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.

So was the final total exactly the same between your scan and the employee's scan?

Happened to me in tesco, they even screwed up and had to scan it all.

No probs at all.

Chill your beans noones the least bit interested....

YABU. Nobody apart from you would think you looked like a suspected thief 🙄

Oh really? Ok..
I'm not saying it's not her job am I? I didn't say that at all, anywhere.
I'm saying to the OP if she doesn't want to have this problem then shop at Aldi because they don't tend to do this here. & yes of course some workers love these situations more than others because they like the power it gives them.
Just like some posters on here are keen to make huge sweeping judgemental comments about other posters. They love the power of thinking they're right. You aren't though

I won't use them either, they're so awkward and slower than putting stuff in a trolley and putting through a self service till or checkout.

I agree with this. Yes, it's annoying but you are making up all sorts of negative assumptions up in your head like people who you do business with now think you're a thief etc Why on earth would they think that? I wouldnt assume that, I'd just assume there was an issue with the till not scanning properly.

Even when people are stopped leaving the store when the buzzer goes off they just show their receipt and leave, it happens every time I go shopping and those people arent thieves either- its usually a security tag that noone noticed and didnt remove properly at checkout.

This is a very OTT reaction to an annoyance and I think it might be because you are feeling quite low and vulnerable- definitely look into this because being in tears and making all these assumptions are just unnecessarily upsetting you for no real reason.

What a fuss!
Standard procedure. It happens to me frequently - the only time I was really annoyed was Christmas Eve!!! But it's part of the process. Use the tills if you don't want this to happen. (And nobody's looking at you they are far too busy sorting themselves out)

It makes a different beep if it doesn't register.

You should put said item aside and try scanning it at the checkout and ask the assistant if it still doesn't scan.
What you don't do is pack it in your shopping and hope you don't get pulled for a check.

None of this is as easy as getting it delivered to your door.

Exactly the same has happened to me in Sainsbury’s and in Waitrose. I don’t use self scan any more, either I don’t use it well or the system is a bit rubbish, or a bit of both. The thing I find annoying is the member of staff at the door trying to persuade customers, quite forcibly, to use the damn scanners. No thank you.

Yes you may have scanned it, but it's good to check your scanned items have been registered on the screen as you go.
That would have saved you all the hassle.

Learn to read. The OP clearly states it wasn’t the worker’s fault.

I was once (years ago) having a really bad day and something similar happened to me. I just said “sorry, I don’t have time for this” and left the shop without the items or paying for them, so they had the pleasure of putting everything away 😈

If the system says rescan, it's has to be rescanned. It's not the staffs fault. Scan and shop theft is rife and the system selected shops to rescan
You arr overthinking all this. They are nor picking on you purposely

This is a non issue imo and all supermarkets work the same, it's just the first time you've experienced where an item hasn't been scanned in your shop.

I've been through this too in another supermarket. In my situation I bought a drink and selected 2 on the scanner but accidentally picked up a different flavour for the second drink. They both cost the same and it's not like my shop came to any less money. But because I had an item in my basket that hasn't been scanned they had to rescan my entire shop.

It is what it is. I did not think anything of it minus their systems are prone to both system errors and human errors (which I'm sure they know and why they do these checks) and it is what it is. I still do scan and shop in the same supermarket.

I'm not really sure why you're so upset about this?

You'll be more careful in the future.

I had it happen once in Tesco. I can't even remember what the item was now. It wasn't even £1. I was with a friend and must have been distracted. It was a pain in the ass having the big rescan but I wasn't embarrassed. Humans are human, so mistakes will happen. It's not personal nor worth melting down over.

How are the staff at Waitrose supposed to know it was a mistake?

You didn't scan it though. It's easily checked when you scan it , be it full price or reduced as it comes up. So that's not an excuse. Every single supermarket do random each, ever single supetmarlets wee machine is told how many they have to check and if they're any missing at all all items have to be rescanned.

