Sainsburys Complete System Failure

JaneStanley

:mad: Got a call today at 11am to say that my online sainsburys order which was due to be delivered today 2pm to 3pm, now has to be rebooked due to a complete system failure. Whilst they apparently still have the order, they can't pass to the local store (they refuse point blank to fax over and manually pick), and so I have to rebook delivery and they can't now deliver until Sunday as all their slots for tomorrow are booked!!!

Apparently anyone due for deliveries today Nationwide, will have this problem. For some reason they took several hours to tell me, and also refuse to put anything on their website to let people know.

Looks like Sainsburys will be losing lots of customers over this.

Oliver14

most normal people will be annoyed but reasonable and realise that problems happen. I can totally understand why they can't fax the order and manually do it s if they do that for you they would have to do it for everyone which would not be practical.

JaneStanley

I'd have to disagree with you. They only have a limited number of slots per store for delivery anyway (and you wouldn't be able to book delivery today), so it would be easy enough to fax across the orders.

Surely customer service is more important than putting themselves out a little bit?

JaneStanley

Oliver14 wrote: »

most normal people will be annoyed but reasonable and realise that problems happen. I can totally understand why they can't fax the order and manually do it s if they do that for you they would have to do it for everyone which would not be practical.

btw, I consider myself "normal".

Jeff_Bridges_hair

JaneStanley wrote: »

I'd have to disagree with you. They only have a limited number of slots per store for delivery anyway (and you wouldn't be able to book delivery today), so it would be easy enough to fax across the orders.

Surely customer service is more important than putting themselves out a little bit?

Putting themselves out a little bit?

Think about that for just one minute. If this is a nationwide problem then that means everyone is in the same boat. And do you really think they have the personnel and the ability to fax over orders to over 600 stores and then for the stores to get someone to pick the orders?

The logistics of doing so are far greater then 'putting themselves out a little bit' in my opinion

JaneStanley

LOL. The more time they have to spend answering phone calls, the less time they have to deliver. The call centre don't pick orders by the way!

A little customer service was all I am asking for. Clearly you think that's too much. End of subject.

DCFC79

Picking the orders by hand is a nightmare, its the very last resort thats used if theres a power cut or a stores system goes down meaning the shoppers cant use the handsets.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

JaneStanley wrote: »

LOL. The more time they have to spend answering phone calls, the less time they have to deliver. The call centre don't pick orders by the way!

A little customer service was all I am asking for. Clearly you think that's too much. End of subject.

Your right the call centre dont, but did you think about the time that it would take a call centre op to fire off an email/fax order to each store that they recieved a call about?

That means less time to answer calls from disgruntled customers like you who would inevitably complain that you didnt get answered for 10 minutes.

cant win can they.

ALTE

As a former member of staff (driver) Id have to say you clearly have a VERY unreasonable view on the matter and probably do not realise how fundamental the system is to everything. Total system failure, means handsets cannot be used, all staffing requirements are done by computer meaning the system knows roughly how much labour is needed for orders made that day. Handsets direct the shopper to every item in each area in the store in an order which means minimum moving around is needed (everything for 4 customer sin 1 isle is picked at one go. ALL THIS IS DOWN. Can you imagine how long it would take for all these items to be picked if you were wonding around the store having to think about it and go back and forth, maybe about 5 times slower, minimum.....and all this whilst keeping the same staffing levels because whos to say extra staff want to come in and bail them out on their days off. I dont think you are even beginning to understand the size of that task when you are talking hundreds of customers with more shopping than normal due to the time of the year. In my experience the store will do its very best to get as many deliveries out as possible....but you ahve to understand that unless you are disabled or in some way unable to get out to buy your own food to last a day or two, you may not be the priority, those people will be the priority and the store WILL help them, any extra is a bonus. And as for why the phoen call took hours to come, if your delivery isnt until 2-3 dont you think there was a few more hundred customers with earlier slots than you that needed to be contacted first??? Not to mention all the hours of work and running around trying to sort out all the problems and get shopping to the people who really need it today, and you seem to feel you should have been the first person they rang with all that going on? You are rediculous. Do you really think they are sat there laughing and having a day off because of this. all the staff are under tremendous pressure today to get as much done as possible. Just remember you are not the only customer today, it doesnt revolve around you.

ALTE

And just to note, when shopping is picked from lists manually its one customer at a time.....not the usual 4 or more at a time

JaneStanley

ALTE wrote: »

As a former member of staff (driver) Id have to say you clearly have a VERY unreasonable view on the matter and probably do not realise how fundamental the system is to everything. Total system failure, means handsets cannot be used, all staffing requirements are done by computer meaning the system knows roughly how much labour is needed for orders made that day. Handsets direct the shopper to every item in each area in the store in an order which means minimum moving around is needed (everything for 4 customer sin 1 isle is picked at one go. ALL THIS IS DOWN. Can you imagine how long it would take for all these items to be picked if you were wonding around the store having to think about it and go back and forth, maybe about 5 times slower, minimum.....and all this whilst keeping the same staffing levels because whos to say extra staff want to come in and bail them out on their days off. I dont think you are even beginning to understand the size of that task when you are talking hundreds of customers with more shopping than normal due to the time of the year. In my experience the store will do its very best to get as many deliveries out as possible....but you ahve to understand that unless you are disabled or in some way unable to get out to buy your own food to last a day or two, you may not be the priority, those people will be the priority and the store WILL help them, any extra is a bonus. And as for why the phoen call took hours to come, if your delivery isnt until 2-3 dont you think there was a few more hundred customers with earlier slots than you that needed to be contacted first??? Not to mention all the hours of work and running around trying to sort out all the problems and get shopping to the people who really need it today, and you seem to feel you should have been the first person they rang with all that going on? You are rediculous. Do you really think they are sat there laughing and having a day off because of this. all the staff are under tremendous pressure today to get as much done as possible. Just remember you are not the only customer today, it doesnt revolve around you.

Hey! If you are going to get all aggressive, at least try to spell your abuse correctly! And just for your information: each store has a maximum of 20 slots, so 20 calls don't take that long. NOT hundreds (the calls come directly from the store involved). I'm so, so sorry that Sainsburys are under pressure to deliver their orders: I'll try ordering from someone who doesn't think it's such a HUGE task in future.

And for your information, I AM unable to get out and get the shopping myself, otherwise I would have done just that.

I was merely saying that Sainsburys need to organise themselves properly: At least put something on the website to help people. I suggest you go rant elsewhere. :T