Worst customer service ever at Asda

[motherofcatsandbears]

I bought something to drink from Asda last week for me and my friends. We tried it and didn’t like it - some left in glasses.
I tried to return the (admittedly empty) bottle, not thinking to put the remaining liquid back in the bottle before trying to get a refund on the try me love me policy they claim to stand by.
I ended up speaking to a manager (after having to ask the service desk employee not to call me “my love” as I find it patronising and extremely rude. The manager listened to me and said that if I brought back what was left he would reconsider a refund. I did tell him that I realised I should have poured what was left back in the bottle but it smelled so foul, i couldn’t bear to smell it again.
I returned on Monday and the service desk employee opened the bottle to smell the drink and poured it back in after not finding I’d tampered with it and left a sticky mess all over the bottle.
She went to get a manager (different person from last week) who, before even listening to me, said that she stood by last week’s decision still stood. I asked her why she didn’t even listen to me and she couldn’t answer.
I have emailed Asda head office and I’m waiting to hear back from them.

Amazing. Reminds me of the time I was in a clothes shop and some lady was returning a pair of trousers with a fault and absolutely kicked off when they refunded her but wouldn’t let her keep the trousers as well “but they’re faulty, what do you want with them?” 😂

You took the words right out of mouth.

I don't know what's going on here. Not even a tiny bit.

But I'm amused 😂😂😂

I know everyone is having a laugh out of this. But on their website it really does say they have a "promise" to refund you if you're not 100% satisfied. Nothing about there only being a certain amount of the product left. So I think Asda have broken their word in this case. They can't call it a promise when in actual fact it's at the discretion of the store.

It's hardly "worst customer service ever", though, is it?

You'd have to be careful if claiming under their promise to refund if you don't like something, but if you also use their app or scan and go for your regular shopping.

You're going to rumble yourself if you seek a refund for something you tried and claimed not to like, if that same 'unliked' item then regularly appears in the data that they harvest showing the contents of your weekly trolley!

The fact that the second manager also took the same stance makes me wonder whether there is a photo of OP behind the customer service desk with a warning attached to it for all staff.

i took some frozen sprouts back years ago, to tesco admittedly, got my money back. but i did take the whole packet, virtually

You are entitled to the refund, and you can apply for it online or in writing without returning the product.

I can't imagine why CS turned you down unless perhaps you confused or annoyed them in some way. No, surely not?

I too would love to hear more about the product, the source of the liquid for the second trip, the sniffing, the pouring back, the tampering and the sticky mess.

This thread is great. Thank you so much.

Wtah have I just read? I feel sorry for customer service , if this is the kind of daily shite that they have to deal with!
got to be a joke?

You made two trips because you purchased a drink you didn't like and wanted a, presumably very small, refund?????

Utterly ridiculous. I often buy things I don't like the taste of - I put it down to experience and don't buy them again, and even if a refund were offered I couldn't be bothered.

My friend works on a customer service desk (not in Asda).
She had a woman bring back a 2" piece of cucumber because "the seeds are too big."
No idea what had happened to the rest of it, or if it was only that bit that had gigantic seeds.

Just reposting this from someone who pointed out that the OP didn’t fulfill their side of the agreement.

If there wasn't one at the time there will be one now!!!

I used to take empty bottles back all the time, sometimes several at a time.
Granted it was the local shop in the 80's and all the dandelion and burdock was drank, but 10p in those days went far

As far as I can tell the 'Try Me Love Me' statement referring to a full refund only applies to Asda own brand products, and I'm not sure whether that applies to alcohol as well as food. Obviously the Consumer Rights act applies to faulty products. So far I haven't seen any mention of the brand of alcohol the OP was wanting a refund on. If it wasn't Asda's own brand alcohol the 'try me, love me' gimmick presumably wouldn't apply.

Do you have very very empty days @motherofcatsandbears ? As empty as that bottle … 😂

Absolute favourite post in ages 😂 Bonkers. My folks had a restaurant years ago and people would absolutely try it on with the old “this food was terrible, inedible, not paying for it” while rubbing their full stomach and pushing empty plates away. This is vintage CF behaviour.

I haven’t read the full thread and am certain someone else has asked this - but just to be clear, you left the half full glasses of ‘foul smelling liquid’ at home and returned the empty bottle to Asda before thinking about tipping them away/loading your dishwasher?

Liking or disliking something is such a subjective individual concept that it’s irrelevant if the bottle was full or empty. Each persons threshold for identifying if they disliked a food/drink is different. You may not have realised immediately (or as you explained OP you threw away the unwanted drink) They have a policy where if you don’t like something you get a refund - they should honour this unless they have t and c stating an amount of the product needs to be returned.

Don't be so cheap, just don't buy it again.

This policy applies to Asda own brand products only. Don’t think Op confirmed it was.

and it doesn’t apply to all Asda own brand items.

Surely you’re not being serious! This would be funny if it wasn’t but sadly I think you are.

I read the whole of your post OP.

Ive got an empty chocolate wrapper. I didnt like the contents, not nice. Do you think they'll give me a refund?

I hate DryJanuary!

I want a glass of whatever the OP is on. 😂

I’m rather brassic at the moment so I think I’ll go hook all my Asda boxes out of my recycle bin take them back and see what happens. You never know your luck in a big city as they say.🤣🤣