Buggy and trolley. Yeah right.

Zenofpetals. Sounds like your store has got it right. How many times doe you get the"are they twins" or "are they identical" (we get it with fraternal twins!)

OP posts:
landofsoapandglory · 28/05/2013 21:55

It's a non-issue as you were there with another adult. I would have done what zzzzzzz suggested.

ChewingOnLifesGristle · 28/05/2013 21:55

Blimey who knew two adults doing the shopping could run into so many problemsConfused

Those are laughable reasons for not using two singlesGrin

Shitsinger · 28/05/2013 21:56

Hahahahahahahah! this is hilarious Grin
Surely it must go in classics for most pointless make a drama out of nothing thread
Does your wife know you posted this? she must be cringeing.

ZenOfPetals · 28/05/2013 21:57

Maybe it's because our shop is in a "undesirable" area, so the trolleys are only released when one inserts a coin, but all the big trolleys are in one section, all the little ones in another, all the single baby ones separate from all the twin ones.

Too many times to count!

Also, "Your hands are full!"

Original poster
Ilovemyself · 28/05/2013 21:58

So I don't deserve a decent level of customer service. Having been promised things will improve and things don't , and despite there being easy fixes for anyone with twins or 2 children of a similar age it is still the same.

All we want is to shop the same as someone with just one child of trolley age but that is obviously something that we shouldn't expect

OP posts:
zzzzz · 28/05/2013 21:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.