Tesco – Phillip Clarke is no Sir Terry Leahy

And a few years on we have Dave Lewis as the new group CEO and Matt Davies as the UK CEO being interviewed by me! (Although Tesco had full editorial control):

For links to lots more recent stories about Tesco and me including taking them to court and winning see Complaining Cow history with Tesco.

For the whole story so far see Case study: Tesco and a consumer champion

Tesco UK CEO email address

Tesco Group CEO email address

The post below is from 2012.

I had a right beef with Tesco! 

Tesco Service Omnishambles!

Diabolical! It was my latest dealings with Tesco Customer Service that gave me the final nudge to get this Blog started!

Update January 2015

I have realised that when you put “Tesco Complaints” into Google that this post comes up. Hilarious really. Since writing this post I have had more dealings with Tesco, including taking them to Court. Please see links to all these posts The Complaining Cow and Tesco history

Also people will insist on assuming that they can complain to me as if I were a Tesco employee. Rather foolish and obviously shows that they haven’t even read this post! Also, gives some indication perhaps as to why their complaint is being ignored by Tesco if they  don’t actually read things or are simply rude!

Tesco contacts for complaints

I also keep being asked for contact details for Tesco so here you are:

Tesco contact details:

email for customer services: customer.services@tesco.co.uk
email for CEO here
All Tesco departments contact details here. ‘phone numbers and addresses.

If you are looking for how to complain to Tesco, see the links are above and you might also be interested in using the book How to Complain: The Essential Consumer Guide to Getting Refunds, Redress and Results!

Tesco – Phillip Clarke is no Sir Terry Leahy

Years ago I complained to Tesco when Tesco was doing well and when Sir Terry Leahy was CEO there. I got a personal response that was signed by him. One can assume that as the new incumbent Phillip Clarke  ignored several emails from me and the customer service is shambolic, that contempt for the customer is creeping in, perhaps a very good reason why Tesco has slipped from its top position.

Summary (all correspondence available on request!):

4th June took items ordered from Tesco Clothing online back to the store for refund. Had used double up vouchers. Customer Services representative did not know what to do and had to telephone Tesco. I was told that he needed to “…give [me] a few pennies and that somewhere between £5 and £10 will be credited to [my] account.” Told him not acceptable! More confusion and went back after shopping and was given misinformation and nothing in writing although I requested it.
4th June wrote to Clubcard no reply
12th June forwarded email to Customer Services requesting something done, pointing out that doubling up vouchers offer ended on the 13th June and £5 was still in the Clothing website account incorrectly, it should be on the Clubcard or £10 in Clothing otherwise it was a credit note and not a full refund
13th June forwarded email to Phillip Clarke Tesco CEO requesting something done
14th June Tweeted to Tesco and after several Tweets sent details on
15th June and got a reply that did not relate to the complaint but a previous one and made no sense!
15th June Tweeted as such to Tesco and emailed back. Told back in touch as soon as possible
15th June – received email stating that she was unable to work out what complaint to respond to (despite the actual email being in the body of the email and nothing else in the original email!) Offered £20
17th June – wrote back attaching the relevant email again and pointing out that I had now missed website offers due to their delay in responding
18th June – still no response
19th June in the evening – Tweeted that still not had response
19th June – Tesco told me email was in the queue. Reminded them that my original email was dated 4th June! Told that the manager could ‘phone but couldn’t email! Asked for that bizarre state of affairs to be added to the list of complaints! (Was never explained why she could ‘phone but not email!)
19th June – told would get a response by email soon as possible
21st June – still no response. Told would get that one that morning
21st June PM – got an email from the Executive team offered £40 Tesco Moneycard apologised but did not address all complaints, I emailed back as did he no further forward.
26th June – received an email from the Customer Relations Manager at Tesco apologising and saying that the CEO office had responded. I emailed back pointing out the 2 issues regarding not being able to take advantage of offers on the website due to the delay in responding had not been addressed
28th June – received email from Executive Office stating surprise that I had said 2 issues were not addressed and I had copied and pasted a paragraph from previous email which did not address them!
3rd July  – sent a clarification email, I also asked if he would like a link when my Blog was up and running!
6th July – agreed in part with what I said (he had no choice, I was left with money in my Clothing account against their own policy!) that’s the end of this matter at last. Would have been at the £40 but he went and wrote to me suggesting I was wrong and he certainly wasn’t going to get away with THAT!

I asked if they would like to pay me for my knowledge and experience of customer service and how they could improve. They declined my offer! How very silly!

Evaluation

This was a sorry state of customer service. So many people wasting so much of my time! So many not given the right tools. It reflects badly on Tesco too when you think this is how the CEO of Sainsbury’s responds to a complaint. A different league in CEOs from a customer’s point of view I’m sure you’ll agree?!

As you can see, it wasn’t about gaining money it was about the principle of the thing. Annoyingly I went to Tesco to use the Moneycard so I could then take my custom in future to Sainsbury’s and forgot to use the card! Dozy cow! But the next time I went I bought just over £40 of shopping had a £4 off voucher used a £10 Tesco gift card (I have forgotten what I complained about to get that!!) and the £40 card. £13 left. £40 worth of shopping and get £13 change! Amooooosed me!

Seriously though, in May of this year Which? published a Customer Service survey of 11,000 people. Tesco came 4th worst!  A change in focus from the new CEO at Apple from customer to revenue (remember Steve Jobs’ legacy Good enough is not good enough) is not helping their profits either!

 

Update to this post. Do have a look at the other Tesco posts some are more amusing 🙂

 

 

 

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196 Comments. Leave new

  • Leon Ogden
    29 May 2016 15:55

    Dear sir or madam
    Am sorry to report the trouble given to me since my store was taken over by a woman six years ago, as you see i shop around for neighbors and people unable to leave their home, but the problem was that store manager was not happy with what i was doing she was just saying back to me no-one does this for nothing, so as you see i was told to calm down on my shopping and just do my own shopping and has she was stood next to my trolley,she said right am taking some goods out of your trolley as you have too much goods for your self, now why she barred me because i complained about another customer with four trolleys of reduced goods, so i went to customer service asked for the manager she came over, has i asked why are you allowing that customer with four trolleys of reduced goods, i was just told to shut up ! Oh get out your barred that is the words from the store manager i only said back i have not done anything if i have caused any trouble phone the police she just said back get out this is my store i can do anything, so i stood outside and i noticed that man with the four trolleys paid each trolley at different tills, and then since then the abuse given to me on the street is still happening as you see wanting me to fight back, first one was from a male member of staff walked straight to me face to face and said to me go on hit the and then we will see who is left standing, i just told him to shut up and walked off, then the next one was from the son of his mother who works there, as you see he crapped my shirt and told me to stop complaining about Tesco or i will smash your head in, and then the next one was from there family as you see he just walked in to me as i was stood at the bus stop, now it is coming up to year since that store took me to crown court accusing me of taking pictures of your staff when i shown the court it’s a potable radio i have in the hand or pocket, so the next question was one member of staff says she needs to drive to work because she is scared of seeing me as she only likes across road from the store, as i explained clearly to the court am at work at six o’clock in the morning so i don’t know where all this is coming from, so the judge just said do you want to just leave me court am sorry it is not my job to know if you are allowed back in the store, as you see not one of your staff went to the court but it may happen because family are doing something about this , with me having no transport of my own shopping is done by train with a suitcase five days a week where i am welcome, and it is coming up to year and half since i came out of Leeds hospital for a over grown heart valve operation, so i wish someone would sit down and take notice ?

    • The Complaining Cow
      30 May 2016 08:19

      YOU KEEP POSTING STORIES ABOUT TESCO ON MY BLOG AND EMAILING ME EXPECTING TESCO TO RESPOND. I AM NOT TESCO, I DO NOT REPRESENT TESCO, TESCO IS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS BLOG. I AM NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINTS TO TESCO. PLEASE CONTACT TESCO.

  • how do i report staff stealing from store..have photos
    many thanks

  • Can't Stop Laughing
    1 April 2016 23:53

    Absolutely cracks me up how many people think you are tesco. It takes half a second to realise you are not. Where are they all coming from??

  • Megan Blackley
    7 March 2016 19:41

    I know this is a pretty old article but I had to get my anger off my chest somehow. Ok so I went to my local Tesco store and I decided I wanted to buy a rather interesting issue of Hammer Magazine (Featuring my favourite band which are rarely ever featured). I took it to the till and they outright refused to sell it too me because it wasn’t on their system. After refusing to sell it to me they never even bothered to say sorry and that it was the fault of the store. I was annoyed but I got over it pretty quick and decided to go back about 4 or 5 days later to see if they’d got their shit together only to find that the magazine was completely removed from the shelf (good and bad I suppose) Good because no one else will try to buy it but bad because you’d think they’d have sorted the problem out by that point and have the product available for purchase. The amount of times I’ve been refused a purchase because they haven’t got it on the system is just stupid. Anyhoo great article and thanks for your help and for sharing your experience. To be honest I know the above rant is nowhere near as bad as a lot of stuff but I just felt so annoyed by it

  • Susan Mathews
    25 February 2016 08:16

    I have an ongoing complaint with consumer dept and they asked me to pass on my name,address an d e-mail address onto you to pass on to them.

    • The Complaining Cow
      25 February 2016 09:20

      I am not Tesco. I am nothing to do with Tesco. This is a consumer advice blog. The blog post above is the first post I ever wrote on this blog and is a complaint about Tesco. It talks about how I contacted Tesco. More stories about Tesco here. You may also find this page helpful. Top 20 Tips on How to Complain. I have deleted your two other messages regarding this issue.

  • I am out of breath with tesco too, I purchased fire tablet ,which stopped charging after 2 weeks, anyway I kept it on side shelf to remember to return it. But life is busy and I forgotten, I came to tesco last night and showed them fault on tablet, they called technical support and they asked staff member to observed it, so they asked,, does the charging port looks like its bent? One elderly member of staff sain I don’t know, so called younger guy to look at it, he said yeah it does! And I have no idea how it suppose to look like anyway. They said it’s my fault I damaged it. But it isn’t true at all ! Anyway I presented my case clearly explained that the observation of laik is irrelevant, and they can not prove that I accidentally damaged my tablet. I wanted to speak to management which I did, same help there, so I asked about a complaint procedures which he stated there are no procedures and I had to complain to third party. What the heck?!! When I came home I called customer service and I asked the same question ,,what’s the complaints procedure, they said there is non! I am absolutely in jeperty and after reading this blog I will never ever use the tesco store or online tesco again, those people are crocks, such an unbelievable ! How is this possible I will never understand! Full of fury I asked my son what has happened and he said,,I told you Mum the plastic little piece fell of so it’s not bent and he showed me how it’s supposed to look like on the phone, well how is it that ,,detailed observation” of member of staff who got no idea about the electronic equipment can be the evidence of my negligence? I have to laugh on stupidity of tesco’s professionals , and guys it’s not about a money, I used double up vouchers and paid no more then £20,but seriously?!

  • John Wright
    18 January 2016 12:41

    I am so disappointed at the lack of Customer Care being provided by Tesco Giftcards.
    After a month and a half, I have neither received the gift cards that I purchased, or a refund for the transaction that was never fulfilled? I have spent hours on the phone, sent numerous emails, and paid out money from my account, and so far I have absolutely nothing to show for it – other than a shortfall in my account.
    I have tried to be patient thus far, but they continue to fail to resolve or even communicate with me.

  • jonneyleaves
    17 January 2016 02:27

    Today I had an extremely unpleasant interaction with a Tesco employee. As he finished scanning the items he said “Please put your card in the machine, thank you pundai” the last word made my ears prick up. As this means cunt in Tamil. He assumed I would not understand, but since I lived in Malaysia most of my life (where there is a significant Tamil population) I understood he was calling me a cunt. When I said “What did you just say” he replied ” I said thank you” I said “before that…” I could see him become visibly nervous. I said that was a bad word and he didn’t even say sorry. I’m not usually the type to make a complaint. But I found this incident absolutely horrific. Do you think I have grounds to make a formal complaint?

  • maureen brown
    6 January 2016 18:51

    I went shopping with my daughter this after noon, she had the scanner, and we were chatting, and it transpired, that I put things in the trolley, without scanning, it was a
    complete accident. Imagine our surprise when the the security guard stopped us and
    said he was going to call the Manager, we eventually had two Managers and the security
    guard round the till, which we had to put the whole lot through the till again, they were
    very rude, I felt like a criminal and said ” I am 75 and have never stolen a thing in my
    life” I have been going in there since it opened, at Bishops Stortford, Bishops park
    for nigh on 30 years when I said I have never stolen anything in my life, one of the Managers asked me for my Tesco club card, which I handed to her, and vowed I would
    never go in there again.

