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Customer Service appalling

On arrival at a store I took £50 out of the John Lewis cash machine within their Waitrose boundary. A damaged note was spat out. I went to customer service to ask if it could be swapped but I was refused. General store staff wouldn't help but never apologised and a manager, he was sent for and came over but seemed to think it funny. I suggested that Tesco might have obliged had something similar happened and he said, 'they may well have but we aren't'!! We all know that Waitrose is more expensive but we pay for customer service. This was appalling. I told him I had come to do a big shop but would no longer be doing it and wouldn't be returning but this seemed to have no impact. He said it wasn't their problem and I should just (be inconvenienced) and take it to a bank! I said what I will be doing is shopping in Aldi next door instead and spent over £200 there as opposed to spending probably 50% more here. At least I saved myself some money and the lamb leg I bought actually looked better! What an appalling lack of customer service. I don't live particularly close to a Waitrose but had liked to shop there when playing sport in Solihull. I shall now not bother and either pop back to Aldi next door or shop closer to my home 6 miles away. I made this clear to the manager who seemed not remotely bothered, but smirked continuously. If this is an example of Waitrose customer service these days then they don't deserve customers. All the supermarket comparisons make it quite clear they are the most expensive so why do we go? For the better customer service? Apparently not. I shall be avoiding and not bothering to return out of choice in future. What dreadful service. Staff there do not deserve to have a job if this is what they think is acceptable. They were very clear to tell me that the machine (despite being on Waitrose premises) was nothing to do with Waitrose, yet only afterwards when we went back to look at it did we see that it is John Lewis!! How is this nothing to do with Waitrose?!! ???????????????????? They have lost a customer but don't seem to care, perhaps they will of they lose their jobs - just dreadful!

Date of experience: 25 January 2024

I need therapy to get over this Chandlers Ford Eastleigh visit. Very upsetting. I Wanted three items. Arrived early in morning OAP hour and queued and told by Intimidating door security guy that I could not go in without a trolley. There was no sanitiser to wipe the trolley. He said that the trolleys had already been cleaned. I said I did not want a trolley as I only wanted three items. I never use a trolley because of Coronavirus. He said well you cannot come in then. I went through the door with a trolley as instructed and saw a dirty till receipt stuck in the trolley. I said this one has not been cleaned. He said we only wipe the handles. The trolley was dirty. I picked up my three items and had to put them in the dirty trolley. I Saw two suited managers as I went to pay and said I was not happy at being forced to use a trolley that was not clean. The manager quickly took the rubbish out of the trolley. He said quite discourteously ‘what do want me to do’ He refused to get me any sanitiser. He said ‘we are doing our best’. I felt my hands were contaminated. He said there was hand gel in the toilet which meant more potential hygiene disruption. I walked to the self service till with him following me. He was arguing the whole time saying that ‘ none of our other customers complain’. This is so completely the wrong thing to say as I have always been such a good customer even though the staff have not always been that pleasant. He said that i did not have to shop there’.

I am a local and the mere fact that I had shopped there for 20yrs did not seem to matter probably from when this manager was still in nappies. I kept asking him to leave me alone and to stay away as I did not want him less than 2metres away as government instruction. I said none of the other supermarkets treat their customers like this. I told him that all other supermarkets have had sanitiser at the door for weeks. He kept arguing saying no they don’t. I asked him if he had been in Asda Or Tesco recently. he said he had three days ago and didn’t notice any sanitiser. Well I thought so much for a floor manager who is in charge of helping to prevent customers and staff from catching Coronovirus and does not use sanitiser. He still kept arguing goading me and was quite aggressive. He stood with his back at the glass window still arguing. He watched me struggle with my bananas as the scales would not work. I was shaking with upset. I Kept away from him. He deliberately intimidatingly watched and waited for me to finish paying and as I went out I had to walk past him. I could not wait to get out of there. He then shouted at me and said that I was abusive and hounded me out of the shop chasing me from behind making me feel very vulnerable and uncomfortable shouting at me so that all the staff and customers were watching. I thought he was going to hurt me. I felt he tried to take away all my dignity.I never turned round but kept walking with dignity. He kept following me shouting he wanted me to leave the shop. His behaviour was embarrassing. I spotted some sanitiser hidden at the side of the customer service. I grabbed a squirt if that’s but he came right up to my intimate space and tried to grab it to stop me using it. This squirt of sanitiser could have been the one thing stopping me getting the virus.

This is nearly a week ago now and I am still very upset. I had immediately put a complaint in to customer services but nothing was done. I don’t think they believed me and weren’t really interested. There response implied they were more interested in me writing a good rating for there response so I could be entered into a prize draw as a way of saying thank you for bringing the incident to their attention.

