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Original poster

To be annoyed with Sainsbury's fast track system

29 replies

skymoo · 16/01/2010 19:40

Went to top up on some groceries today (well £60 worth), and for the second time in a row, we had to re-scan the shopping. I actually felt like a criminal but can understand why they do it, just not why so often. We had had a few dodgy items which wouldn't scan, and we kept these out of the bags and told the cashier about them. I have to say it has put me right off!

Oh and why can't they let you know at the end, if there was a discrepancy?

Grrr

OP posts:
choufleur · 16/01/2010 19:42

i've not been rescanned for ages. But then again a while ago i was rescanned quite frequently. luck of the draw i guess.

But unless you are nicking stuff no YANBU it's really annoying

YouSaidWHAT · 16/01/2010 20:20

i have never heard of this, do you mean when you finished scanning they came over and directed you to another till to check you did it right?

Original poster
skymoo · 16/01/2010 20:42

Nooo, you go to the fast track till, and give the cashier your nectar card and scanner, then I assume a message flashes up which tells them to re-scan. So...you then have to take your carefully packed shopping out of the fucking trolley, put it back on the belt, and go again! Most embarrassing when there is a massive queue behind you! And even more so when you stand there going redder by the minute 'cos you feel like everyone thinks you must have been nicking stuff!

OP posts:
NanBullen · 16/01/2010 20:49

do you mean the self service tills? why do have your own scanner? Eh?

Can you tell i use tescos!

Aussieng · 16/01/2010 20:57

I thought they had discontinued their fast track system years ago.

Nan if it is still the same then you pick up a scanner and take it around the store with you scanning your shopping as you pick it up and put it into shopping bags. Then you go to the fast track till hand over the scanner, the cashier tells you what you owe from the scanner and you pay and head straight off with your already packed shopping. Separate to the self-serve tills.

NanBullen · 16/01/2010 21:04

oooh, i see. sainsburys must be very trustworthy. ds would probably grab the scanner off me and start scanning random items on the shelves!

foxinsocks · 16/01/2010 21:06

lol nan

I can just imagine ds loving that too!

LittleWhiteWolf · 16/01/2010 23:06

YANBU
I tend to shop at Tesco as its the only shop in our town but recently we were out of town and used Sainsburys for a few bits, couldnt see a self service till which we use at Tesco so found a short queue only to find we didnt belong in that queue as we'd not self-scanned. Argh!

Really put me off shopping there. At least I know my way around Tesco!

madusa · 17/01/2010 10:21

shop in waitrose - their scanners always work and have never had to re-scan anything

bronze · 17/01/2010 10:29

Nan wouldnt they like it if he did that. you would pay for more goods than you had

MrsBadger · 17/01/2010 10:31

I have had to rescan once in Waitrose

but to be fair I had bought about £90 of wine and one packet of biscuits, so I could see their point...

traumaqueen · 17/01/2010 10:47

I went through a phase of having to be rescanned and in the end I lost my rag (slightly - honestly, i am so mild mannered they probably didn't notice) and demanded an explanation. Apparently at a random rescan there was a discrepancy so I got rescanned next time and then the next time again. When I demanded they tell me whether there was a discrepancy this time they got all shifty so I made them go through the shopping I had rescanning it and tallying that with what was on my scanner. It transpired that something was scanning differently on shelf and at the checkout - their fault but my problem. Anyway, it stopped after that because I moved house to a different Sainsburys! And now I have a lovely Waitrose.

I was also told that the yellow price reduction stickers often throw up a rescan too so now I don;t scan those but present them as a problem item if I am in Sainsburys

But I LOVE scanning!

NoahAndTheWhale · 17/01/2010 10:51

My mum used to do self scanning in Safeways (are there any Safeways left now or did they all go?) She was very rarely rescanned but did take it personally if she was

therightguy · 22/05/2012 17:47

Im not a mum nor a woman, but I needed to register to reply to this post, so im sorry :S.. I can tell you that sainsbury's fast-track system is good IF you dont look rough, IF you dont wear trackies, baggie top and big earings ect, your more of a chance of being a victim of a re-scan, BECAUSE there is an option (YES/NO) if they think you have stolen anything hence the more than once re-scan, I have stopped using fast track now because they target me because I look a little rough and the image I show to the checkout guys doesnt match up to their expectations of the ideal perfect human being that looks innocent, does not speak in a different way (next time you go through a fast-scan checkout, study their face, if they have a smug grin then you know that its personal) and theres no point in argueing with that person because she/he has the right to do so, find a person with joy in his/her eyes I suggest to serve you, even though theres a bigger que than the open one.

