Somerfield

Somerfield in the st leonards shopping centre in East Kilbride is by far the worst store in the UK. For the past few years it has suffered from chronic under investment and lack of staff. When arriving at the store the car park is a disgrace the kerbstones are loose and road area full of holes resulting in several severe injuries to local elderly customers and children. The store itself fails to stock even the most basic items and runs out of stock mid morning with no semi skimmed milk baked beans bread or even toilet rolls in stock on an average day. The freezers were permantly broken to the extent where they were filled with toilet roll before the whole frozen fresh aisle being boarded up and temporary freezers being installed in the produce aisle. The other day when i was shopping the fridges were empty and top shelves filled with easter eggs. The deli counters has been boarded up, and the ceiling constantly leaks with buckets placed ontop of the shelves to catch the water. There is never a main checkout forcing all customers to queue at the kiosk tills. As the store is the only shop in a large housing estate population in excess of 15,000 people and on major bus routes there is potential for this to be a realy sucessful supermarket. Since the co op have taken over the store has got worse on a weekly basis and most people now travel to the Morrisons store 3 miles away.

I use the shop weekly as it is convenient to where I live. However, given the choice this would not be the case. In particular, the manager of the buckley branch treats customers and staff appallingly. He stands at the front of the shop glaring at everyone as they walk around trying to do their shopping and it makes you feel very uncomfortable. From what I have heard from the staff, he does not care about their issues, especially when it concerns him, and wages are constantly wrong and do not get amended with any rush. Some of the staff on the tills are also very ignorant when it comes to putting customers first and continue to talk amongst themselves when there are customers waiting to be served, in particular the older staff. Definatly got worse since new management has taken over, and it shows through how the staff behave. I have witnessed first hand seeing the manager shouting at his staff on the shop floor and as a customer it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable, and have known some members of staff to have been reduced to tears because of him, which i find discusting.

If you want to be constantly badgered by talk talk then go to somerfield, if you want long queues because there's not enough staff, go to somerfield, if you want a shop that has 8 people stacking shelves and one struggling on a the till, go to somerfield. Very unpleasant shopping experience, have refused to go there since September, would rather pay a bit more in the spar further up.

I work in somerfield Buckley,and the manager treats you like something he has trodden on.He shouts at staff on the shop floor in front of customers and other staff,and is picking on someone all the time.We have to keep a check on what hours we have worked or you will get underpaid.Even customers have thought his manner is disgusting,and he has been told ,but he said he dosent care.All the staff are in a bad mood because of him ,and are taking it out on each other.He constantly stands around watching customers,which makes honest shoppers feel like criminals.Working in a brothel sounds like a better job-good pay and better respected.

As a foreign visitor (Austria) that visits Aylesbury on one or two occasions every year I am happy to say that I use Somerfield's quite regularly during my visits.

Well, the Walton Court based shop is quite a small one but well stocked. What I appreciate most is the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. - Will definitely do my shopping there again on my forthcoming visit(s)!

Reinhard from Austria

SOMERFIELD

Its such a shame that only peoples bad views get put on this website, I am a supervisor in a small Somerfield/Forecourt. We are near a housing estate and have three rivals all with in a five minute walk. We are busy all of the time and we pride ourselves on having great customer service, and running a very efficient convienience store (although we arn't so proud of our spelling!) We have 100's of satisfied customers and the odd customer who isn't - but you can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can try. Every one wants something different, but because we offer all of the above and more that is why our customers choose us. So please - can people write about the good experiences as well as the bad...

woeley castle Somerfield store is run so badly that no one bothers to complain any more. the staff are unhelpful, you can wait in a queue for up to 20 mins for two items to purchase. no till staff on the shop floor and certainly no supervisors or managers to be found anywhere.

on visiting our local somerfield store today, my husband asked for his bonus stamp to be applied to his account as in item three ' If you've collected 29 stamps by 29 April 2009, we'll give you a £1 bonus stamp absolutely free' He was refused this and told he could only receive this along with the other bonus stamps when redeemed from11th November 2009. Thus ensued an embarassing scene where three members of staff backed up the first person without consulting head office. He is now worried that if he goes back in November, they will refused the stamp as he cannot prove he had collected 29 stamps by 29 April 2009. There is no phone number or email address on the card to escalate this complaint

Glad that the Co-Op are taking them over; they may be able to improve their appalling management and shop-running skills.

Customer service is poor. Staff do not like to be interrupted by customers when they are busy having a good chat to each other,even when they are on till duty.This is our experience admittedly based on the branch in Blackfen, Kent. The Manager doesn't take too kindly to anyone complaining about this either. Needless to say we no longer shop there!