Tesco aren’t in my good books at the moment, there was this earlier in the week, which incidentally STILL hasn’t been resolved. I’ve been told I’ll get my points in February and they’ve given me 100 Points as an apology, but they told me I’d have them in November too.
Today though, they pissed me off to a thermonuclear level..
We had to pop to the Princes Road, Chelmsford Store today to get a refund on a purchase, and to fill the car up with petrol as the light was on. It took a while to get to the entrance to the car park off the ‘Miami Roundabout’, and there was queue leading into it, but once you’re in the queue, you can’t get out. So we sat there, and waited, the traffic had built up behind us now to the point it was blocking the roundabout off, and we hadn’t moved forward. It was pretty bad.
Baby J was in the back getting very crabby, and grouchy so I let him and Loz get out and I’d meet them at the store. Not long after they left the car I noticed a trolley boy, and another Tesco employee were taking trolleys to the end of the queue (about 5 cars behind me), and barricading the entrance, nothing could now get in, and nothing seemed to be getting out.
The problem with the layout of this particular store is that there are two entrances, and one exit, if the exit is blocked by the busy road, cars can still come in via the other entrance. The problem is, that way in is linked to the route of the people trying to leave, which results in gridlock. It is a VERY common problem during Christmas, but I’ve never witnessed it on a normal afternoon.
Around 15 minutes passed, and nothing happened, I moved forwards all of ten metres, I had just crept in to the car park. No one was really moving, everyone seemed to be getting angry, there were lots of frowning faces, and aggressive wheel spins. It was pointless, we weren’t going anywhere. I didn’t know what to do, If I parked, I’d probably get stuck trying to get out, and I’d probably run out of petrol, if I carried on, I’d still be stuck and possibly run out of petrol. I set my sights on the Petrol Station as I REALLY needed petrol.
More time passed and people were getting even angrier – people were trying to cut in, force their way through, I was just grateful Loz had come with me and could take J out of the car, I imagine he’d be screaming his lungs out having to sit for so long – I was nearly at that point.
I think the most infuriating thing was the lack of information given to us. Had their been an accident? Had something broken down and blocked the road? Who knows? We didn’t know, we just had to sit and feel angry. Why couldn’t they get some Management out, tapping on windows, apologising and explaining what the problem was. Maybe even hand out a drink, or a £5 gift voucher – just do SOMETHING – not just let everyone sit there getting wound up.
The @UKTesco team were helpful as ever
@kiphakes I'm sorry to have caused disappointed over this. I'll make sure this logged for you.
— Tesco (@Tesco) November 8, 2012
BRILLIANT. Not even a proper sentence.
In the end it took fifty minutes to get from the entrance to the exit, FIFTY MINUTES. By the time I found Loz and J he wasn’t happy at all, he was hungry, we hadn’t bought a feed out with us because we weren’t going to be that long. To make matters worse we had to leave the store straight in to rush hour. Our quick trip out lasted nearly two hours, and most of that was spent stuck in traffic.
I’m still none the wiser as to why we were stuck for so long, who knows? All I do know is ‘every little helps’ (and Tesco do very little to help their customers).
