Waitrose incident.

[SensitiveSallySue]

I am not sure if I am being sensitive or if I should complain.

Every Sunday morning I go out for a coffee and read my book, then do the weekly shop without the children. I like to be back before midday so I can spend the rest of the time with my children, including 9 month old baby. We have every supermarket local to us, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, M&S, Asda, Tesco, and I always use the ‘scan and shop’ to make the shopping as quick and easy as possible. I’ve never had an issue until today in Waitrose. I’ve only used it a couple of times in Waitrose and never for a big shop.

After scanning my entire shop, strategically packing it so it’s easy to unload at home, I went to pay. When I beeped the scanner, it flagged up as needing to be checked. I thought that was fair enough, it happens sometimes, and I haven’t done a weekly shop in Waitrose before using the ‘scan and shop’ option. The worker came over and said she needed to rescan 30/58 items. I thought that was ridiculous, in every other shop they scan a random selection of a few items, not over half your shop. It seemed pointless to me to have even used the option in the first place, but I didn’t say anything and the worker started to empty shopping bags full to rescan items. This was taking ages, but I just stood patiently waiting for her to finish.

Then, she came across one that I apparently hadn’t scanned. I know I did, but it was a yellow sticker packet so I can only assume that it hadn’t registered properly. She repeatedly asked me if I had scanned it, and I repeatedly told her I had but it clearly hadn’t registered.

She told me she would need to rescan my entire shopping trolley, then took me over to a till, and I stood on the end whilst she unpacked every single one of my bags and scanned every item individually. It was completely unsubtle, in front of all of the other customers, and obvious that they were rescanning the entire shop in case I was attempting to steal things. I felt like an idiot and a thief. To make matters worse, I am a small business owner working with children, and had already bumped into several of my clients in the shop. I was absolutely mortified thinking that they may think I am a thief.

I was thoroughly embarrassed and teary eyed, and hastily shoved everything back into bags whilst the Waitrose worker apologised. Half of my shopping is crushed as I was shoving things back into the bags indiscriminately. I promptly paid and left but it has really upset me. By that point, I’d spent around 20 minutes having everything rescanned.

AIBU to think that if Waitrose are going to have a system that is open to abuse, they need to have a solution that doesn’t involve treating customers like thieves? I have never had an experience like this in any other store and whilst I realise they have to protect themselves from theft, surely this is not the correct way to go about. It’s not the Waitrose workers fault, it just seems like a very poor system and they shouldn’t offer ‘scan and shop’ if this is the way they treat customers.

Brilliant! 🤣

I love self scanning. It is far quicker than a traditional till and there is very, very rarely a problem with it. I've been using self scan for about 20 years since they introduced it at my local Waitrose. I now use my phone. Re-scans are rare, they seem to be more likely if you've scanned a few items and then removed your basket but this might be coincidence.

I love that I can pack my items in the right bag straight away then pay and leave. No unpacking the trolley onto a belt and having to repack. I'm not sure how people can say it isn't quicker.

It's usually a percentage of the amount of items you have scanned iv seen as high as late 40s early 50 when it's a 2/3 hundred pound shop

I work in retail.
The shop assistant absolutely followed procedure. This would have happened in any of the grocery retailers. The only weird thing was the number of items that needed to be checked - that did sound high, however, as you suggested, it was probably because it was a big shop and you hadn't been in for a while.

I know you think you scanned this item but it obviously didn't scan properly and did not appear in your shopping basket. This is actually a binary event. You didn't scan it properly, the handheld scanners can't make this mistake, which is why I always check that any scanned item appears in the basket.

Theft at the self scan is rife which is why random checks take place.

Just so you know the next few times you go into Waitrose, you will be brought up for checks at self scan - probably for the next 3 visits - again this is standard procedure in every retailer when you mis-scan an item.

To be clear, this happens all the time. Customers make genuine mistakes but the shop will have to rescan the entire basket. Who the retailers are looking for are the people who scan a cheap bottle of wine but then deliberately put in an expensive bottle of champagne in their basket.

@SensitiveSallySue sounds like procedure was followed, literally no-one thought you were a criminal yet for some reason you have completely over-reacted.

This happened to me in Tescos. The first time I used the scanner 20 % of items were scanned. One items was not scanned correctly by me so the entire trolley was rescanned. I felt really bad about it but the staff were lovely. I did get a phone call during the shopping trip so wasn’t completely focused on what I was doing so obviously missed one and threw something in my trolley without thinking. I think the self scanner is really only suitable for a small amount of items as it is very easy to miss one or two when you have a trolley full.

You are moaning you weren't taken back through the traditional' till

You had your shopping re scanned at a seperate till

Customers would freak out if they had to queue up and go through a till so no that wouldn't work, they are giving you the courtesy of scanning your shop without queuing!