Get0rfMoiLand · 22/05/2012 17:50

Blimey!

jenfraggle · 22/05/2012 17:51

There are 3 Sainsbury's near here, none of them have this system. It's either normal tills or self service ones (including ones with a conveyor belt for big shops)

HRHqueenofeverything · 22/05/2012 17:53

therightguy wow I better tell my son never to use it, he would be re scanned every time(not that he looks rough, just has the metal head look)

ABatInBunkFive · 22/05/2012 17:55

Zombie thread alert, op is over 2 years old.

MarysBeard · 22/05/2012 18:14

What do they do if there is something you have "forgotten" to scan? Arrest you for shoplifting on the spot?

therightguy · 23/05/2012 03:46

well yes HRHq....thing I wear clothes that match metal music so dark and long hair (im not a negative person) I just like wearing those clothes, I was lucky enough to speak with a nice gentleman that worked on the checkouts and he told me how it worked (the whole truth) because I asked before with other workers and they all said that it was automatic and wasnt up to them if you had to re-scan... they LIE to you, I complained to the customers help desk about this and they lied too, they dont want you to feel like a target and to make you feel welcomed into sainsbury's so you can shop again... its all wrong people automatically think that if you wear a nice suit that your angelic, why? does more money make you a nicer person?

therightguy · 23/05/2012 03:51

Marysbeard - no they judge how you appear and then you put everything on the belt to scan by hand like a normal shop, if they see that you missed something, they smile and say in their head "see! i knew you didnt scan everything--- im so awsome"

scrablet · 23/05/2012 04:11

I was rescanned several times in a row. Don't think I look particularly rough...bit unkempt maybe...I asked at the Service desk and they told me not to do all sorts of things I wasn't doing, like not scanning the second of a bogof,etc. They then told me it hadn't happened THAT often, (about 5 out of 5 times), but hasn't happened since.

Agree with therightguy to some extent, if on a random rescan an error is found, they will then ask for a rescan more often. In my case the error I made was actually in their favour!

When asked for a rescan after that I made a point of asking if there was an error in the total, never was again.

(Has to go to Sainsbo's tomorrow, and just know I will be rescanned and will have massive scanning error!)

BiddyPop · 23/05/2012 10:14

We have different supermarkets, but one does have the same scanning system. I go through phases of being rescanned frequently - they're usually very nice about it (and I usually end up spending LESS than what was on the scanner).

My aunt, who also uses it, got REALLY cross one week when, for the 4th in a row, she was rescanned. ("I spend over ?250 every week here and don't need to be made feel like a criminal"). The way she told it herself, it really sounded like she had discrepancies, but they stopped rescanning to keep her custom.

There can also be times when they do a higher proportion of rescans than usual, at random but annoys some. But they usually make sure they have at least 2 scan tills open those days (they can have up to 4 if need be). And if there is someone with a LARGE trolley who gets a rescan and only 1 till open, they generally call for the second till to open as well for the rest of the q who are likely to just pay and go.

The odd time, the system goes "kerplunck" mid-way through the shopping - so you get to the "Superscan" checkout, and EVERYONE is getting rescanned as half their shop wasn't put through the system en-route. Most people are fine with that, but there can be mutterings and raised eyebrows. And they do tend to open spare tills then too, and grab a couple of bag packers off the main tills to help repacking.

therightguy · 23/05/2012 15:22

there is no error in selfscan unless the battery has totally given in, they use the word 'error' so that you are calm about the process

shinybaubles · 23/05/2012 15:32

Not Sainsburys but a supermarket near me has the same system and we were told that they auto rescan every 10th customer, and if at that scan they find something wrong then the next few times you go in you have to rescan, it is here automatic in the system.