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Woolworths review: customer service 21

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6:20 am EST
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Dear Woolworths,

Prior to Monday the 21st of January, I was a loyal and regular customer of Woolworths grocery stores, petrol stations and Dan Murphy’s. However my views of the company have considerably changed after the occurrence of a number of incidences of, in my view, to be completely unacceptable customer service in both Woolworths stores and Dan Murphy’s.

On Wednesday the 23rd of January, I was in Woolworths at Orana Mall Dubbo between 12 and 1pm, buying three trolleys full of groceries for a party that was to be hosted at my parent’s house over the long weekend. As I had a long day ahead of me in Dubbo with numerous appointments and a car service I went to Woolworths early in the day with the intention of using the well-known parcel pick up service I believed the store still offered. Living 100kms away from Dubbo, parcel pick up has always been an essential part of our trip to Dubbo on busy days as it allows us to go grocery shopping in a timely manner and get all the food home in good condition, especially in the heat of summer.
As I began unpacking my groceries at the checkout I asked the checkout assistant if I could please have my groceries put into parcel pick up for the day. I was astounded when I was informed that Woolworths no longer offered parcel pickup. I calmly explained that I live 100kms from Dubbo and that I was unable to go home immediately after doing the shopping, as I had to get my car serviced at 1:30. I then asked if she could please make an exception as otherwise I was not going to be able to purchase the groceries. The sales assistant had absolutely no compassion for my situation and bluntly refused to help. I then asked if I could please speak to the manager of the store. I was then informed the manager was unavailable and was finally, after a considerable wait, assisted by another more senior staff member to further discuss the issue.
I hoped that the new staff member would be able to understand my situation and the loss to Woolworth’s if I did not purchase the groceries. Not only would the store lose the value of my purchase, which, when completed at Coles, came up to a value of $800, but they would also be faced with the time consuming task of restacking the items back onto the shelves. The second staff member immediately displayed terrible customer service skills when on her approach she was extremely rude before allowing me to explain the situation. She explained that Woolworth’s had advertised the end of parcel pickup prior to Christmas and that it had ended to make way for “click and collect”. She then finally allowed me to explain my situation where I told her that I live in Sydney, was visiting my parents who live over 100kms from Dubbo and I had been overseas before Christmas so I had not seen any of the advertisements. I further explained the plans for my day and the complications of getting the groceries home immediately. With even less compassion then the previous staff member I was told that the cool-room for parcel pick up had been converted for click and collect and that if I wanted to use this service on the internet then my grocery’s could be stored in the cool-room. I said that it was too late for that and that in future I would consider using this service. I then offered the alternative of storing the perishables in the cool room whilst the other two trolleys, with nonperishables, could be kept to the side until my return at 5:30pm. The Woolworths staff member once again rudely refused to help or to offer any assistance or compassion for my situation. If she were unable to help, I explained, then I would take my business elsewhere. Regardless of the loss for Woolworths the staff member instructed me that there was nothing she could do. As a result I left the $800 worth of food and have vowed never to shop with Woolworths again.

The above event is coupled with another poor customer service incidence at Dan Murphys. Earlier that week, on Monday the 21st January, I called Dan Murphy’s 1300 number to get some prices for approximately 50 cases of beer and wine. After being transferred to 4 different people I was informed that Dan Murphy’s has a policy that you can buy a maximum of 5 cases in one purchase and that I would have to return to the store to buy 5 cases at a time on separate occasions. Finally I was transferred to another two people in the local Dubbo store who explained the only way to do this was for the purchase to appear in separate transactions on my credit card statement but that I could pick the whole order in one trip. This was unacceptable and I then purchased the alcohol from Liquorland.

As a result of the poor customer service your employees and company supplied me with nearly all purchases of food and liquor were with company’s owned by Westfarmers. Before these two incidences I had every intention of shopping with Woolworths as per usual. However I have now moved my business to Westfarmers and have been extremely pleased with their services so far. On both occasions following these incidences Coles and Liquorland staff members went above and beyond with both their knowledge and helpfulness to help me in my situation.

I have a background in Commerce, Human Resources and Marketing and because of this I am more than aware of the importance of how a company portrays itself to consumers and the general public. A high standard of customer service is one of the most important elements of acquiring and keeping consumers. As a leading company in Australia I know you are more than aware of this. This knowledge however has clearly not been transferred and implemented into staff training and as a result you have staff creating more work and turning away loyal customers. I suggest you look at your staff training and find a way to come up to Coles Myer customer service standards otherwise I will not be the only consumer you lose.

