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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To never ever shop at ASDA ever again?

182 replies

gymboywalton · 11/04/2016 10:48

Bought a leg of lamb the other week, brought it home and bunged it in the freezer.

got it out to have for dinner yesterday. Opened up the pack and it was HONKING.
really unpleasant smell.
However label on the pack said there would be a smell and it would fade so gave it the benefit of the doubt.

Seasoned it and cooked it.

took it out of the oven and it was still a bit smelly-tasted it and it was rank.

everything else was ready-potatoes, veg etc

dh had to run out and buy chicken breast from tesco express and we had to cut it up and flash fry it. everything was past it's best by then. chicken breast bought at 8pm from local store = £10!!!!

tweeted asda today-no response
phoned them to be told to take the stinky bloody wrapper out of the bin and take into store for a refund. Asked about the cost of the chicken i had to buy to replace the lamb and the guy said 'well you ate it didn't you?'

never again asda- never again.Angry

OP posts:
Everylittlething87 · 12/04/2016 11:06

Joffrey Grin or maybe it'll rise again unless we burn it all properly?!

squoosh · 12/04/2016 11:06

Sadly the Govan lunatic did not resemble any of the Game of Thrones hotties although he did draw blood from the poor security guard's eyeballs. And I'm sure it wasn't Asda's particular that drove him to his eye pokey ways, if he'd been in an M&S foodhall he'd no doubt have been just as violent.

Everylittlething87 · 12/04/2016 11:09

I think I'll stick to shopping online lol Wine

exaltedwombat · 12/04/2016 11:11

Sounds like a good excuse for a healthy veggie meal, just for once! Were you ranting?

MyLocal · 12/04/2016 11:14

Reimburse you for the lamb yes, but the chicken too?

If I didn't shop at a store again because I had bought something dodgy over the years then I would have nowhere to shop left.

Dodgy smelly chicken from Tesco

Vile slimy salmon from Aldi

piggy tasting port from Waitrose

Onions with flies on from Morrisons

Too fishy fish from Asda

It happens.

goldensquirrel · 12/04/2016 11:19

EnglishGirlApproximately, I'm sure people may be able to speak about a bad experience with groceries at Waitrose but I've had 'no' experience in Waitrose of the grim behaviour I've witnessed in Asda and Tesco actually- Tesco where my Mum lives I did question a woman on why she was hitting her baby in a pushchair - just 'awful'! I don't like the size of Asda either and I like the fact that Waitrose is small and doesn't sell clothes unless it's attached to a John Lewis.

Kit30 · 12/04/2016 11:24

Trafford Asda sells wagyu beef at ridiculously low prices. Apparently local footballers eat it by the tonne and it's a bestseller

ameliaesmith · 12/04/2016 11:27

what's the ghost payment thing that Asda do?

EnglishGirlApproximately · 12/04/2016 12:11

golden that's the people though not Asda? We have 2 Asdas reasonably near, one on a rough town centre one in a nice new build estate. Obviously the town centre one has more than its share of shoplifters, issues etc. but I don't write off a whole company based on one shop.

HalfpintPixie · 12/04/2016 13:40

I don't really shop at Asda much, but that's cause there are none in my area. I used to buy from them regularly, and found the fruit and veg almost disintegrate upon getting them home!

The only issue I ever had with them was when I bought some pizza from their 'specially for kids' range, only to cut it and find it was full of hard blue bits of plastic. I took it back to the store the next day, and the woman at customer services was horrified! I got a refund and a £10 gift voucher, so can't complain, but they never did get back to me on what exactly was in the pizza I nearly fed my son. I'd say you should expect a refund for the lamb, but not the chicken.

I don't know if it's just my local Asda, but they have an in-store butchers (mcKees, maybe?) that generally has very nice local meat.

Portland573 · 12/04/2016 13:49

Wouldn't buy food from Asda again except if it was the last resort. Staff are unhelpful and food quality poor. Have made trips for non food items that I've been assured were in stock, but turned out not even to be held by the branch.

Now they're part of Walmart with their association with noncompliance with gun laws in the states (and they're one of the largest gun sellers in the States) it's even less likely.

Oh yes, the Ghost payments is a very dubious practice. Short version is that you do an online shop for say, £150, they "reserve" the £ through the bank to make sure payment doesn't bounce, but then take actual payment on the day of delivery. Problem is that on delivery day, your bank balance is down by the reserved amount AND the payment, which will at best reduce your available balance for a couple of days and at worst drop you beyond agreed overdraft and possibly lead to cancellation of delivery. Not sure if they still do it, but it emerged late 2000's and was still occurring last year.

goldensquirrel · 12/04/2016 13:53

Yes, that's my point, that the shop attracts these kind of customers. I've never experienced similar behaviour in Waitrose so it obviously doesn't attract those particular customers. I find it really stressful to witness horrible, shouty and physically aggressive parents and certainly don't want my own children to be around that kind of parent as it's scary, so I avoid the supermarkets that seem to have a disproportionate number of customers that behave in this way. I've got involved on a couple of occasions but It stays with me and I can't stop thinking about the child that's been treated like this. This in turn doesn't make me the happy Mum I want to be for my own children for the rest of the day.

