The Mr Tesco saga

My e-mail to Tesco's Chief Execs office dated 16th December 2010

Dear Mr Leahy,

I live with my husband on narrowboat Rock n Roll; we continually cruise the inland waterways of the UK and depend on Tesco.com for our groceries wherever we might be moored.

Tesco has recently altered the way in which customers can enter the address to which the groceries are to be delivered; the previous way enabled customers such as us, being in a different place each time we need a delivery, to enter explicit details of where and who we are, therefore making delivery easier for your drivers and ensuring we have food to eat!  The new site doesn’t give this opportunity and this is very worrying for us.

Although spread out all over the UK the boating community is tight-knit, keeping in touch with each other via blogs, word of mouth etc.  The fact that Sue on Narrowboat No Problem has removed her Tesco page from her blog will certainly influence other boaters with regards to using Tesco.com.

Various emails and phone calls to Tesco Customer Services have elicited several responses:

‘Place your order and then ring us and we’ll change the address for you’   - an 0854 number -  very expensive as boaters generally use mobile phones as they do not have landlines and by the time the situation has been explained over and over again the boater has given up.

‘You need to enter the post code of a house in the vicinity of the delivery point’ – and what if the driver knocks on that door, finds out it’s incorrect and returns the goods to Tesco?   Most drivers completely ignore the box containing more explicit delivery instructions.

The original format for address other than those listed automatically worked very well and should be reinstated.  I can see Tesco loosing the custom of many boaters if it’s reported via blogs etc., that because of the new system orders have gone astray and customers have been left without groceries, especially during the current icy weather when boaters may not be able to make alternative arrangements.

I hope that you will have some influence with the powers that be to reinstate this facility.

Yours sincerely,

Reply dated 22nd December 2010

Dear Mrs P

Thank you for your email addressed to Sir Terry Leahy, our Chief Executive to which I have been asked to respond.  Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying.

I am sorry that you experienced problems entering an address on our new Grocery Home Shopping site. I can appreciate your frustration and I would like to offer my sincere apologies for any upset and inconvenience that we have caused you. 

It is our aim to make on-line shopping a simple and rewarding experience for our customers. We are constantly improving our Tesco.com systems and processes to ensure that our customers receive an excellent service at all times. Therefore I am sorry that you are disappointed with the new website.

If an address does not show on our website then we recommend that, prior to starting your order, register under a different address but with the same post code and then call our Grocery Home Shopping helpline on 08457 22 55 33 to have the address amended manually.

From your email I appreciate that you may only use a mobile phone therefore I have added a note to your Tesco.com account advising that our Customer Service staff are to assist in amending address details and to provide a call back at your request.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your suggestion to allow customers to enter addresses manually online. I can see how this would benefit our customers and I have passed on your suggestion to a member of our Grocery Home Shopping business support team for their consideration.

Thank you once again, for taking the time and trouble to bring this matter to the attention of our Chief Executive’s Office

Kind Regards

Stuart McGregor

Customer Service Executive