My complaint:
This afternoonevening I wanted to go to home bargains, I have one locally in West Byfleet but I wanted to go to a bigger store to buy xmas decorations and presents ect. I drove nearly an hour to my next nearest store in Hounslow. I did my shop getting most things I had wanted, a full trolley load. I queued up and before placing anything on the conveyor I asked the lady serving (who was friendly) if there was a contactless limit and she said no. I wanted to check this as I never carry my cards with me I only ever do contactless with apple pay but I know each store can vary with how much the machines can take in one transaction. So then came to the end of the transaction totally over £150 and she said I needed to insert my card. I explained again that I didn’t physically have my cards. She called over a manager (i use the term manager loosely as how this woman was given a managers position is completely beyond me). The manager came over and the lady that had been serving explained the situation and I explained also that I couldn’t pay using a physical card. Her exact words to me were ‘its not my issue that you don’t have your card’. Truthfully I was shocked at how she spoke to me, and the way she looked at me was also disgusting. I asked her if maybe it is because the machines have a limit and she said they didn’t. I asked what else I could do as I had driven nearly an hour and had spend around an hour shopping with my 9 year old daughter so I clearly didn’t want to just leave my shopping and go home empty handed. I asked if it is possible if the issue is with the machine. the ‘manager’ told me that its a problem with my bank but I knew that was totally incorrect as I had used my apple pay earlier that day and had plenty of money in my account. She told me to go to another till and they could try there, she then wandered off. So i explained exactly the same story to this new cashier so she also knew, I again asked if there was a limit and she said no. So we had to scan through all £150 worth of items again. Then it came to paying…… suprise the card machine was asking for a card to be inserted. She called over the ‘manager’, who proceeded to tell me that I can’t have enough money in my bank, that the problem is with my phone, that there is nothing she can do. At no point during this whole experience has she apologised for the inconvenience or been even remotely helpful. She was beyond rude to me time and time again and when I said it isn’ fair to just leave her exact words were ‘well I don’t care it isn’t my problem’. So with this I asked for her name as her landyard was turned over towards her body and she refused to tell me. Having worked in retail myself many years ago I know that it is a legal requirement to firstly have ID showing your name and secondly if you are asked for it you have to give it. So with this I decided my only option was to take a picture of her, she she again said ‘I don’t care’. So with this I left the store empty handed, very annoyed and offended with a very fed up 9 year old. After this I googled if home bargains has a contactless card limit and it said £100 so this explains why I couldn’t put the transaction through contactlessly for £150. I do find it shocking that 3 staff members didn’t know this information and I shouldn’t have to google to find that out, had I have been told from the start I would have made sure that it was split out to 2 transactions under £100. I have never in my life experienced such horrendous service. I wouldn’t expect to be spoken to like that by someone of the general public, let along a ‘manager’ of a store. I have attached the picture of this woman so you can identify her
Suggested solution:
I would like a detailed response from an area manager to let me know what action is being done as this woman at the very least needs to be disciplined and in my opinion sacked and should never work in a customer facing role. I would like ation that all staff in your home bargains store are aware of the contactless limit so this doesn't happen again. I don't want this to put me off visiting my local home bargains store but I definitely will not be going to the Hounslow store ever again. I have wasted petrol to drive nearly an hour to a store, spend an hour shopping with my daughter, to leave empty handed and spoken to the way I did. The worst bit of all for me was that my daughter had picked out some decorations for her tree in her room and she was so disapointed that she couldnt bring them home. When we got in there car she even said why was that lady so rude to you mummy
