Threatened by Lidl's staff,

PJD

I was threatened by a staff member in Lidl's. I raised a complaint 2 weeks ago. I have been fobbed off, fobbed off, and fobbed off again. Promised phone calls and email, none of which are forthcoming.

I am so frustrated now. I am a long term customer, and now afraid to return to the store. Customer Services are obviously not taking it seriously.

I have no idea what to do? Any suggestions? I could try emailing the CEO, but I suspect he'll ignore me also.

cono1717

What was the context of the 'threat' did you report it to the police? What exactly are you looking for from Lidl?

PJD

Intimidation and threatening behaviour. I haven't reported it to the Police as I was hoping Lidl's would act, and I also suspected that the Police wouldn't be able to do anything without independent witnesses.

From Lidl's; I would like them to take my complaint seriously. I would like some sort of assurance from Lidl that I can walk into their store again, without being intimidated by this particular staff member.

However I am now fuming that since being threatened I have wasted about an hour and a half on the phone at various times, promised phone calls and emails that have never happened.

waamo

Whilst a good rant might make you feel better it isn't much use in the context of being able to provide meaningful advice.

Could you give a full and detailed account of what has happened please? Try to avoid becoming emotive as that often is not helpful. Just stick to the full facts and I'm sure people will be able to help.

Undervalued

PJD wrote: »

Intimidation and threatening behaviour. I haven't reported it to the Police as I was hoping Lidl's would act, and I also suspected that the Police wouldn't be able to do anything without independent witnesses.

From Lidl's; I would like them to take my complaint seriously. I would like some sort of assurance from Lidl that I can walk into their store again, without being intimidated by this particular staff member.

However I am now fuming that since being threatened I have wasted about an hour and a half on the phone at various times, promised phone calls and emails that have never happened.

To a lesser extent that is true for Lidl as well.

To discipline an employee an employer needs a "reasonable belief" that the alleged misconduct took place. That is nowhere near the criminal standard of proof but one person's work against another (assuming the employee denies the allegation) may not be enough. If there have been other allegations against this employee they would be on stronger grounds (but you have no right to know that). Equally, for all you know, this person may be regarded as a model employee and your complaint is the first suggestion of any wrongdoing.

spadoosh

Shop elsewhere or forget about the incident.

Lidl cant act on something without the same witnesses you think the police would need. At the moment all they have is a complaint about someone from someone who is complaining.

Why would they take your word over the employee's?

Shopping elsewhere will be most detrimental to lidl as they would no longer have your custom (your money). You can decide if travel/costs/products are worth sacrificing.

I doubt you will get the staff member sacked or even much of a talking to. And lidl certainly cant assure you that you will not feel intimidated by a member of staff (or would be silly to, feelings arent quantitative so some people feel more than others). Personally i find overly friendly people intimidating, im expecting to be deceived.

naedanger

PJD wrote: »

I was threatened by a staff member in Lidl's. I raised a complaint 2 weeks ago. I have been fobbed off, fobbed off, and fobbed off again. Promised phone calls and email, none of which are forthcoming.

I am so frustrated now. I am a long term customer, and now afraid to return to the store. Customer Services are obviously not taking it seriously.

I have no idea what to do? Any suggestions? I could try emailing the CEO, but I suspect he'll ignore me also.

I would expect a manager to listen to your complaint and investigate it by for example at least speaking to the employee to hear what they have to say. Beyond that it is difficult to know what if anything further they should do, without knowing more about the threats and their context.

If a manager will not even speak to you then I would send a written complaint to their head office. My complaint would be at the lack of any investigation rather than the initial incident.

I would also shop elsewhere if I felt the matter was not resolved to my satisfaction. (Which might be the position even if the store did all they could.)

paddyrg

What you found intimidating and threatening may or may not have been intended to be so. Customers can be funny things

hollydays

spadoosh wrote: »

Shop elsewhere or forget about the incident.

Lidl cant act on something without the same witnesses you think the police would need. At the moment all they have is a complaint about someone from someone who is complaining.

Why would they take your word over the employee's?

Shopping elsewhere will be most detrimental to lidl as they would no longer have your custom (your money). You can decide if travel/costs/products are worth sacrificing.

I doubt you will get the staff member sacked or even much of a talking to. And lidl certainly cant assure you that you will not feel intimidated by a member of staff (or would be silly to, feelings arent quantitative so some people feel more than others). Personally i find overly friendly people intimidating, im expecting to be deceived.

Until we know what happened all this is just guesswork.

hollydays

If I swore at a member of staff and they told me if I didn't leave thy would physically eject me, while I might feel Intimidated and threatened, it would be within their rights, more or less, so what happened?!

pappa_golf

complained that bannanas had gone up in price


OP , I am suprised that the manager has now not banned you from the shop , just as I used to do when I had my own shop and had iriots coming in ,


shop elsewhere!!!