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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To worry about Waitrose and JL? No Ferrero Rocher

50 replies

NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 09:16

I’m not a very enthusiastic shopper and like having Waitrose and John Lewis around, because I have a perhaps misguided trust for them and can get almost everything I need from one or the other without having to try out new shops.

That’s just to say I would be upset if they were to go out of business, but they seem so worryingly incompetent these days that I wonder.

Perhaps I am not the demographic they are trying to reach - they tell me I am one of their best customers, but perhaps they are taking me for granted now and focusing their marketing budget on gaining new customers rather than keeping me - but I thought both of their advertising campaigns this season really missed the mark.

The whole issue with the recent malfunctioning discount code revealed bewildering levels of incompetence. Any low-level programmer surely tests his work on a dummy server before deploying? And any baseline-competent development team includes thorough quality assurance?

And now they’ve taken my Ferrero Rocher out of my cart and said they are unavailable, even while I can order all the different holiday boxes from other grocers I’ve checked. Surely not securing a supply of traditional Christmas treats smacks of more incompetence,

AIBU to be worried there is something fundamentally wrong with the management there that is allowing all these mistakes and, if not addressed, is going to end very badly? Or am I right that they are they taking an alarming number of missteps lately?

OP posts:
PooWillyNameChange · 01/12/2021 09:53

I think you sound like a character from Alan Bennett's Talking Heads Grin

LampLighter414 · 01/12/2021 09:59

Unacceptable Darling. I'd suggest a switch to M&S for food going forwards. Much more consistent and quite simply delightful to eat!

Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 10:11

I totally forgot about M&S, which I can also walk to! I don’t remember if they have Ferrero Rocher or just their own-brand chocolates?

I wasn’t actually taking the piss!

I didn’t want to take another Christmas delivery slot just for this. I’ve put some Lindor balls in my BASKET.

OP posts:
ahola · 01/12/2021 10:19

I really didn't see it as a pisstake! I did pick up on the genuine disappointment and disgruntlement, but decided to cheer you up with humour instead Xmas Grin

percythewitch · 01/12/2021 10:19

...and can get almost everything I need from one or the other without having to try out new shops.

Yet you "forgot" that there is also an M&S that you can walk to?

Why on earth wouldn't you want to try out new shops?
No wonder small businesses are struggling.

HeartsAndClubs · 01/12/2021 10:20

Waitrose came bottom recently in an investigation re use-by dates on products.

Everyone I know complains about having to look at the dates on things they buy there because there is usually at best only 1 day left or the product is even out of date.

Personally I’ve never got the big deal about Waitrose, but John Lewis has been in trouble for a long time now regardless of the pandemic, so I do think there is truth in saying that there are problems with both.

hotmeatymilk · 01/12/2021 10:22

Ferrero Rocher, Lindor balls… nice chocolate is available, you know!

turnthebiglightoff · 01/12/2021 10:22

One item being out of stock makes you think that "management" are incompetent? Do you think WR/JL "management" do ordering for individual shops? So if you're a teacher and one of your kids turns out not to be very academically gifted, are you incompetent? If you build websites and one link breaks down are you an incompetent website builder? Never heard such nonsense. Go to another shop.

Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 10:35

I don’t like going to new shops because it takes an investment of my attention to figure out what I like there, how the sizes run, what the quality of the cotton is, how good their customer service is, and I’m not interested enough to invest that time. I’m an extremely loyal customer once I find something that suits. I order the exact same clothes when I need replacements from the same shop if possible!

I have been getting deliveries exclusively for almost two years from one shop! Forgive me for not remembering what else is in the town centre.

I don’t hold top management responsible for one glitch on a site. But management decides whom to hire and what to reward. When I start to see broad signs of messing up across a company, I think it is reasonable to suspect that they are not putting the right people in the right jobs and not rewarding performance that benefits the health of the company.

OP posts:
JudgeJ · 01/12/2021 11:31

@CloudyStorms

Ferrero Rocher aren't posh enough for JL & Waitrose
Yet I recently bought Ritter Sport Peppermint there!
CloudyStorms · 01/12/2021 12:14

Yet I recently bought Ritter Sport Peppermint there! I love Ritter Sport but you can get it in Lidl!