  • Frances Jean Anderson (call me Jean)
    31 December 2015 21:10

    Sadly, I now feel the need to make an official complaint about one Tesco woman employee; I complained about her at Tesco here in Scunthorpe, once before, (over a year ago) and she denied all that she had said and done. I am sorry to say that I believe this woman to be extremely dishonest. I am willing therefore to both to undergo a lie-detector myself and to pay for the woman that I am complaining about to undergo a lie-detector test. Her absolute rudeness (to say the least) has gone on for well over a year now!

    The woman is an employee at Tesco’s major store in Scunthorpe and this woman (named Sharon) works on the fruit and veg section. I am a 72 year old, partially disabled woman, I am also a (Born-again) Christian, I do a lot for charities.

  • placed my Christmas order in November it came on December 23 at 22 30 on time
    2 items missing 1 item not in stock my beef for Christmas day rang Tesco on dec 24 told them my story was told they would get missing items to me and something for our Christmas dinner both my husband and I are disabled and could not get out
    some one from Tesco would ring and tell us time of delivery no one rang I rang on 27 dec told my story again was told my missing items would be sent out that day sorry about the beef and sent £15 pounds voucher via email .cannot get through to any one we could have had no Christmas dinner left to Tesco also told Tesco would ring on28 dec no one rang badly done Tesco badly done indeed and as its the principal of my tale I shall send back my vouchers its an insult merry Christmas Tesco I don’t think so

  • Telford Shopper
    12 November 2015 10:34

    Telford Tesco checkout last night I loaded my two special offer boxes of Dairy Milk chocolates (1/2 price, reduced to £7.50 each as marked on the shelf!) along with a few other bits and pieces onto the conveyer belt and waited while the cashier scanned the items. The chocolate was the last item and she struggled to scan the item. She called for her supervisor who arrived and told me that she could not sell me the chocolates because they were not on the system. I turned and walked out. I sadly owned Tesco shares until about 2 months ago when I sold them. There’s no future for this store!

  • maureen brown
    9 November 2015 13:12

    On my receipt yesterday, it said, fill in a review, and you will receive 25 extra points
    I duly filled it in, and when I went to enter number on my Tesco card, it wouldn`t
    accept it, and I realised it was 18 digits long, instead of 16.
    I phoned customer services, to give my number, and was kept waiting for 10 minutes
    I eventually put the phone down, and as advised clicked “help” it was one of those
    supposedly chat lines, which was absolute rubbish, it was quite clear it was automated
    I spent all that time filling it in, and then it seems I wasted my time because without
    my card number it will be disregarded.

    Maureen Brown

  • Ive Just sent this to CEO at Tesco, I’m furious!

    Dear Mr Lewis,

    I’m writing to you in my utter disgust at the treatment and experience I have received from Tesco in the last few days.

    firstly I will explain to you what has happened.

    I bought some Gaviscon from a Tesco Metro on Sunday got home and took one, after about twenty mins I felt rather sick, I put this down to me not having any food on Sunday morning,
    later on in the afternoon I then took another Gaviscon and this time was physically sick. I thought it was rather strange so I checked the packet to see if there was any ingredients within that could possibly cause this. I usually take them and have had no problems in the past.

    After checking the packaging i seen that the expiry date was 11 weeks ago. this has really really angered me that I was sold this. I then emailed your customer service department and got no reply, I then emailed again and got nothing back, I then went onto the online chat and spoke to someone called Lucy and then her manager Mark, He has advised me to go to a Tesco Store to log a complaint.

    I will absolutely not go into a Tesco store to resolve this, I have the packaging, the receipt and will post this on your twitter page and Facebook this afternoon unless someone call’s me
    my direct number is ************ If need be I will seek legal advise, Why should I inconvenience myself by going to one of your stores to complain about medication you have sold me that’s almost 3 months out of date.

    I had a very important work meal last night that I had to cancel because of the way I felt since Sunday afternoon, I still feel rather sick and will be going to see my doctor to make sure
    that there is no problems with me taking this 11 weeks out of date medication.

    I want a call back today, I’m absolutely furious, I have provided Lucy/mark with all the codes and receipt numbers to verify that I bought this on Sunday and the date is on the box with the words underneath. “Do Not Use After Expiry Date Shown”

    I Suggest someone call me ASAP

  • Nicky freeman
    13 October 2015 18:32

    hi, I’m looking for some advice really. I have a current issue with Tesco Direct, I got the fed up that I sent an email to the CEO on Sunday night giving him a very brief history of my complaint, see below:-
    Dear Dave,

    Order reference: 44H46DK3H

    I appreciate you probably get a healthy amount of emails to deal with, however I’m hoping that by escalating my complaint it may actually get resolved. I’ll start by giving you a full explanation of my complaint.

    27.09.2015 – I placed an order online with Tesco Direct for a leappad TV Console with 4 games. I received email confirmation of the order. I later received confirmation that the order had been split into two batches and both would be available for collection after 3pm on 29.09.2015 from Tesco in Hednesford.
    29.09.2015 – Visited store and collected 1 parcel only (console and 2 games), I was told that they didn’t have my missing two games and to come back the next day.
    30.09.2015 – Returned to store to be told still not arrived, the person I spoke with contacted the Tesco Direct Customer Service by phone, they told her they would investigate it and call me direct the next day before 5pm.
    01.10.2015 – Returned to store as I had not received a call, was told exactly the same as the previous night but with more assurance that I would get the phone call as they were to be a gift for my daughter that weekend.
    02.10.2015 – Returned to store as again I had not received any calls, went through the same process as previous nights, was given even more assurances that I would be contacted direct the next day with out fail.
    04.10.2015 – My partner went into store, explained the story and told them that again we had not been contacted, he was told the same, even more promises and assurances were given that we would be contacted within 24 hours.
    06.10.2015 – I returned to the store, this time I asked that this be escalated to the Manager, I spoke with him and he told me exactly the same as the others – it’s not their fault it’s the fault of Tesco Direct, he would make sure that I am contacted within 48hrs and that this would be resolved, either with me having the games or my money back.
    08.10.2015 – I returned to the store as I had not been contacted, the Manager was not in so I spoke with another Manager (Karen), again Tesco Direct were contacted, I was told they could not give me a refund until they resolved the issue with the missing games, I insisted that this had gone on long enough and that I wanted a refund. I was asked to give them another 24hours to issue the refund, Karen would ring me by 2pm today to confirm this had been done or give me an update. Not surprisingly this did not happen, I found myself back instore for the 8th time, speaking to yet another manager and being told exactly the same thing. It’s not us its Tesco Direct and can I give them until 7pm tomorrow night. When I replied that I didn’t want to give them any more time I was told that there is nothing else he could do.
    I have escalated this as much as I can at store level, so I’m hoping by escalating this to you I finally get this resolved. I also work for a large organisation so can appreciate that there are processes that have to be followed, however there is a point when logic has to kick in and override procedure when issues like this arise. Everytime i went into store I was made to feel that the staff were doing all they can and that it was the fault of Tesco Direct not them, but to me, the customer, Tesco is one company so it’s really irrelevant which part of the company is failing, I just want to know how and when my problem will get resolved. It’s even more disappointing that neither of the managers took ownership of this and took the time to call me, even if there was no news but to just let me know they were going to follow this up as I had been let down so many times. In fairness it’s worth noting that the lady I dealt with on at least four of my visits seemed to do all she could for me, showed compassion and handled me in a professional manner.
    I await your response.

    To bring you right up to date, they did not call me as they said they would by 7pm Sunday, however on the Monday I was called by a lady from Tesco Direct who immediately blamed the local store, told me that the games had been there all along, I told her that I had informed the store that I now wanted a refund as I had to buy them from elsewhere for my daughters birthday, so she told me she would organise the refund that day, with an additional £10 to compensate my 8 visits to store…. She told me she would call back and confirm when it had been done. Shock horror she never called back and I haven’t had my refund, instead I receive an email today from the Entertainer (who are supplying Tesco), see below….
    The following message referencing ticket 04540116 has been written:

    Items are ready to be collected

    I have tried to contact oyu regarding your order placed in September, I have spoken to Tesco Directly and they have confirmed that the order is with them in store and has been since the 29th September Apologies for any inconvenience this delay may have caused Kind Regards

    Kind Regards

    The Entertainer Team

    So I’m back to square one and faced with having to go back in store tomorrow, I’ve emailed the CEO twice and he hasn’t responded so I’m not really sure where to go next, any advice would be welcome x

  • Hello,

    I have just received an letter back from the Customer Service Manager, regarding damage to my vehicle whilst filling up with fuel at Tesco.

    What happened is as follows, I pulled the unleaded nozzle out the holder and the superunleaded nozzle fell out of it’s holder. Basically someone had swapped around the nozzles so that the unleaded holder had the super unleaded nozzle and the super unleaded holder had the unleaded.

    How there isn’t any sort of protection to stop people from doing this I don’t know. So as a result of this my car has now got a dint in it as a result of the super unleaded nozzle falling on my car.

    Now, if the car already had previous dents/scratches on it this would not bother me, but I always keep my cars in pristine condition, my 06 Astra VXR was like brand new.

    I was advised by the staff working in the petrol station to report it to customer services, which I did I filled a damage report in store, detailing exactly what happened.

    4 days later I got a response, before I opened the letter I thought “Oh great what good response times”. My attitude soon changed once I read the letter, Tesco’s reply is below;
    —————————————————————

    Thank you for helping the staff at our Hewitts Circus, Humberstone by providing your details for a vehicle damage report, on the 20th August.

    I understand your car was damaged when you were filling up with fuel at our petrol filling station. I’m sorry to hear this happened and can imagine how frustrating this must’ve been for you.

    I’ve carried out a full and thorough investigation and found that the pump handles had been placed back in the wrong position and when you lifted the nozzle off the pumps fell and hit your car.

    As the damage happened through no fault through Tesco, but the actions of another customer, we are unable to accept responsibility for the damage caused to your car.

    Understandly, this reply will be disappointing. However, you may still be able to claim through your motor insurance.

    Thank you for getting in touch.

    Yours sincerely
    For and on behalf of Tesco Stores Ltd

    Chloe Stewart
    Customer Service Manager

  • Tesco Direct did come back to me with a decent deal so I’m fairly happy.

  • I’ve had the worst customer service experience imaginable with Tesco Direct. I work for a website that’s all about customer service reviews so I see a lot of complaints but never anything like this..

    Ordered a PS4 + games bundle for £289 , for next day Click and Collect. Everything goes through, gets dispatched ok etc.

    The courier (Yodel) don’t bother delivering it to the store. I ask Tesco if they can prompt them (I do this a couple of times over a few days). Tesco issue a partial refund of £15.

    Ultimately this ends in Tesco sending me an email saying they’ve processed my return and refund “as requested”. They refund me £171.

    I question why they’ve done this since I never asked for a refund and why they’ve only refunded £171 and am advised that part of my purchase was promotional and since I’ve done a return I’m not eligible for a refund. At least that’s what I think they were saying, they were a bit vague. Also the order was returned as the courier attempted delivery but no one was home (at the 24 hr Tesco Express). Their proposed resolution was that I buy another PS4.

    I use their live chat and am advised that they’ll only refund the rest of my money if I buy another PS4. Or they can take back the refund and send me another PS4, without the games as they’re out of stock but they’ll set me up a stock alert so I can buy them later when they’re back in stock. The guy back tracked and offered to refund the rest of the money if I buy a new PS4 with 1 game for £354 (more than I paid for one with 3 games!) but as a “goodwill gesture” he’d refund the money for the game so I’d be paying £329!

    I then email them and receive an apology and a £15 refund (since they say I should actually have been refunded £186 but whoever processed the refund had deducted the previous £15 refund) and a £15 goodwill gesture. They tell me if I buy a new PS4 at £329 (the price has gone up since I ordered at £289), they’ll refund me so that I end up paying the same price I originally paid.. As a goodwill gesture.

    They’re absolutely adamant that I paid £186 and as far as they’re concerned I’ve had a full refund.