Namechangingchameleon · 12/04/2016 13:58

I work for Asda Blush

I'm not thick or rude I work there as it's flexible. I'm also successfully self employed (web based) had took a pay off from the civil service and decided I like going out to work too much to just stay at home with the web based thing (not MLM!) so took a nice stress free role there.

Most customers in the store I'm at are lovely - I enjoy my job.

Any supermarket is going to do something like this at one time or another and I'm glad the OP was given a goodwill gesture in store.

imwithspud · 12/04/2016 14:23

YANBU to expect a refund for the lamb but YABU to expect a refund for the chicken. Afterall you didn't have to go and buy more meat, it's not like there wasn't other food on offer.

I don't really mind Asda instore but I don't use their online shopping after a bad experience where they failed to deliver half my shopping. I always ended up with loads of subs too. I use Morrisons now and have only ever had one sub in 6 months.

Brightnorthernlights · 12/04/2016 15:32

Rotten fruit, minging meat, filthy shelves and trolleys so skanky they stick to your hands.

Never again.

EnglishGirlApproximately · 12/04/2016 16:37

But not all Asda shops attract that sort of customer Confused you're basing your view of an entire chain on the customers of one shop!

goldensquirrel · 12/04/2016 17:34

No, I'm basing it on the ones where my Mum lives in Shropshire and Two where I live in Brighton and one when I lived in mid Sussex. The point is, Asda IME, attracts these kind of people, whereas you simply don't get these kind of problems in Waitrose Ime. I have been to Waitrose near my Mum, all of them in Sussex and sometimes Oxford. Ok, it's anecdotal but seems a bit of a coincidence?

Feeches · 12/04/2016 19:24

Asda in Livingston has a guy standing outside who sells hotdogs while dressed as a giant hotdog.

Never seen that outside Waitrose.

usual · 12/04/2016 20:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DickieRock01 · 12/04/2016 21:06

got their casserole OB on Sunday, tough orange coloured meat inedible, complained, no response.

DickieRock01 · 12/04/2016 21:08

also had their hotdog to try it, from the stand at the door, don't bother!

CigarsofthePharoahs · 12/04/2016 21:22

I gave up shopping at my local Asda after the day they managed to have run out of both full fat milk and potatoes. Stock control?
We bought a pack of barbecue chicken marinated pieces from them. Dh put them on the barbecue and they went up like an inferno, they were so oily. "Flame Grilled"! By the time it died down they were charcoal lumps.
I put the remaining pieces in the oven and it was as if someone had injected the chicken with cheap cooking oil. Grim and inedible.
My local Lidl always has a weird smell when you go in, sort of chemically as if they're trying to cover something up. The fresh food there is dire, but the other stuff is good value.
I'll stick with my local Sainsbury's, they seem to have got a good balance, but the constant product announcements with the guy who says "SainsBUReeee's" is starting to annoy me.

Heatherjayne1972 · 12/04/2016 21:49

Yeah they should refund the rotten food if course they should
Not an asda fan. My mum got attacked by another irate customer and the staff did absolutely nothing no apology no checking if she was ok no challenging the other shopper (mum is a 60 yr old woman -) just annoyance that the checkout was held up
The customer service and rudeness by the staff is beyond appalling in the same store
The layout is utterly ridiculous- unrelated items in totally the wrong place
And the never working self-service tills 😡
Why people go in there is beyond me

Imchangingmyname · 12/04/2016 21:54

Yon't NEED meat to have a meal though. Rushing out to buy chicken at the last minute while everything else spoils? This sort of thinking really doesn't make sense to me. Surely there was something in the cupboard (even rice or pasta) to make up for the missing lamb, and then all your veg would have still been fine

Hmm, right I've finished my lovely roast dinner with all the trimmings.. What will go best with my roast veg, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and gravy?? Aaaah that's right, a great dollop of rice!

Hmm

Only on Mumsnet.

steppemum · 12/04/2016 21:59

well, I am going to defend them
I do my weekly shop in asda every week, because it is much cheaper than tesco/sainsbury etc.

The staff are always very polite and helpful. Ask for something (and I have asked for some pretty obscure things) and they immediately stop whatever they are doing and take you to the product. They obviously have a script they are taught (if you would like to follow me, is there anything else I can help you with, etc etc) but that is ok.
Check staff are great, always wait for you, never rush you, wait for you to pack a bag before sending too much stuff down the belt etc.

Customer services - I have taken all sorts of things back, some a long time after I bought them (clothes) and I never ever have the receipt. If it is current stock they refund without question every time. I have never had a question or a quibble from them.

And I rarely get food that needs returning, fruit and veg lasts well, and there is a great selection.

yes, the other customers can be....well, to be honest they are a reflection of the town I live in, so I can;t complain!!