Tesco driver said I wasn't disabled

[Sara450]

I had a delivery from tesco today. The drivers always bring it up to my fiat on the third floor. I ordered via whoosh today.

The driver text me "I'm here. Come down."

I said "could you please bring it up, I'm unable to come down due to my disability."

He said, "come down."

Then he phoned me and said he'd leave my delivery on the street if I didn't come down.

I phoned my neighbour and she went out for me. He said to her "she's not disabled she's walked down the stairs before."

I'm so upset (maybe I'm being an idiot) but, I have MS and sometimes I'm okay, sometimes I'm not (I'm not today) 😔

Aibu to be annoyed at this?

Fuck me that's outrageous! No way should anyone be accusing you of not being disabled or trying it on etc. Has he even had any training??? EVER? This is basic entry level knowledge. When someone says they are disabled - EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK THEY LOOK IT - you fucking believe them! Mainly because there is an extremely high chance they will be telling the truth.

I'm shook!

I'm sorry you went through this @Sara450 Please complain to Tesco ON TWITTER. They hate social media shaming.

Thinking of you sweetie. ❤

Probably completely untrained as an Uber driver.

Exactly what mooncup said.

Come off it! This is basic knowledge FFS. You don't say someone is not disabled because they managed to walk down the stairs. Only the thickest most ignorant numpty would say this. (That's aimed at the driver not you!) I am amazed anyone who managed to learn to drive, and GET A JOB doesn't know basic stuff like this!

Obviously his behaviour was completely inappropriate.

But I didn’t think they brought the shopping upstairs and have always known people living in flats to have to come down and get it.

If you usually come down and get it, it’s understandable why he’d think you’d come down as normal.

So I wouldn’t necessarily complain about him not coming up the stairs unless you had specified it beforehand but I would definitely complain about his language and ask to clarify if they bring it upstairs for disabled people.

I’m sure I’ve seen written on their vans ‘delivered to your fridge door’ my Tesco driver brings mine into the kitchen and helps me unpack.

Complain about what he said as its unacceptable way to talk to your neighbour about you claiming you're not.
However I do get why he was reluctant to come up, as unlike the tesco drivers they're not even on guarenteed minimum wage.

It's not delivered by Tesco

@PurpleButterflyWings

Come off it! This is basic knowledge FFS

I wasn't defending him!

You said 'has he even had any training?'

I was just saying no, probably not.

Phone the customer service line and speak with someone

Is it actually the Tesco vans that deliver Whoosh orders or do they use a 3rd party?

They should have brought your food up and not questioned your disability.

I agree with go through twitter - you always get the best customer service that way.

Whoosh is delivered by a third party, not Tesco themselves.

OP I would definitely complain about what the driver said to the third party that they work for but the Tesco website does clearly say that it is at the driver's discretion as to whether they come to your flat door as opposed to the main entrance/lobby of the building, just the same as with their regular home deliveries

Our Asda driver always offers to bring it into the kitchen even though it’s awkward (I decline) but I’m not even disabled. That’s shocking customer service.

He's a twatting bastard.

This wasn't a tesco employee though, was it? It's still their service so they should take responsibility but I think whoosh delivery is contracted out.

How rude of him. My son's a lorry driver and he has been trained to ask all customers if they need help/support. You are the customer and without you they wouldn't have a job. Go on twitter and tweet to everyone you know about the rude delivery driver and the poor customer service. He effectively called you a liar for being disabled. I have arthritis and some days I can walk about but if it's wet the pain flares up and I just can't.

I think it's important to ascertain exactly what the driver is obligated to do.

I used to deliver pallets in a truck and was strictly not allowed onto residential properties for insurance purposes. My employer took it extremely seriously and regularly checked the 360° cameras on the truck and also the location of the ipad. I saw three people sacked in the six months I was there, two of which had tried to be helpful to the customer.

Almost daily I'd have people shouting at me because I wouldn't wheel it 20ft into the garage, despite my pointing out that the camera pointing at us was a live link to the office. Some people expected me, a lone female, to somehow get a washing machine up to the third floor! Often they'd not read the small print and had trusted the word of the spotty youth on the sales floor who had no idea how it would be delivered nor any authority over the couriers.

Almost every 10 hour shift became 12-13 hours due to the customers arguing and making me wait halfhour before signing for the goods. Got so sick of it I quit halfway through a shift in the end!

I know food deliveries are a bit different but the regular guy going out of his way doesn't necessarily mean this guy needs to. Maybe he only gets paid by the delivery and has just completed three deliveries to top floor apartments. Maybe his bad knee now hurts.

I fully retract the above if it's a contractual part of the service but I've also been the driver getting treated like a skivvy by members of the public who have neglected to plan ahead, so I see both sides in many of these situations.

@TorqueWrench if this is the case, and the delivery driver is not allowed to enter the building, the normal thing to do is to apologise to the customer profusely and explain the rules. It's not to be an utter cunt and query her disability...

Oh poor you OP. How awful for you.

I have progressively worsening osteoarthritis that most days I'm fine with - theres always some pain amd discomfort, but l've generally gotten used to it and continue to work. However, my job is physically demanding. Sometimes I've worked so many hours, pushing my body too far, that eventually my back gives out and I'm in absolute agony. I can barely walk, have to grab at furniture to stop my legs from buckling underneath me and trying to get down the stairs leaves me in tears. So on most occasions I'd be able to walk down a set of stairs and slowly carry/hoike shopping bags into a lift. But I'd bloody struggle and my arthritis would be kicking off afterwards. I don't 'appear' disabled but my painful joints say otherwise!

But on the days where it's really bad and I can barely walk from the sofa to the loo, I'd definitely need delivery drivers to bring shopping right up to the door.

I mean, surely, the disabled are the people who benefit most from a supermarket delivery service like that. The disabled must account for a huge percentage of their customers?

But then on the other hand, if Uber/Whoosh delivered this, Tesco have clearly outsourced due to demand. And companies like Uber are all about targets while paying their workers as little as poss.

That delivery driver will have probably had a high number of targets to achieve to prevent disciplinary action/penalties and a lot of the times those targets are just unrealistic, especially on days where traffic is bad or other customers have thrown curve balls at them And that's probably what happened here... he's taken his stress and frustration out on you after reaching the end of his tether. Wrongly assuming in his anger that you're not disabled and kicking off at what he perceives to be yet another piss taker.

You didn't deserve it, and no matter what, he shouldn't take the frustration of his working conditions out on any customer. But I think it needs reporting not just so he receives the adequate training to appreciate that disabilities come in so many different forms, so nobody is treated the way you have been again, but also to acknowledge maybe these drivers targets are beyond reachable and maybe stop putting them under so much pressure for such little money. Because when you do that, they snap.

Go to the press

Oh give over, she's disabled and he accused her of not being disabled, which is grotesque. And he was delivering some food not a fridge. If he had your hypothetical "sore knee" then he could simply have apologised.

I appreciate it's not the point of the thread, but Elon Musk needs to realise that X isn't catching on here on MN.

I agree you need to Tweet the shit out of Tesco. I'm sorry this happened to you OP