    A few emails later, forwarding them my original order confirmation email, offering to show them a bank statement showing what they charged etc they admit their error and refund me £103 and tell me if I buy a PS4 at the new higher price and games of the equivalent price to the ones I’d ordered but are now out of stock they’ll refund me the difference.

    So.. I guess I’m £15 up but what a mess.

  • Like many people ,i was very sorry that you felt it necessary to close t esco home( in n etherfield retail park,nottingham) I.t was a very “must” visit store. The staff were all very polite and extremely hel pful (particularly those in the t echnical dept ( tv`s,mobile phones etc)That retail park is not the same without “that store”., Perhaps a store may re emerge sometime,maybe in a differen t format!!!!!as thers is not a similar place in that retail park for electrial oroducts.

  • My husband bought a Samsung E1200 mobile phone at Tesco here in Wexford, Ireland. One important feature he was looking for is Bluetooth. The accompanying leaflet said ‘(tick) Bluetooth’. To make sure, he asked someone from staff and they
    too said (reading off the leaflet) that it has Bluetooth.
    Well, it hasn’t.
    Another feature mentioned: (tick) Handsfree Speakerphone.
    Where?
    There is the slot for the charger cable, which may be used to connect a handsfree cable which you have to get separately, but to advertise ‘handsfree speakerphone’ as a feature of the phone is more than misleading.
    As bought, the phone has neither Bluetooth nor a handsfree speakerphone and Tesco should be taken up on printing false information on their info leaflets. We would not have bought the phone if it hadn’t said that it has Bluetooth.
    Is that just plain lying on their part in order to sell the phones?

  • I had my tesco order delivered yesterday 10th june 2015 with 1 item that ran out of date on the 9th june then to my horror i then went to make a sandwich with the bread that had just been delivered to find mold all over it i then opened my 2nd loaf i had brought to find the same problem not happy all tesco said was we will refund the items but im not satisfied with this i want to take it further as how can they still have out of date products on the shelves & do the pickers who do the shopping not look at dates & just pick any old crap for there customers

    • Susan Beattie
      10 January 2016 16:31

      You are only entitled to a refund of the products…exactly how much more money were you after?

      • The Complaining Cow
        10 January 2016 16:57

        Depends what is meant by “out of date” Illegal to sell products after “sell before date” but not after “best before” date. In the latter case it may have been that the item was reduced. A full refund is all your entitled to. However if it was sold after the sell before date you should report it to Trading Standards.

  • Neil Houghton
    10 June 2015 16:38

    I was in Tesco Liverpool ( park road ) and bought a joint of lamb for my grans birthday lunch on sunday after cooking it the meat was 89.6% fat and about 11% meat. I emailed them and they phoned me within 24 hours refunding my £12 and sending me a £15 gift card ” FOR MY TROUBLE ” so there not all bad

  • Fabien Mackenzie
    31 May 2015 15:49

    Absolutely Disgusted by your staff in TESCO AYLSHAM.

  • P.s I apologise for my grammatical errors in my complaints about Tesco. I was typing in such a rush and should have read it first before I posted it.

  • I have a Tesco mobile phone. I have had nothing but connection problems with it since I got it in June last year. I moved in January this year and trying to get signal to send messages, answer or make phone calls and using the internet is virtually impossible. I rang them in February to complain. Of course, nobody rang back. So earlier this month, I rang them again and they finally said I have no connection for calls, texts or internet at all where I live. Why couldn’t they tell me that the first time I rang?!!!!! Even at my workplace – I cannot get a signal for internet! And I work in a different town than to wear I live. I could probably get a better signal from standing on the moon!!!!!
    I know Tesco shares its mast with O2 – so there is no point in going to O2 either because my friends cannot even get signal on their O2 phones at my address. I live in between two towns and it is not out in the country. There are quite a lot of houses where I live.
    When I spoke to them earlier this month – I told them I have rights as a customer because they are not fulfilling their service of contract to me. When they asked me where I had received my information, I told them it was from the Which site.
    Finally, they said they will give me the PUK code to get out of my contract if I pay £50 off my handset. But why should I pay anything? I told them I will just give the handset back because I don’t want it. But no – they won’t do this!! So I am stuck with the most useless mobile network ever because I can’t afford to pay £50 for the handset – which I don’t want and it is locked to Tesco network anyway.
    I can’t afford it because I live on my own and still haven’t got one single carpet in my house (of almost 6 months) because my wages are constantly going on bills, rent, food and petrol to get to work. And I do try to budget everything and have absoutely no social life.
    For such a major company, you would think that Tesco could at least show some decency to their customers. But fear not – because I shall ring them again when I have black and white print in my hands to quote from.
    Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am glad I could come somewhere and have a rant about why Tesco makes me so angry. And it seems I am not the only one.

  • I will get the point i am a 41 year old who as been barred from your sowerby bridge store for life, for running around doing people who are unable to leave there home, now what was said to be was stop shopping around in this for anyone else just come in for your own your not making money out of this store, now am taking some goods out of your trolley whats no use to you, so i got barred because another customer had four trolleys of reduced goods as i thought the trolleys where waiting to be placed in the area where there kept, but no soon as i placed my hand in one of the trolleys i was shouted at me by a the man who had all four trolleys of reduced goods, so i went for the manager and when she noticed it was me she just said back, oh its you you know your on a limet, i said back one rule for one one for another, so i was told i run this store if your not liking it you know what to do, so i went to pay for my goods and as i was leaving the store i noticed that customer with the four trolleys going though different tills one each trolleys, so i went back in asked for the manager and she came i asked her where is this been done one customer with four trolleys not paying at the same tills aswell, what was said back then was right get out your barred barred for life get out and don’t come back ?
    so now i want you to be told for the past years the police have called to my house saying tesco’s is saying you have been taking photos of there staff , i said back don’t try make me laugh you see there have barred me and there are waiting for me to fight back, as you see one member of your staff walks past my house to go to the store and once he came up to me and said your not getting back in go on hit me then we will see who is still standing he said, not just that time as well once at a bus stop the bus stop face’s a member of your staff when the son of one of your staff came towards me and got hold of my shirt telling me to stop it before i smash your head in, i told him to get lost but if i see him now he puts a right smile on he’s face , so september last year i put it in the hands of a court barrister and since that was sent not once have your company taken any notice, with the allegations saying about me, for a start i work for three different people as each one gave a persal letter about me, for years i have had local mp behind me as there are taking no notice of that aswell, now at the moment with me having no transport of my own shopping is done by train with a suitcase where am welcome , not stopped once is because i don’t go in tesco so you’ve lost one customer someone dids to check that store out because if you lived across road would you drive to work because thats whats going on , now one day that member of staff noticed me at the bus stop and she normley drives facing her house but no with seeing me she backed in so nothing could be seen yours
    l ogden

  • I’d like to add my own experience of shopping with TESCO.

    Tesco was offering its Hudl 2 for £99 rather than £129 over the Easter break. I ordered one on Thursday, April 2 online for’click&collect’ (collection from my local store which doesn’t stock Hudls). I was emailed notifying me that it would be available for collection on Saturday, April 4 after 3.00pm. I could have travelled a couple of miles to a store that stocked them but Saturday was fine and fitted in with my plans.

    However, on Friday I ended-up in a store that stocked Hudls. I therefore asked if I could simply collect one thereby saving Tesco the bother of shipping. Bearing in mind that I had already paid, I was told that I would need to pay again i.e. basically a new purchase – the option of matching my online purchase to issuing one from stock could not be done. I found this somewhat poor in this electronic age.

    On Saturday, I was near one of Tesco’s large stores and was tempted to go in and try again but decided to have faith in Tesco’s ability to deliver. Big mistake! My local store had not received my order nor could the manager explain what had happened other than something to do with Yodel. As it would be Tuesday at the very earliest before one could be delivered I was offered the option to cancel my order. I duly did so which turned out to be a mistake.

    The manager gave me the telephone number of customer services (albeit the wrong number). As expected, the telephone conversation got me nowhere. Not only did I not have the Hudl, but I would not receive a refund for 3 – 5 working days. This was not the fault of Tesco but my bank claimed Tesco’s employee.

    Further, as I had cancelled my order Tesco could not arrange another without me paying again. So, no Hudl and no money. Even if I had been prepared to travel to the nearest store that stocked Hudls, I would have had to pay out again – according to Tesco this was my fault as I’d cancelled the original order .

    I have followed-up my calls to Tesco with an email to Dave Lewis (thanks for the address). I would hope that the Complainingcow’s previous efforts will persuade Tesco to respond to me. Whether any such response provides a satisfactory response remains to be seen. I’ll let you know how it goes.

    • Below is the follow-up to my complaint to Tesco.

      Helen,

      Having been far from happy at being let down by Tesco I could easily have fired-off some less than complimentary correspondence to it.

      Fortunately, I found your Web site along with the invaluable advice. I sent a firm but polite email to David Lewis expressing my great disappointment at Tesco’s inability to complete a simple delivery.

      I duly received a telephone call on Tuesday morning from a very polite and honest Tesco employee. He offered none of the usual company speak or excuses but admitted that it was a total and unacceptable failure on Tesco’s part.

      Although he had a basic idea of what went wrong, he asked for another day to complete the investigation. True to his word, he did call back and explained that the courier was to blame – a case of theft if I had to read between the lines.

      By way of compensation, I was offered the Hudl for £69 – a £30 decrease on the sale price. However, the most positive thing that came from this was the way Tesco’s employee conducted himself. Simple, straightforward and no arguing, probably go as far to say it was a perfect example of how to resolve a complaint.

      It may well have gone differently had I not discovered your site.

  • Moulan Muneeb Mirza
    22 March 2015 12:19

    Dear Sarah, Customer Service

    Thank you for your reply, I agree with you the response that you have given me was not the one I wanted, the reason I was asking Tesco to get involved was that I would have got an answer and also that Tesco’s believe in moral/social responsibility irrelevant of race,colour or creed this company has no moral responsibility to the Muslim community to date they have never responded to my e-mail, bearing in mind they have had a copy of our e-mail every time i have sent you an email and totally ignored the request.
    Any Companies that are not prepared to tell the truth about their Halal product have a lot to hide and can not be trusted.
    Why is it we as Muslim community for once not been given the truth, do these companies not have a social responsibility or care as to what they feeding the Muslim community, if this question was asked by a non Muslim customer what they were eating I believe this would have been answered.
    Why is there no pressure been put on this companies to tell the Muslim customer the truth, this pressure can only be put from Tesco, so I am hoping by asking Mr Dave Lewis CEO of Tesco for his support in getting me the truth that is all I seek is a simply request as to the halal product that has been packed by Shazan under their label is Stunned or Non-stunned that’s it, as the label does not state this information
    Please Mr Dave Lewis can you HELP? as you will do a great service to me and to my Muslim community here in UK
    I await your Response,

    Mirza

  • Hi
    I bought a Lego set from Tesco Direct for my grandson, it arrived late and a bit scuffed. I was asked for feedback, so I gave honest and critical feedback. Tesco replied that their moderators had decided not to post my feedback on their site. I was surprised and decided not to trust Tesco’s feedback scores in future as they obviously deleted the critical feedback. Tesco then emailed me again to ask for feedback on the same transaction! So I supplied the same feedback with an addendum describing what happened to my original feedback. Tesco again replied to say they had “moderated” my feedback – see below:-

    It cannot be published to the website, but.. —

    ,

    Our staff has read your review and values your contribution even though it did not meet all our website guidelines. Thanks for sharing, and we hope to publish next time!

    Submit something new

    Thanks again,
    The team at Tesco.com

    Slow delivery, scruffy package
    I bought this as a gift for my grandson, and paid extra to make sure it got there in time. It was not delivered on the day agreed, but the day after that, Tesco refunded the express delivery charge. The package was a bit scuffed, not badly enough to send it back, but it was not perfect. Tesco asked me for my feedback, and I complied, giving the text prior to this sentence. I then got a message from Tesco saying they had decided not to post my feedback, without any explanation, I assume because it was critical of their service and they were trying to protect their feedback scores. Tesco then asked me again to provide feedback, so here it is …

    Contact Customer Service with questions or concerns.

    I was not complaining, I was not trying to gain something, just giving honest feedback.

    Regards
    Steve

    • The Complaining Cow
      22 March 2015 08:42

      That seems appalling. Shall tweet this out and see if we can get a response from Tesco… Asked, they have asked if you can get in touch with them on Twitter?

