Tesco: Fawlty blue ladybird bag is not a bag for life. Is Tesco policy !!!

dickydonkin

Originally Posted by dpassmore
Fair comment to a point - but what if that bag had a couple of bottles of spirit in it and other costly items when the handle snapped?

Oh my goodness!

Just think of all the things that might've happened.

Too right - I had two 1 litre bottles of spirit in my Tesco bag yesterday (2 for £26.00) - at Tesco's of course.

I would have been inconsolable if my handle snapped!

Morglin

I can only be sort of impressed at someone that single-minded that they can and will spend this amount of time and energy on a 37p bag............:eek::rotfl:

I would have just thrown it away and bought another one - life's too short for all this nonsense.

Lin

Malory

Sometimes when I buy something in a shop and ask for a carrier bag, if there is a charge for the bag, the cashier gets all apologetic about the charge, even thought the bag only costs 1 to 5 p, and I wouldn't even notice the difference in the total cost of my purchase.

Now I know why.

hollydays

Think of the children..

terlan

Had to toss this in. but if you buy a faulty product, you have every right to return it. no matter what the cost. no matter if it is 37p or £37, the priciple is the same. Goods are sold to serve a purpose, if it doesnt serve this purpose, such as a bag that has a faulty handle, it should be replaced.

OP's attitude aside, a savvy manager have defused the situation in 10 seconds using the argument most of you are throwing at the OP, it was only a 37p bag. Exchange it, without a receipt, which is VERY common practice for goods costing far more than that bag in tescos, and get the customer out the shop with causing a scene, wasting the time of other staff members and creating a mountain out of a molehill.

but yeah, op, lot of running about for a bag.

gordikin

terlan wrote: »

Had to toss this in. but if you buy a faulty product, you have every right to return it. no matter what the cost. no matter if it is 37p or £37, the priciple is the same. Goods are sold to serve a purpose, if it doesnt serve this purpose, such as a bag that has a faulty handle, it should be replaced.

OP's attitude aside, a savvy manager have defused the situation in 10 seconds using the argument most of you are throwing at the OP, it was only a 37p bag. Exchange it, without a receipt, which is VERY common practice for goods costing far more than that bag in tescos, and get the customer out the shop with causing a scene, wasting the time of other staff members and creating a mountain out of a molehill.

but yeah, op, lot of running about for a bag.

...you somehow forgot/neglected to mention you need to prove you purchased it!!!...WHY!....the 37p/£37 principle is still the same?

terlan

gordikin wrote: »

...you somehow forgot/neglected to mention you need to prove you purchased it!!!...WHY!....the 37p/£37 principle is still the same?

No I didnt forget or neglect to mention it.

Exchange it, without a receipt, which is VERY common practice for goods costing far more than that bag in tesco

Yes, I know the shop CAN if it requests it sk for proof of purchase for an exchange/ refund etc, but if the item is sold by tescos, or like the lady bird bags, probably (speculation here) only sold by tescos, they usually accept faulty goods and exchange them for another non faulty one without the need for proof of purchase, especially in a situation involving a 37p bag.

However I'm sure the OP's attitude is what prompted the "to the letter" responce by the store manager. My point was it could have easily been defused.

jc808

2sides2everystory wrote: »

I promised them a write up on MSE

Quaking in their boots, I bet

2sides2everystory

Not sure if they were quaking in their boots but they were quick to state they didn't want their name used. If they have any sense they will realise that their shareholders might not do quite so well if too many threads like this get started.

The bag was visibly new and is not available anyhere other than in a Tesco. It is branded "TESCO". As for a "to the letter response" well actually the OP's initial attitudes at Tesco #1, #2 and #3 were very similar. The OP's eventual attitude at Tesco #1 was a simple reflection of the attitude of the staff at Tesco #1 , terlan.

Had the OP been quizzed, I'd have perhaps guessed I'd paid maybe £1.40 or something for the bag. I tend not to waste money on rubbish except when it is compulsory packaging. Even had I known it cost 37p I'd only have consigned it to the recycle bin had I had some decent period of use out of it before the handle fell off - in every case since it was only used twice before it broke I'd still have taken it back for two everyday reasons:

1. the purposes of highlighting a manufacturing fault and
2. because it was the best illustration of the bag I wanted as a replacement i.e. "another one like this please" (Tesco sell many different styles and some stores stock a broader range).

