Supermarket trolleys

[Wilko94]

I just visited my local Asda in Southgate Nortth London to do my weekly shop. I have a toddler and a 6 month old baby. This shop does not have any double seater trolleys and my toddler, who is used to being in a trolley seat, was extremely upset at having to trail around after us and at one point lay on the floor crying. The whole experience was a nightmare.
i messaged Asda customer service saying:
“Dear Asda Customer Services,
I am writing to raise a complaint regarding the provision of shopping trolleys at Asda Southgate in London today, Monday 5th October.
I visited the store with my two children, who are six months old and three years old. I went to use one of the larger shopping trolleys, assuming that there would be an option that allowed two young children to sit securely and safely, as I have experienced in the past.
However, I was very surprised to discover that every large trolley available only had seating for one child.
I asked the colleague who was managing the trolleys today whether there were any trolleys available with seating for two children. I was told that the trolleys had now been changed and that they only accommodate one child. When I asked when this change had been made, the colleague was unable to tell me.
I find this extremely disappointing and would like to understand the reasoning behind this decision. What provision is being made for parents with twins, or parents like myself who have two children who are both under four and need to be safely accommodated while doing their shopping?
This change made my shopping experience unnecessarily stressful. My three-year-old could not understand why he was unable to sit in the trolley, while I obviously could not remove my six-month-old from the trolley in order to accommodate him. For part of my shopping trip, my older child had to walk alongside me. As you can appreciate, young children can become bored and restless in a supermarket, and eventually my three-year-old ended up standing at the end of the trolley, which I did not feel was safe or appropriate.
I would therefore appreciate a clear answer to the following:
Why were the trolleys that accommodated two children replaced with trolleys that only accommodate one?
Who made the decision to change the trolley design?
Was consideration given to families with twins or two young children close in age?
Will Asda Southgate be provided with trolleys that allow two children to sit securely and safely?
If not, what alternative provision does Asda expect parents in this situation to use?
I would be grateful if this could be investigated and if you could provide me with a proper explanation of the decision and whether Asda intends to address the issue at the Southgate store.
I look forward to hearing from you.”
This is the reply I got back:
“Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. I completely understand your frustration, especially when shopping with two children.

I have raised your concerns with the Store GSM, and they are aware of the issue regarding the availability of two-seater trolleys. They will review this with the store team and look at what improvements can be made.

While I can't guarantee an immediate change, please be assured that we take your feedback seriously and will do our best to provide a better shopping experience and service in the future. We truly value your custom and appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention.

Thank you for your understanding.
_Narender”

I think this is totally unacceptable - lots of us have a baby and toddler and some have twins .
What advice can anyone give to pressure them to provide 2 seater trolleys? Can Mumsnet start a campaign?
TIA

I'm missing the part that makes the response 'unacceptable'.

They take your point and are looking into it. What did you expect them to do? Immediately magic up the right trolly from thin air.

It's not unacceptable for a supermarket to not do exactly what you want immediately.

At my supermarket there was one double trolley. It was really just chance whether you got it or not so I just had to work around it.

The response seems fine to me. I assume you were expecting a response that said ‘We understand. We’ll have 5 double seat trolleys at that store within 10 days’ but that’s not realistic.
If the issue is still there in a few weeks you could raise it again.

Solution appears to be that toddler sits in the trolley seat and baby is in car-carrier in main body of trolley. Cuts into your grocery space but keeps both kids safe and close to hand.

Trickier if someone had twins or a 1 year old and a 3 year old, granted. But I'd still solve it with one bum in a seat and one sitting in the main body of the trolley. Less than ideal from a space/hygiene perspective but if it's the only way you can get your shopping done, needs must.

The whole dilemma seems pretty minor, in the grand scale of things.

The response was fine, tbf you did send it to a generic customer services email - you’d be better off contacting the manager of that store if you really want specifics.

Just to be boring, trolleys aren’t usually something they can just order in, they usually belong to an outside supplier, each store is allocated a maximum number and will have what best serves the customer demographic. If for example your store has a larger proportion of elderly customers and the shallow trolleys are constantly running short they’ll prioritise those. Bit short sighted of them to get rid of all the double seaters though.

I don’t work for Asda but I am at one of their competitors, I’m not sure what you wanted the person collecting the trolleys to say to you either. They’ve probably been taken away from doing something else in the store to just round up a few trolleys.