  • Malcolm McCallum
    1 March 2015 19:10

    I AM ON TESCO PAY AS U GO I CANNOT GET A SIGNAL AND I HAVE TO TOP UP TOMORROW BY VOUCHER WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE MONEY I HAVE ACCUMILATED IF THERE IS STILL NO SIGNAL TOMORROW AN THANKS

    • The Complaining Cow
      1 March 2015 19:19

      Not enough information here. Info you may find helpful here. If you have no signal don’t top up find another provider? Email them ask advice – use tips don’t write in capitals makes it difficult to read and is the written equivalent of shouting at someone so customer services will think you are being rude.

  • Geoff Aspall
    21 February 2015 22:53

    Well I got falsely accused of attempting to steal stock from tesco. I seem to have been targeted twice by a particular staff member at my local tesco. I’d sue but I was so angry that I told the chap to “f off” which alas makes me the bad guy. I’ve never been in trouble with the law and I am a respectable citizen. I only wish I’d kept my cool as I am sure I could sue for slander as the staff member totally made a false allegation against me. My plan is to boycott tesco forever.

  • ordered a personalised birthday cake for my mothers birthday. supposed to feed 50, they lost the cake !!!! I had to buy cupcakes from asda at 9 pm at night, tesco paid for these but i had the stress of trying to find an alternative the night before party. I certainly would not call it easy entertaining

  • Colleen Emmett
    14 January 2015 21:37

    We receive healthy start vouchers from government went to tesco today purchased all the items stated on the voucher ie fruit vegetables milk total bill came to 22.14p each voucher is valid for 3.10p tesco however would only take 3 of the vouchers. When we came home on reflection decided to go online to tesco to complain told that we would have to speak to customer services who said they didn’t know much about vouchers so try to use them again and if they don’t expect them at the cash out ask the cashier to give us a reason why to which I replied we did that and she didn’t know today so is she going know next time!
    We rely on the vouchers to help feed the family so try to use them where ever possible due to them having a end date but when they won’t take more than 2/3 at any one time

  • […] Tesco – Phillip Clarke is no Sir Terry Leahy – the first post about poor service and the CEO’s regard for customers apparently differing […]

  • That’s precisely what I said to the store manager at Tesco Extra Gallows Corner in Romford Essex when he called but I guess a good customer service/care and public relations are two of his weaknesses going by his insinuation from his comment about “people like me” and it’s a “mathematical thing and not emotional” when I informed him of not believing that the CCTV for a big store like that is not working, and for the record I did inform him after the statement that I have a degree in accounting and a proud upright black man who will not allow anyone to label him a liar.

    I have a recorded conversation with the cash office manager on my mobile phone which I informed her that I was recording our conversation (this is one of the reasons why such apps come in handy) but am waiting for Tesco to play out their blame game of saying the manager stated that I verbal abused staff…….I was overtly polite in the recording as always,
    I will appreciate if you could please advice whether I should make them aware of the recording now or wait for them to persist with the false allegations of verbally abusing staff before I bring out my “Ace card” recording.

    It doesn’t help when the Head Office can only base their investigations on what their store manager tells them and the important tool (CCTV) that can reveal the lies and cover up of the store manager is conveniently not working

  • I went to Tesco’s filling station in December 2014 to buy fuel and the total came to £25.02. I went inside to pay the cashier and gave her £30.02 with a due change of £5.
    I was surprised when I got the receipt without my change and pointed out to the cashier that I gave her £30.02 and not the amount she put on the receipt. To my surprise,she called me a liar in front of other customer, I requested for her manager and a lady came and said she’s the supervisor (I later learnt she was the manager on the day) I explained to her and she said there’s nothing she can do until when the money is sent to the cash office and if there’s anything extra with the balance for the day. She got my details and in the process I enquire if the CCTV are working and to which she said 24/7 because that’s the only thing that can show that I gave her £30.02 and not £25.02
    I got a call the following day to say there was no excess balance for the shift hence, I will not be getting any apology for being called a liar and my money back. I asked if the CCTV was checked as promised and was informed that this was not done…..I asked again for confirmation that it was working and was assure they were by the lady. She promised to do that and get back to me. I didn’t get any call for (three) 3 days so I decided to follow up with another call.

    I spoke to the cash office manager and she apologised, got my details again and stated that it could well be an error on the part of the staff (a trainee), agreed to pay the money back but with no apology from the staff…….(please note that I’ve been loyally shopping at this store for more eleven (11) years with no problem) I refused and informed her that no one deserves to be called a liar unless you have prove that they’ve lied.

    A couple of days later after waiting for the promised called to check the CCTV, I got a called from the cash manager saying unfortunately, the CCTV for the filling station of a whole Tesco are (conveniently) not working hence, they can’t check the images for the day. I disagree, I said Tesco is too big not to take safety and security of staff & customers seriously and what if something serious had happened on the day that required the CCTV images to be looked at by the police.

    I wasn’t happy and requested to speak to the store manager. The manager called few days later and it was obvious from his tone that he’s got preconceived thoughts about me. He confirmed the CCTV for the store is not working and to my shock stated “this is a mathematical thing and not an emotional thing” and “I’ve been told this about you and this is the problem with people like you”…….possibly referring to my ethnicity.

    With the above I was livid and ask if this is how he speaks to his staff and as if that wasn’t enough, he stated “you are banned from the store”
    I have no problem at all with that as I am now a convert to ALDI and LIDL not to mention ASDA.

    I got in touch with Tesco’s head office and emailed the CEO directly but one of his people responded and I can tell from their communication so far that they’re covering the weaknesses/mistakes of their staff without being open and transparent in their investigation and customer service.
    I was informed by the Head Office that the CCTV FOR THE STORE ARE NOT WORKING (fancy going to a store where your safety and security is not top of their agenda) and there’s nothing they can do about the situation since the store manager conveniently gave them a completely different version of event by saying I “verbally abused” his staff…….which NEVER happened and the cashier who took my money was “reduced to tears when investigated”
    I have not been given my hard earned money back……though it was promised (yes it’s only £5 but as an upstanding citizen it’s the principle behind it by being labelled a liar) and I am still waiting for an apology.

  • Good Afternoon.
    Myself and my wife went to Tesco at the Eden Centre to go see Customer service..
    Reason Being is because on Sunday the 04/01/15…my wife and I bought a 3for2 offer and when we got home my wife looked at the receipt and noticed that we were charged for all 3 products… now when we bought the offer one of Tesco’s employees said that all 3 of the products we were going to buy was part of the 3for2 offer as all 3 products had the exactly the same sticker on them…now we went to Tesco today to see what was going on and we went to customer service. And there was a Man who was very un helpful to us demanding that I go over to the shelf and find the product that was on the 3for2 offer… I then asked for the manger… the Manager came and said the Product were to different items on sale and not in the same group but in good will she will give us the refund and told the rude man to give us a refund for the amount…my wife went over to the register with this guy to get the refund then he blurted out to her that if she dares to come in here again looking for a refund he will take her photograph!!! this put instant fear into my wife.. I then went back to the Manager and she said she would speak to him and offered us no Apology at all. do you have any advise on what would be the best route to take regarding this issue please? thanks

  • Malcolm McCallum
    29 December 2014 09:51

    My wife and myself r both with tesco mobile my complaint is about the network we both can, t text or ring out we can, t get any numbers up on our phones so when it comes to topping our phones up we will not be able to which is due on the 2nd of january i would be grateful for any help u can give me thanks m mccallum

  • Andrew Wright
    12 December 2014 12:14

    I ordered my TV on Black Friday 2014 delivery for Saturday did not arrive contacted customer services advised of delays would be delivered Monday,no arrival,once again customer services contacted delivery would be Wednesday. Guess what no delivery, on contacting customer services told no stock but Tv should be with me soon. Amazingly Tv arrived Thursday just a shame the screen was smashed.Customer services contacted no Tvs in stock and refund will be issued. Broken set collected 8.30 am Friday refund still not in.my account had my money for Two weeks now.Telephone call from customer services Wednesday 10/12 Tv.back in stock did I still Want one sorry no I bought one elsewhere refund promised immediately still no sign of payment into my account 5/6 calls 4 emails and still nothing Tesco deserves to go down the pan

  • Hi, last Thursday I placed an order with Tesco direct online, a few minutes later I then received an email saying my order was cancelled so I phoned customer services helpline and apparently this was because I had pressed back to mamybtomes on my smartphone. They couldn’t reorder it over the phone for me ( I don’t see why they couldn’t) so they told me my money would go straight back into my account and the £106.00 vouchers I had used would be sent back to me in an email within 25 hours! 24 hours came and went… 48 hours came and went so I called the customer service and they Told me that they was sending a request form to my bank to release my money and that my evoucher would be with me within 24 hours I said its already been 48+ and all I got was sorry. Cutting it short I had to wait 8 days for my money to go back in my account and 7 days for an evoucher I was contacting them daily and just got apologies each time. I missed out on three deals on Xbox console which would have been an Xmas gift. Do I have a right to send a massive complaint?? Any help would be great thanks. Xxx

    • The Complaining Cow
      5 December 2014 12:33

      Yes complain – see all my other Tesco posts and the tips

    • This exact (well nearly exact) same thing happened to me! I ordered an iPad on the 28th November – only to be emailed an hour later to be told they were out of stock (which is fair enough,it was black friday so I didnt have much hope that i would get the item.) Anyway the refund should have reached my account yesterday. I called them today and spoke to 3 different people! Two of the ‘customer service advisors’ told me there was nothing on the system to show them taking my money. Anyway i spoke to someone a little while after and that called another company that deals with the card transactions- and they confirmed that the refund hadnt been processed. So the Cust Service Advisor then told me hes passed it on to his team leader and they are giving me a refund which should hit my bank account by next friday. Nice one tescos! I guess i will just fly to work for the next week!

  • matthew foyle
    2 December 2014 18:36

    I bought a Vodafone Wifi R207 on promotion at Tesco for £18 with 4GB as stated on receipt but once o registered and checked with Vodafone there was only 2GB.I tried to sought this with Tesco who would not help with this problem except to offer me a refund which I feel is not good enough..So be warned not all special offers are true at Tesco.

    • The Complaining Cow
      2 December 2014 19:46

      It did breach the law but a full refund is all they legally have to give.

    • Seriously?! You were offered a full refund. What more do you think you are entitled to? Why do people assume they deserve something for nothing? Mistakes happen, an offer was made to rectify it, you are entitled to and deserve nothing more.

      • Do you have other blogs for the other high street supermarkets. These kinds of experiences aren’t exclusive to Tesco.

        • The Complaining Cow
          22 March 2015 12:08

          I just have a lot of blog posts for Tesco because that’s where I shop and at no point do I ever say these are Tesco specific, although perhaps CEOs do make a difference (see the other Tesco posts). Take a look around the blog you will see other stories and comments about other stores.

  • […] as followers of this blog know well, Tesco and me? Well we have history shall we say.   The very first blog post was complaining about Tesco. Then there was taking them to court, insects in rice, milk […]

  • You got ur name right didn’t you. I was actually agreeing with you at the start of your moan and I think tesco’s response time is really poor but then I read your last bit, naming the vouchers you used and said “I forgot what I complained about that get that one”. I never understand how people blame those on benefits and the shops for the ever increasing rise in prices gut its people like you who are ruining this country. You and thieves!! Well done mate, god you must be barrel of fun

    • The Complaining Cow
      27 November 2014 20:59

      Thanks for your comments
      1) “Forgetting vouchers used” was irrelevant to story so not included, also added humour for most people. The vouchers were for redress for poor service received with an online order which was a breach of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.
      2) My complaints are genuine and I have no time for people who complain just to get stuff. See explanation here.
      3) Tesco it would appear take a different view to you and the CEO has met with me and I was back there again today for lunch with him and his senior executive team talking about how they could improve.
      4) Yes I am a barrel of fun. The huge amount of feedback I get about how useful this site is and how it is presented in a humorous way is always nice to hear.

  • i have been to your store tonight in gloucester, I shop at tesco all the time as I live opposite. When I go to the store I will always look for any offers or reduced items. Tonight I was looking at the fruit and veg and saw two men the trollies full of reduced items like eight punets of strawberries priced at £1.12 each, with many other items , ofter all the items had been reduced on the self these two men had all their offers reduced again. I noticed the strawberries were reduced again to £0.20′ I was annoyed as would liked to have bought only one punet for £1.20′ this in my book just greed and unfair. I immediately reported to the personal manager Daniel Driscoll.

