Should I complain? Re:Tesco's bad service

Sloganjerry

Now Christmas is over and here I am wondering whether I should take any further action in regard to something that happened to me last week in Tesco's?

The day before Xmas eve me and my partner went shopping to Tesco's after work (about 8p.m) to get in our last bit of shopping before the big day as we were both working the next day, Xmas eve. Unfortunately I was one of the customers let down by MFI and had been doing out my daughters room with fitted wardrobes as a main xmas present. I had been hoping to make other arrangements but had been unsuccessful. So I decided to get her a TV instead that she could put in the new bedroom when it is done.

So we went to the electrical Dept and looked at all the TVs. The one I chose was a 22" Technika which had an Ipod dock at the front and the price sticker above it said £199.99. http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-7588.aspx
Pleased with this purchase I popped it in my trolley and carried on shopping.

It was very busy at the tills and I didn't notice the price of the Telly as it went through the till as I was busy packing all my shopping. But I always check the receipt before I leave. Imagine my shock when I saw £329 paid for the TV???????? £130 more than I had intended to pay!!!!!!!

I went straight to Customer Services intending to simply get a refund and maybe go elsewhere to look for a TV. The lady on Customer Services listened to my story and when I said that the sticker above the TV had shown £199 she called someone from Electrical and asked me to show them. A very nice gentleman took me over to where I'd picked up the TV and I showed him the sticker above them - which he then removed from the shelf- and also the fact that there is nowhere a sticker saying £329 for the TV I picked up at all! It turned out that the telly that the sticker refers to is (as above link) but someone had put the almost identical telly http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-3164.aspx in its place. The only difference is that this one has a DVD player but this is not obvious. He agreed that it was very misleading and said he would go speak to a manager to look into this further.

After waiting around awhile a manager came to speak to us. I explained everything again and he agreed that we had been misled, apologised profusely and sent us back to the Customer services for a £130 refund. I was relieved that we had sorted it out and that my daughter would get her present as I had been getting quite anxious about the fact that we might have to go away empty handed and we're now running out of time to go anywhere else even. By now it was getting quite late and we had wasted quite a lot of time and I just wanted to get home.

But my relief was short lived! It was a new lady at the desk and I had to go through the whole story again. She was very brusque and offish with us? The gentleman from Electrics was still near the desk and reassured the lady that the manager had authorised the refund But I couldn't believe my ears when the lady refused to do it. She said that the sticker was for a different telly and it was too much money to refund? And if the manager wanted to authorise the refund he had to come and do it himself!!!

Cue us waiting another 15 mins for the manager to turn up?!?!

By now I was actually feeling quite tearful and quite messed around. When the manager finally appeared in quite an irritated mood the lady started arguing with him in front of us and other embarassed customers. At first he said, "Please give them the refund", she said, "No, its a different telly" He said, "It's almost identical so we should give them a refund". "It has a dvd"......and so it went on. In the end the manager gave in to the assistant and backed down. He turned to us and said, "I'm afraid all we can do is give you a complete refund". At this point I became really upset as we had wasted nearly our whole evening and now could be leaving with no present for my daughter and no time to get anything else. The manager looked very embarassed about the whole thing and said he would see if there was a £200 TV out the back. Somehow he found the original TV (out the back?)I had thought I had picked up and so they refunded the difference and I left with my TV eventually. But I was very upset about the whole thing and couldn't help feeling it was very badly managed? Should staff be arguing in front of customers? And why did the manager authorise a refund and then go back on it?

Well, if you've read this far - Thank you - sorry for the long rant - I feel better for getting it off my chest - but do I take it any further? Or just put it down to experience?

What dya think guys?

Hope you all have a Happy New Year!_party_

_Andy_

Might be worth dropping them a line but as you've ended up with what you wanted originally you'd need to be realistic and expect a standard apology letter.
Up to you - may as well feed it back to them so they can raise it with the store as it doesn't seem the manager was very confident or assertive.

gaztop_3

I agree. They gave poor service, but didn't do anything that would be considered wrong in the eyes of the law. Who know, you may get some vouchers!

jodie

I think you should complain, you should notify them that their staff are clearly not very good at their job.

Glad you got it all sorted in the end, theres no need from rudeness by anyone but even more so from someone your giving money to for something, madness.

omen666

I would try and get them on their R&R Policy. Cannot see how the !!!! a lowly assistant mugged off a manager on the shop floor and he backed down. It's not like it is money from her back pocket and he has auth'd the refund so where is the problem.

hulagirl79

I really cant belive this.
How can a c/s person tell the store manager what to do and then have a stand up arguement. I would def complain[not to expect any money back or anything] but to bring it to someone's attention that this is happening in store. Although this is assuming that tesco actually care.

good luck.

advent1122

I cant believe it either.
I mean, giving you daughter a wardrobe for Christmas.
What does she get for her birthday, wallpaper?

shellsuit

The manager needs to grow a set of balls, he should have not let the CS lady override what he said.



Advent, what a silly response ~ my daughter got a new wardrobe and her room decorated for her 10th birthday last year, it's what she asked for!

System

while the manner was wrong i believe the assistant was in the right it would be her name on the refund as she was logged on the till , it was an error and you left with what you wanted put it down to experience and move on. sounds like the assistant was compliying with co policy although a stint at a charm school wouldnt go amiss.

omen666

CHRISSYG wrote: »

while the manner was wrong i believe the assistant was in the right it would be her name on the refund as she was logged on the till , it was an error and you left with what you wanted put it down to experience and move on. sounds like the assistant was compliying with co policy although a stint at a charm school wouldnt go amiss.

Do you need !!!!!!! glasses? The manager auth'd it so it does not matter a !!!! if the CS has an issue with it or not. They should first follow their line manager>Manager>Duty Manager>StoreManager>:Regional Manager>Sir !!!!!!! Terry Leahy!!!!

That is what management are for to make exec decisions not some lowly jumped up CS.

On top of that there is no accountability for them if it has been auth'd by someone higher up!!

Some !!!!ing people, bet you were the CS in this case.

sarahg1969

What a crap manager, if he can't even stand up to a SA who's kicking up a fuss!!