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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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

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!

OP posts:

2020BetterBeBetter · 03/01/2020 19:52

YANBU but I imagine most people will still buy food during their visit so they profit, even if they can’t provide the meal deal.

Twolittlebears · 03/01/2020 19:58

I've had the "not on the system so can't sell to you" thing in Tescos too. That's madness right?

MakingMNGreatAgain · 03/01/2020 20:02

Re. the gift card thing - there is probably a cap because some people rob others by making them buy a lot of gift cards rather than making them get cash out of an ATM. It's not all that common but it is a thing and shops were asked to look out for it a few years back.

TopBitchoftheWitches · 03/01/2020 20:02

No, if it's not on the system then it won't go through at the checkouts. However, the product shouldn't be on the shop floor if not on file.

Blatherskite · 03/01/2020 20:03

I've had the "not on the system so can't sell to you" thing in Sainsburys. No way of selling it to me as they couldn't put it through the tills.

GabsAlot · 03/01/2020 20:28

its silly if a manager cant even overule the system to let you have it at the discount price

AtleastitsnotMonday · 03/01/2020 20:29

So if they have no drinks then they have to sell all the food they have left for the offer individually or as the deal minus the drink?? I can’t imagine they will be able to shift it. Surely most people will do as PP did.

withlotsoflove · 03/01/2020 20:29

This could have been done. Return to the store / try the CSD again. No luck, ask for the duty manager. There is a function to sort this on the till.

KnickyKnacky2020 · 03/01/2020 20:36

But I don't get how anyone would rob a person by making them get Costa gift cards?! Unless they had a Costa addiction?! I don't get that at all!!

And yes, not having an override ability does seem crazy. I wanted something from JL a while back which was out of stock in the shop and online but they looked around the other stores and ordered from that store to a warehouse and on to me. Was slightly more than £10 though!! But I thought that was v good customer service.

Drabarni · 03/01/2020 20:40

YABU, staff and management are told what to do, and get in trouble if they don't.

HTH

Do you have a job where you are told what to do?

Twillow · 03/01/2020 20:41

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?

I work in a big supermarket. I know it seems strange, but there are procedures to go through so staff really can't just hop out of the cafe and grab half a dozen eggs off the shelf. They have to go at a quiet time, for all the items they need, and then take it through a till and have it checked off by a manager.

MrsSiriusBlack1 · 03/01/2020 20:42

You can always tell the people that have never had to work in retail

rwalker · 03/01/2020 20:42

The till systems are totally inflexible as they said only recognise selected products that discount down to set deal price.
The reason it's only on selected products these are bought on mass for lower cost price margins on deals slim they go for volume sales .
If they discount higher cost price item there little/no profit so would be better of not selling it to you .

AudTheDeepMinded · 03/01/2020 20:49

@PicklyPickles yes! our store stopped recognising cheesy rolls from the bakery section. No one could find them on the self service tills. Took a lot of staff time to sort out everyone trying to buy them (v popular items!). This went on for weeks.

abcde11 · 03/01/2020 20:49

I wanted to buy a sugar syrup at 7am but was refused as it came under alcoholic drink and due to licensing laws wouldn't be allowed to purchase until 10am. Tills wouldn't accept it and couldn't be overridden. Ridiculous.

Notthisnotthat · 03/01/2020 20:58

Our local co-op never has the £5 meal deal from the freezer section, there is always something missing, the staff must be fed up of me moaning.

wishihadagoodone · 03/01/2020 20:59

Ex-Tesco customer services advisor here🙋🏼‍♀️
(Disclaimer: I left the role around 6 years ago so some things may have changed!!)

They absolutely could have put it through as a reduced item.
Alternatively, I know Tesco used to offer "Special Offer Promise Vouchers". Basically if you want to buy two tins of beans because it's BOGOF but there's only one tin left, they give you a printed voucher from customer services for the value of one tin of beans, making it free the next time they have the stock in. They could have also done this (if it's still a thing, worth asking though!!)