    I do not blame anybody apart from management as about six months ago I wrote a letter to the store manager and delivered by hand, hence I got no acknowledgement what so ever. Also I have also witnessed these scroungers complaining because the reduced items were put on the self too late, and getting nasty with your staff because of the amount of the the reduction – these scroungers should be removed from the store, I wonder what your security guards are doing, should they be looking on the security monitors, yes they should!!!
    I would like to think that no staff member would get into trouble as this is a case of management training or lack of explaining company processes. One particular scrounger is in the store every night putting this pressure on your staff.

    I do hope that somebody could acknowledge my complaint, my mobile number is xxxxxxxx my name is xxxx

    • The Complaining Cow
      14 November 2014 09:51

      I am not Tesco, please read the post above and contact details. I have removed your ‘phone number from the comment as this is an open blog for the world and his wife to read.

  • Kelly Nichols
    4 November 2014 23:13

    Hi, just wanted to share my experience with you all. I purchased 2x Hudl2’s today in my lunch hour. After finishing work, I got home, opened them and turned them on..only to find that 1 didnt work. As it was for my sons birthday in 8 days time I took it straight back to the shop (at approx 9:20pm) only to be told that the electrical desk AND CSD closed at 8pm and didnt reopen until 9am..and that there was nobody authorised to do refunds/exchanges outside of these hours!! I work for the NHS and am currently rostered on for the next 10 days (missing my sons bday no less, and unable to get into store between 9-8) so am stuck with £129 of useless electrical equipment thats unfit for purpose. Theres no advertising instore showing these hours, so how are customers supposed to know?!
    I dont know what they’ll do when I return in 11 days but its a bit late as the hudl was a bday gift. I have written to the Customer Service Centre via snail mail, but thought I’d let you all know that if you need a refund/exchange after 8pm not to bother! Take care guys x

    • The Complaining Cow
      5 November 2014 09:13

      With 11 days you are less time than deemed to have accepted the goods – so a full refund shouldn’t be a problem if that’s what you want. Different customer services desks in different stores will open at different times but there should be a sign, there is on ours (closes at 10pm I think) so complain about that and the waste of your time. You could email customer services for that.

  • How do you go about complaining to Tesco about being wrongful accused of shoplifting? The police already confirmed to me on the day that it was a breakdown of communication between myself and the egotistical head of security who did not even take a minute to listen to what actually took place as l took an allergy reaction to one of their products and had to take medicine in the store. The police just looked at the cctv images and let me go thou the manager informed me l was banned from Tesco for life!

    • The Complaining Cow
      30 October 2014 20:49

      The manager is not breaking the law. A manage can ban whomever s/he likes for any reason. However, to for when there appears no good reason is certainly worth complaining about. See the post above? There’s an email address there – try complaining to him and let us know how you get on!

  • Michael Goose
    30 October 2014 14:24

    Once again the staff at Tesco, Golden Hill, Bristol just cannot get it right. They must really be the worst in the whole organisation, if not it can be no surprise that the organisation is rapidly going down the pan! On this occasion I purchased two 450g packets of Redybrek, listed on the shelf at £2 or 2 for £3. On getting home I find that I have been charged the full price without any discount. I tried to phone them but get their call centre in Glasgow where the chap tells me I will have to return to the store to get a refund. I don’t want to do this but ask him to transfer the call to the store. He tries to but no one will pick up the phone! Just about sums up Tesco Golden Hill!

    • The Complaining Cow
      30 October 2014 20:47

      Write to customer services, Sale of and Supply of Goods Act 1994 items not as described you are under no obligation to return the items at a cost to yourself. Every little helps 🙂 More tips in the book! 🙂

  • […] have been with me for a while will know that I think this is funny. Really funny. I started this blog with a complaint about Tesco back in July 2012 and how Clarke was pig ignorant compared […]

  • des jenkins
    20 October 2014 11:52

    i want to complain about one of your staff in the dunlaoghaire branch he has black hair a bl ue shirt with selves rolled up he is not a nise person he bump in to me at least 3 times and if he has a trolley he heads straight for you and then turns off just before you a friend of mine s sister is in a weelchair shoping in the same store in dunlaoghaire when she was hit from behind and neerly knock out of her weelchair by this same guy i know alot of people thats trys to avoid him he stare at you when he see you not nise i hope you do something about this person by the way i am a pensioner .

  • John Snowden
    14 October 2014 13:45

    Just a quick thought. I have tried four separate times for the Clubcard to send me a forgotten password link so I can order an electrical product. Each time I clicked the request link a message appears saying that it will be sent to me within fifteen minutes and they have been constant in not carrying out their promise/threat.

    I am going to order the product from Argos and told them that if their website cannot do this one simple operation than their security and programming structures are unsafe.

    The CEO reassuringly is constant is his lack of concern or care. I remember reading an article about a month ago where one its main Investors admitted that they had made a mistake by placing so much of its “funds” into the company. I would suggest tracking the story and company down and educate them with Tesco’s “great savings” that they have made on customer service and goodwill.

    Perhaps they may try to helpfully recommend a tweak to the policy and the CEO ?

  • Today has been the final time I’ll ever use Tesco.
    I’ve been a regular shopper in their new, large Sunderland branch since it opened. I enjoyed the wide range of products they sell, the occasional club card offer, and the fact it’s a nicely spaced out store. However, the word appalling can not do justice to the ‘customer service’ that takes place in there.
    This particular store actually has a reputation for how bad the staff are. Many people I know who have frequented it occasionally have commented on the staff’s attitude. It is so bad that every time I’m there I’ll either use a self service machine or, if I have a large shop, I look for the one staff member who actually knows how to speak to customers. No matter how long his queue is I’ll wait in it; that shows the extent of the problem.
    Anyway, today was a large shop day and this person wasn’t on any tills. So I picked one and hoped for the best.
    I shouldn’t really of been surprised that my smile and greeting of hello was completely ignored by this woman. Not asking if I needed help packing, or if I had my own bags, is something I’m used to in this store. Throwing my items at me with such force after scanning them that it actually hurt my fingers is, again, not a new occurrence. What WAS a new classic customer service trait for me was the way that, once all the items were scanned, she merely gazed away in the opposite direction and never total me the total price, forcing me to have to find the screen to see what it actually was. My inquiry if it was okay to pay half cash/half card was naturally met with complete silence. What did perk my interest was her studying my receipt for a couple of seconds, before flinging it to me and turning around without a single word. Once I got home it seems the 75p off voucher I handed over for one of my items had not been used. Yet after looking at my receipt she hadn’t mentioned this or even returned the voucher to me. I only assume that, much like not being a total b*tch to customers, it was a policy she couldn’t be bothered to adhere to.
    I was going to write a complaint email, but notice that Tesco conveniently make it difficult to find the address. In the end I thought, sod it, what is the point really. Just glad I can share this with you.
    So Tesco, I genuinely hope Aldi and Lidl send you into administration. I’m going to only shop at M&S from now on. The increase in my food bills shall be worth it at the cost of not being treat like a piece of excrement found on your shoe.

    • The Complaining Cow
      27 September 2014 19:12

      customer.services@tesco.co.uk also in another post I give the executive office email address, see al the Tesco post links in the above post.

      Complain – how many other people get ripped off like that and don’t complain? Like I say in other posts all those pennies that people don’t complain about add up. I took Tesco to court and lots of people told me that the same thing had happened to them they didn’t pursue it, so how much was that total? And also, to be fair if no-one reports that woman then can you blame Tesco for not dealing with the issue if they don’t know about it?

  • […] the search thingy on the right lots of posts will come up. In fact, my very first post was about Tesco and that gives you links to all the other posts. (I particularly like all the comments which I do […]

  • Hello there, half of my email hasn’t appeared, if the first bit doesn’t make sense, cheers.

    • The Complaining Cow
      22 September 2014 19:15

      Have you written to Tesco customer services?

      • No. Apart from telling friends and sharing the events with you that’s it. I know it’s probably the wrong attitude but I figured they’re rotten to the core and after the most recent experience the best way to hurt them, for want of a better word, is to go elsewhere.

        • The Complaining Cow
          23 September 2014 11:52

          Well listening to the stories coming out today….. and I don’t think my taking them to court caused their problems! The very first post was about Tesco though! Sign up for the newsletter too for news on the book coming out next month which Tesco features in!

  • s quite long so I decided I didn’t have time so I put the paid for ale back in my bag and walked out the shop. About two steps outside I was physically yanked backwards by my rucksack by a six foot six security guard. I protested saying, “I’ve paid”, to which he replied, still pulling me, ” No you haven’t” By now I’ve turned myself round and I’ve managed to get his hands off me, I start to look for the receipt. As this is happening one of his security colleagues has come over and confirmed that I had paid. I then found my receipt and made sure he had a good look while I firmly told him,”that was what he should ‘ve asked for.” I received no apology from them which left me even more angry as I left the scene. Sorry if this is longwinded but it’s actually helping to recount the events.
    The other incident happened s looking for Saturday gone, which is why I was looking up other peoples experiences. I went in their Hurst Street branch with not much time again as usual. I picked up something to eat and went to grab a paper. As I chose which one I noticed out the corner of my eye a navy suited man was standing right next to me. He then said,” can you move so I can pick those up,” referring to the newspaper magazines that were on the floor from other customers. I said “yes no problem.” As he knelt down I said” It’s not fair how people read the papers and leave them a mess” to which there was no reply, so I said it again. This time he replied with a sideways scowl “Did you say something.” I replied “I haven’t done this,” to which he stood up and said I was standing on them. I’ve replied,”I didn’t even notice them,” which was true and that how was I supposed to get to the papers if they had a moat of magazines around them. Rather than go into the whole scene he became aggressive and called security and other staff to back him up which I reacted to by standing my ground, not physically, but verbally arguing back as I had done nothing wrong. The initial perpetrator kept saying,”just kick him out,” and the security asked me to leave in a fairly professional way. I replied by saying, ” I’d done nothing wrong and that his colleague needed to change his bad attitude.” Anyway, the argument continued outside and I eventually left again fuming and con fused that something as simple as me wanting to spend money in a shop could end up with me being treated like this.
    These two violent events,completely initiated by Tesco staff, are not the only problems I’ve had. The prices on their special offers are consistently wrong at the till, in their favour, which makes a ten minuite shop twenty minuites by the time they’ve done a price check. I even had problems with their home insurance, when they changed my house details on my policy from end of terrace to semi detached bungalow thus bumping up my premium. I got
    my money refunded for that and promptly changed insurers.
    You start to think it’s you but I also shop regularly in Sainsbury’s, Lidl,Aldi even Waitrose and I never ever have any problem whatsoever. Possibly the only other one with this gang mentality contempt is Asda but they’re not in the same league as the Tesco werewolves.
    It’s good you are giving people an opening like this as hopefully it will encourage more to avoid this bunch of fascists as I’m definitely going to do as much as I can for the sake of my health and sanity.
    Thank you.

  • Vincent ellingworth
    15 September 2014 17:12

    I have been shopping withe tescos for about 15 years and after the last few months I doubt I will be again all because of the club card . I have recently been wondering why my points are not growing very quickly I recently ordered a case of wine online to which I should have received 300 points when noticing on my next visit to tescos I noticed no points had been added plus my fuel save points was missing after talking with customer services in store I went home and rang the club card number and got told no points had been awarded due to being directed to another site yet this site was still operating with the tescos name . I’m not surprised tescos is losing customers being to greedy to honour points and fuel savings when spending £300 and when ringing to complain was stuck on hold and ignored after being told I would be transferred to the complaints manager disgraceful way to treat loyal customers tesco you should be ashamed.

    • The Complaining Cow
      15 September 2014 18:57

      That doesn’t sound right to me at all. I don’t understand why you were directed to another site that didn’t attract points. Either it was a Tesco site or it wasn’t and if it was were you mis-led into believing that you would get points? Have a look at the links in the post you’ll see I take on Tesco quite a bit, including in court and winning.

  • Tesco are a complete & utter disgrace – Tesco mobile & Tesco credit card are painful experiences. They are clueless & careless – staff idiotic & embarrassing when you complain – the retail group continue to flounder – Leahy long gone & more lambs to the slaughter continue to follow. Not a big fan of discount retailers but have to applaud the irreparable damage they have inflicted on the Tesco market share. I for one will now boycott these cretins for ever more and would urge others to do likewise. Arrogance & ignorance has been their undoing fuelled by obscene complacency. Oh the fools that are shareholders now reap their just rewards as the customer kings leave in their drives. Let’s hope they are destroyed & the sooner the better. A quite vile organisation from top to bottom they really are. Now – I feel so much better for that after another run-in with their incompetents this evening!