Are you the hulk? How crushed is your shopping? You are being hugely unreasonable BTW.

I totally get what you mean.

A few weeks ago I went to Asda and got selected for a “quality check” and had missed an item worth 35p. I had £130 worth of shopping and it was all showing as scanned on the scanner so I obviously wasn’t trying to make off without paying.
They took me aside to rescan everything with everyone staring and one colleague loudly radioed another member of staff saying “scan and go items were missed”

I suggest you don’t use it again if you go back. I like scan and go as it shows your total as you shop so I don’t overspend. I used it again when I went back.

I got to checkout and this time no quality check. A member of staff still came over saying there had been “problems with the machine” and went through the items in my trolley and items scanned. She actually seemed disappointed it tallied up and said “ok fine the machine has worked this time”

I didn’t think anything of it but as I got home I realised they were checking that I wasn’t a prolific shoplifter.

I went back to Asda again a week later and all was good but different staff. The next time I went it was the same lady who saw the missed item and “checked” the till.
She hovered again but this time I needed approval for wine, she was flicking through again looking at the items on the scanner and items in the trolley.
She started talking about how shoplifting pushes the prices up in supermarkets and how she’s “never let one get past her”

I have severe anxiety and other mental health problems and stopped going to Asda after this as I was too scared of her questioning me again.

In the end I emailed Asda with receipts and a detailed explanation of what happened. I’ve been left alone ever since.

I’m not saying this will happen to you because it’s obvious this lady was just on a power trip. I do think if you miss an item accidentally you shouldn’t be treated like a shoplifter and I have obviously been put on some kind of watch list.

I do understand the embarrassment of being pulled aside and I packed my shopping as fast as possible as well to get out of there and was almost in tears.

I think the actual shoplifters get away with it so they try to frighten other people out of frustration they haven’t caught them.

Please try to forget this though, I spoke to a lot of people who had been through similar and realised it’s the supermarket and staff with the issue not the innocent shoppers.

If you don’t want shoplifters then pay staff to man tills! I know someone who brags about putting expensive things through as bread rolls or grapes.
This wouldn’t happen if they paid staff.

I've had this problem in Tesco before. They've since changed to new scanners but the old ones used to 'glitch' frequently, or fail half way around the shop. I got into the habit of checking the screen after every item I'd scanned, firstly to check that it had actually scanned and secondly to check that it was showing the correct price for the item. (I once scanned a bottle of Tesco flavoured water and on the screen it appeared as a £150 rug!!)

Anyway, one time I scanned a packet of flavoured rice. It appeared on the handset. I got to the till and was selected for a random check. They happened to pick up the rice which apparently hadn't scanned (even though I'd checked the handset to see the price as it was on offer) They had to scan my entire shop. I agree with you that it does feel embarrassing and it makes you feel like a thief, I know i'd done everything right, but it does make you feel like everyone's eyes are on you.

Just know that it happens to others, all the time, so often in fact that nobody probably batted an eyelid when your shopping was being checked. They probably just assumed that you were having a random check and thought nothing more of it.

So it didn’t actually scan and you still packed it away?
So essentially you had an item you never scanned in your shopping.

Sometimes in the evening I pop to the local co-op to buy something I need. There's always school kids working on at that time of day. Three times I've seen shoplifting, so mentioned it to the boy or girl on the checkout. They make a note of the aisle and time. They don't have to challenge anyone.

Shoplifting is a big problem, but it's not my problem.

She’s just doing her job. You missed one item. It’s protocol. Nothing personal.

Scan and ship always do random checks.
Unfortunately if they find an issue then they will, of course, need to do a full rescan of everything you've bought.

I had a random check in Tesco once. They automatically did a full rescan. There wasn't an option for just a handful of items.

I didn't feel ashamed or bad about it though a bit peeved as it meant my shopping was going to take a bit longer than I'd hoped for.

As it happens there were no irregularities and the rescan total was the same as the scan and go one.