I had been sent on an errand to replace that bag because someone dear to me liked it. That explains a little running around - an appreciated new bag for someone pretty at home as opposed to something pretty for the unappreciated old bag at home ... I know how some of you posters are devoid of a bit of love and attention - take a tip from me - keep your bags in tip top condition

That day I walked into the store and looked across to the Customer Service desk ... a certain amount of milling around and phoning and jotting down of notes behind the desk and a short queue was what I saw, but no bags of course. Where are the bags usually ? Near the tills. So I looked across in that direction and sure enough there were three junior manager / counter manager / supervisor types chatting about nothing in particular and I very politely interrupted and said something like

"Pardon me interrupting but I bought this bag very recently and it's faulty and I wondered if you could point me to where I can find another one to swap it?"

The immediate response was a serious look and the comment "We only replace it if it's a bag for life. It isn't a bag for life. It's our policy."

Now that might be enough to fob-off most people reading the hread, but I hate being fobbed off and wont tolerate it. It required an immediate counter which clearly justified my change in attitude and a clear expression that I knew my broad right at law.

I smiled and said " ... but I am not asking you to replace it for wear and tear, but because it was clearly faulty when I bought it."

That's when I got "Well it is against our policy" and "You'll have to see the duty manager" and he started walking across towards Customer Services with me expected to follow saying that he would get the Duty Manager to meet me there.

When I arrived he had asked two others behind the desk to page the Duty Manager and they too repeated that it was against Tesco policy to replace the bag. How amazing that they all had been so carefully briefed on ladybird bag policy I thought

I laughed and said I found it incredible that they were so intent that I hear that message that I had been forced to hear it in full twice from two different junior managers who both knew why I was there. I told #2 manager that I really didn't need to hear it again thanks. At which time the Duty Manager had turned up and donned a sour-puss look. She continued the abysmal decline into the debacle I promised to report.

The bag was obviously a Tesco own brand bag purchased at a Tesco It is not the sort that people throw away or pick up in the street, and we now know it is clearly of a type which has regular faulty batches. The Duty Manager's freudian comment at Tesco #1 and the Customer Services helpful warning at Tesco #3 confirmed it.

It was that sour-puss Duty Manager that thought I needed to be told that no-one else had complained and that they only replace if there is a faulty batch and that she saw no evidence of a faultybatch. She was just in a mood to play king of the castle and in the end I was established as the dirty rascal not for any of the ulterior reasons initially floated (trying it on as a bag for life deal, failing to understand Tesco Policy, generally bad attitude deserving short shrift, trying it on with a new bag that wasn't new) but because I'd not thought to find and bring the receipt.

The fact that Tesco #1 were as a flagship store of a major business prepared to allow an absolutely simple Customer Services opportunity to deteriorate so inevitably, and all over what they knew was a low cost item not worth the duty manager's time to attend is baffling.

I was there at that store with my faulty bag and bothered to try two other stores
(a) because I was on an errand to come back with a non-faulty example of a particular design of a particular product which explains my motives completely thanks, and
(b) because I wanted to test the attitude of customer service staff at another Tesco store as I could not believe how sour it was at Tesco #1.

I was content to leave the last word to hollydays but I felt I needed to correct a notion or two ...

So ...

hollydays wrote:

Think of the children..

:j

Azari

When I first looked at this thread I was surprised at the rather ignorant comments to the OP.

That surprise turned to amazement as the negative comments continued but it does sometimes happen that the first few comments are negative and everyone else follows like sheep.

What happened to you, stated briefly, is that you bought a faulty product and were given the run around by some extremely unprofessional staff at Tesco who seem to be unaware of your statutory rights. They treated you like and idiot and all you really did was give back a little of what you got. I very much doubt that Tesco will be very impressed by the way the staff at the store in question handled your complaint. For something that only cost 37p they made a ridiculous amount of fuss.

On the rare occasion I have had to take something back to Tesco it has been handles quickly, efficiently and pleasantly - but you do get the occasional 'little Hitler' in any organisation.