  • Rosalind Turnbull
    2 September 2014 19:37

    Hi I have tried sending a email to tesco protector line as I work for them sent it last Thursday and no answer still ment to be next working day . Also could you help me find the right hr tesco address to email my letter please or help me in the right direction . It’s about my ill Heath and don’t take any notice of me or doctor ect thank you

    • The Complaining Cow
      2 September 2014 20:47

      Never heard of Tesco Protector!? Is it a product? Not sure why you would want the HR address? Links for various emails addresses throughout the posts for ceo and exec team. Hope that helps.

  • I have been a regular( £1000 a month) customer at Tesco for several years. I have put up with their awful customer services, their rude managers, floor workers who don’t speak english, being sneered at when I asked for help with a Xmas shop ( £800) and told to park the basket and get another one.
    I was picked on by a weird man who stopped baskets when the alarm went off, if turned out the till girl hadn’t taken the tag off the DVD, he was less than courteous and I was fuming. Next week he stopped me even though there was no alarm, I complained. Next week he stopped me again, this time I contacted head office and the man was moved away, I felt seriously frightened. The staff are dreadful, they stand talking while customers are struggling and find it funny. They deserve all they get. I use lidl now, no customer service to speak of but no rudeness either and half the amount I used to pay.
    It’s a shame that no one bothered to ask customers, bearing in mind they have full details of buying patterns via our tesco cards, they could have found and solved some of the problems.

  • Can you please delete my because i can’t read english .

    • The Complaining Cow
      30 August 2014 12:19

      Bit confused here – so English isn’t one of the 5? I wasn’t being rude when I said get someone to check you complaints for grammar etc. It is one of my tips You won’t get redress from that email sorry. Mind you even if it had been perfectly written you wouldn’t have done because the man is ignorant I have higher hopes for the new one. See here

  • This was the a copy the email i send to the ceo of tesco and it was not for you COW TO DEAL WITH .
    I was just sharing my experience with tesco direct .
    I can read and write in five language , DO YOU ,COW ???

    • The Complaining Cow
      30 August 2014 12:16

      You didn’t say that, when people do that they say so. Nope I don’t read and write in 5 languages, but I speak read and write well in the one I know. 🙂

  • This is regarding product number : 454-9741
    This product doesn’t match the description , faulty , poor quality , missing parts , wrong dimensions . . .
    Bought two of this single beds for my boys , received the beds , took the old one to the bin ,
    start assembling the new one ! To fin out that there was part missing from both beds , different size than what it was advertise , very poorly made an finish , put them back in the boxes and called tesco direct they told that they will be pick up next day ! The beds still in my home and they told they will be picked up next monday .
    My boys been sleeping on the floor since 19/08/2014 , i can’ t afford to buy new beds because tesco told that it will take 3 to 5 days for the moneys to clear in my account .
    Someone from customer service offer me 80 pound for the time my kids will be sleeping on the floor and the time the product will be left in my home till the pick up ( i refuse ) , the second manager offer me 35 pound as good gesture ( i refused to ) .
    I feel that the stresses that this transaction cause to my kids and the nights they been sleeping on the floor worth more than this .
    I am sending this email to you as the last step before taking my complain outside tesco .

    Thank you

    • The Complaining Cow
      24 August 2014 17:53

      and yet again someone doesn’t bother to read the post or look around the blog to see that I am nothing to do with Tesco. Good luck, would suggest you read things before emailing Tesco not least my Tips and getting someone to check that your next complaint is readable. (i.e. good English).

  • DAVID ivatt
    7 August 2014 11:03

    Complaint sent to Tesco Chief Customer Officer 7/8/14

    Ms Jill Easterbrook

    I am writing in the hope that someone will finally deal with my complaint in a professional and satisfactory manner.
    On Saturday 26th July I purchased divan double bed from Tesco Direct in the Broadstairs extra store.
    The staff member dealing with the purchase informed me I would be contacted within a few days with delivery details etc. This duly happened on the Weds 30th July by phone. My wife requested a Friday delivery day to coincide with my day off from work so I would be in attendance, as my wife is wheel chair bound with MS. She was informed that wouldn’t be possible and that the delivery would be on Saturday 2nd August with no time given. My wife requested that the delivery team phone to say they were on their way once they had completed their delivery before us and to also phone on arrival as it takes her time to get to the door in the wheel chair. This was agreed and on that understanding before leaving for work on the Saturday morning I removed the old bed and deposited it at the local rubbish dump on my way to work.
    On my return home that night I was not impressed to find no bed or that my wife had not received any phone calls to explain the lack of delivery. It is at this point my complaint with the customer service handling of the situation starts.
    Sat 2/8/14 – 1845hours checked Tesco direct website order no JKPV8T3H for any information re delivery. Very surprised to find no record or details of the order
    Sat 2/8/14 – 1855hrs – 1915hrs (20mins) waiting on the Tesco Direct customer service phone number 08456004411 in a queue with no response
    Sat 2/8/14 – Obtained contact phone number of Broadstairs store from their web site (03456779112) and spoke to a service manager (Ned) who after hearing my complaint said he would transfer me to after sales and it would only take 2 mins to be put through. Left on the phone waiting to be put through 1919 -1942hrs (23mins)
    Sat 2/8/14- 1942hrs. spoke to Lea (after sales) and explained my complaint and before he could reply we were cut off
    Sat 2/8/14- 1950hrs phoned the store again and spoke to Ned again, who said he would put me through again and didn’t know why it took so long the first time to get through. 1951-2030hrs another 39min wait with no contact I put the phone down
    Sat 2/8/14- 2115hrs arrived at Broadstairs store after a 40min drive and spoke to Matt a duty manager. Told by him he couldn’t do anything at that time of night as the Tesco direct team had all gone home. I asked him what my wife was now meant to do re sleeping as it meant she would now have to sleep with her MS condition in a chair. He had no answers and only offered a half- hearted sorry. He said he leave a message for someone to chase it up in the morning
    Sun 3/8/14 – 1014hrs. After waiting for a call I then phoned the Tesco Direct customer service line and had another 24min wait before getting Diane who after listening to my complaint informed me that nothing could be done until Monday. A second night my wife had to spend trying to sleep in a chair.
    Mon 4/8/14- 0900hrs. I spoke to Ian at Tesco direct call centre who said he would look into why the bed had not been delivered. When he returned my call he at first stated the delivery centre denied saying the delivery date would be Sat. and they were going to check the phone call with my wife. I informed him that was wrong and I would also like to hear the recording plus get them to confirm the day my wife had requested as proof of the conversation. Throughout the day either myself or my wife had further phone conversations re the problem and when I was finally told that I couldn’t expect a delivery until at least another 2 weeks I decided to cancel the order and have my money refunded.
    Later that day I received a call from a duty manager David Martin who apologised about the problem and that he had been looking into it as it had only just been brought to his attention. At first I was very happy with his apologies and his concern for my wife having to sleep in a chair at night in her condition especially when he phoned again stating he had been able to put in place a quick solution. He informed us that he had organised for a temporary replacement bed to be sent out until our preferred bed was delivered. He also gave us the option that if we were happy with the temporary bed we could purchase that one instead. We could expect delivery of the bed Tues.
    Tues 5/8/14- While I was at work my wife received a phone call from a delivery service telling her they would be delivering the bed but as it was a one man team they would only be able to road drop the bed. My wife explained she was wheel chair bound and our neighbours are 94yrs old and a single woman the other side so could the delivery be at 1830hrs so I could be there by leaving work early.
    On my return home from work still no delivery or phone call re the bed.
    Tues 5/8/14- 1845hrs on the phone again to Tesco Direct and again having to explain to a different person the problem because the people I had previously spoken to weren’t available. I was told that a message for the people dealing with the problem would be passed on and someone would get back to me.
    Weds 6/8/14- 0800hrs I contacted Tesco direct again to be told the person dealing with the problem was not due in until 0900hrs. and they would phone back asp. By the afternoon having received no phone call my wife then phoned Tesco direct and spoke to yet again a different person Stuart and received a promise that someone would phone by 0815hrs Thurs morning
    Thurs 7/8/14 – By 1000hrs still no phone call hence why I am contacting you now.
    So far a total of 6 nights for a wheelchair bound NMS sufferer having to sleep in a chair at night and a large phone bill with no reason for the delays forth coming.
    I will be forwarding a copy of this letter to our local newspapers and review web sites including one which you have regular dealings with (The complaining cow)
    We were regular customers using your stores for our major purchases of food, clothing and household items but now we can’t wait for the new Sainsbury superstore opening opposite your store to open in autumn because I will definitely be changing shopping habits after this incident.
    I would like a response to this e-mail within the next 48hrs please

    Regards
    David and Vida Ivatt

    • The Complaining Cow
      7 August 2014 15:49

      LOl Tesco don’t have regular dealings with me!! I do however write about them often. Do come back and let us know the result! Breach of the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 by the way 🙂

  • Thought I share my experience with tesco savings.

    They send me a new card. ATM rejects pin for it on first entry and swallows card leaving me without access to food etc, I have to explain this to my children. So I ring to see what happens.. Banking side closed so end up being transferred to credit cards who says she can’t really help as they are separate to savings. She agrees to send an email to say I have called and says to call back today.

    I call today to find out what happens now but get told I have no security or on my account so they can’t help me. I’m puzzled as how then did I manage to open the account? She refers me to terms and conditions and letter sent when opened account. I hoard things and have said letter and ask her where it says all this. Letter dates back to 2009. She ignores me.

    She tells me I have to wait for a letter to set up security and then when they have got that sorted they will send me a new card. Will take at least 14 working days? I ask her how I access my money in the meantime and get told you can’t! Obviously I find this frustrating as need access to my. Money for food, bills etc and ask to make a complaint. She types it up, then without investigating starts to reply to it!

    Hang on a minute, not only I am paying for the phone call but part of the complaint is about her so I am supposed to believe she will answer it objectively? Also without looking into the complaint I am amazed she instantly knows all the answers. I then ask for an address and get told that they don’t recommend this method! Why?

    • The Complaining Cow
      6 August 2014 08:49

      Finance different arm to stores and therefore different CEO here you go benny.higgins@tescobank.com write to him

      • Thanks… I won’t let it lie… Have to say I do also nominate staff in store when they have been helpful latest one for one of the till spits that said 75p off spread. I asked whether it was marg type spread, sandwich spread, cheese spread and even she didn’t know and we joked about how vague it was so she said if you buy something with spread in the title and it doesn’t come off automatically bring it to CS and I’ll sort.

  • Wacky Mike
    31 July 2014 13:33

    Just had another run in at Tesco. Why do they persist in sending money off/extra points coupons which, when you try to redeem them, you are told that the product you have selected is not that referred to on the coupon and they don’t stock that particular item. I’m sure they make it up as they go along. I usually go to the Tesco Store at Golden Hill in Bristol but have considerably reduced my custom with them over the last year or so. I find that the local Lidl is much better, the products are fresher, taste better and are usually cheaper and the staff are much more friendly and helpful. The Tesco staff at Golden Hill are awful, they seem to delight in blocking the alleyways with their trolleys, many are unhelpful and surly and the checkout operators seem more concerned about arranging their social lives than providing a quick and accurate checkout. It is very obvious that the number of customers at this store has reduced considerably of late. It is a mystery why Tesco have not noticed the decline and taken some remedial action. It’s no wonder they are going to the dogs!

  • […] this blog, know that I do and have frequently said it on many a blog post, including the very first one and Facebook status over the last couple of years. I have described how, many times he has ignored […]

  • Stewart Goddard
    28 June 2014 10:17

    Sir,
    Just a little annoyed with the newish local Tesco Express in Richmond-upon Thames.
    Over the last 6-7 weeks I have had to return 4 items all at least 2 days within the sell by date, 2 beef filet steak strips, 1 rank smelling the other in a pack bulging with foul smelling gas, a large cheese block which when opened was green with mould and a 2 litre milk that was curdled. All items were stored in a Siemens 3 star fridge which has been temperature checked.
    My female partner has Picks syndrome (A virulent form of Alzheimers) and we live in a care home and Tescos is our local and closest store, so it is difficult to go far to shop.
    I took the items back to the manager and was given a refund. I asked for the matter to be referred to head office as something appears to be wrong with maybe cold storage but have had no contact from yourselves. If you check our loyalty card you will see how much we spend in both the Express and Richmonds main Tesco store and generally like both quality and customer service but this has disappointed us.
    Our loyalty card is in the name of my partner Jacky Lawson number
    A comment at least would be appreciated.

