Advice needed for complaint against Tesco

shenmueryan

My partner suffers from psoriasis and has done for the past 10 years or so. She is very self-conscious of her condition/appearance and it effects day to day living in that she sometimes feels confined in her own home and will only leave the home fully covered up.

Today, along with a friend, she visited the Tesco store in Gwersyllt, North Wales as she has done frequently since it's opening. She forgot to wear make up and had some visible 'blotches' on the top of her chest. When she reached the till to pay for her goods a female member of their staff stopped her before she came too close and said " Eurghhh, is that chicken pox? Stay away from me!"

My partner came home in tears in what was only meant to be a friendly trip to the supermarket. I have initiated a complaint by phoning customer services although I just got an apology which I don't feel is enough.

I am not interested in getting anything out of the company but want to be reassured some kind of action is being taken to prevent further incidents.

Can anyone tell me my options?

Takeaway_Addict

shenmueryan wrote: »

My partner suffers from psoriasis and has done for the past 10 years or so. She is very self-conscious of her condition/appearance and it effects day to day living in that she sometimes feels confined in her own home and will only leave the home fully covered up.

Today, along with a friend, she visited the Tesco store in Gwersyllt, North Wales as she has done frequently since it's opening. She forgot to wear make up and had some visible 'blotches' on the top of her chest. When she reached the till to pay for her goods a female member of their staff stopped her before she came too close and said " Eurghhh, is that chicken pox? Stay away from me!"

My partner came home in tears in what was only meant to be a friendly trip to the supermarket. I have initiated a complaint by phoning customer services although I just got an apology which I don't feel is enough.

I am not interested in getting anything out of the company but want to be reassured some kind of action is being taken to prevent further incidents.

Can anyone tell me my options?

If you're not looking for anything then I would suggest you write a letter to the manager of the store stating the name of the person who made the comment and if you can't remember and its not on the receipt then give as much detail as possible from the receipt so they can trace it and talk to their member of staff.

getzls

Not a nice thing to happen, though i.m.o. a stern talking to by the cashiers manager should be enough. Likely some young girl with liittle life skills.

Azari

Write to Tesco's head office.

I'm sure they'll take something like this very seriously whereas it's always possible (though not likely) that a lazy or incompetent local manager won't.

Stress when you write to them that you do not want any compensation but are just trying to ensure it does not happen to someone else.

I expect it was probably surprise on the part of the assistant rather than anything malicious but they should have been taught not to pass comments like that.

I hope your partner has got over it now. It must have been a very unpleasant thing to happen. I'm sure everyone here will join me in sending our best wishes.

paddyrg

I would expect the store manager to deal with it, it is exactly /why/ they have store managers, to deal with problems at a store level. Write a letter, stick it in an envelope marked 'Store Manager', hand it in to the customer services desk, wait. They would rather have a word with a checkout girl than lose hundreds of pounds worth of business. They will take it seriously. Do not even mention money, it is irrelevant, it was a representative of Tesco saying something upsetting, that's the whole story.

stsarina

I would point out that possibly the checkout assistant could be in the early stage of pregnancy when contracting chicken pox can be fatal to the foetus, but regardless of that the way she spoke to your partner was unacceptable.

I'd recommend making a complaint in writing to head office, just to point out that all staff members in customer service positions need to be aware of the impact of the way in which they speak to their customers. What seems like a throwaway comment to someone can have a massive impact to the person it's targeted at, and a large company like Tesco has a responsibility to ensure its staff understand that.

I hope your partner is able to laugh it off today and that it doesn't have any lasting effects on her confidence.

sammyroser

What a terrible thing to have happened to your partner. I hope she is feeling better now. I do wonder the age of the person who made the inappropriate comment.

I agree with what others have put. Write a letter to the store manager first, make sure you put some contact details on it so they can write you back. Managers never want to write a real letter but would rather email so make sure you only provide your address so they have to make some effort.

If the store manager does not give you an answer that is to your satisfaction then write to the next manager up. Could be an area manager, they should tell you who this is if you ask. State in the email that you tried to deal with the problem within the store but felt the matter was not being taken seriously.

I have found over the years Tesco's customer service has gone down hill. The customer is instantly to blame for any problem and there is no 'service' any more. No asking if you want cash back or telling you of missed promotions at the till. It's terrible really. When highstreet stores are making every effort to have happy customers the supermarkets seem immune to this.

mutley_muppet

Your poor partner. What a horrible thing for the woman to say!!

I think that psoriasis an auto-immune disease right? If yes, then this woman's actions might be considered to be breaking the disability discrimination act which all businesses have to adhere to.

I would be asking the store manager if his staff are given adequate training to inform them of their obligations under the disability discrimination act?
Further training might prevent this happening to someone else?

Good luck & please send our best wishes to your partner.
MM x

dickydonkin

mutley_muppet wrote: »

Your poor partner. What a horrible thing for the woman to say!!

I think that psoriasis an auto-immune disease right? If yes, then this woman's actions might be considered to be breaking the disability discrimination act which all businesses have to adhere to.

I would be asking the store manager if his staff are given adequate training to inform them of their obligations under the disability discrimination act?
Further training might prevent this happening to someone else?

Good luck & please send our best wishes to your partner.
MM x

Dear me...... it was an irresponsible comment from a very likely ignorant member of staff.

A letter or phone call to the branch manager is the appropriate and proportionate action to take.

Raising breaches of the DDA is silly and sending letters to head office will still result in the same outcome insomuch head office will contact the branch manager to 'advise' the member of staff concerned.

shenmueryan

Just to give a bit more information, the woman who said this was aged around 50. She also said it in a nasty way as if she genuinely didn't want my partner anywhere near her.

My partner dropped out of school at a young age because she didn't want anyone seeing her. She is socially awkward at the best of times and unfortunately her condition controls her life at times. There are various degrees of severity and hers would be labelled as severe in that it covers her arms, face, legs and chest in big 'clumps'.

I have now sent an email to tesco customer services just explaining how I feel an apology is not enough and I just want them to keep me informed as to what they are doing about it.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind comments, I have passed these on.

Whiteknight

shenmueryan wrote: »

Just to give a bit more information, the woman who said this was aged around 50. She also said it in a nasty way as if she genuinely didn't want my partner anywhere near her.

My partner dropped out of school at a young age because she didn't want anyone seeing her. She is socially awkward at the best of times and unfortunately her condition controls her life at times. There are various degrees of severity and hers would be labelled as severe in that it covers her arms, face, legs and chest in big 'clumps'.

I have now sent an email to tesco customer services just explaining how I feel an apology is not enough and I just want them to keep me informed as to what they are doing about it.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind comments, I have passed these on.

So you called Tesco and the customer service and "just got an apology which I don't feel is enough"

What exactly do you want from Tesco?

Would you be happy if they came back to you and told you that they will speak to the staff member concerned or would you want something more?