- Abertillery Online Discussion Forum -

snugz · Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 5 Location: abertillery

Well read the comments tht everyone made about tescos so i had to join to reply. firstly i can underderstand and agree to many of them but please dont tar everyone with the same brush......and yes i do work for tesco which one i wont say but you should try retail and working for tesco before you all moan moan moan im sure your all so perfectly flawless at your jobs ......and believe me not all customers are well mannered either , and as for the range of products comparing aber to ebbw remember one is a superstore and the other a metro. A s someone commented earlier if you dont like it dont go there simple as that. Rolling Eyes

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jools · Joined: 30 Nov 2007 Posts: 46 Location: just outside Aber

I went to Aber tescos this evening and everything I wanted had a use by date of 4 April - it's impossible to do a weekly shop with these product dates.

What's a metro ? a supermarket thats not a supermarket ?

Must add that I have had no problems with any member of Tescos staff

Ian · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 159 Location: Abertillery

Jools wrote 'What's a metro ? a supermarket thats not a supermarket ? '

As I've said previously it's what Abertillery has ended up with a second rate Tesco.(that's nothing to do with the staff by the way)I'd like to see the criteria Tesco use to decide what size of store they put into a particular location and what products they think sell or don't sell there.

Basically they've shot themselves in the foot as far as I'm concerned,having attracted custom away from the town centre when they first opened,they then by not selling a full range of goods lost some of that custom firstly to there own store in Ebbw Vale but even more so lately to Asda in Brynmawr, who seem to have in my opinion better judged the size of store and product range required.

However you look at it trade is being taken away from Abertillery,it will be interesting to see if Tesco are going to as rumored a year or so back increase the size of the Abertillery store. Rolling Eyes

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Politics,n.Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.

Saeson · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Abertillery

Doodlebug · Joined: 01 Dec 2007 Posts: 29

I wonder what happened to service, at least you do get served in Tesco's some to the smaller shops are a disgrace, the complain about the loss of trade but I have been in a few and had to wait for them to finish their mobile phone conversations before getting served

jools · Joined: 30 Nov 2007 Posts: 46 Location: just outside Aber

Talking of small local shops, I made a conscious decision to get my mothers day flowers from the flower shop down from woolworths instead of Tescos or morrisons this year - I won't bother again..

I chose the flowers and asked for them to be wrapped...the girl wrapped them in what looked like chip paper. I said to her, can I have them wrapped in that patterned transparent cellophane please and I'll pay the extra. NO she said, only bouqets over £20 get that wrapping. I'll pay the extra I said again. It's still no she replied.

I then pointed out to her that the two bunches she had wrapped had the (very faint) pattern facing inside not the outside. Can you re-wrap I asked, pointng out her error. She did, but used the same paper. At that point I gave up. Bought more wrapping paper from the card shop and decided never to go there again!!!!!!!

Carolyn · Joined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 1618 Location: Abertillery

It will have to be Tesco or veg shop if you want red onions Somerfield don't do them anymore Rolling Eyes

I know they have stopped stocking several products and brands but I wonder what they have against the humble red onion Laughing

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snugz · Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 5 Location: abertillery

I think someone misunderstood what i wrote now where did i say i didnt like dealing with the public otherwise i would get a job else where and the job would be boring if everyone was nice, and once again comparing us to asdas up the road as you did with ebbw vales its diffrnt size store if abertillery had the same floor space as those mentioned course there would be more choice its commom sense. stores come in sizes.....express, metro, super, then exrtas. I suppose theres swings and roundabouts concerning most things.

Ian · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 159 Location: Abertillery

From my point of view,the question would be why do we need to compare Abertillery Tesco's to the Ebbw Vale branch and to Asda.The answer is we shouldn't have to and that there should be a store of the same size here selling the same range of products.Who decided it should be otherwise in the first place,what criteria did they use?Given that who decided Ebbw Vale and Pontypool should get the size of store they did.Like it or not and once again and for clarity this has nothing to do with the staff or service(even though I've had isssue with these,in general I find both as good as other places)Abertillery in effect has a second rate store due to it's size and the range of products it sells.Therefore perhaps someone in the know might like to tell us if Tesco intend expanding the size and product range at this site.
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Politics,n.Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.

Tchambuli9 · Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 105 Location: BLAENAU GWENT

DavePower · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Some interesting views here on the problems with the store, for what its worth here are my opinions:

Although I live less than 1 mile from the store most of my shopping is bought from Morrisons/Asda for the reasons stated below.