I like how it has "Sport" in the name so clearly eating it will make me an elite athlete.

Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 12:21

@LavenderAskew

It was the Ambassador. He took them.
Now that was a good ad! I am still baffled by the insurance ad and left cold by the Christmas one. Hope they will move permanently to a new ad agency.
OP posts:
Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 12:24

@Tal45

The crisps aisle has been half empty for quite a while here. I know OP is taking the piss but I do think Waitrose have been slowly going downhill for a while.

There are things they are good at and things they aren't IMO. Best supermarket to buy meat -although they have less and less 'normal' meat and more and more meat in sauces or processed in one way or another making it even more expensive. They also rebranded some of the meat at one point so what were 'essential pork chops' no longer existed and with the rebranding the price went up considerably. The bakery stuff generally isn't great, too much sugar and cheap ingredients but their chocolate twists are delicious. Their own bread isn't great, I prefer Lidl wholemeal seeded. Their fruit and veg has much better variety than most others and i really like that but often isn't hugely better quality - ready to eat avocados that are rock hard, out of season stuff that is tasteless, things picked too soon so they go bad before they ripen.

I agree that the fruit and veg, while better than in other stores, is still very disappointing, and I tend to judge a shop largely based on the quality of selection in the produce the department. I've had to go to getting a fruit and veg box each week and then topping up with specifics from Waitrose.
OP posts:
Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 12:26

@SofaKingKnotBovvered

Store? Cart? What do these words mean?
I wonder if the British are so bother by the incursion of Americanisms because they are so used to being the colonisers that another culture influencing theirs seems against the natural order of things? Smile
OP posts:
Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 12:28

@ahola

I really didn't see it as a pisstake! I did pick up on the genuine disappointment and disgruntlement, but decided to cheer you up with humour instead Xmas Grin
Yes, disgruntlement is the exact word. Thanks for understanding. Grin
OP posts:
DSGR · 01/12/2021 12:31

I love JL and Waitrose. Very happy with them.
But I don’t buy Ferrero Rocher.. gross

Original poster
NicOgJul · 01/12/2021 12:34

@DSGR

I love JL and Waitrose. Very happy with them. But I don’t buy Ferrero Rocher.. gross
I just like them once a year because I always have them once a year. If you can recommend better, I'm all ears!
OP posts:
ponkydonkey · 01/12/2021 15:43

Tescos is rammed with them.... the ambassador clearly likes us 🤣

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2021 15:55

The crisps aisle has been half empty for quite a while here. I know OP is taking the piss but I do think Waitrose have been slowly going downhill for a while.

The crisp aisles are empty in most places and have been for quite a while it's not unique to Waitrose.

Ferrero Rocher are horrible but I quite like a Toffifee.

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2021 15:56

How a bout a big one?

here

DroopyClematis · 01/12/2021 16:19

That's an ecumenical matter!

MelonTits · 01/12/2021 16:24

@NicOgJul

I don’t like going to new shops because it takes an investment of my attention to figure out what I like there, how the sizes run, what the quality of the cotton is, how good their customer service is, and I’m not interested enough to invest that time. I’m an extremely loyal customer once I find something that suits. I order the exact same clothes when I need replacements from the same shop if possible!

I have been getting deliveries exclusively for almost two years from one shop! Forgive me for not remembering what else is in the town centre.

I don’t hold top management responsible for one glitch on a site. But management decides whom to hire and what to reward. When I start to see broad signs of messing up across a company, I think it is reasonable to suspect that they are not putting the right people in the right jobs and not rewarding performance that benefits the health of the company.

This is an absolutely different way of going through life that I had never considered. I’m kind of in awe.
SofaKingKnotBovvered · 01/12/2021 18:04

@NicOgJul Probs, yah

WellTidy · 01/12/2021 18:19

Waitrose doesn’t sell the big tubs of Celebrations. Never had, apparently. I asked when I was in the store last Christmas and was told this. They sell smaller boxes, but not the tubs. I couldn’t believe it!

CPL593H · 01/12/2021 18:47

Op, you sound terribly invested in what is just a shop. PS-there is no problem getting Ferrero Rocher online, if you really want them.

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