Treatment at Tesco (split from the Tesco misprices thread in Grabbit)

chardonnay_2

thanks, will discuss with my fiance what we should do next. they are still selling them at the wrong price in our local store. fiance bought one and got it refunded by very helpful member of staff in our local store and sent a copy of the receipt to ceo just to prove a point. think i will email tesco tomorrow and ask if they are in receipt of our 2nd complaint letter.

bylromarha

What a joke. Do they really think that this will satisfy? Assualt and they try to fob you off like this?

Personally, I think that they are preparing themselves for a court case from you as they sent the letter recorded delivery...thus proving that they sent it. If they genuinely didn't think that you had a case then they wouldn't have wasted the money on recording the delivery.

If you both can cope with the inevitable stress this will cause, you must keep going with it. Tesco are blatently in the wrong here.

As for the legal advice, there must be someone on here who can advise you? Or don't CAB have access to lawyers? I think my next course of action would be trading standards in regard to the refund policy and police in regard to the assualt. Sad that it has to become this formal, but you have tried to resolve it amicably and Tesco ain't playing ball. More fool them as you could really create some bad publicity here...I really think the national papers would be interested in your story in the quiet of the summer season. I know the Mail particularly have a thing about the power big companies like tesco have.

ben500

chardonnay wrote:

very disappointing, letter was from tesco but not worth the effort to go and pick it up. it was a letter from the store signed by the deputy manager, not even the manager. it apologised for our treatment and explained that a full investigation had been carried out, and peter noble had been dealt with appropriately but due to the data protection act they cannot tell us the outcome. it ended with them saying that it was out of character for their store and that they are certain our confidence will be restored in their customer service next time we visit.

so, no reply from the 8 letters we sent the other week,
no idea if this is tesco's final stance on the matter,
no refund of the £32 owed to us,
no compensation of any sort: emotional, or physical damages?, compensation for time spent complaining?,
no reimbursment for ink cartridges used to send numerous letters with colour photos,
no reimbursment for postage costs.

therefore, we are extremely p'd off, and out of pocket more than when we started this complaint.

Given the wording of this letter I would suggest you make a direct request to the author for a compensatory award, have they suggested for instance that you approach the customer services instore when next you visit in order for you to "have your confidence restored" at this point you have nothing to lose it is time to get cheeky and invite the author to commit to the refund and replace (next time you see a Tesco tv ad with the refund and replace policy described make a note of the station the time and the program it is advertised during. Trading standards will be obliged to pursue your claim on your behalf if you can provide evidence of misleading advertising) once they have agreed to that ask them what if any compensatory award they are prepared to offer, it is for you to judge whether or not it is suitable and acceptable, if not you would I suspect have good cause for a civil action against them, the letter indicates that they are now in defense mode and are extremely likely to be vague in anything they propose unless they see a commitment from you that it would be full and final. If you intend to use newspapers to support you it would probably be better if you could stir the interest of a local paper as the impact this may have locally on the trade of Tesco is likely to be greater than nationally and locals are easier to contact and get on board in the first instance if they make a juicy enough story out of it the nationals will pounce soon enough.

I think the problem with your particular circumstances is their initial failure to act and then later finding out that there was some basis to your complaint, essentially they can see the worms inside but are scared stiff to open the jar! They are still by the look of it hoping you will go away with your tail between your legs like most do, stonewalling is a remarkably successful way of dealing with complaints they know how difficult it can be to obtain advice and support and how busy life can get and how easy it is to just give up when you don't have the support of a massive corporation behind you.

chardonnay_2

today we have received another letter from joanne leith, customer services executive. she wrote to say she was disappointed the store hadn't been in touch and confirmed that a letter had been sent on the 7th of july (which we received yesterday).she hoped the letter from the store offered a satisfactory response to our complaint! she then said to contact the senior management team at the store if i wanted to discuss matters further!

i'm sorry but i've lost all confidence in tesco and their customer services, especially the senior management team at the store. guess who is going to be bombarded with emails today?!

Suggs

chardonnay wrote:

today we have received another letter from joanne leith, customer services executive. she wrote to say she was disappointed the store hadn't been in touch and confirmed that a letter had been sent on the 7th of july (which we received yesterday).she hoped the letter from the store offered a satisfactory response to our complaint! she then said to contact the senior management team at the store if i wanted to discuss matters further!

i'm sorry but i've lost all confidence in tesco and their customer services, especially the senior management team at the store. guess who is going to be bombarded with emails today?!

Did the letter from Joanne Leith, contain a contact telephone number?? Please give her a call, today if possible, explain how you feel.

