Tesco Complaints - Who to Escalate To?

WILE2002

2 weeks ago i had an awful spate of approx 6 &1/2 HOURS 4 & 1/2 hours in police custody due to TESCO REDDITCH insisting that i be arrested for attempted theft from their store, due to a genuine mistake made by myself , my partner & 18 month old child whilst shopping at there lunchtime.
After my partner & i visiting the upstairs section first , my partner put a small quantity of clothing items on the side of the trolley & we then proceeded downstairs to do main shopping groceries filling the insides with various normal household items & other groceries, ( reason why the clothes were on side of trolley.. well you dont want to crush them with normal shopping or keep moving them everytime you put in an item ) we then proceeded to a checkout.
Now after loading said groceries onto conveyor belt , my partner noticed we needed some chips & ran to get them . as there was no-one waiting behind us in the queue.
I then informed the checkout operator that " these clothing items on the trolley also needed to be scanned" & " i cant pick them up as i had various food & chocolate residue on my hands from feeding my little one to keep him happy "( & no it wasnt items from Tesco i had been feeding him, i had my own stash for such emergencies )
I then proceeded to pack the ever increasing number of items been passed through to the end conveyor.
My partner had returned towards the end of the scanning with i will admit more than the chips she went for, but no-worries more £'s for Tesco eh..
We paid , i then went to the tobacco/lottery separate till & purchase another single item there, paid and went to leave the shop.
We were stopped & asked to see our till receipt to query payment of the clothing, sure enough mistakenly the clothing had not been scanned A total of £24.odd.
My partner & myself were both shocked & latter on realised we both thought that the other had passed on the items to be scanned, & I'd even informed the till operator of the items, so after apologising & offering full payment for a genuine mistake , we assumed that would be the end of it....
OHHHHH NO !!!
We were frog marched the full length of the large store with our 18 month old still sat in the trolley , now been pulled along by a member of security, been told we had to go into the office.
We then were given the option of either been arrested by the police or signing some kind of community order ADMITTING WE HAD STOLEN !!! & ALLOWING TESCO TO EMPLOY A NOTICE OF INTENDED CIVIL RECOVERY...
FOR COSTS INCURRED INCLUDING LOSSES , INVESTIGATION COSTS , SECURITY COSTS & ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS...
ALSO THAT IT WILL BE RECORDED ON FILE AVAILABLE IN NORMAL CREDIT RATTING / FINANCIAL SEARCHES, ALSO EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS.
I & MY PARTNER BOTH REFUSED TO ACCEPT AN ADMISSION OF THEFT FOR A GENUINE MISTAKE
I WAS THEN ARRESTED BY THE THEN PRESENT POLICE OFFICER & TAKEN TO REDDITCH POLICE STATION .
WHERE AFTER APPROX 4 & 1/2 HOURS IN POLICE CUSTODY, THEY RELEASED ME WITH NO CHARGES TO FACE

Today both my partner & i got seperate letters stating that they were a recovery agent for tesco & are telling us both that we owe a total of £178.75 EACH !!!!
A TOTAL OF WAIT FOR IT ...... £357.50 !!!!
( FOR £24.00 WORTH OF GOODS GENUINELY MISTAKENLY NOT PAID FOR... BUT WHICH I INFORMED THE CASHIER OF )
THIS TOTAL OF £357.50 IS ALLEGALLY to cover all costs etc etc
Now i need some help PLEASE with where we stand witht the law and what we can do regarding payment to these sharks...
as i have no intention of paying this..

TESCO THIS IS DISGUSTING !!!
AFTER A GENUINE MISTAKE BY 2 EX-LOYAL TESCO CUSTOMERS.
I RECENTLY HEARD THAT £1 IN EVERY £3 SPENT IN SUPERMARKETS IS SPENT IN TESCO
NEVER AGAIN WILL A PENNY OF MINE ENTER A TESCO TILL !!!!!
SHAME ON YOU TESCO !!!!

ahrimaniac

Sounds fair enough, that.

Louisdf

I really don't know what response you're expecting from Tesco, and how they can be more reasonable. If they just let you leave they might as well hang up a sign saying take all you like don't bother paying. Theft costs Tesco's millions of pounds which in turn leads to higher prices for the consumers as the store needs to recoup its losses. Also just because you have been shopping there for a long time that doesn't give you the right to steal (even if it wasn't intentional). Just accept that YOU were in the wrong and YOU need to pay the consequences.

gordikin

Tesco will not miss you...thieves cost us all.

