‘Get your act together’ Sainsbury’s urged in customer service row
Customers’ anger at delivery delay
SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury's is being urged to ‘get its act together’ after a series of customer service blunders led to a home delivery catalogue of errors.
Couple Penny Whitehead, 66, and Adrian Ross-Brown, 73, from Rowlands Castle had booked a home delivery for their weekly shop to arrive between 6.30am and 7.30am on January 4.
However a problem with the payment saw the driver sent away before he had even reached their house - leaving Penny and Adrian in the dark as to where their groceries were.
After waiting until 7.30am, Penny began to grow concerned that the goods were not going to turn up, so she went to call Sainsbury’s customer service only to find out they don’t open until 8am.
This lead to a to-ing and fro-ing with the store and customer service department until, after three long phone calls and much despair later, an exasperated Penny finally got her order delivered at 10.30pm that evening.
She said: ‘Not everybody would fight like I did. There are vulnerable people who are less able than me who would perhaps go to the shop instead, putting themselves at risk.
‘I feel we should be protecting these people. It is not good enough. Sainsbury’s need to get their act together.'
Penny feels Sainsbury’s initially tried to fob her off, as at first they told her that she would need to rebook a delivery slot – and she says the nearest one was five days later.
She said: ‘I don’t want other people to fall foul of this, that’s why I got in touch with The News because Sainsbury’s didn’t seem bothered.
'It was a whole day wasted for me.’
A spokeswoman from Sainsbury’s said: ‘Our social media team operates 7.30am until 11.30pm seven days a week and our customer careline is live Monday to Saturday 8am until 10pm and 10am until 5pm on Sundays.
‘We have a groceries online helpline team who are available 8am until 11.30pm seven days a week and we also have a dedicated number for customers who are registered as vulnerable.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are glad we were able to rearrange Mrs Whitehead’s delivery for the same day.’