I await your response

Regards,

21 comments
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Thomas Wheeler
, ZA
Aug 04, 2016 7:15 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We settled my wife's account. Amount of R 1948 grew to R 13969.24 which was paid and confirmation letter was sent to us on the 18 August 2015 that the account was settled in full. However my wife is now being sent SMS from Woolworth's collection for payment on the account [protected] and we have notified and sent them Easton- berry's letter of final payment, but they are still harassing her,

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james62
, AU
Jul 05, 2016 7:37 am EDT

Went to woolworth livingstone canningvale.Very disappoint with the ladies filler for not filling the products, but instead do a lot of talking among themselves.Looking for my favourite items but wasn't there.Asked the ladies filler and her response...not her aisle.Staffs need more training on customer service/products.

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Teferr
, AU
Jul 04, 2016 7:05 am EDT
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Out of ATLEAST 10 boxes a third of the pods made weak coffee, I bought this for convince even though per cup it is more expensive than my old barista type they are all the strong roast and I'm fed up I think I should be rem used for the money waster on the pods and machine
They are turning out to Be non consistent there are many other words I want to use but I don't feel the need to have readers embarrasses ofer the ### product

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Marcella Lynch
, AU
Jun 15, 2016 4:30 am EDT
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About a month ago I submitted a complaint about your fruit and vegy department. I have always brought my fruit and veg from you but over the last 3 to 5 months if I don't use the vegy's with in 48 hours they have gone soft or black like your beans for example black with in the day you were going to get back to me and I have heard nothing. My next step is to go public please reply and don't send me a generic email .
My email address is mtlynchmob@yahoo.com.au

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Marcella Lynch
, AU
Jun 15, 2016 4:30 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

About a month ago I submitted a complaint about your fruit and vegy department. I have always brought my fruit and veg from you but over the last 3 to 5 months if I don't use the vegy's with in 48 hours they have gone soft or black like your beans for example black with in the day you were going to get back to me and I have heard nothing. My next step is to go public please reply and don't send me a generic email .
My email address is mtlynchmob@yahoo.com.au

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Steven Raymond
, US
Apr 30, 2016 10:40 pm EDT

Sick of going through a self service check out when buying a product on sale and being charged the over all full price when it's a 50% discount then being forced to proceed because of the line up and other customers getting pissed off because of waiting as it put me in the spot where I think I better shop at coles supermarket as this has been happening to many times if not nearly every time and it comes down to bad management and who pays for it? We do

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Sharka
, US
Apr 13, 2016 4:35 am EDT
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I was surprised to hear the background music was Indian Music. I have nothing against Indian music but is it appropriate background music for a woollies stores in Australia ?

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Grant Woodbridge
, US
Apr 16, 2016 1:24 pm EDT

Their website on Google says open from 6am Sunday...rang at 6:10 and they were there but did not intend to open till 7am...wtf...FIX the website if your staff are too lazy to work to the hours specified. Don't waste peoples fuel and time following the BS guide re opening hours online. STOP people around and work the hours or fix the hours to your liking so we all know when its open REALLY.

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Pam Swire
, AU
Apr 04, 2016 8:22 pm EDT

2-3 weeks ago I was informed about the 1 Kg bags of peanuts in the shell were going to be downsized into 500 gram bags. The 1Kg bags cost $8.50 & the 500 gram bags cost $3.95. We buys these peanuts every week so when my partner went to Woolworth's today to purchase a couple of bags he was shocked to find that the 500 gram bag cost $6.98. How can your company justify this price? 1 KG = $8.50 so therefore 500 gram should cost $4.25, how do you justify the price hike. Just a rip off in my opinion. You have lost me.

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clydejones
, AU
Mar 28, 2016 3:28 am EDT

Disinterested staff (Kyra batemans bay woolworths) also lack of staff on monday also i have been in on other days where there is a shop full of people and only a few staff on and not many registers open... very disappointed in batemans bay woolworths management

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Reviewer80284
,
Mar 05, 2016 2:43 am EST

I just posted this up on FB.

