Anyone else fed up with Sainsburys? Or is it just me?

[2010Aussie]

Just need a bit of rant about my local Sainsburys. Two incidents this week.

I try to take my elderly DM who has dementia to do her food shopping when it's quiet. But a lot of older customer think the same! There was one checkout open and a lot of people with full trolleys milling around getting a bit agitated. No staff on the scene. I left DM and went on a treasure hunt. Eventually found four of them huddled by the fruit and veg having a catch up. I politely asked if they would open another till and perhaps it might be an idea to monitor the checkout area. They did move but rather reluctantly.

Second incident yesterday. I was on my own and picked up a trolley. As soon as I got in the store, my phone went off with an urgent call. So I turned round and went out again. Except that the trolley wheels locked and I was stuck in the entrance with the alarm sounding. The security guard appeared and told me off. "You're not allowed to leave with an empty trolley for security reasons." I explained the situation. "Well, you should have gone through the checkout first," he said

Their stuff isn't exactly cheap and I get better service at the budget supermarkets quite honestly. Anyone else fed up with Sainsburys?

Agree. The quality is rubbish and so overpriced. M&S and Waitrose are cheaper than Sainsburys now, plus im sick to death of empty shelves, i have 4 supermarkets in my local area and non of them have this issue.

Sainsbury never have enough tills open. I wouldn’t mind if they had enough people on the self check outs to deal with in inevitable issues.

Yes the tills thing is not on

I queued for ages last time, I don't want to do self serve with a trolley

They’ve taken best before dates of fruit and veg, supposedly to prevent food waste but I’m wasting much more as stuff is going off literally the day after it’s delivered.

They’ve also changed their policy on subs in that say I ordered 1litre of orange juice as it’s cheaper per ml. They don’t have any 1litre so before they would have given me 2 500ml and refunded me the difference, now they give me 1 500ml and there’s no refund and I’m paying more per ml!

Ive used Sainsburys since online shopping began, I’m switching once my delivery pass expires.

I moved to morrisons, actually better quality than Sainsbury’s and on home delivery better quality than Waitrose as well. When I was doing home delivery with Waitrose the shelflife of delivered items was crap. The snob in me never would’ve touched morrisons, but it’s actually the best where I am.

Totally get it, but yep, you can't leave with an empty trolley if you've not been through the checkout in Asda too. I nearly broke a rib trying to go back out with my 2yo in a trolley when it locked and I didn't know it was going to 😅

Have found our local Sainsburys really helpful when I shop with an elderly relative with dementia. She has a signature card to pay rather than a pin as she kept forgetting the number. I let customer services know as I arrive and when we are ready to pay have never waited more than a couple of minutes for them to open a till with someone who is familiar with the process for signature card's. On one occasion my Aunt felt a bit dizzy, the cashier noticed and called for assistance. I took my Aunt to the coffee shop so she could sit down and have a drink. A member of staff came to check if we were ok and needed any further help but fortunately she had recovered quite quickly. They offered to put the shopping through the till and bag it up for us and said we could either pop to Customer Services to pay on the way out or do a telephone payment later. Personally I don't like the self service tills unless I have only got a couple of items. If there are more than a couple of people waiting at the staffed tills and they have got full trolleys, I go to Customer services and ask if another till can be opened - have to say this has never been refused.

Ours is great apart from only having one trolley check out open most of the time. It has self-check out but only for baskets, so if you have a trolley you have to wait for maybe ten mins. I'm not a fan of Asda but they do have those really good self check-outs for trolleys which definitely keeps queues down.

My problem with Sainsbury's is the ridiculous hikes in prices of static items that were the same price for years then suddenly in the last week go up by ridiculous amounts. Looking at a daily shop of every day things you'd usually put in your basket, one product that was 65p for years, now £1 up 35p with no explanation. Yesterday a product that was £2.50 for years now suddenly £2.95 up 45p in a week and another that was £3.75 for years now £5.25, up £1.50 in a week. Last year another product that was 49p is now £1.05 and no, I don't believe it's because of Brexit. I believe retailers are just taking the piss unnecessarily because they have the monopoly and know we can't do a thing about it.

