Sainsbury's took her card!

[Deleted User]

I have worked for both a bank and a retailer and whilst I understand this was not the customer service guys fault it sounds like he could have been a bit more understanding and helpful giving her situation. I have been stopped in sainsburys with my natwest card before when trying to spend £10...I had just spent a few hundred within the previous 2 hrs on christmas shopping so I understand that it flagged up, but it is humiliating and I think that given the situation and the fact that the guy wasn't very helpful plus the fact that she had no alternative way of paying so has to leave the supermarket without her shopping is enough to wind up quite a few people on here.....for those of you that think she was wrong to be a bit irrate at the csa, I wish I had your patience! You want to try been a csa in the bank...now thats when you get abuse!!

With regards to only carrying one card and no cash, T & C's on bank accounts cover pretty much every ridiculous situation you could find yourself in....not to be helpful but to cover their backs for situations like this, its ridiculous and how many people read every term and condition in the small print plus the updated ones you get every few months....I only have one bank account, I dont use or have a credit card anymore, if this happened to me I would be in the same position....and I wouldn't be able to get any cash out as they have just "retained my card"....also chances are if she had gone to the cash machine before the supermarket that would have swallowed her card if it had been cancelled so she would still have been in the same situation.....no money and no other alternative.....what is she supposed to do then go grab some cash off the money tree nearby??

Also...its sainsburys not the ritz.....Customer service is customer service, it shouldn't matter where you are the customer....does that mean if I go buy something from the pound shop I should expect to be treat like crap from start to finish and deal with it because its only the pound shop.........No didn't think so!

At the end of the day, the way the banks do things are wrong, have been for a long time now and no doubt will continue to be, you should have to activate your new card before your old one is cancelled if you are not expecting a new one....I feel sorry for the customer and I think its a complaint letter to them thats in order....although good luck with getting any response other than "please read your T & C's"

young_victor_meldrew

Marmaris08 wrote: »

I suppose you have never lost your rag or got a little annoyed at the way you have been treated by customer service personnel in the past then? I take it you are a total angel who handles all problems in a calm manner?

Obviously not though, otherwise you wouldn't have called the OP a moron. Which to me looks like a personal insult. Tut tut you really are showing your immaturity.

The customer service guy was acting like a spoilt little child who could have handled the matter a bit more professionally, instead of just repeating over and over "I have to retain the card".

I don't lose my rag at service staff, this is the reason why I always receive the best service, I treat people with the same dignity and respect I expect in return.

Are you going to follow me round the board commenting on all my posts Marmaris? What have I done to warrant all this attention from you- its very stalkerish.

young_victor_meldrew

lisyloo wrote: »

For goodness sake, it's not the Ritz, it's Sainburys.
He wasn't impolite, rude etc.

It's a complete diversion for her or anyone else to complain about the fact that it didn't come with a group hug.

I couldn't agree more. She flew off the handle because he didn't come round the counter and kiss her feet?

These boards are full of stories of people who have been "wronged" by someone, yet they always portray themselves as an angel. We all know how obnoxious and nasty some people can be.

Why should someone bend over backwards for some moron who is kicking off and treating them like a piece of dogsh*t?

Secret of getting good service? Don't kick off at the person who is helping you!

CopperPlate_2

How come there is a significant minority on this thread that seem to believe every word the OP has posted as the absolute truth? How does the OP know the assistant in Sainsbury's was rude? Why make these assumptions based on their original post? The OP has hardly demonstrated, in later posts, that they can portray a reasonable, rational approach to conveying a message. I would hazard a guess that the actual incident itself has been embellished a tad to portray the customer as the complete victim in all of this whilst the unhelpful, 'rude' assistant simply repeated himself like Carol Beer ("computer says 'no'") and the bank ran a proverbial mile when it was suspected they might have to speak to her.

All the supposition that's going on: "However, just repeating 'card declined, i have to retain the card' is not the best way to break the news." is pure speculation based on a shaky rendition by the OP of actual events. Who knows if the poor guy just repeated himself? None of us that's for sure, including the OP.

davethorp

There has to be more to this than meets the eye. Banks dont just ask for card to be retained for the hell of it. Either as others have suggested, she's not received a replacement visa debit card and the cards been cancelled because its been replaced or something else is going on.