    • The Complaining Cow
      28 June 2014 17:19

      1) I am not a Sir, I am Helen The Complaining Cow
      2) I am not Tesco
      3) This is a public forum so I have taken off your full names and addresses and loyalty card number as any old bod could have contacted you!
      4) Have a read of the post on which you commented and follow the links, they may help.
      5) My comment? Typical typical Tesco! Contact customer services

      Good luck

  • Anonymous
    20 June 2014 20:54

    Rude Customer Service Staff, Ms Karen (Proudly claiming to be Customer SERVICES LEAD!!!!) at New Malden Superstore.
    Incident:
    I approach her to return Online purchases. She told me to go upstairs to Tesco-Direct. I go to 1st F, Tesco Direct and they inform me it has to be returned to Customer Services. I come back and ask her why did she mis-direct me.
    Instead of apologizing, she accused me not telling her it is Online ‘GROCERY’. And I politely told her, I had told her Online and she retorted she assumed it was Electrical! I asked how can she assume Online is Electrical? Rudely she shouted, ‘I cant read customers’ minds!!!’ And she probably assumed I would read hers 🙂
    Instead of asking what online stuff, she mis-directs me, shouts and shows bad behaviour and rude attitude, plus threw things around creating a scene. Shocking and Bad! When I asked for store Manager- she shouted he is not there & I asked for complaint form, she rudely threw a paper at me and when I asked her name, she proudly said that it was Karen and she is customer services Team Lead! And could see the smirk on her face. Am DISGUSTED.

    • The Complaining Cow
      23 June 2014 08:23

      Don’t bother with feedback forms. See my other posts linked in this post. Write to the store manager then go above.

  • Alan Dewfall
    19 June 2014 16:58

    Last summer at the start of the hot spell of weather, Tesco increased their 2ltr bottles of Everyday Value water by 30% and an irate customer wrote to the Mail on Sunday pointing this out and criticising their greed.
    This summer they have withdrawn their Everyday Value bottles of water and replaced them with a more expensive brand.
    They really must think that their customers are green if they can’t see their greed

  • H. Choulot
    28 May 2014 12:50

    I know that it is so true that Tesco is so poor in Cuatomer Service. No wonder they had to pull out of China and could not go into the French and American market. Tesco are snobs and I have been right since 1991 in guessing economics world wide. Tesco is going to go down the business ladder a few rungs and will stay there: I am glad about that.

  • i have spent this afternoon trying to complain to tesco,i went online to tesco direct today as my son wanted a game,i saw that they stocked a selection of the games that he would have been interested in at tesco so i went round to our local branch in amesbury wiltshire,when i got there i noticed there was a difference in price but couldnt remember how much the difference was as there were a few games he wanted but hadnt made his mind up until we got there.my son had chose a game however the price edge label stated £47 and at that point i said to him,that the price wasnt the same as online,i then proceeded to the customer service desk and explained to her that there was a difference in pricing against tesco online,she then checked the price and said yes its £47,i then said well if i went home and ordered it on tesco online they could have it at the store tomorrow for cheaper,she then turned round and said to me “well yes if you want it cheaper then you will have to do that,at that point i thought to myself and yes young lady your customer service skills are outstanding not.as it was a present for my son, i went ahead and brought it from the store as i didnt want to let him down.we then had to wait for them to bring the game to the customer service desk as they didnt hold the games behind the counter, after a few minutes waiting i thought ok the game will be brought to us in a minute ,how wrong could have i been,it took them 12 minutes to bring the game to us,no apology no nothing for the amount of time we had to wait for the game. when i got home i went straight on the computer to find out the price online,i was furious to find out that online they are selling it for £35 (the game is called thief for xbox one) , that wound me up as i thought a couple of pound is acceptable but to be charged an extra £12 i thought was scandalous to say the least.i then phoned tesco customer service and was put on hold for nearly 12 minutes and then the phone went dead,i then rung them back again and waited about 3 minutes to actually be told “its because tesco online can buy in bulk thats why its cheaper,i tried putting my point across that every time they are selling the game in the shop they are instantly making a £12 profit,whether it be online or in the shop, her answer to me was im sorry,which infuriated me even more ,now if i had brought exactly the same item from asda they would
    have done a price match for me but there was no mentioning of a refund for the difference i had paid in tesco, i feel so ripped of ,its scandalous what they are doing and seem to be getting away with it.i
    still didnt feel happy about the difference in price and the shody service i had received instore and with customer service on the phone,so i then emailed customer service and told them,shortly afterwards i received an email back from jim mills operation manager stating that they would look into my email and message me back personally,but judging by the trouble people have had ,im not holding my breath as it feels like im fighting a loosing battle and its fallen on deaf ears regarding tesco.i have enclosed the attachment of the receipt stating i paid £47 and the actual online price,i feel ripped of as tesco are instantly making a £12 profit from people like me ,im feeling very annoyed.is there anything else i can do so another person doesnt get ripped of regards sharon

    • The Complaining Cow
      28 May 2014 19:03

      No Law breaking here I’m afraid. Online prices often cheaper than in store for many companies. Sorry 🙁 You should get a response from a complaint though and I would expect a goodwill gesture.

  • i Dom
    Please can you help us? check us out on facebook and http://www.haywillanimalrescue.
    In January I purchased a Karcher wet and dry hoover, I was then very busy with the rescue and at that time didnt need to use it. I was so pleased as I purchased it in the sale for £40. – a bargain. On finally opening it I noticed there were several bits missing! I trot off the Tesco I bought it from Hattersley. “Sorry bring it in and you can have your money back”. “Sorry dont want my money back when the complete product that I have paid for! ” If I got my money back would not get and decent wet and dry for that money! Will check and ring you back later” No ring back!
    So off I go again.
    Go through the whole story with someone else!
    “Happy to give you your money back” “no want the product please”
    Speak to manager
    “dont do this anymore – but will check if stock anywhere, will ring you back!” – no call
    Back again
    Go through the whole story, please check while I am here – 1 hour later no stock anywhere.
    “Ok because of all this messing about you can give me another model any wet and dry”
    no only head office can do that.
    Ring head office
    “you can have your money back dont want it want wet and dry machine.”
    “No we will give you your money back”.
    Stalemate
    “Tell them animal rescue -Explain product not fit for purpose and against the law”.
    “Will give your money back – nothing else”
    “Can I speak to manager” – “none available will ring you back”
    no ring back
    ring again same answer – ask for CEO name and I email him
    No reply.
    I have closely inspected this item and there are two splits in the hose as well and it has been used as there is dirt in the tank!!!!
    I know this is a small amount but I feel this is so unfair please Dom we have very little money and I am sick of being ripped off

    Lynn P Haydon-Williams
    Thank you xx

    • The Complaining Cow
      28 May 2014 19:01

      I am not Dom.

      I have taken off your mobile phone number from your post as I do not think you want to publish that on a public forum.

      Tesco has not broken any Law here. Clearly the item is faulty they haven’t denied that and have offered you a full refund. Of course you haven’t had a response from the CEO, he’s rude and ignores comments – see all my posts about Tesco links in the post above. You could try complaining that it is poor service and hope for a goodwill gesture but there is no reason for them to offer you more than they have. Sorry.

      • Just thought would let you know what has happened. I checkede with the rescues solicitor and I was right under the trades description act. If the item is sold as complete (ie there is not a sign saying it is incomplete) then that is the item you are entitled to.!
        Anyway result! New Karcher (upgraded model) delivered to the rescue. told to keep the other one and a £20.00 voucher and more imprtant a letter of apology. My phone number is the rescue’s number and is in the public domain. thanks anyway even though your information was incorrect I appreciate a response x

        • The Complaining Cow
          15 June 2014 11:28

          Your posts are slightly difficult to read. I would like to clarify that the information I gave you was not incorrect. If an item is incomplete then of course it is breaking the Sale of Goods Act as well as Misrepresentation Act. As I stated you are entitled to a full refund. If they do not have any more stock then they cannot give you a replacement. Your post read that you didn’t want the refund you wanted a replacement and that Tesco offered you a refund. Tesco IS within the law to offer you a full refund. Given the circumstances I would have gone for a refund plus something for inconvenience or an upgrade as you will see from all my posts. Legally it did not have to give you an upgrade. Legally it had to give you a refund. This information is correct. Glad you got a result though and that Tesco gave the goodwill gesture of upgrading the model. Being decent for once, shows up on this thread! Helen (not Dom)

  • Grant cullen
    16 May 2014 14:56

    On the 27th of April I went and bought £40 worth of fuel from tesco to which I got half a mile down the road until my car cut out. After getting assistance from the AA (who had many calls for the same symptom) I was told that the fuel was contaminated and this was due to the tanks at the station being filled with the wrong fuel. Everyone makes mistake and I was happy to try get everything progressing and resume life as normal with the inconvience. My car though is less than a month old and with that is under warranty, there fore vauxhall wanted to deal with my car directly with their engineers instead of tesco contracting the RAC to pump the fuel out of my car as my warranty would be nil and void. So as my car was towed to the vauxhall garage I was told by tesco customer service that I had to give details of where my car was going and my own details and to arrange alternate transport(taxis etc.) to which I would be refunded. After it being made clear that my car would be off the road for at least a week I was told that a hire car would be arranged for me and would be dropped off at my house on Tuesday the 29th of April. It did not arrive, so I phoned up asked tesco why it didn’t arrive and was told it would arrive the following day but it still didn’t arrive so I had to phone up again and eventually got the hire car come Thursday the 1st of May. I was then sent an email saying that I had to forward my receipts from alternate transport to tesco so I could claim my money back. I did this but I got no response until 4 days later when I lost my patience and phoned up again. I was told they had lost my email ( which had my personal and bank details on it ) and asked to send another. I refused and stated that until my original email was found I would not send another. They eventually found the email and was told that the process had began to refund myself and the payment for my car plus £30 money card voucher for the Inconvince and as it took between 7-10 days ( not sure why it takes that long ? ) I should have everything sorted by the 12th or 13 th of May. I received nothing. I lost my patience again and phoned up and was told that the process was ready to go through but someone had forgot to send the email. So the they said the process has now been sent through which will now take a further 7-10 working days to go through which will take it to over 4 weeks since the initial incident that tesco’s incompetence caused. Due to the money not being in on time I had to cancel a planned event that I couldn’t afford no longer as the money wasn’t in on time. I then demanded that in light of this weeks events that £30 moneyvoucher for inconvience was a farce and demanded a larger settlement to which I was told ” that’s all your getting”.

    Is there any way of making a real claim through court for inconvience and stress by tesco’s negligence and unprofessionalism ?
    Is there any way to get my car and money back faster ?
    Help is much appreciated.
    Thanks.

    • The Complaining Cow
      20 May 2014 23:31

      Have responded through email, do please come back and let us know if it helped! If so please do share the blog etc etc etc 🙂

  • Nigel Paddon
    9 May 2014 17:47

    I routinely purchased items from Tesco with my credit card – genuine transaction with a receipt, each time with slightly different values (pint of milk, loaf of bread, generally small purchases). Several months after each of them I would find another transaction, but not be able to find the receipts and feel baffled as to what happened. But it repeats and a pattern begins to form… The duplicates were also exact values for a previous genuine transaction.

    As I was forced to petition through Magistrates to have the credit debts cancelled, I never took action. (I also missed out on the PPI compensation, etc, which would have effectively halved my debt.) Have reported this issue to another consumer website, and now reporting here for other customers to keep an eye on their credit card statements. (For Tesco – the debt was written off, but I still have all the credit card statements.) Best wishes.

    • The Complaining Cow
      10 May 2014 20:04

      Blimey! Every little helps eh? See my post re why we should complain always complain. how many people do not know that they are getting caught out like that? It’s the principle of the thing hence why I took them to court and complain about every single penny that I don’t believe it should have! Thanks for posting!