I've recently used revisited a local Sainsbury's and not been impressed.
I originally boycotted because I had toddlers when they introduced self check out and forced us all through. A child is not an unexpected item in the bagging area, it's a totally predictable one.
They have lost thousands over the last decade from my family shopping and despite the shop bring big enough with parking for a decent cupboard filling visit, it's still reluctant to open a bloody check out.

I guess like most places a lot of it just depends on the store itself. Ours is always clean, staff always friendly and on the ball, and never had an issue. Their prices are still creeping up but I guess its the case everywhere, I like their home deliveries and the quality of food. Its good there's a huge choice in this country though.

Our Sainsbury’s is good, they’re very on the ball if the queue starts to build, the till manager opens one up straight away. I have noticed the subs thing though, definitely giving you a less beneficial alternative now compared to previously. I usually just say no to it in that case, unless it’s essential. But I don’t get the trolley thing? We don’t have those trolley strips here anyway but why can’t you leave with an empty trolley?

I stopped going when they took most of the tills out in October. They have 18 self service tills now. Fully capable of using them, not bothered about a chat with the checkout person, I just can't be bothered

Our local one frequently has very little on the shelves. I am not just talking about fresh things. There are not enough tills open. It is crap. It is also more expensive than Tesco. I hate all supermarket shopping but I must admit Saibsburys really do seem to be worse at the moment

Wouldn't home delivery be better? Supermarkets are a noisy stressful environment for a person with dementia.

Agreed and so expensive!

I use our sainsburys a lot - almost daily. The one thing I have noticed as a change is the staff huddling and chatting a lot more - almost as if they're not fussed about management seeing them or worried about consequences of any kind. I read a while ago they recently had a lot of staff leave due to a change in contracts insisting everyone worked weekends even those who previously had set weekday hours - some for many many years. So I imagine that's why there's less tills open etc too. I've interrupted staff chatting before to tell them about stuff that's wrong like a burst yogurt on the shelf the other day, they're always very polite and lovely but seem to do a lot of standing around and chatting.

I agree. Seems like a huge faff for someone who is very vulnerable. Why don't you shop for her with your card then reimburse yourself? Seems odd. I hope someone has POA already in place for her.

I don’t see the point of Sainsburys any more. Better quality and service in Lidl and Waitrose

Sainsburys never have enough tills open. Not sure why they ever install so many in their big supermarkets, since even at peak times such as Easter or Christmas they’re at most half manned. I also agree that there are always plenty of till trained staff milling around which always gets on customers’ nerves

the other day at my big sainsburys there was one woman working alone on the smart shop and and the scan and shop checkouts. It’s was midday on a Saturday and she looked as though she was about to cry.
Always plenty of staff wandering around the store though …….

It's an opportunity for her to get out as she is at home most of the time. That's why we go when it's quiet. She enjoys the browsing element - it's just the long wait at the checkout that's stressful.

Yes I have POA.

Lots of chatting in ours too, takes forever to get things approved. Very short life on meat and fish, and I agree with sudden price hikes that make Waitrose seem cheap.

I’ve had it with them too. They are taking the piss with prices now and the availability and range is increasingly poor. My standard weekly shop (we’re fairly boring so it’s largely the same/similar items every week) was £75-80ish a year ago. Now it’s easily £125. And that’s with me probably watching for offers a bit more and being more mindful.

I don’t have tons of choice nearby unfortunately which is why I’ve stuck with them so far but I think I’ll try M&S next time. I don’t get on with the Ocado app and absolutely hate using it, so it will involve a drive out.

The other option I suppose is doing the rounds and visiting farm shops for meat and veg. I’ve always assumed that would be the most expensive option but perhaps not 🤷‍♀️