Vent: ASDA - Am I out of order or should I be complaining to all and sundry here?

miss*whisper

hollydays wrote: »

Never known any meat be reduced to 20p-thats for the old fruit and veg/herbs!!

We've regularly got chicken/chili steak/pork chops reduced to 10p just by timing the shopping trip right.

Won't fight over it though, if someone else grabs it, they are welcome to it. And wouldn't *ask* for something to be reduced....

Takoda

DCFC79 wrote: »

were you refering to me or not, i was given a job to do and would do it, if people were to shove things in my face wanting me to reduce them then id tell them they would have to wait, i didnt have time to waste by reducing stuff that would be shoved under my nose, we were also told to not reduce food if a customer asked could you reduce this for me. I see it being all about politeness, there would be some customers who would actually say thankyou to me for doing the reductions but then there would be others who wouldnt,

Not specifically you DCFC - just a general comment really.

I don't believe in money saving with food so I don't buy reduced stuff unless it is the only one of something left and I don't buy value or basics items either.

But I recognise that there are folk who NEED these bargains to help make ends meet. Folk with kids or pensioners or whoever.

I've just been totally dismayed - yes truly dismayed - at the vitriol directed towards customers on here. I had no idea that we were held in such contempt by shop staff. Maybe I'm naive - been protected a bit from the real world by my job for the last few years - but I have seriously been shocked by the attitudes of shop staff.

I had a totally different attitude during my 2 years in retail. Ok it was the academic floor of a bookshop and it was occasionally a bit frustrating when a customer would come in and say "I'm looking for this book - it is green!" But if it was one we sold a lot of we'd know which one it was or you'd ask them what course they were doing and you'd be able to work out which one it was from that.

Even in the early days of computing (late 80s/early 90s) when students would send their non-computer literate grandmothers in to get computer books.
Grandmother "I'd like a computer book please."
Me "Certainly, which operating system?"
Grandmother "Eh?"
Grandmother "Oh, is there more than one?"

But we didn't ridicule customers or deliberately try to make their lives difficult. We had our share of awkward and difficult customers. But the idea of deliberately refusing to give someone the best service/advice/deal we could didn't enter our heads.

Maybe I was just lucky and worked with a good team of people. Dunno but it was 20 years ago and maybe the key is that times have changed.

HTH. Gotta go.

Claire_Bear

I think it all depends on what the customer is like. If they asked politely and humbly, and it was a one off then I'd probably do it for them and be polite and smile back. But if they took tons of stuff off the shelf an hour before close, carted it round then shoved it in my face and demanded I reduce it then I would probably refuse to do it.

DCFC79 In the Sainsburys where I used to work, they used to give all the bread and stuff left over at the end of the night to a homeless shelter, but then they were told they had to stop due to Health and Safety regulations in case one of the homeless people got sick and sued the company! :mad:

chuckley

sorry but i agree with the manager... they recognise u as a non full paying customer that seeks out A-Z items 3x a week in the hope of them reducing.

now u took money saving to the extreme... theres no need to go on like that 3+ times a week to the point where the managers and staff recognise u and what ur doing. it does NOT look good on u, no matter how much u claim its 'money saving'.

if u go in acting trampy (like u do 3+ times a week) then they will treat u as such, hence ur 'treatment' from the manager.

marleyboy

miss*whisper wrote: »

We've regularly got chicken/chili steak/pork chops reduced to 10p just by timing the shopping trip right.

Won't fight over it though, if someone else grabs it, they are welcome to it. And wouldn't *ask* for something to be reduced....

Not sure I would trust buying a chicken thats been reduced to 10p

chuckley

marleyboy wrote: »

Not sure I would trust buying a chicken thats been reduced to 10p

i dont buy any reduced meat that has turned in colour at all. i agree tho 10p makes me think 'cat food'. mind u i only buy reduced in m&s. i saw sum reduced mince the other day that was 'mild browny grey' colour. like OMG how could anyone buy that????

missile

Sounds like good money saving trick, but I think it is a bit pushy to ask for a basket full of items to be ruduced. Why not wait until it goes in the bin and get it for free?

Why do you want £80 of meat? That sounds like an awful lot particularly for someone on a budget. Maybe you have lots of mouths to feed?

You would appear to have worn out your welcome at Asda, take your custom to a.n.other store.

valos_mummy

Grey Pilgrim, that's a great plan (about clicking the gun in the air) :rotfl:Watching their confused faces as they all crowd the aisle and realise there's nothing reduced there!

I have a quick look at the bargain shelf, if something's there I like then fine, I won't just buy it because it's 10p because chances are it'll end up in a cupboard for ages. I'd never wait around for reductions either. Shoving an item in someone's face demanding a reduction is incredibly rude, I wouldn't dream of it. If you're going to be a bit cheeky and request you need to ask nicely and politely and don't make a nuisance of yourself.

I'll always remember going in the supermarket one time watching the assistant load the reduction shelf (the stuff had already been stickered). The bargain hunters had already swarmed and were picking stuff off the trolley before it had even reached the shelf. You could hardly see what was going on it was that packed. Then the tannoy kicked in.

"Just to inform our customers that reduced items are now available on aisle......".

The poor assistant's face was a picture, now expecting a full on onslaught! Tannoy dude must have had something against him!! :rolleyes:

It's like when I've done the odd car boot. You open your car to start unloading boxes and when you come back round there's someone with their head stuck in your boot, rummaging through all your stuff before it's even left the car. :mad:

Glowie2k2_2

IMO I think that the OP is right to annoyed at the managers attitude, but I also think the manager is right to be annoyed at the OP.
I don't think it is fair to grab things that haven't been reduced and take them to a member of staff, and it isn't fair to be annoyed with them for not reducing it, for all you know they may not have been able to get to that section yet.

But I would write to the store and inform them of how the managers attitude made you feel, just don't expect to get anything, if you do then like a previous poster said it is a bonus.

I worked in Tesco for 2 years on customer service, and I will admit that I would get very annoyed at some customers. We had our share of "vultures" including a regular woman who, until she was banned for abuse, would scream and shout at the Customer Assistants if something hadn't been reduced.

It actually got to a point where when it was time to do the reductions, a member of security would have to be in a visible area to ensure that the Customer Assistant was safe from all the jostling. So a new policy was put into the store that I worked at where all stock needing to be reduced would be taken into the warehouse, reduced and returned. Customers are not allowed to grab of the trolley as they returned and items are not reduced if waved into an assistants face. A lot more fair for the customers and safer for the assistant.

Sorry for the marathon post it is just some of these comments have really annoyed me.

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone!

pimento

ekkygirl wrote: »

In my ASDA they dont like being hounded or followed with stuff to reduce. I think the should take it all away and bring it back reduced to give everyone a chance. I hate all the people hanging around waiting for the assistant to reduce stuff and pushing it at him/her like vultures. Some people have whole baskets full of meat
The manager probably feels the same as me and didn't manage to keep his feelings under control. He was wrong for that.

I was once treatened with violence by an old boy in Asda because I picked up a bacon joint that had been reduced and he said it was 'already taken' by him even though it was still on the trolley having been marked down. The Asda employee was so embarrassed that he actually came and apologised to me afterwards when I was queueing to pay (minus the banon joint). I told him he had nothing to apologise for.

I did think about fighting the bloke for it, but could just imagine the headlines in the local paper if I had...