Sainsburys and a flight of stairs?

vyle

This amused and irritated me a bit today. Sainsburys has always delivered to my second floor flat, which is handy, because I have mobility problems and cannot carry my shopping up them by myself.

Today however, the delivery driver brought the food up to the first floor, and told me that sainsburys doesn't deliver beyond two fights of stairs. I was a bit puzzled, but it turns out that these three steps constitute a flight:



And so to get to the first floor, he had to traverse two flights, and to get to the second floor would be a further two.

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary lists a flight of stairs as:
flight (STAIRS) noun [C]
a set of steps or stairs, usually between two floors of a building.

But the OED mentions a flight as:
The series of stairs between any two landings

I'm not sure which definition sainsburys is using...

Even more puzzling is the fact that on the delivery info page:
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/iw_container_page.jsp?pageRef=sites/www/site_furniture/Site_Furniture_DI.page

the only mention of 2 flights of stairs refers to bulky appliances.

Is this a new thing for sainsburys, or do you think it's somebody misunderstanding their company policy?

I'll be ringing sainsburys in a moment for clarification and will update if I get anything useful.

[Deleted User]

I'd say it was one flight of stairs really.. just happened that one of the 'steps' was larger than the others. You were only looking at the stairs between two floors.. not three

vyle

Jut got off the phone to sainsburys. They clarified that is only policy for large electrical and bulky home items, NOT groceries.

They were very apologetic and refunded my delivery and will contact my local branch for retraining.

So, let this be a warning, I guess, to others that if a grocery driver insists that they cannot/will not deliver groceries beyond two flights of stairs, they're actually lying.

The only caveat is:

"
Our driver will not always be able to deliver beyond the communal entrance if there isn't a lift, which transports the shopping beyond the first floor of the building (where the ground level is 0). If this is the case, the driver or a store colleague will discuss delivery options with you for subsequent deliveries."

But they brought it half way, and nobody discussed options with me.

[Deleted User]

I'd have pushed it a bit to get some vouchers off you.

Next time; make them phone their manager and clarify the rule over the phone. They'll probably prefer to just deliver it than go through that trouble AND delay their next delivery.

maninthestreet

Thanks for letting us know what steps you took to get this sorted out.

vyle

maninthestreet wrote: »

Thanks for letting us know what steps you took to get this sorted out.

Get your coat :P