Asda Self Serve Checkout Staff

BusinessStudent

OK, I have nothing against ASDA - They have some smashing bargains and there tends to never be a issue with finding anything that I need while In the store.

However...

Last night I went to Asda after midnight when there are virtually no customers In the store. I went to the self checkouts of which there was only one In use (The one I was using). Anyway, I went to scan a multipack of Coca Cola and they come up at more than I was expecting so I decided to void the item (To do this a staff member had to log into the system and void the item for more)

The staff member then instructed me to put the item back on the shelf! :eek: just as I was In the middle of scanning my shopping. Ofcourse, after being told to do something I didn't!

Now, I work In a shop (part time) and know what great customer service Is! - you will do anything to help the customer, smile and say 'hello' and 'thank you' the customer at the till, thank them for waiting and always offer help when needed. All this staff member did was make funny groaning noises for the trouble of having to swipe her ID card to alow me to void the item!

We also have people who decide they dont want items when they get to the checkout and they usually dump them on the till points or advise the checkout staff that they dont want the item, of which a staff member puts the item back but at M&S we dont instruct people to put items back, we offer to do it for them!

Also, on a seperate occasion I went to pay for my shopping at the self serve checkouts by entering my card in the chip and pin reader. My card was 'not accepted - please wait for assistance' and I therefore had to wait a good few minutes and no one come over to help me. I decided to use another self serve checkout by scanning all of my items again, of which point an advisor told me shouted 'Excuse me, You cant do that' right infront of a queue of people. I felt embarrased but what else could I do?

This is not a knock at Asda....its just that I think there staff who monitor the self checkouts should receive more training. I await the store managers reply.

Garry2

BusinessStudent wrote: »

Anyway, I went to scan a multipack of Coca Cola and they come up at more than I was expecting so I decided to void the item

So you were too lazy to check the price on the shelf, and then you thought it would be fine just to leave the item on the floor wherever you felt like. Nice.

uktim29

BusinessStudent wrote: »

of which a staff member puts the item back but at M&S we dont instruct people to put items back, we offer to do it for them!

There have been times when I've politely told customers to put products back. These being when they've just been bone idol. For example many till points have counters. I've often has customer would pick something up and change their mind. Rather than putting the product back they have picked up right in front of the till they would nudge it in my direction once they decided they didn't want it. Seeing they picked it up from an area in front of them which they haven't moved from I would suggest they put it back!

Again I've seen them do this whilst browsing. They'll pick an item up, not move at all, decide they don't want it and put it back in a different location (often just flung) even though they are stood in exactly the same spot, it's just like they can't be bothered. Again I would politely point out the place they picked the item up from.

They are just bone idol people like that.

eyelinerprincess

<pedant mode> you mean idle not idol</pedant mode>

I don't know if it's because I work in a less upmarket shop, but we have lots of people per day who get to the till, decide they don't want something, so what do they do? Leave it on the nearest available surface, giving us more work to do. Or they decide they don't have any money on them and leave baskets of stuff lying in the middle of the floor! It's a health and safety issue, if you'd just left it lying there then someone could have tripped over it, and the fact that you were shopping late at night indicates to me that there weren't many staff available TO put the Coke back on the shelf.

ShelfStacker_3

eyelinerprincess wrote: »

<pedant mode> you mean idle not idol</pedant mode>

I don't know if it's because I work in a less upmarket shop, but we have lots of people per day who get to the till, decide they don't want something, so what do they do? Leave it on the nearest available surface, giving us more work to do.

Trust me, it's not just "downmarket" shops, Waitrose was like this when I worked there too. Often it was perishable items which we couldn't leave out for more than 30 minutes without writing off and throwing away, and we lost a LOT of money this way; they'd either leave things they didn't want on top of the till backs (which made it look messy) or left them on the shelves. Always annoyed me when people's kids did the latter and the parents did nothing about it (for christ's sake, instil some common courtesy in your kids!) or worse just left the aforementioned perishable things on ambient shelves, where because we wouldn't know how long the items had been there we'd have to write them off to be on the safe side. Idiots.

This doesn't, however, make the OPs treatment any better. I know it's ASDA, but they should have offered to help. I wouldn't shop there again if I was treated like that (I have a personal vendetta against Sainsbury's for that particular reason...)

lilac_lady

I wouldn't put an item back either if a staff member ordered me to do that in a shop. Staff can be as rude as some customers.

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

OH here we go again ,what are the staff there for ?? are they robots??? you never ask a customer to go and put it back on the shelf apart from being confrontational you just dont do it , when my wife worked in a shop (clothes she was always puting clothes back on the wright railes etc thats what she and her staff were there for.
Running a clothes shop included good house keeping and that was displaying stock and putting it back after a customer had moved it.
Changing the post a little but still with regards customers my wifes business is manageing up market holiday lets deep cleans of peoples property etc etc , now in the holiday lets the times we have gone in there and the holiday maker has moved the furniture etc and in extreme case in to different rooms we dont ring them up and say get back here and put it back they would say no and to be honest it is not customer friendly is it ??and my wifes business is paid to clean and manage the let im sure if she contacted the owners and said the guests have moved things can i tell them to put it back she would soon have no business.
Any one who thinks this staff member was correct in telling the customer to go and put it back is clearly off the shop floor and with a chip on there shoulder my wife gets contracts becouse her reputation of manageing the lets etc and accomodating guests request spreads very quickly she took one let off a rival becouse that rival insulted guests by saying you have made a right mess and moved furniture and telling customers what to do .
Some people on here dont know what customer service is they claim to be experts in retail but clearly dont know what customer service is, you do anything for the customer with in reason to keep them happy and to keep yourself in business.
Thats the issue many are employees and dont give a toss its not there business and they can get another job of the same standing very quickly, my friend has a saab franchise he has kept that for so long as his reputation for customer service is well known any thing with in reason to keep them happy plus the little etc to make them feel special always results in a come back ,and if a customer gets up your nose smile and put up with it as they are about to hand over there money to you .
Some british people have forgot how to give customer service and i do think many have forgotten or dont know what a days paid labour means.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Is it just me but I dont think either case was wrong or incorrect

1) If you picked an item you didnt want then tough, you should have checked before you picked it up, stores are sparsely staffed and to put that back takes the staff away from the tills thus inconveniencing other customers

2) Its not Asda's fault your card failed, anyone with a brain knows to get someone rather than rescan and have the same happen, basically you held up 2 check points, caused issues with cancelling a transaction and likely made your bank likely to block the card

The irony is your second situation could well be caused by a staffmember having to put items left at checkouts by inconsiderate customers

uktim29

THE_LONE_RANGER wrote: »

Some people on here dont know what customer service is they claim to be experts in retail but clearly dont know what customer service is.

Whats the difference between politely requesting someone places an item back in it's actual location (if they haven't walked anywhere since picking the product up) and telling people they can't try out a chair they want to buy? And more or less telling them you think they're fat!

Takoda

Maybe I'm missing something crucial here (and there'll be someone along to point it out no doubt) but all jobs have a job description right?

So somewhere in the job description of a shop assistant there MUST be something about stock control or words to that effect.

Now to me that means ordering the stuff in the first place, unloading it, storing it putting it out on the shelves, putting it back in its correct place when a customer has moved it for whatever reason, noticing it has sold out and ordering more and then the cycle begins again.

So why then do the many retail workers who have posted on this thread have such a problem with doing what must surely be in their job description?

Genuine question.

McKneff

lilac_lady wrote: »

I wouldn't put an item back either if a staff member ordered me to do that in a shop. Staff can be as rude as some customers.

here, here,