Azari

I would remind the members of the bitchy brigade, who have jumped on post #114, that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The poster to whom you are replying has not been found guilty of anything.

Obviously we can't know their intent but it sounds as if the unpaid garments were in clear view the whole time and there was no attempt to conceal them.

I would write to the recovery agent and tell them that it was a genuine mistake, the police have not charged you and under the circumstances you are not prepared to pay anything as the matter could have been cleared up in a matter of moments if Tesco had applied the same procedure to your mistake as they apply to their own on the thousands of occasions they mistakenly overcharge customers - i.e. they simply refund the erroneous payment.

Oliver14

Azari wrote: »

Obviously we can't know their intent but it sounds as if the unpaid garments were in clear view the whole time and there was no attempt to conceal them.

or Pay for them.

POPPYOSCAR

This is a difficult one isn't it.

I understand both sides here. It is very easy to make a mistake like this especially when you have a child in tow.I myself once walked out of Boots with something in my hand when I looked at the time and had to get back to work from lunch. As soon as I got out of the shop I realised and red faced rushed back into the store to pay for it> I could so easily have been done for shoplifting. I was also once shopping with my elderly grandmother who was merrily putting her items into her own bag instead of the basket , until I noticed and pointed it out to her.

So I realise how this could be done but I do understand how it must look to the shop. Perhaps a lie detector test would be the answer!!!!!!!!

Azari

Oliver14 wrote: »

or Pay for them.

And the winner of the prize for 'Stating the Blindingly Obvious' is ...

(Nervously opens envelope ...)

Oliver14!

(polite applause)

eminemfan001

I found hairs in my sandwhich that i bought from tesco and they refunded me the cost of it and sent off a letter to head office. They sent me back a £10 voucher to appologise. That same week i had a problem getting envelopes for my tesco films to be sent back and they gave me a free month to appologise. I find things nearly always get sorted when your nice to who ever your complaining to. I work for Teso though so that might help lol.

I must admit I do try my best for customers but when they shout and swear and try to throw things and punch u im not always so keen to go that extra mile for them. We had a customer that complained we put the wrong fuel in his car and he wanted his money back for the cost of his engine to be fixed (this started at £200 then suddenly became £5000 the next day) he also said we were rude and unhelpful. When he told us what happened we offered to call AA to get his car fixed and asked if he was with them or similar companys already. He also said his wife was waiting for him in asda and she had no mobile so we offered to call asda and get an announcement put out for her and let him use the phone to call her. He also used the phone to call a friend (for a rant more than anything by the sound of it) a local taxi driver offered to take him to asda for free to get his wife (the mans reply was "what and not take me back... f**k off!") we then called a manager because he threatened to punch me in the face. Manager came up and he threw some of our stock off the shelf. Eventually a friend of his offered to take him home and we would move his car to a parking spot for the night.

Is this reasonible customer service or what else should we have done. Im training and hoping to move up the ladder to a supervisor at some point so i like hearing what customers want. thank you

mambo23

I have been banned from shopping on tesco groceries online, apparently i keep making orders and not paying for them which is aload of s**t, I made a order the other week for £63 on the day of delivery they rang me to say the card payment wouldnt go thro when i asked the total cost they said £96!!!!! I asked why it was that much as when i placed the order it was £30 cheaper and i understand about items going up but that is ridiculess, my reply was that they take out the total cost of the shoppin (b4 offers) and then put back the difference in your bank?????? i therefor told them to cancel my order. I sent a email 2 customer services 2complain and they said the woman was wrong and sent me a £10 off my next shop code. which does not even work.
I then placed a order the following week and all was fine.
a few days later however i could not log in 2 my account it kept saying insuficient address details???? When i rang up to see wot was wrong these were my replys
1st: problem with the site
2nd: someone put my address down as a business address
3rd: my local store that does the deliveries has banned me as i keep makin orders and not paying and the store manager is in a meeting and would ring me back and there was a letter in the post explaining there reasons
4th: the manager would ring me back after lunch
and guess what still no letter, no emails and no phone call.
I would like to take it further as i am very discusted with the way tesco treat people but dont know who to contact.
please help