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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to think Tesco could have offered me an alternative drink in their £10 meal deal??

51 replies

BigYin · 03/01/2020 18:44

I laughed a bit at the sheer ridiculousness of this Grin

Wanted to buy the Tesco £10 meal deal there (main, side, dessert and drinks for 2) but there weren't any drinks left in the fridge for the meal deal. I went to customer service and asked if they were going to be restocking it shortly or if I could have an alternative drink. No stock left apparently and I couldn't have a different drink as the till wasn't programmed to accept it. And, no, they couldn't override this either.

The drinks are usually glass muktipack bottles of Cola or diet Cola. There were some of the same glass mutipacks in the fizzy drinks aisle but were for Coke Zero. No,I couldn't have these.

Of course i didn't buy the other bits as that would have come to over £10 without the drinks so I left it.

Aibu to think this was a bit nuts that Tesco would turn down a sale because of this? And what are they going to do with all that food stock if someone doesn't replenish the drinks soon? No one will be able to buy the deal! Grin

OP posts:
CastleCrasher · 03/01/2020 18:47

They do wine and fresh lemonade in the same deal, could you not have had some of that? Even if you don't drink it's cheaper that way!

Whatsnewpussyhat · 03/01/2020 18:48

They could've easily rang something else though then reduced the price of that item so the total was £10.

Original poster
BigYin · 03/01/2020 18:49

I've only ever seen Coke on offer in my local Tesco. But there were no drinks left for the deal whatsoever. I'd have been happy with anything at all . I just didn't want to end up paying more than £10 for the 'deal' without the drink.

OP posts:
paranoidmum2 · 03/01/2020 18:51

YANBU, but I have noticed that Tesco have a got stricter with this stuff over the past couple of years. I think it’s due to the cost cutting measures they put in place.

I wanted to buy a toy recently that wasn’t on their system for some reason. The assistant said there was no way for her to sell me the item and that they would throw it away.

PumpkinPie2016 · 03/01/2020 18:52

YANBU - it seems daft when there were virtually the same drinks available in store!

I could understand if they had some of the offer drinks and you simply wanted to choose something else but if they haven't got the offer drinks then offering a similar alternative seems sensible.

AndAnon · 03/01/2020 18:58

When the same issue happened in Waitrose (they had run out of white wine although had other drink alternatives) they cheerfully said no problem, pick another white wine from the wine selection for about the same price and you can have that. The one I wanted was slightly over and it was no problem at all.

Their customer service is always excellent. I drive past a huge Tesco’s (where I used to shop but awful store) on the way to Waitrose.

MontStMichel · 03/01/2020 19:00

We did our Xmas food shopping at Tesco, and I wanted to buy 13 Costa gift cards for the staff, who look after DD1. They told me I could only buy 2 gift cards at a time - so, those would be 7 transactions alone! They said people steal them - I said, but I want to buy them!

Who would spend 2 hours, battling round the shop, getting £240 worth of food and drink, to run off with some gift cards - no doubt on CCTV and getting caught by the security guard at the exit?

I told them I could not be bothered to do that - I would buy bottles of wine, all in one go somewhere else!

Their loss was Majestic Wine Warehouse’s gain!

ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 03/01/2020 19:01

I think it's their way of using up drinks stock that has a short date on it or isn't selling. Our Tesco always has crap-looking wine as part of the meal deal.

paranoidmum2 · 03/01/2020 19:05

@MontStMichel that makes no sense, who would sell empty gift cards?!

paranoidmum2 · 03/01/2020 19:05

*steal not sell

maddening · 03/01/2020 19:06

It made me laugh when the sainsburys cafe ran out of ommelettes - or indeed any item - when they have a store full of ingredients.

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 03/01/2020 19:14

Blimey. Next time ask to talk to one of the floor managers. They’ve even let me include an ‘off’ meal deal list bottle of wine, because they didn’t have any of the vegan ones left.

It made me laugh when the sainsburys cafe ran out of ommelettes - or indeed any item - when they have a store full of ingredients.

😁 I had similar happen in Tesco. They said they had no milk substitutes because no one had been to shop yet. That would be shop that your cafe is actually in, then? 🤣

RJnomore1 · 03/01/2020 19:19

I don’t know about the meal deals but I do know that tesco cafe is outsourced - so it’s not actually tesco which may make it harder to buy stuff from the store?

Jaxhog · 03/01/2020 19:20

I had similar happen in Tesco. They said they had no milk substitutes because no one had been to shop yet. That would be shop that your cafe is actually in, then?

Some people have no initiative. I stayed in a posh London hotel once when they ran out of marmalade. DH suggested they get some from their hotel shop, but no, that wasn't allowed. We had to talk to the duty manager eventually before anyone saw sense.

RJnomore1 · 03/01/2020 19:22

Jax I would imagine the staff aren’t just allowed to take cash out the till to go buy milk

Thesearmsofmine · 03/01/2020 19:24

I had a similar situation in M&S with their meal deal and they sorted it for me and gave me a discount off my total shop for the trouble. Tesco could easily have sorted it for you surely!

TopBitchoftheWitches · 03/01/2020 19:25

I've only just started reading the thread but to the person who wanted to buy numerous gift cards, the staff are aware they are not activated until they go through a till.

BoswellsBollocks · 03/01/2020 19:27

Every time this has happened to me I’ve been allowed to take any Tesco wine up to the value of £6.

TopBitchoftheWitches · 03/01/2020 19:28

Don't ask for a floor manager, ask for a duty manager.

Redcrayons · 03/01/2020 19:32

It made me laugh when the sainsburys cafe ran out of ommelettes - or indeed any item - when they have a store full of ingredients

I had the same in Morrisons cafe. Couldn't have eggs on the breakfast because they had none left. But There's dozens of them less than 50ft away. They're run separately and the cafe has to put an order in for them. Madness.

ShirleyPhallus · 03/01/2020 19:35

YABU. This stuff is a loss leader for Tesco (and other supermarkets) to get other people through the door.

Serin · 03/01/2020 19:42

I had this issue in Waitrose recently and they apologised and gave me 2 bottles of wine instead of one Blush
I must look like a heavy drinker.

Lllot5 · 03/01/2020 19:47

Tesco let me have Coke Zero last summer in a similar situation.
Morrisons cafe wouldn’t make me a sandwich once because they didn’t have any bread.

CalamityJune · 03/01/2020 19:47

YANBU. I think this is a problem when staff aren't trusted to just do their jobs. A supervisor or manager in charge should be able to make a decision on a couple of alternative drinks and have a way of putting it through the till. Either they do have that ability and simply havent made the manager aware of the issue, or Tesco is too rigid in what it allows staff to do.

Picklypickles · 03/01/2020 19:49

Tesco have been annoying me recently, several times now I've been in and picked things off the shelves which they then can't sell to me because they aren't actually on their system. I've never experienced this anywhere else but its becoming quite regular at Tesco, to the point where I'd rather go elsewhere and not take a gamble as to whether or not I can actually have the products sitting on the shelves.