Just been to Woolworths Claremont. So over Woolworths advertising specials and then at the check out comes up at normal price. I mention this to the sales person and ask her to pass onto managenent as its false advertising. Her response was "its out of my control." I might be a little fish in a big pond Woolwoths but I do spend about 12k in your stores each year. After today Im going to support a local supermarket.

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jackie rush
Ulverstone, AU
Jan 14, 2015 6:32 pm EST

I want to complain about the price you charge for your vine ripend tomatos, I can buy the same tomatos just across the road at coles for 3.00 where as you charge 8.00+ for yours.

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Georgiabc
Melbourne, AU
Mar 24, 2015 5:33 pm EDT

From woolworths 22 March 2015. Two different bags of macro, certified organic carrots. One bag, I believe, is not organic.

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Reviewer84549
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Mar 03, 2016 12:24 pm EST

hi . i m driving darwin radio texi.
me nd my few friends fuel up our taxis daily at casurina caltex . we all facing a long waiting over there .
we all many cars fuel up because wash bay is near by .
the old man did not respond quaikly nd we wait there for long .
pls change the staff or we can change our servo to fule up our cars .
i have few pics in my phone that people are waiting there long .
all cab drivers fule up high amount of fule so thay are good customer -
i m driving big one maxi cab .
sachin .

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Reviewer46217
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Feb 25, 2016 4:18 am EST

I wish to complain about the stupid packing area that this shop has. How the staff don't all have sore backs from twisting I don't know. With the new carousel packing area you walk out half the time leaving behind some of your shopping, and if you take reusable bags in there is no way for staff to hang them to pack, so they scan them and you pack your own. I know they are trying to force us to use Se, f service but I will take my trade elsewhere in future.

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patrick Flanagan
, AU
Jan 06, 2016 2:39 am EST

I am appalled at the level of service I receive at this Woolworth s, the staff seem to run away from serving customers in the morning, it seems they prefer you to go to the self check out, as my mornings are rather rushed I would love to run in get my groceries and pay at a till with a cashier.There never seems to be a manager on duty if they are, certainly not very customer orientated.Please up your game .

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Geoff Watson
, US
Nov 23, 2015 4:23 am EST

I recently bought a 16gb sd memory card from woolworths Werribee plaza store. It failed the very 1st time I tried to use it in the camera. I tried to format the card to the camera with no success . I believe the card was "dead on arrival" I would like replacement card from woolworths if possible please

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Reviewer53758
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Aug 27, 2015 9:54 pm EDT

We ordered 12 platters on 21 Aug from Woolworths Clarkson for a luncheon seminar we were hosting on 25 Aug. Collection time was stated as 10am. Woolies asked if collection could be later and we advised we had to leave the store at 11am at the latest. They accepted this and advised us they would be ready. Needless to say, at 11am, half the platters were not ready. Woolies hastily put together the majority of our pre-paid order, and we left the store at 11:30, having to return later for re-imbursement of the missing platter which had not been started at the time we left. We were late for our own function and compromised professionally. The Clarkson store manager was apologetic, as was Samantha at head office who answered the Woolies Customer Service hotline. Neither however wanted my contact details considering their apology to be the conclusion of this matter. I specifically asked Samantha if she wanted my contact details and was advised that she did not need these. I find this to be poor service and now consider I am due a full refund of the order I placed as it was not delivered as agreed. Partial delivery with an insincere apology is inadequate.

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Ruth and Kevin
Orange, US
Jan 14, 2015 9:21 pm EST

So buy them at Coles duh.

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NatalieLL
Triabunna, AU
Jul 22, 2014 5:19 pm EDT

To Skor: you said that because you are one of the nasty person has no knowledge on good customer service is.
What you said is ###, just because a business has more than one customer to serve doesn't mean it can be rude to the customer.

I will never shopping in Woolworth again not only because their company policy, but mainly their Poor customer service.
For this, Coles is better than Woolworth.
I never have such bad experience in Coles, I don't mind to pay more as long as I'm not treated like ###.
Obviously when the Woolworth staff treating the customer like this, they still got their salary, but the company lose its customer.
REALLY REALLY FAIL.

SKOR
SKOR
Toronto, CA
Feb 07, 2013 7:10 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

If you have a background in Commerce, Human Resources and Marketing, you would realize that policies change, and businesses have more than one customer to look after - other people shop too.

It sounds like you feel entitled to have things your way all the time.