  • Betterserviceplease
    9 May 2014 13:33

    I bought a pack of Tesco Finest couscous last August, which contained a 1cm stone and cracked a white filling in my tooth, which cost £100 to replace. Have had a totally rubbish customer service response from Tesco: there is no doubt that the food contained the stone, which their supplier has admitted, yet 9 months later I’m still in communication to get them to even pay for the filling, let alone lost time at work. I think it will have to be the small claims court/trading standards if writing to Chief Executive at phillip.clarke@uk.tesco.com doesn’t yield a better result.The mark of good customer service is not that the company never makes a mistake, but how it treats customers when it does. If Tesco sell food contaminated with foreign material, they should own up and take responsibility.Note to Tesco: your customers deserve better!

    • The Complaining Cow
      11 May 2014 10:55

      I’m not sure from this as to whether you have read all the above post or the links. Yes, that is the email address for the CEO, but as you will see from the above post and other posts (links in the first para) he ignores all emails. If you are lucky they get passed down to the executive team. However there are times when they also ignore you. This is what happened to me and why I took them to court. (See the links) I encourage you to take Tesco to court. Please do take a look at all the posts and the tips to help you in your case. The Sale Of Goods Act is what you need to be quoting, items not of a satisfactory standard. Good luck. Come back and tell us the outcome, or if you want a rant join me on Facebook.

  • Emily twist
    1 May 2014 20:09

    Hi I’m wondering if you could give me some up to date details of who to contact with regard to complaints at tesco, a tesco trolley seat snapped whilst my 16 month old baby was in it and as so far she doesn’t appear to have sustained an injury my concern is with whiplash or strains she wouldn’t be able to tell me of she had and discomfort, however this is still I feel a very serious incident.
    Thanks in advance

  • […] story. You’ll find that here, the update here the end here,  my first post about Tesco here some fun with Tesco here and here, another story here and reasons why you should not let […]

  • steve moore
    20 April 2014 09:36

    Ordered and paid for a photo & frame. Not delivered, lost, who knows Tesco certainly don’t. Can’t get refund, no-one interested in Tesco. They are a disgrace and no better than thieves.
    3.3 billion in profits !!!!

    • The Complaining Cow
      20 April 2014 11:07

      Do NOT give up! It is the principle of the thing, the more people who don’t give up the more accountable Tesco becomes and it will have to do something. Not least get rid of the CEO, whose days are numbered surely?

  • ayse polat
    4 April 2014 09:59

    TESCO is not doing fairplay.Hardworking excellent appraisels dont matter.TESCO kicks your butt any time they like.TESCO is unfair! On top of it,they cut the bonus you deserve due to his excellent appraisle.Well, Tesco is huge, and we are just little employees who can be replaced any moment.Nobody tell me that Tesco is a fairplayer, or values the wellbeing and satisfactory of their employees.!Mobbing,judging, sentencing &executing.But dont forget, you are not above the law!

    • The Complaining Cow
      16 April 2014 08:56

      I don’t doubt that Tesco treats staff appallingly. I’ve said it elsewhere on here. It comes form the top. If the CEO treats people with no respect it all follows. Look at my AO post – really happy staff = happy customers. Why? Because the staff are treated well.

  • Martin Neale
    17 March 2014 17:39

    Just emailed their customer service department with a complaint. Had a reply saying they don’t deal with it! Gobsmacked doesn’t cover it!
    Tried to find the email addresses of their board of directors, no luck. Anyone got a clue on where I can find them?

    • The Complaining Cow
      17 March 2014 19:54

      Depends what the complaint is – if banking for example then it is a completely different arm with a different CEO too. ceoemail.com (link on my home page) to find email addresses of all the CEOs. Phillip Clarke will ignore your email however, it may get passed down to the exec team so it stands a chance of being sorted. What is the complaint? Also search Tesco in my site – there a re a few stories!

      • Martin Neale
        18 March 2014 07:46

        I’m complaining about the quality of the tablet/ipad type things they sell. We purchased 2 for our sons as Christmas presents, they keep breaking down. They have replaced them a couple of times, but now they’ve broken down again we want a refund and will go elsewhere. We’ve misplaced the receipt, although we do have the receipt for the insurance purchased at the same time. The other tablet was purchased from Tesco Direct, the store refused to take it.

        • The Complaining Cow
          18 March 2014 07:51

          Full refund Sale of Goods Act. You don’t need a receipt just proof of purchase so could be credit card bill. Less than 6 months clearly fault was therefore before. You have accepted replacements but that does not mean you can’t have a full refund. You maintain your legal rights when you exchange. Write as I said below and threaten legal action, then do it. Have a read up of when I did it, yours is an even easier case than mine with less evidence to put together so will take no time.

          • Under Sale of Goods Act you are entitled to a full refund or replacement equivalent to cost of any electrical goods for up to 6 years after purchase. Yes I did say 6 years, a lot of people don’t know this and it was a friend of mine who is an ex copper who told me.

            I have only come on here to find how to complain to the CEO as my husband bought a sandwich from Tesco Clacton on Sea that had a piece of plastic in it, he nearly choked to death, not getting anywhere with normal complaint procedure and now they say they cant do anything as the plastic has mistakenly been thrown away…how convenient is that!

          • The Complaining Cow
            27 March 2014 21:37

            The Sale of Goods Act states items should last a “reasonable length of time” before developing any fault. You do have up to 6 years to claim though if that is what you meant? This is civil law not criminal. Therefore if an item develops a fault and you want to claim and end up going through the courts you do it as an individual, the police do not get involved.

            If you want to contact CEO the website you need is here http://www.ceoemail.com although as you will see from my Tesco posts (see others too) the CEO of Tesco will not respond. If you are lucky you will get a response from the Executive team, but see my story regarding taking them to court! Not known for their good communication! Good luck! Thanks for posting and let us know how you get on!

  • Errmmmm I’ve just spent 2 hours constructing an email of complaint & sent it to Philip Clarke! Was this a waste of my time?? Where would you recommend I forward it on to?? I don’t want it ignoring!!

    • The Complaining Cow
      5 March 2014 21:54

      My guess? Yes it was a waste of time. If you are a little bit lucky it will get dropped down to the executive team, a little more luck someone might answer it. Have a look at the other Tesco posts on here…

  • complained to tesco how i was treated , got the response staff sometimes feel stressed.

  • Alex - Leeds
    13 February 2014 22:09

    Just tried to arrange a delivery to holiday cottage address. This wasn’t registered on system although next door apartment was.
    This problem has happened in the past and used to be able to be sorted quickly online.
    Phoned the number indicated and after 15 minutes someone answered. Initially they told me that it was likely that Tesco didn’t deliver to the address (before checking what that address actually was). When she checked she said that it was a glitch but for the address system to be reconfigured it would take 6 weeks as it had to be sent to India. She asked me if that was OK. Unsurprisingly I responded that this was unacceptable for a delivery required for Saturday.
    This ridiculous experience left me feeling frustrated and resolved never to use Tesco again and to share this example with others.
    Hello Sainsbury’s!

  • I went into my local tesco at whitfield, dover. To find that their 500g Anchor
    spreadable had gone up 45p it is now £3.35 how can they justify this enormous
    increase. I bought it at my local One Stop in the end as theirs is only £2.95. Tesco what are playing at. Will be shopping else where from now on.

  • What is the difference between a Tesco Pizza and a Waitrose Pizza? If I eat Waitrose Pizza I do not wake up with diarrhea.

  • Thank you although am not holding my breath for a response from Philip Clarke or any PA
    When my son’s store find out about this I dread to think what will happen to him

  • My son has worked for Tesco for 10 years
    He hates it but it got him thru Uni and he is desperately looking for job in his field after getting Degree
    I can tell you Tesco treat their staff terribly
    The managers are rude unempathetic and make an 8 hour shift a nightmare
    Sometimes my son is refused a break after working 6 hours ‘as we are too busy’ this is a clear breach of Employment Act
    However much my son may hate his job he is always cordial to customers like he says without customers Mum I wouldn’t have a job so he takes the abuse from managers as reporting it falls on deaf ears
    Well I have contacted the CEO yesterday as after another issue of verbal abuse I emailed him and stated all the info
    I got a reply from his PA this morning saying she has passed it to”Employee Relations Team”
    I am not letting this drop so philip clarke will be so sick of me I intend to email every day until this is addressed
    So yes Tesco customer service can suck but please be aware there are staff who are constantly verbally abused daily by their Superiors
    My son is only still there as it is soooo difficult to get jobs I can’t wait for the day he tells them to stick their lousy job where the sun aint gona shine.

    • The Complaining Cow
      20 January 2014 11:37

      I have many posts re Tesco on here and I often say the problem is because of the CEO’s attitude. He cares little about customers so does not invest in good customer service. He doesn’t take notice of any the Top Tips for companies that’s for sure! I find the man blatantly rude and many of his senior team. have a look at other posts about Tesco, not least the court case. It does not surprise me that Tesco treat their staff terribly, I think I have alluded it to many times on here and Twitter. I wish you lots of luck in your correspondence with the CEO. You may have to come back and do a guest blog post for me?!

  • […] my record with Tesco that they should have their own little section! You know, with a post on it here and here and here and here and here  (to be fair those last two aren’t complaints) and […]

  • I’ve just had the worst time dealing with Tesco and i now have a 13 year old extremely upset he still hasn’t got his PlayStation3 even though it was ordered on the 25th for click and collect delivery on the 28th, Still hasn’t been delivered in store today the 2nd of Jan! Been fobbed off and brushed off numerous times in store and over the phone. No one seemed to know anything or even who to contact!

    I’m glad this blog’s been made to highlight how terrible customer service is. I’ll not be recommending Tesco in the future.

  • […] we go… Tesco again! Yay! who doesn’t love a Tesco complaint? There’s this one and this one and this one and they are just […]

  • This is not a hit against Tescos but one of it’s staff at Lisburn store. My wife had been shopping there and had been trying out the new self service checkouts. A female member of staff whom was off duty had been checking out on another till but was probably blocked by my wifes’ trolley. Without so much as saying excuse me, the lady just grabbed my son whom had been sitting on the trolly and moved him out of the way along with the trolly. A simple heads up like “get the F outta the way!” would have sufficed for most hoodlums.

  • david perkins
    1 October 2013 21:07

    wanted to find out rather than complain why our local tesco in clacton on sea is always so poorly stocked . empty shelves and if they have anything on them its normally empty boxes , dont know if theyre short staffed or just lazy but i know people who would kill for a job in there . is it a stock issue or what. after reading all about tesco complaints and how theyre dealt with i think ill just start shopping elsewhere. if thats the only way they will sit up and listen to the public that keep them in a job ,then maybe everyone should think about shopping elsewhere.

  • wrote to Tesco ceo a few months ago regarding poor service and in particular the 5p
    per litre off fuel offer that they run. I have noticed over several years that the pump
    price goes up 1p the night before the promotion starts. I feel this is a con and was
    interested in the explanation but have not had any response. now there is a surprise !

    • The Complaining Cow
      15 September 2013 21:19

      Of course you didn’t have a response, the man is really really rude and ignorant of his customers. Sometimes the letter gets handed to the Executive Office. When it didn’t when I wrote about the vouchers, I took them to court and won!

  • […] I wrote to the CEO. Now, if you’ve read my other post about Tesco then you will know that I knew I wouldn’t get a response. So I did actually start the […]

  • Lilach Bullock
    5 November 2012 20:32

    Sorry to hear about your terrible experience with Tesco Helen… although I’m not surprised.

    I was in Tesco’s over the weekend (I normally shop in Sainsbury’s) and was appaled with the customer service in store. As I’m not that familiar with the layout of where things ae, two of the times I needed I had to ask sales assistants where they were, both their responses “sorry, don’t know, this isn’t my aisle/department”!!!

    If they were my employee’s I’d fire em!!!

    Tesco you may think you’re cheaper than Sainsbury’s/Asda’s etc. and you may well be, all I know is that you service is cheap & nasty!

    Not a happy customer 🙁

    • The Complaining Cow
      9 June 2013 20:15

      Sorry I missed this and didn’t reply. Yes that is a typical response from tesco staff! the other day I took something back to customer services was told because it was electrical I had to take it to “Electrical”. I did. Poor bloke was left on his own on his first day!!! Didn’t have a clue. No-one to help him. Took it back made customer services do the refund. A hour later after completing my shopping the chap was still on his own! Customer services manager served me and still didn’t get it sorted. I’m surprised that the poor new chap stayed! Maybe he was one of the cheap labour people who didn’t have a choice?

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