Vent at Tesco. Shocking service and no way to complain. 16 December 2021 at 2:36PM in Praise, vent & warnings 5 replies 772 views

turnitround

A few days  ago hubby went to Tesco to get some electrical items for me for Christmas. He is disabled and always goes  there  at Christmas because its not too far for him to travel and he can use the instore mobility scooters.

Every scooter (10) was marked as 'unable to be used'.  When he queried it at the customer service desk he was told they were all unsafe. He asked if it was due to Covid because it would mean cleaning after every use but was told this was not the cause. They apparently all had a fault.

He asked if there was anyone who could assist with his shopping as they do advertise this help is available but was told 'No sorry'.  When he asked how he was supposef to be able to shop the assistant was quite rude and said 'Dont ask me'.

He left without being able to make his purchases. When he retuned home I rang the Customer Services number to ask the reason the scooters were all unavailable and there was no  assistance offered.  I was told by the gentleman I spoke to that it should not have been the case and that he would call the store and 'Ring you back shortly'. 

Rang again yesterday to say I had had no return call and was told 'We will look into it and call you back within the hour'.

 Still no call back from either customer services assistant.  So this morning I emailed the Customer Services department, as advised to do on the Tesco website only to get an automated reply saying the email is no longer monitored and referring me to the 'Frequently asked questions' which advise you email the unmonitored email address or to contact the customer service department!

So there is no way to actually complain to Tesco.

JJ_Egan

Yes use a written complaint pen and ink and post .

Sicard

JJ_Egan said:

Yes use a written complaint pen and ink and post .

Sound advice with Xmas swamped post approaching and pandemic continuing. Do you think the OP would get a better response with snailmail?

Mnoee

There used to be an online form that emailed them, but I've just checked in the app and it's disappeared - very poor of Tesco!

I know they're very active on Twitter, if you use that or are willing to make an account, that may be a way forward. 

Sicard

Also it might be worth contacting a disabled society. They should have a lot of clout:

https://www.google.com/search?q=disabled+organistions+in+uk&oq=disabled+organistions+in+uk&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30.9128j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Murphybear

I was horrified to read of your recent experience.  

I do have one suggestion, try contacting one of the newspapers, some of them love hearing about these tales.  The Daily Mail is particularly good.  It may alert other people to Tesco’s faults.  I would also agree, contact disability organisations as they will have more clout than an individual.

I have been lucky over the years and needed to complain rarely to supermarkets.  I complained once to Tesco by email about a product.  They sent a standard “sorry to hear you are disappointed about this product” but didn’t even offer to refund the purchase price.  I see they no longer give an email address.  Waitrose once responded within 2 hours and refunded us twice the value.  Morrison’s said they would send me a £3 gift card but it “never arrived” so they sent another which “never arrived”.  I gave up in the end.  M & S refunded the full price immediately.  Not bad in 25 years. 

You may be interested to hear of my experiences after a total knee replacement.  I had major problems during recovery and needed the temporary use of a disabled parking space.  Morrison’s gave me a note to put in the car to allow me to use one.  Sainsbury's threatened me as I was parking incorrectly (they actually said that being “temporarily disabled” didnt matter”).  Waitrose said just to park in one and they took a note of our car details.  Couldn’t find anyone in Tesco to ask so we just parked there.

I hope you can get some resolution and please keep us updated.