The "not in the system" you're referring to is most likely an EPW (Emergency Product Withdrawal). It's a till prompt that pops up when an item is scanned that has been withdrawn for safety reasons. We weren't allowed to sell the item and had to inform the manager of the relevant department that there was an EPW on the product so they could remove it from the shelves. It was pretty annoying that it took for the customer to get the whole way to the checkout before being told this though so I get your frustration! I always thought it would've made more sense if EPW's were sent in a weekly email or something but maybe it came through on a different system or something. I'm not sure!!

MamaRaisingBoys · 03/01/2020 21:01

I used to work at Tesco as a checkout team leader. I used to hate having to tell people they couldn’t buy stuff because it wasn’t on the system. I understood the reasons why but the customer doesn’t give a shit they just want their items. There was an override option to just put the shelf price on to the bill, but then that product wouldn’t have registered as sold so would come up as missing during a stock take. This was actually a big problem for our store but I never got why it wasn’t on the system in the first place.

The meal deal thing, again the till could be overridden to reduce the price of the transaction. Had to do it all the time when the sandwich meal deal or makeup 3 for 2 labelled incorrectly. But the store manager then had to justify the massive amount of reductions at the end of the week. Sadly the big bosses didn’t care about the reasons, just the amount.

The gift card thing I’ve never heard of. Sounds bonkers.

MamaRaisingBoys · 03/01/2020 21:04

The not on system thing is a ‘not on file’. Another reason we couldn’t sell it I’d because it may have had an ‘Emergency product withdrawl’ and we wouldn’t have been alerted if the toll hadn’t recognised the problem.

I agree with the above poster that it’s ridiculous that this only comes to light at the till!

MapMyMum · 03/01/2020 22:02

YABU you seriously want a person to do something that potentially could get them in trouble? Yeah you think it's just once but this thread shows that there are customers like this every single day. There are systems in place and they all have to follow them, they are set by higher up than even the store managers.
Even if the manager can see your point of view s/he cannot keep on bending the rules.
Can seriously tell those that haven't worked in retail.

CactusAndCacti · 03/01/2020 22:14

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

We stop off at a Morrisons on the journey down to my parents, our recent visit was the 27/12, we arrived fairly late for lunch (due to dreadful traffic) and there wasn't much left. I checked with the staff member that they were still serving hot food. She then reeled off a massive list of food that they didn't have and said that they couldn't just go into the shop because of allergy info - I am not sure how true this was, but she also added that they had had 4 members of staff in, they had been rammed and she was already an hour over her shift end (which she wasn't certain she would be paid for), so I accepted it.

Luckily they could still make my cheese and bacon toastie.

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily · 03/01/2020 23:43

They have to go at a quiet time, for all the items they need, and then take it through a till and have it checked off by a manager.

There were three other people in and two staff behind the counter. I think some people can’t think outside their very narrow boxes. I wonder if I went into Tesco and bought some Oat milk, set it on my table, would they also complain that I can’t consume my own products in their cafe?

katy1213 · 03/01/2020 23:49

YABU expecting any Tesco employee to show initiative; it's probably a sacking offence.

safariboot · 03/01/2020 23:51

Did you speak to a manager? (Did you ask?) I know it might feel like being that customer, but checkout workers can't make an exception like that but a manager easily could.

Pretty shit if they refused. Though it may affect Tesco's bottom line. Quite often when an item is on special offer, it's not the supermarket taking the hit, it's the suppliers. Tesco would be paying full price themselves for a substitute item.

Mumandcarer · 24/10/2022 13:03

I remember someone complaining in our local Morrisons there was no poached eggs. Aparently they’re pre cooked. Best one had to be no gravy for a roast in Wetherspoons. But they never told us until it was served when we asked is gravy separate. Wasn’t mentioned when we ordered.

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