Sainsburys: The bigger they are....

Well after 4 months of running this blog I have a gripe that I can be arsed to post.

I purchased a pair of trousers under the Sainsburys own brand "TU" the day before Christmas eve. They were brown velvet and the collar on the hanger said 38" R. At £20 they seemed good value for money.

Perfect thought I, and like the sad git I am, I wrapped them up to bolster the dwindling presents quota that one gets with age.

Friday morning. Christmas day. I opened my handful of gifts.

The pack of socks and boxers and another pair of slippers off the wife, the dvd from my one son and an Aston Villa tee-shirt from my daughter. My final present was a pair of trousers with a "TU" label and a 38" R tag on the hanger..... and a 44" S label on the plastic tag...

SHIT!!!

Today I searched high and low or the receipt which was nowhere to be found. In fact it was probably in a black bin liner soaked in sprout juice and M&S turkey gravy...

So I stood patiently at the customer service desk. Three tills but only one staff member on surely their biggest 'returns' days o the year, and after a wait of nearly 30 minutes, I got my turn.

"I purchased these trousers on Wednesday and they don't seem to have been marked correctly."

"Do you have your receipt?"

"No"

"Well in that case we cannot offer you a refund only an exchange of a gift card"

Unaware of the sale of goods act (i.e. If goods are not fit for purpose, due to damage, fault or incorrect marking, then a full refund is required by law) I accepted that offer.

Worse was to follow, as the trousers scanned at £10 (in the sale which started today), and she started to do the refund.

"They cost me £20 not £10"

"Well since you don't have your receipt, we can only give you the scan price"

"If I took a £20 bottle of scotch and only gave the tiller £10, you'd have me carted off as a thief"

"Company policy, you don't have your receipt"

I then went to the clothing section to try to find a similar pair with the correct size, for an exchange. I asked an assistant who told me that there were no trousers in my size. Furthermore, she said there were no men's trousers added to the sale from their stock, but the computer prices were changed centrally.

Armed with this information, I returned to customer services only to find the brick wall was still intact and the staff no more cooperative. If anything, they were even more in-cooperative.

I decided to give the trousers away rather than lose a tenner, but how dare they try to STEAL £10 off me, after all the money I spend there weekly!

This is not the end of this, Sainsburys!

BOB SAYS...

"A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to everybody and may next year bring joy and happiness to you"

Bob de Bilde (aka Bill de Dashe)

Don't tolerate poor retail staff - replace them while you can!

This is a message for all the retailers out there in the high street that persist in allowing shocking levels of customer service and staff attitude towards customers.

Memo

To: Retailers in the High Street
From: Disillusioned Customer

The recession has firmly taken hold of retail high streets everywhere. Many retailers have unfortunately gone out of business, releasing many good staff into the marketplace.
When was the last time you (as a retailer) actually looked at the quality of your staff?
When did you last reprimand one of your till operators for being rude to customers, disrespectful to their needs or even worse adopting a real "don't give a sh*t" attitude?
Let me guess....probably never!

Many retail staff really can't be bothered and are just going through the motions at work to receive their wages at the end of the week. They don't care about the service they give and (seemingly) even less about the customers they serve. This is costing retailers like you, business, and driving people further online - me included!!

Why don't actually take an interest in improving the quality and calibre of your staff? You have the opportunity to recruit some good people in the market at the moment - good skilled retail staff, that actually want to work and serve your customers to the best of their ability.

It isn't even hard to recruit these people - a simple poster in the window is probably all you need as a retailer at the moment - word will quickly get around.

I know, getting rid of existing staff isn't pleasant and takes time, but just think of the upside. You will actually have staff that want to work in your shop, and engage with your customers in the right way, to encourage them to return and spend money in your store next time.

So my message is a simple one.

If you have staff that can't be bothered, and are consistently underperforming, then make sure you can't be bothered with them. Go out and recruit better, more enthusiastic new staff that actually want to work............because you can. Make the most of the availability of the talent out there at the moment, and improve your service to your customers at the same time!!

THE takeaway at the centre of the latest E.coli outbreak was awarded no stars in its last hygiene inspection, reports Wales Online.

The Llay Fish Bar in Wrexham was allowed to continue trading even though environmental health inspectors found poor hygiene conditions at the business.

The inspection report, dated August 13, 2008, also noted that there was “some major non-compliance with food legislation”.

No stars is the lowest hygiene score that a food business can be awarded.

Details of Llay Fish Bar’s hygiene record come as Karen Morrisroe-Clutton and a three-year-old girl remain seriously ill in hospital after contracting E.coli O157.

The National Public Health Service for Wales is investigating four cases of E.coli O157 and the Llay Fish Bar has been shut down by Wrexham Council officials.