Customer Service, or lack of it. People who work in the retail industry have to have a certain level of people skills. Allot of the staff at the Abertillery store fail this basic requirement (most are the younger employees but it is not exclusive) Examples of this failure include the following:

Grumpy staff, I don't care whether YOU are having a bad day, your job is to SERVE (the clue is in the name people) your job requires you to present a pleasant front for the customers of your employer.

Rude staff, it is NOT ok for you to continue to chit chat with your mate while you are serving me about how Rat Arsed you got last night and how many times you fell over on the way home. I don't care and I don't want to hear about it. Save it till the next time you're swilling back double Vodka's on your nightly visits to the local.

Untrained staff, your job requires you to HELP customers with queries regarding the products your employer sells, it is NOT ok for you to shrug your shoulders and continue whatever you were doing before you were asked.

Untrained staff (again) it is NOT ok for you to walk away from a queue of customers at the cigarette counter to deal with a returned item, photocopier query or telephone call when the customers in the queue were there first. This really boils my blood, the purpose of a queue should be self evident even to the most dim witted individual, FIRST COME FIRST SERVED !!!

The above list of issues is by no means exhaustive.

Unfortunately, Tesco's Abertillery seem to have recruited SOME of its staff from the very bottom of the gene pool. This may be a result of extremely poor pay and conditions, I don't know but looking at the overall consensus of the opinions in this thread I think Tesco as a company would do well to bring in workers from outside the area regardless of cost as they would see a large increase in product turnover by making the shopping experience more pleasant.

How the individuals concerned managed to obtain a job in the retail sector is beyond by comprehension and I am sure that if the store closed I would be dealing with a few more long term JSA claims.

You may think this post is harsh, yes it is but unfortunately for Tesco it is a true and fair assessment of the service issues surrounding the store.

You may think the post is a little personal but I have refrained from naming names in an attempt to keep it from identifying the worst offenders.

And YES I HAVE COMPLAINED on a number of occasions, unfortunately the Senior Management (and I use the word 'Management' only to identify the individuals job title not available skills) are not much better than the unskilled, untrained, uninterested staff they somehow continue to get away with employing.

I have recently written a rather long letter to Tesco Head Office in an attempt to highlight my (and clearly others) issues with the store, the outcome of which is pending.

I now only shop at Tesco Abertillery when I have to and when I do I ALWAYS use the Self Service tills as I find that they offer a far improved level of customer service, so please don't bother posting replies suggesting that 'If I Don't Like It, Don't Shop There'

As mentioned in my 3rd paragraph, these issues DO NOT relate to all staff and I would like to offer my apologies to any of the workforce who take pride in their jobs who may read this.

Dave Power

Saeson · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Abertillery

Wow! And I thought I was grumpy Smile

I agree with the sentiment although I would have put it a bit gentler. I think it is a reflection of our society that this kind of customer care is considered OK by many (and I include those who will no doubt be posting to defend the staff). To be fair, it`s not just this store - you find it everywhere - but I do agree that Abertillery is particularly bad and I too only shop there if I have to. I think you have to blame the manager(s); that`s where the buck has to stop. If they think it`s OK to treat customers this way then so will the staff. The truth is they (the managers) probably don`t care; it`s a small store in the back-of-beyond so they`re either trying to keep their heads down until they get a better posting or they`re not good enough for anywhere bigger.

martyn142 · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:47 am Post subject:

Leaving aside whether Tesco's service is as bad as portrayed and worse than other local shops, I agree absolutely that the attitude of staff at shops in this area (south Wales valleys) is GENERALLY worse than other areas. Because of work I use the shops in Clifton normally and it is rare for the assistant or cashier not to say hello and smile when serving.

Now it maybe that they are just nicer, more polite people. But I think Saeson is right and it is in fact down to expectation. I suspect that if the local Sainsbury's employed a grumpy cashier who chatted instead of serving and looked anywhere but at the customer then two things would happen. Firstly, the customers would not accept it without complaining. Secondly, I think the management would ensure that they were very soon ex-cashiers.

In Abertillery, in our shopping experience as in other areas of life we are used to and pretty much expect to get third rate service. I'm not suggesting we can get rid of all our ills by simply demanding better, but I am certain tht if we don't demand better in all aspects of life and make a fuss in doing so we won't get any better.

jaybe · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 28

What about people who are too lazy to check there own lottery tickets? that annoys me when in the queue on the cigarette counter, they come in with ten tickets and ask the girl to check if they have won or not. And while we are on this subject what about trying to get served in Woolworths on a saturday, queues stretching back to the door and two staff serving.