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?

My local Sainsbury's has unfortunately gone downhill. They got rid of the fish, and meat counters, the cafe, and the hot food counter as well. It is poorly staffed, and full of self checkout tills which I do not wish to use. Since they got rid of the sell by dates on the veg, I have noticed that the quality seems poorer. I take my time to inspect the produce I am buying, I always have done. The produce just seems more dryer, less fresh, I think.

They don't need to climb on them. At my local sainsburys even touching a bag sets the system complaining. That's if it accepts a bag in the first place.

Surely there's nicer places to take her. Take her to a nice cafe or botanical Gardens or something. Not sainsburys with all the faffing about with payment. Seems cruel. Sorry.

I've actually just switched to Sainsburys from Tesco! I got fed up with our local Tesco for a few reasons, mainly the amount of staff shopping for internet orders. I counted 8 of them blocking up the frozen aisle last time I was there. I also like to use the self-scanners to keep an eye on what I'm spending and the ones in Tesco are terrible. Half the time they aren't working because my stores wi-fi is awful. It takes an age for the damn things to load each individual item after you've scanned it so you can move on and scan the next item. Stock levels there have been all over the place and every week there'd be several things unavailable.

I thought I'd give Sainsburys a try instead and so far I've been impressed. I find the quality of the food much nicer than Tesco food which is very bland. The bakery is miles ahead of Tesco bakery. The scanners are so much easier to use. Despite the fact that our nearest Sainsburys is about 3 or 4 miles further away than Tesco we are getting our weekly shop done much quicker and with much less stress. We are also still managing to get everything we need within our budget.

I like Sainsbury's, but my local large store is particularly good one IME; the quality and choice is far better than the nearby Tesco although the nearest small shop to me is a Tesco Express, and I use that a lot.

I also have a delivery pass and rarely have a problem with substitutions (I get a voucher for the difference if the sub is higher price and just stick it on the next order) and the Nectar points are great - I try to use the Nectar offers I'm sent every week and I have over £100 worth now that I can spend in there. I always use self checkouts, so that doesn't bother me either.

I have always found our local Sainsburys pretty good. Friendly, helpful staff and can usually find everything I want.

No real idea how many tills they have open as I wouldn't choose to check out that way now unless it was a last resort. Been doing smart scan ever since they introduced it about four years ago. It is so , so much better and easier that way. We also save pounds with the Nectar points and discounts.

The quality doesn't seem to be as good either. The meat is normally so tough the animal must have been older than me and the fruit and veg is shit.

I don't use our local sainsburys. It's dull, dingy, dated, not much choice, cramped crowded till and self service area, and is the only supermarket locally with a complicated payment system for parking.
We have all the other main supermarkets in our town that are much bigger and better with free parking.

We've used Sains for years as it's local, but prices have gone up hugely recently. Lack of fruit & veg, empty shelves. But also I've noticed lots of things aren't carried any more. Eg. organic chicken pieces. Also I was surprised that they don't sell coriander (dried) - no label on the shelf. Stuff like kimchi that they used to sell they no longer do. They have a banner up in one aisle advertising their Eastern European stuff but there isn't any.

I agree, but it's not just Sainsbury's. I shop at tesco and they're the same - pasta went from 55p to £1, my toothpaste jumped from £3.20 (already expensive) to £5 last week!

I loathe Sainsbury's and refuse to shop there. Yes, I realise they are probably weeping bitters tears of regret. Suck it, Sainsbo.

I shop at which ever is the biggest nearest to where i live. 5 years ago it was (a really big) Sainsburys, then i moved and now it's (medium sized) Tesco. I mourned the change. Loved our big Sains.

Our Tesco has recently got rid of 50% of the tills and it's shite. Every one queuing up for the same 3 damn tills 'cos no one likes to do a big shop through the self scan. Mourned old Sains even more.

Recently passed old Sains and went in for a few bits and they too have got rid of half their tills! 😮Loads of queuing, loads of moaning.

What the hell is going to happen this xmas when loads of folks have a mahoosive trolly load of stuff all at once in these stores?

I do it weekly

I’ve never been a massive fan, and despite living a 1 minute drive from a large Sainsburys supermarket, hardly venture there. I’m not sure just who their market is, it’s not cheap like Asda or Morrisons, it’s not fancy enough to compete at the top end with M&S and Waitrose and Tesco firmly occupy the mediocre middle of the road slot.

Theres a Sainsburys Local by me that I couldn’t speak highly enough off though, maybe that is their niche?

I thought it was just my local Sainsbury’s that had an issue with not enough tills being open! It's my main issue with Sainsbury’s. In my local Aldi they open another till if the queue starts to build

Why would I bring an empty trolley out of the entrance? Well I was just trying to be helpful - returning the trolley from whence I got it, rather than leaving it in the middle of the store getting in everyone's way. I had no idea it was going to lock. Obviously.

Yes, we go to garden centres quite a lot. But I am told that for people with dementia, it's important for them to retain a degree of independence for as long as possible. So if they feel that they still want to choose their own food items, even if they can't get themselves to and from the store, then it's beneficial to facilitate that. That's another reason for not doing the shopping online. DM's generation (she's 90) do like to visit a shop and look at items - all her friends do that as much as they are able.

@BananasinPyhamas

My grandmother used to love going to Morrisons when she had dementia. She could spend hours in there. She liked going on various trips to other places too but she always wanted to stop off at Morrisons on the way back at least.

Our local mini Sainsbury’s has always been dreadful. And there's loads of competition (Waitrose, coop, Aldi, M&S) so I've no idea how it's still there! They only ever have one member of staff on the checkout and the rest is all self service but most people nip in for a bottle of wine or a pack of paracetamol etc so then the queue is horrific!

@LakeTiticaca Our Sainsbury's Cafe is still open? And all the deli counters. In fact they've just added a Sushi Bar & Japanese counter to ours

Yes, almost started a thread the other week.

recent issues include a bag of carrots already going rotten (had DS with me at the time & wasn’t paying attention)

and a shocking price increase on their own brand non-bio powder. Used to be around £2.50 but they have now “rebranded” with a new box (sand stuff) and it has doubled in price!

also have frequent issues with prices not being correctly displayed on the shelf. Worst thing is I told a member of staff about it one day and it was still wrong a few weeks later. How many poor customers had unwittingly paid more than they’d expected for the item in that space of time!

I can never understand why anyone would do their entire shop at Sainsbury's. The bread & baked goods are allllllways short dated, going back years & years. Somehow even the branded bread seems to always have a short date when you get it from Sainsbury's, compared with anywhere else.
Their own baked in-store bread is foul as well.

I stopped shopping at Sainsbury's after a problem with their self-scan system. I would rather use a normal check out but there is rarely more than one open. So I did my shop with the scanning device. One last thing I really needed to buy - bleach. So about 60p. I couldn't find any anywhere and it took me ages to find a member of staff to help. I did eventually. She went and got me a bottle from out the back and then popped it in my trolley. I was running really late by this point. Because she put it in my trolley I didn't scan it. Arguably my fault - I should have remembered to scan it - but she didn't actually give it to me to scan and I was in a hurry. She said something to point me in the right direction for paying, so I did what I was told and went to the check out. Then of course I had a item scan check and the bloody bleach hadn't been scanned, so I then had to have everything rescanned. I was treated as if I was a thief. No apology. I haven't been back since.

Oh and this! Fruit, veg & baked goods - always short dates. Quite often he case with milk & meat too

They’ve hired awful people. Yes I suggest going elsewhere! If you’re so inclined, you could call them and tell the management about your experiences there. Ridiculous laziness and rudeness by their employees.