MIXED EXPERIENCES, please read to the end
My experiences with TESCO have been many and varied. My nearest store is in Fermoy Co Cork Ireland but i am quite often not allowed to shop there as they have barriers stopping anyone who drives a tall van entering the car park. So unless I go home & collect my car on working days, I end up shopping elsewhere, such as in Supervalu or Lidl right beside Tesco as they do not discriminate against the working class. So i used to shop a lot in Tesco when I lived in Mallow but not so much in Fermoy. Management have not responded to my questions regarding that discrimination as many Tesco stores welcome all shoppers but Fermoy & Cashel do not. Today then I experienced a small problem with my Click & Collect as I was informed that my credit card details were out of date. I immediately logged on to my account and tried to follow the instructions, Tesco had sent to me but none of their suggested options could be accessed either on the Tesco app or website. I contacted customer service in Ireland and they could not find anywhere to update my details, said it must be a software glitch and told me that it could take 48 hours to sort and that there was nothing more they could do. Bearing in mind, my order had some frozen items in it, which I did not wish to be spoiled, even if Tesco could not supply, I then phoned the Fermoy branch phone number which is actually a UK customer service number and got through to a female service advisor named Mimi Serath. I explained the problem, informed her that I had phoned the Irish customer service and they could not help and asked her if I could speak to someone who could help. This woman then went on to demand my postcode, and after giving it to her 3 times, she informed me that this was incorrect, whereupon I informed her that it was the postcode I had been given when it was allocated to me when Ireland brought in post codes, she wasnt having this so she demanded the order number for my Click & Collect order, again made me repeat this a number of times before declaring this incorrect also. Then she demanded my Club Card number and once again informed me that no Tesco Club Card's digits started with 634000 even though i repeatedly informed her that I was simply reading direct from my club card. Then she told me that there was a glitch in their IT system and that she would report it to them, whereupon I again told her that I had already been told this from the Irish customer service and that all I was looking for was to speak to someone who could help me to update my credit card details and she adamantly refused to transfer me to someone a little more intelligent than she was and instead told me either herself or someone from IT would phone me back shortly. True to her word she herself phoned me back a few minutes later and then told me that while she was filling out the IT complaint form it had dawned on her that I was phoning from Ireland. When I pointed out that I had told her that many times, including that the Irish customer service had not been able to help me, and that she had actually phoned me back on an Irish phone number and that all i wanted was to talk to someone who could help, she refused and insisted I phone the Irish customer service again, when i pointed out that this was going to be futile she hung up on me. She really should be working for the Keystone Cops comedy show. At this point I had given up on getting my Click & Collect order and was preparing to go shopping anywhere but in Tesco when my phone rang with an unknown number. When I answered the call, I was met with a lovely friendly voice who introduced herself as Kayla, one of the Click & Collect staff in Fermoy. Kayla, it has to be said was fantastic and a credit to any company as an employee and she went on to explain that she was aware of the problem and that the groceries had already been picked and were ready and if I wished I could call in any time during the afternoon, whereupon she would scan every item and my clubcard and that i could then pay with my credit card in the store. God bless her, after my experience with Mimi the shrew, Kayla was like a breath of fresh air and she made it quite clear that i was a valued customer (even though she did not know me) and that herself and the rest of the staff would do everything possible to be of help. If I could I would nominate Kayla as The Employee of 2026 and everything she offered to do came true exactly as she said it would, and for that I thank you Kayla, and Tesco should thank her also as she turned around a customer who in his own mind had vowed never to shop in Tesco again to one who was blown away at the actions and downright pleasantness of that young girl. She should be in HR teaching staff like Mimi Serath how not to treat customers as idiots. To finish, I only gave this review 3 stars but Mimi deserved none while Kayla in particular and indeed, your Irish customer staff deserve at least 10.