(FB) Supermarket customer service says my job to speak to manager ?

[SerendipityJane]

For 5 weeks running I've been unable to buy a favourite treat from my local (massive !) Sainsburys patisserie. It's not sold out, just "never in".

Usually I'm pretty mellow but after the 5th time straight I thought I'd have a Facebook chat with the Sainsburys team, and at the end of the exchange :

Hi there, thanks for your patience whilst this has been looked into. I'm sorry to have to say that the brownie is still an active item that is sold in our stores so this issue would have to be taken up with the bakery manager directly in store as to why this is no longer available to you. Apologies again that we have to pass this back to you.

AIBU in thinking that complaints to customer services shouldn't be batted back to the customer to resolve in this way ? I know we've already started doing some of their jobs by self-scanning, but is self-customer service the Next Big Thing ?

It would rankle less if I ate more than one cake a week, but I don't. This is genuinely my "cake of the week". Or would be if they had it.

Be curious to hear some views before next weeks Saturday shop.

Daily Mail are quite free to contact me for more details .

Did you ask the Sainsbury's representative why they thought this was ok? YANBU to think Customer Services should be quite capable of passing on feedback to the store staff.

Maybe they got their cakes from Patisserie Valerie, and they can't get them any more.

Well tbh it does sound like a local store issue, so probably you are better off asking the store manager.

it wasn't a joke

www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2018/07/sainsburys-expands-patisserie-valerie/

It’s frustrating but not really a complaint. The complaints team may need to deal with other issues where customers have been wronged. Sorry OP, I’d be gutted too - I love a brownie!

I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect you to speak to the store manager when your in rather than them talking to the store, the store talking to them and then them talking to you. It would have made sense (to me) to ask in store in the first place.

Surely if it was that big an issue you would have asked the store manager before trying to escalate the “complaint”?

The instore bakerys are kind of independent.....you're better off asking the bakers customer and trading manager in store...he or she usually does the ordering and they'll know what the issue is.

Each store will stock different items and have different stock issues so it makes sense to speak directly to the store manager.

Just get a different cake..

You really went to customer services over this?

Every store stocks things depending on what they sell.

Every Asda doesnt stick the same stuff or the same amounts.

Every sainsburys wont either. will stock them if they sell them.

If they have to order a certain amount and dont sell them, they will stop stocking them. But a store 10 miles away will stick them because they sell loads.

The store manager will decide. Not sure why it's such an issue for you to speak to the store rather than head office

Supermarkets encourage store managers to speak to customers directly. You really should speak to the store.

Surely you arent complaining that they just dont stock the product anymore. You just know if they sell them, they would make sure they have them in

Customer service seems to have gone downhill in most places in the last couple of years. I assume a large part of it is companies cutting costs, but there does also seem to be less giving a shit from staff. Of course that’s often down to crappy working conditions as well.

I had a similarly pointless exchange with Sainsburys via Twitter when I commented on the fact that my local store insisted on displaying 'thinky' publications like The Economist, New Scientist etc under Men's Interest. They apologised and said they'd pass it on to the store, but nothing changed until they redid the whole section about a year later!

They're there to answer questions and make it look like the company cares about individual complaints, but ultimately if one person is mildly inconvenienced it doesn't really make a difference to the business.

But it is good customer service to ask you to take the complaint up directly in the first instance because it will be resolved more quickly.
Otherwise you will be waiting weeks for customer service to get in touch with the bakery manager (as they will have other complaints in the queue) and it might be someting the bakery manager can tell you instantly. Then you'd be complaining that it was taking too long!

I had a client the other day who had waited 6 weeks to get an appointment with me - for me to tell them that they will have to contact the (agency) directly as this is not something I can do on their behalf) Why the heck they didn't just call them 6 weeks a go and save themselves 6 weeks of angst I have no idea.

Well I do- capable people are seemingly unable to do anything for themselves these days and are wasting resources that should be used more efficiently for those who cannot help themselves (whole other thread)

Surely if an item isn't for sale you just can't buy it, you buy something else.

Would you go into a toyshop and moan they haven't got any bread for sale?

You just buy what's there or go take your money somewhere else? Surely....

If the item is supposed to be available then why is it so unbelievable that the OP expects to be able to buy it?

Bread in a toy shop is a ridiculous comparison. Think about something you use regularly, like foundation, it's not that easy to just go and buy a different kind if yours is constantly out of stock but not discontinued. Life's short, OP is well within her rights to have a favourite cake!

Customer service seems to have gone downhill in most places in the last couple of years

How is it poor customer service to inform her that the item has not been discontinued, apologise and tell that she will have to speak to the specific store manager to see why they aren't stocking it?

The Store Manager decides what is stocked and how much. I once complained to a truck driver who was stocking crisps that my favorite flavor was never on the shelf. He said "the manager only gives it one slot here (4 bags) but I have it in the truck because the next store over stocks 6 slots." He went back to the truck and brought me 8 bags! Maybe find out when the stocker comes and make a friend?

Or make it yourself, there's no easier cake to make than a brownie You could make it when you have free time, make plenty and then freeze it for another day.

I’m not sure what other supermarkets do, but I know from experience that when Sainsbury’s stop selling a product, it still shows on their lists for ages, even though they’ve stopped making it and there aren’t any in the shops.

Maybe that’s what they’re doing with yours.

I had a very different experience with Tesco. I messaged them on FB to complain about ear splitting Christmas music in my local store.
I got a quick response apologising and saying they’d told the local manager to turn it down.
When I visited the store the next week, the music was indeed at a much more bearable background level, to the relief of some of the older staff, who said it had been appalling to work a whole shift in the previous racket.

I have worked in customer service. The CS staff probably don't care and can't be bothered to find out for you. They may be busy dealing with more important complaints than a cake not being available. Just ask the manager or shop elsewhere?

Unless I've misread, I'm boggled as to why the first thing you did was to go to SM rather than speak to anyone directly at the bakery/store.

I emailed Asda to ask whether they had any artificial sweetener free blackcurrant after ribena changed their recipe. They emailed back and they weren’t sure and that I should check the ingredients of all of the blackcurrant that they sold I emailed back and told them to find out and let me know. I got an email a few days later with a list of sweetener free drinks to try.