I don't think you are being unreasonable, but I agree with others that it is best not to take this personally (they don't know you). My mum once did this scanning stuff and the very first time everything had to be re-scanned (Sainsbury's I think), so she never bothered again.

The reverse of this is Sainsburys. They often charge a higher amount at the till than it says on the shelf label. So many times this has happened, I no longer believe its a one off. It's systematic daylight robbery.

I always keep a mental tally of prices now and watch as they scan items and get a receipt. I bet loads of people are not as vigilant. They probably get away with a LOT of extra money this way.

When challenged they say 'oh yeah the system just hasn't updated the price yet.'
Mmm. Very handy for Sainsburys that.

They are the worst out of all the supermarkets for this.

OP it was annoying but next time I'm sure you'll do it differently and all will be well. I find customer service in Waitrose really good generally. The staff must hate doing this as much as you hated having it done.

How else could she have unloaded your bag if not manually? With a machine?

A huge overreaction.

You’re upset because you got caught not scanning all of your shopping? They found at least one item that you hadn’t scanned so had to take you through a traditional till. What did you expect them to do?

If you don’t want this to happen, make sure you scan all of your shopping. If you scan all of your shopping, you’ll pass the random spot checks and never have to have the embarrassment of having all of your shopping re-processed

My dh does the shop in Waitrose and a few times he has been randomly flagged to have everything rescanned. It can be a pain especially when he has the dcs with him but he’s never been embarrassed or felt like it’s his fault

No, that’s not how they work. You would have stolen the item. The responsibility is on you to ensure everything has gone through. It doesn’t matter in the scenario what your intention was. You would have been a thief and up until you were stopped and rescanned, you were a thief. The end.

I had this yanbu, In my case I did large shop and the assistant checked about half of the items, sausages she scanned come up as not in the trolley and I knew I scanned it. She looked at me as if I was scum of the earth. I have never stolen a thing in my life and I knew everything went on the machine I double checked had to go through the whole rescanning of each item with two staff members at the main till points, turns out was two barcodes on one item out of about 75 things scanned up wrong, it come up as a different item which was more in value, even the cashier scanned the same barcode when I got the receipt I was curious as to why I was charged the exact same amount as the total at the self check out the item had some strange description when I checked it in detail they apologised about it and checked confirmed it but I will never forget it. It was embarrassing, What makes it worse i went back to check the shelf and about 100 packs all had the same two Barcodes so i only assume i was not the first to be pulled aside. You really have to be on the ball with this scan and shop the staff will not listen to you and it was not the nicest experience.

that happened to me in sainsburys once with a screaming newborn and then it happened another 3 times in a row! so I honestly think it’s just one of them things. Try not to take it personally.

Sorry, it does sound as though you overreacted. Personally, I think the whole self-scan and shop thing is bloody ridiculous and what does anyone expect if they use it? If you don’t want the potential for humiliation, then don’t use a system where random people have to be treated like potential thieves.

I wouldn’t complain, I do think you’ve overreacted a little bit. Maybe the cashier should a bit more discreet, maybe she’s mortified about her failure to be so and has also learned from that experience. For the record I’ve been made to unpack everything before because their system failed and no one bats an eyelid or thinks you’re a thief … it’s just their procedure. If a customer saw you and mentioned it I’d just say there was a system error, not the end of the world.

Agree with @Namedispute

Also when you get to the till, it always asks 'did all your items scan?' - giving the onus to the customer to check.

They have to check a percentage of the self scans at random. It's nothing to do with who they expect to be stealing, it's checking a sample to make sure the scanning system is working properly. Yes it's a pain in the bum but nothing to worry about. Your reaction to the store worker doing their job which they have to do for good reason, is your own problem and nothing to complain to the store about!

YABU. Massive overreaction, the staff member was doing their job and following a procedure. They’d get in trouble if they didn’t. You’ve clearly never done a customer service job! They definitely weren’t treating you as a thief, although technically it looked like you were. I’d never bother with the scanning for this reason. Just do online delivery, and enjoy your weekend!!

I still use the hand scanners, but I had the same experience. The rescan came out as less than my scanning. It is the system - I find I am rescanned if I have changed my mind and returned stuff to the shelves. OP sounds a bit defensive and thin skinned.

I couldn't get upset about this. It's just one of those things. If I saw someone having their shopping checked I wouldn't think they were a thief... just that the employee was doing a spot check.

You've got yourself in a state over nothing. I'd have just laughed about... and I definitely wouldn't have crushed all my shopping.

Ah OP, what an embarrassing pain in the arse for you. I would have given you a sympathetic smile if I'd been there. Of course this would be a better method, plus they should apologise for wasting your time.

Theft requires mens rea - intention and knowledge of wrongdoing, not technically being to blame because a supermarket’s technology is unreliable.

twice now in waitrose i had a security guard checking me, once at self scan and once at the plants outside, i feel quite upset by his attitude