I think some of the replies are missing the point of my post.
I’m not demanding that Asda provide me with a double trolley whenever I turn up, nor am I expecting them to “magically” produce one. I’m asking why a supermarket has apparently removed all of its double-child trolleys and whether there is any intention to replace them.
I have a baby and a three-year-old. The double trolley was a very useful and sensible facility for parents in exactly this situation. It meant both children could be safely seated while I did the shopping. I don’t think it is unreasonable to question why that facility has disappeared.
The suggestions that I put the baby in a car seat in the trolley or simply make the three-year-old walk don’t really solve the issue. Not every baby is in a car seat that can be put in a trolley, and putting a car seat in a shopping trolley also takes up a substantial amount of the available shopping space. As for having a three-year-old walk around a supermarket while I’m also dealing with a baby, that’s considerably less convenient and potentially less safe than having both children properly seated.
And this isn’t just about me. Double-child trolleys are useful for parents with two young children, twins, children with additional needs, etc. That’s why supermarkets have provided them in the first place.
I also don’t understand the argument that because I can shop elsewhere, there is no legitimate issue. Of course I can shop elsewhere. That’s not the point. If a supermarket removes a facility that was previously available to a particular group of customers, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to ask why.
Finally, I wasn’t complaining that the customer service adviser hadn’t personally solved the problem in one email. My point was that the response didn’t actually answer the questions I asked: why have the double trolleys been removed, is this permanent, and does Asda intend to provide them again?
I don’t think asking those questions is being demanding or entitled. If the answer is simply that Asda has decided not to provide double trolleys anymore, I’d actually rather they just said so.
I was interested to know whether other parents had encountered the same thing at their local Asda, rather than expecting Mumsnet to agree with me that Asda should immediately produce a trolley.

Maybe start a new thread with that question then. Don’t include your email or their response and you will probably get answers more tailored to what you want to know.

Get your shopping delivered?

"I’m asking why a supermarket has apparently removed all of its double-child trolleys and whether there is any intention to replace them."

they said they're looking into it. I'm not sure what else you expect them to do? The decision was most likely made by the general store manager and not from head office so they won't have the answer or solution to hand. Your complaint wasn't unreasonable but your reaction is headed that way.

Would you put this much effort into complaining if you didn't have AI to do it for you?

I don't know specifically about Asda, but at other uk large retailers stores are given a load of new trolleys when they open, after that replacements come out of the store budget. Non-standard trolleys cost 100s of pounds, and with a profit margin of about 3% it means they need £1000s of sales to cover them.
Maybe they just don't think they're worth it?

I couldn’t get this worked up about it, to be honest. Mine are 20 months apart in age and so when they were 2y and 6m old I would obviously use a double trolley whenever I could. If one was not available then either baby in a carrier or 2 year old would walk. That was obviously not convenient or easy but I figured that we all (me and the two year old) had to learn how to manage in that situation at some point. They’re now 5 and 3. To be honest, and I don’t mean to be unkind… but if your three year old can’t manage to walk around a supermarket, I think you should start practicing with them as, soon enough, they’ll be too big for the trolley seat anyway, and then it was be very hard indeed!!

Blimey

Just train your toddler to hold on to the trolley, or just sit him inside it.

Is your eldest 2 or 3? I think you’re going to get some mixed answers. You said 3 but also said toddler, did you mean they’re 2?

If 3, I think they’re very capable of walking round, as is an older 2yo.

I agree it’s helpful for parents with 2 under 2/3 to have a double trolley! I’ve never really got why they aren’t all double seated - if you need a second seat then it’s an option and can still use it with just 1 seat out of 2 being sat in.

I work in complaints management. We can spot an AI generated complaint in seconds. They are often far too long, too detailed and demand responses to multiple (sometimes irrelevant) questions. It undermines the complaint. A proportionate approach has to be taken to answering these complaints. They have taken on board your comments and are looking into it. They do not have to give you any more detail than that.

My advice? Have your shopping delivered or make your kid walk and collect the shopping to bring to the trolley.

In a world where we're watching real time climate disaster, societal infrastructure collapsing, cost of living soar and uncertain future for our children you're complaining your toddler has to use his legs. Get over it.