My complaint:
I am being compelled to file a formal complaint against one of your employee due to her bad behaviour, attitude and unprofessionalism. We, Mr and Mrs Bhardooaz Dabeedin (Club Card Number 634004029054474813) went to Tesco as usual for our weekly shopping on Friday 03092021 arouud19.30 pm. We always use the scanner in order not to waste time at the till and it helps us check our shopping as and when we are doing it. When we went to the station to check out, it came out that 10 of our items had to be checked. An employee was notified and she came to us. While doing her check she did something wrong and said that we did not scan the last item that we purchased. It was a jar of ginger-garlic paste costing £1.10. My husband assured her that we scanned everything and he checked the last item scanned before going to check out. This has never happened to us before. The employee did not want to listen and said she will have to scan all our items again. There were about 40 items which we had bagged already. We tried our best to explain but she was adamant in her intention to go ahead with the scanning.
We are loyal and regular customers of Tesco and have been shopping at Lea Valley for more than 20 years. We know a lot of staff members at the supermarket who have developed nice and friendly relationships with us. My husband is physically disabled and cannot stand on his feet for long due to a recent surgery. The reason why we use the self-scan when shopping is that we do not have to stay for long and is faster.
Due to that employee’s way of handling the situation, we did not want to interact with her as she was talking loudly in front of other customers trying to embarrass us. it was very humiliating for being told that we had not scanned an item costing only £1.10. We spend hundreds on pounds on our shopping on a weekly basis and accusing us of stealing an item costing only £1.10 is just unacceptable.
We then decided to go to the till and had to wait for nearly 45 minutes there as it was packed. We had to take out all the items and put on the counter. This process was not in our favour as my husband was struggling to stand on his feet for long. I spoke to the Team Leader (African origin) to report the matter. She said she will speak to the employee, which she did but we did not see any change in that employee’s behaviour. In fact, she became more disrespectful and rude in her approach and said that we cannot do anything.
That employee maintained an aggressive style when communicating with us and was demonstrating a very negative attitude towards us. She did not show any change in her attitude and appeared hostile. She did not even show any respect to the Team leader and kept arguing with us in front of her. She was indirectly threatening us and trying to intimidate us by saying that we cannot do anything as we do not know her name. Her facial expression and body language were only showing that she was enjoying making us go through that situation. I could see a faint smile on her face when she was talking to us.
This incident has clearly marked us, especially my husband who is not in good health. He was put under unwanted stress and pressure by standing for long. Since we were more that an hour late by the time we reached home, he missed out on the time that he has to take his medication. This bad experience has been a mental torture as it was a question of our self-respect. We are decent, highly educated people and I am professionally in a managerial role. We cannot tolerate this kind of customer service when we are paying for it.
After my shopping, I went to Customer Service Department to request to speak to the manager but the Team Leader turned in saying that the manager was busy at the till. She kept apologising on behalf of that employee. I must say that the Team Leader failed in her position as she could not reason the employee who should have been apologising instead of her.
We have mentally suffered from this and have lost the interest of going there again as we do not want to face that employee again. I would request you investigate this matter and find out who the employee is as we were not provided with her name although we requested it many times. This is why she was happy as she said she will not be able to be traced.
Suggested solution:
I would like higher management to look into this and find out who this employee is. Unprofessionalism, lack of respect, bad customer service cannot be tolerated. We have been victim of some indirect harassment for no reason. We did not deserve this treatment at all. Why should we have to pay for this when we were only trying to justify ourselves. This has completely shattered us mentally and my husband has suffered. I would like actions taken against this employee and would want to know what actions you have taken against her.
As a final resolution, we would want to be compensated for being a victim of mental torture and harassment. We were just asking ourselves if it was not some kind of discrimination as well as we come from the minor ethnic origin and that employee is white. There are so many questions that are being left unanswered.
I hope our complaint will be taken into consideration without further delay as this employee is representing the company as a whole and she was showing a very bad picture which can affect the business in an adverse manner.
I will be waiting to hear from you soon.