Good Luck

borntoshop

Good Luck Chardonnay, i have come onto this topic late and am as shocked as others, glad you havent given up.
Maybe time to get press coverage, local news. You have got an admission in the letter that the manager has been dealt with.
Press may speed up the matter.

chardonnay_2

i did phone her but funnily enough she wasn't available! left a massage explaining how disgusted we are and have just finished sending a big email. i await their response

Rave

The thing about this policy is that it's a big benefit to Tesco. Overcharging at the till is not just morally dubious, it's completely illegal and Trading Standards can and will prosecute and fine stores who do it. By encouraging customers to bring the misprice to their attention, and stomaching the cost of giving them the item for free, they are potentially avoiding much more expensive problems because they can then remove the offending price tickets (and, if they have any sense, alert every other store in the chain....although clearly this doesn't seem to happen in practice;)).

With that in mind, I wouldn't muck about, just threaten to go to Trading Standards. A case of overcharging I read about 10 or more years ago (in another supermarket) led to the store being fined £1500 (for an overcharge on margerine of 5p per item) so they have a lot to lose in this instance- I suspect you would settle for a bit less than this?;)

ben500

chardonnay wrote:

i did phone her but funnily enough she wasn't available! left a massage explaining how disgusted we are and have just finished sending a big email. i await their response

Take a deep breath and phone her again, I have dealt with Joanne in the past and she will do all she can to placate you whilst limiting the damage caused already and potential future risk, I realise you must be jumping up and down at the way things have gone so far but now is the time to sit down and really think about just what will make amends for the way you have been treated, it's easy to get caught up in your own passion and get so involved in the debate you miss an opportunity to actually get what you want from it. you never know they may just be ready to meet any reasonable demand you make of them, up until now it would seem that everyone you have dealt with whilst they may even sympathise with you were probably hoping your anger would fizzle out and you would tire of pursuing them, assuming the letter has come from Joanne directly and not just a counter signed copy she will return your call or accept an incoming call if possible, remember try to keep your cool and give them every opportunity to resolve the issue amicably you can always pursue a civil action at a later date if they do not make a reasonable offer, what is done is done and cannot be undone, you have certainly drawn their attention to the issue at this point, perhaps now is the time to start to think of how you can bring the issue to an end which is satisfactory to you, I strongly suspect this is your chance to do so.

bluep

So sorry to hear of all the trouble you are having with Tescos - truly disgusting the way you were treated. Having worked as a Customer Service manager myself (for a truly diabolical mobile telephone provider), I would not be fobbed off by these pathetic communications.

I would decide on what you feel is a reasonable compensation for your original problem and consequent assault:
1) Cost of goods back plus compensatory amount of vouchers as gesture of goodwill to cover time and cost involved in original complaint.
2) Formal apology, explanation of staff disciplinary procedure in this case and out of court settlement for physical assault.

If this is not forthcoming then:
Get in direct communication with Joanne - don't waste time doing any more emails or letters - easy to ignore. Keep phoning and phoning. If she is not in or returning your calls then ask to speak to her direct manager or upwards....It is the easiest thing in the world for someone to delete a message or not call you back, but people have far more difficulty in hanging up the phone when you refuse (calmly) to end the call until they put you through to someone who can discuss the matter with you. Perseverence is the key here - even if you get "accidently disconnected" during transferring (yeah right), call back...and back....they will get the idea you aren't going to go away.

Go to Citizen's Advice Bureau and start getting some proper legal advice - then you can say to Tesco's that you are taking legal advice over how best to proceed with the situation unless Tesco's come up with an amicable proposition that tackles the original complaint and the events afterwards.

Be calm and unemotional - ranting will get you nowhere. It is easier to write you off as someone exaggerating or unreasonable.

Start copying in letters to BBC's Watchdog - they LOVE a story like this and make sure you tell Tesco;s that Watchdog are being informed of the situation and are interested in making a feature slot out of it on their program (this isn't lying, as Watchdog "potentially" are always interested in any issue lol).

Try and be as professional and legal about your letter/complaint as possible. It gives the impression that you are someone who isn't just going to let this drop.

I had a terrible problem with Fiat over a botched recall job on my brake pipes that directly led to my brakes failing. After real problems with the dealer that had done it for months, I got it resolved by simply stating that my mechanic had provided a report that clearly showed the original parts fault and botched recall job were the direct cause of the brakes failure; that I had contacted my solicitor about taking the matter further; that I was willing to involve local and national press if the issue continued to be unresolved; and that ALL I wanted was an apology, all the brake pipes replaced for new by a different dealership and an area rep to investigate the original garage. Fiat said I was being very reasonable and did all of the above immediately whilst initiating a possible recall on other puntos recalled to the same dealer....