This is in regard to a formal complaint I wish to make which occurred at an ASDA store in Coventry to one of the colleagues working at customer service showing an unprofessional manor and making a customer feel uncomfortable with no explanatory reason. It made it an unhappy shopping experience at the store. The person’s name I engaged with was Carol, who claimed to be the Duty manger of the store on 02 August for the evening shift.
I came to store with my parents who needed to purchase some food at around 9pm on 02 August. After shopping we went to self check out to pay for the items which came to a total of ten pounds. My parents did not have the exact amount due to only having fifty pound notes which were exchanged from a bank before coming into the UK due to a visit. As we tried to finish the transaction through the self-service machine it seemed it would not take the fifty pound note due to size. As the alternative I paid on behalf of my parents using me debit card. Knowing that my parents would come again to shop I wanted to do the most logical thing and get change for a fifty pound note from customer service.
A staff named Carol served me at the time and I requested to have some change for a fifty pound note. Carol simply said no and to my surprise, it led me to question it. Being curious, I wanted to know the reason behind it and Carol responded in a very orthodox approach as if she did not even have the time to explain and simply replied ‘Yes’ and left it vaguely at that. No doubt in my mind I wanted to question it as it seemed like a hole was left from Carol’s response so I asked if a policy stated a reason for this. To my surprise she ignored my question and continued what she was doing, counting cash with another colleague. Then I decided to buy something so I would be offered the change. At that moment to my surprise again, Carol turned her face around and said “I will not sell it to you.” I asked “Why? Do you have a policy that customers cannot buy a product with £50 note? ” She continued to ignore me and continue what she was doing. As no reason was placed to her action and she continued to deal with me as if she was obliged to give me a yes or no answer without justification it made things very uncomfortable for me as I felt like I was being completely violated over something I did which was completely wrong with no explanation whatsoever. The conversation expanded into an argument as Carol was not being specific with her reason but continued to state that she would not sell me the product because I originally wanted to have change. This is her assumption and the point is not that she is right or wrong but that she was quick to justify her own act. In the end it’s the manner of being treated like a shadow from a member of staff. No kindness in her tone of voice and no interest from the beginning to serve a customer to a level of commitment. Being a regular ASDA customer, I was extremely upset and felt that situation was not professional. More importantly, Carol’s attitude and the way she talked to me had made me extremely uncomfortable and upset. To think that a matter of this nature would upset me and leave me thinking of the whole situation for the rest of day in frustration.
During the conversation I asked her what her surname is so that I could make a complaint to the store manager. However, she refused to do that. She did not intend to help and explain to me in any details or a procedure which to follow to leave an official complaint. In the end I asked her for someone who was higher than her in position as I wanted to make it an official complaint. Carol wrote down her manager named Richard Seabrook. The next day at around 1.30pm I called Richard Seabrook and explained what happened. Richard did try to help me understand the behaviour of Carol and the policy but I felt that I had only his word to take for it. It sounds a little childish on my part but having felt totally ignored from a store assistant raises this level of frustrated comfort. Nothing was logged down nor recorded onto the system and that made me feel as if the situation was dealt with minimum effort.
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