And speaking from recent experience it wont be fraudulent transactions, Natwest just this week put a temporary hold on my visa debit card until I confirmed some recent transactions. Once I confirmed them, the hold was lifted and the card worked fine. In fairness to the OP it was online transactions declining for me so there would be no opportunity to retain the card but I suspect it would have just been a decline - contact issuer in this instance (I rang telephone banking as soon as I noticed the card not working online on more than one site when my other natwest card worked fine)

RobertoMoir

CopperPlate wrote: »

How come there is a significant minority on this thread that seem to believe every word the OP has posted as the absolute truth? How does the OP know the assistant in Sainsbury's was rude?

It's easier to work up that righteous indignation when you can place all the actors on one side or the other and imagine that the other "side" is the enemy instead of just someone doing what has to be done.

CopperPlate wrote: »

All the supposition that's going on: "However, just repeating 'card declined, i have to retain the card' is not the best way to break the news." is pure speculation based on a shaky rendition by the OP of actual events. Who knows if the poor guy just repeated himself? None of us that's for sure, including the OP.

Quite so. It's irrelevant. As is the overwrought statements about how the OP's friend "flew off the handle". Sure we know that happened according to the story we were given, but we don't know what "flew off the handle" means to different people. As for any supposed rudeness on behalf of the customer services guy, maybe he could have done better or maybe he did all he could - some people define rudeness as "daring to stand between me and what I want, regardless of my entitlement to it" so at the end of the day its hard to judge the behaviour of either "side" of this conversation for all of us who were not there.

timmmers

PBA wrote: »

How can you say that's daft. The bank had told the retailer to retain the card. It cannot be given or shown to anyone, it can only be cut in half and sent to the bank. Any problem is for the bank to deal with, not the retailer.

Haha ..how about, it's daft for a kid with the card to obey the bank in one respect (retaining the card) and ignoring them the next minute when they ask THEIR customer for the number on the card he has in his hand. Given is a lot different to shown, and as she had the damn thing in her purse only munites earlier ..showing it could do no harm at all.

I think the term is "no common sense" for that kid. HE should have passed her on to someone more experienced and adept at dealing with issues like this.

t

opinions4u

timmmers wrote: »

I think the term is "no common sense" for that kid. HE should have passed her on to someone more experienced and adept at dealing with issues like this.

Using only the information provided by the OP, who wasn't present at the time, please explain what the "kid" did wrong.

1) The "kid" did the job he/she had to do as a retailer.
2) The "kid" advised the customer of the fact.
3) There is, as far as I can see, no indication of a lack of empathy, poor tone of voice or delivering a difficult message poorly.

Before doing so, are you suggesting that a seat should have been wheeled out for the customer and a small brandy placed in her hand just in case the shock was too much?

The only thing I can see that was out of line (from the post) is the OP's friend flying off the handle. I understand the frustration - but it should have been channeled towards the bank.

euronorris

RobertoMoir wrote: »

It's easier to work up that righteous indignation when you can place all the actors on one side or the other and imagine that the other "side" is the enemy instead of just someone doing what has to be done.

Quite so. It's irrelevant. As is the overwrought statements about how the OP's friend "flew off the handle". Sure we know that happened according to the story we were given, but we don't know what "flew off the handle" means to different people. As for any supposed rudeness on behalf of the customer services guy, maybe he could have done better or maybe he did all he could - some people define rudeness as "daring to stand between me and what I want, regardless of my entitlement to it" so at the end of the day its hard to judge the behaviour of either "side" of this conversation for all of us who were not there.

You raise some valid points that I hadn't considered. Thank you.

DrScotsman

This thread is really rife with ageism from some people here. Because he's a "kid" he's automatically inexperienced?

In my small Sainsbury's we had at least 5 under-21s with supervisor privileges, including one under 18. Two of them even worked as team leaders. There weren't that many young people hired though, so as far as that store's concerned if you were given a random under-21 and a random over-21, there's a much higher chance that the under-21 is more experienced.

Let's face it, the "kid" can remember the rules, doesn't want to lose his job and doesn't want a criminal record (with respect to the indefinitely-debated topic on these forums of alcohol :rolleyes:). The older staff is still following rules from 10 years ago, doesn't care about the rules that he DOES remember correctly and doesn't think he'll lose his job. And anything that stems from the older member of staff's "What's the point..?" attitude that the "kid" doesn't have is deemed "common sense" on these forums.

By the way, in my 6 months at Sainsbury's I got the "authorisation" screen about 4 or 5 times. Every single time I'd ask my supervisor (not because I couldn't remember but because I'd never been told directly what to do) and they would say to the customer that they had to use another card. At least the "kid" attempted to get the transaction authorised, and at least the OP's friend wasn't blatantly lied to.