Sunday 6 December 2009

Tesco's response to my emailed feedback?

Last night I blogged about the disgusting way I was treated by Tesco as a result of asking for my correct change. You can read about that here.

When I said I wanted to complain I was given a feedback card with various contact details.

I telephoned the number on that. It was a recorded message service. Nothing more. No thanks.

There was an email address as well, so I emailed them and referred them to yesterday's blog post. Want to know their response?

"Thanks for your feedback about our staff. Your feedback helps us continually improve our stores and service.
(Powered by Fizzback)."

How do you think I am feeling now as a customer?

Better?

Or worse?

Do you think I have been heard? Acknowledged? What could Tesco do to improve this situation and their company policy?


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly, when it comes to cash, little can surprise me.

Many years ago, in a far-away country, I was given TOO MUCH change. Probably in the order of 20 quid too much change, at least in today's money.

When I pointed this out, the cashier got huffy with me.

Let's try that again: I pointed out to the cashier that she had made an error and had given me TWENTY POUNDS TOO MUCH in my change. Believing that any missing cash would probably be docked from her lowly pay (at the time I was a student, I knew ALL about lowly pay), I had attempted to save her from her own error.

And in response, I was treated as a rude, selfish person who was insulting both the cashier and the store.

I can understand that Tesco need some sort of policy to prevent fraudulent claims. How would you have felt if the manager had been called, and had said, "I'm so terribly sorry; Of course we can refund your five pounds, sir, but we do need to see some form of photographic identification" - and had recorded your name and address? I am not sure whether that would be better or worse from a customer service perspective, but I think it probably is a more robust anti-fraud process.

Neil said...

You're right Melissa, and thanks for commenting.

Organisations need policy on stuff like this but holding suspicions against your customers cannot be the way.

It strikes me that these stores are covered with CCTV monitors and cameras. The till points must be, or can be, similarly covered.

Why not have a button for cashiers that says "Whoops, made a genuine mistake."

They press this when a customer points out that they have been given the wrong change.

They then go ahead and give the client their change, having discretely pressed the button.

Pressing the button prompts an alert to the CCTV to take a still frame of that client at the till.

Tesco could then use facial recognition programs to identify the fraudsters who perpetrate this theft. They are repeat offenders, not one offs.

WIth a centralised database they could identify career theives and deliver their material to the police accordingly. Depending on how quickly the stills can be centralised and processed, it might be possible to do all of this cross checking in real time. If not, then it takes place after the event.

Of course, even easier is that trick where the cash paid by the client is paced on top of the till until the change has been paid and confirmed and then everyone can see that, yes, it was a tenner, not a fiver.

My suggestion catches the criminals instead of categorizing every client as a potential fraudster.