Just to say I am an NHS hospital front line worker and have been for 40yrs. This manager needs a lesson In how to treat customers and get over himself. He should not be allowed to intimidate, humiliate and bully female vulnerable customers in this way. I suppose the moral of the story is to not dare to criticise the supposed wonderful Waitrose for fear of reprisals from an intimidating bullying rude floor manager. It is hard for the NHS when people like him and Waitrose have so little respect for people who are saving lives especially when most people are clapping with appreciation. I will never ever shop or eat with my family at any Waitrose or John Lewis again. The treatment I received was appalling. It will take me a long time to get over this. Why are they so awful to elderly Customers?

Sent from my iPhone

Customers who have a Waitrose card but want soya or milk alternatives in their coffee or tea are not provided with a substitute to milk. We are actually told have it black when we query this. I think this is discrimination because milky drinks are provided.

Why? Surely, as Waitrose have Soya milk in their essential range they could provide packets by the hot drinks machine in every store? I shop in the West Ealing branch.

Also, how about one vegan/cake or biscuit item in the cafe?

We have regularly shopped in the Rickmansworth Waitrose since it opened and as loyal customers it is sad to see how much the quality has deteriorated.

First of all I must say how helpful the staff are. We have got to know quite a few of them over the years. However, the experienced staff who really care seem fewer and are the ones under pressure, trying to cover the gaps in staff numbers whilst the younger staff have less commitment.

Today, Friday when we did our weekly shop it was disgraceful how poor the vegetable selection was with so many empty racks. This was a pattern through the store.

We use quick check and the asparagus wasn’t recognised - apparently the price was almost double. Even the staff member had difficulty entering it manually.

It won’t be long before we shop at one of the bargain outlets Waitrose is trying to match.

If we don’t get good quality goods with properly stocked shelves we will go elsewhere where the cheapskates aren’t queuing for their free coffees.

Come on Waitrose - it’s quality we want.

Little Waitrose Shrewsbury.

I have complained before about some of the poor choice at this small high street store. The bread and pastries are absolutely disgusting quality. The pastries are nearly all iced as if prepared for a 1950s children's party. One could be forgiven for thinking sugar had just been released from war time rationing. The bread is for the most part beyond description, suffice to say that the white sliced loaves in polyethylene bags seem to have more substance. The Tesco across the road offers at least a half decent sour dough. In fact the store seems to offer broadly the same range, of poor quality pre-packaged stuff as the Tescos, but manages to charge half as much again. Tonight I called for coffee beans as the coffee grinder in town is closed on a Monday; only one possible choice of beans which were a foul tasting over roasted robusta coffee. They have around a dozen ground coffees in stock, so why only one bean choice. As for the silly idea that the incredibly friendly staff are partners, so why do they have to sell the rubbish sent by head office, instead of quality items as asked for by real customers. Come on Waitrose, become customer focused instead of trading on the insecurity of middle class housewives who refuse to go Tesco and Asda.

It appears The Partnership use Agency Security Guards in their Store. On a visit to my Market Harborough store in September. I noticed I was being followed around the store by an Asian Security Guard and a member of staff. So I asked what was wrong. He replied "We've been watching you for a long time"

He assumed I was helping myself to free coffee, as was taking my own cup into the store. I felt humiliated and very upset about the whole thing. I think the partnership need to urgently review their security arrangements and focus their efforts elsewhere rather than on free coffee. I have since stopped using Waitrose because of dissatisfaction in the way the Partnership has dealt with the matter. It's not the kind of experience I would have expected from Waitrose and is very Disappointing!!!

I used the Waitrose home delivery service and purchased two offers. The first was 'buy a GU cheesecake and get a free tub of ice cream' - they did not deliver the cheesecake but still delivered the ice cream and charged me in full for it. The second was a '3 for £10' offer - they only delivered two of the items and charged me full price for both. This has happened on many occasions now so a warning to all to check your delivery list and charges. I have contacted Waitrose but the Lichfield store did not return my call and the central Customer Services team have done nothing about my complaint.

An extremely crowded and busy Store where they didn't seem to have anything I wanted. Not exactly a Central location either. All in all an unsatisfactory visit I'm afraid.

Staff at Waitrose Palace Gardens Enfield never ' Thank you ' after serving you , they just look away and stare into space , especially the younger staff ,incredibly rude and ignorant . Also very low stock always , empty shelves and trays , and vegetables whose sell by date is up in two days . Alongside lengthy queues and really ignorant ill mannered staff , who is training them in customer service ?, this shop is shocking .

i thought the shop was rubbish