I used to work in an offie and we had the same ID policy. Apparently drivers liscences were too easily forged. To avoid this in future Id just get the garda age card. Other countries have to carry ID with them so I dont know why we get so offended when asked here.
I can understand your frustration though – there is a big difference between a young looking 28 year old and a 17 year old.
Are Garda Age Cards not a bit of a joke? I used to have one as a young lass but some pub wouldn’t accept it and demanded a passport.
I’m 27 and occasionally get ID’d in the offie. I might look young but I know I don’t look 17!!! Laughing it off or saying “ooh thanks” usually works for me cos I don’t have a driver’s license and rarely have my passport on me.
Damn you, Oil of Olay…
Having worked on a customer service desk of a nasty big supermarket, I can tell you that the CSD staff have little more power to please a customer than the checkout staff.
It’s a horrible job, you receive nothing but abuse from customers all day and there’s not much you can do to make them happy. Most of them seem to want you to turn back time for them. Unfortunately, they can only implement policy, if they go against it they get a worse bollocking from the manager than they do from the customer, and to make things more pleasant for said staff member, managers are often happy to overturn policy and make you look like a right plum in front of the customer (who will often return looking for the same non policy treatment and treat you like s**t again because you can’t give it to them still).
Customers rarely have nice things to say to/about staff in retail, it’s far easier to complain and moan. Having spent more than ten years working in the service industry/retail, mostly at weekends, I can tell more stories about arsey customers than i can about pleasant ones. And yes, 98% of the time i will proffer your bag with a smile and be as apologetic as policy allows when needed, whether or not the customer as a person deserves it, but because the *insert unpleasant word here* is a /customer/ and should therefore be treated as they were the centre of the universe.
I don’t work in Customer Service, but I am checkout staff in Dunnes – we recently implemented a policy that we no longer accept Drivers Licences, only passports and Garda ID, same as Tesco. And it’s caused some amount of frustration, because there were no signs put up in our shop to advertise this change of policy.
Anyways, I was talking to another of the girls about it yesterday, and she mentioned that one of her brothers has a licence with his picture on it and another, older brother’s details.
While there is nothing we can do about accepting forms of ID other than what we’re allowed, most staff would be courteous about it at the least – a simple “I’m sorry, but my hands are tied, it’s store policy” isn’t that hard to crank out, and it usually serves to calm customers down somewhat.
On the Grocery/Drapery divide, in Dunnes it is almost like they’re two separate stores – I work in a Dunnes, and we have separate managers, separate computer systems, our rosters are written by different people, we even work different hours – drapery staff will only ever work ’til close, whereas grocery are in til ten every night regardless.
That said, we only have one customer service desk, so you can bring everything back there.
Again, though, there really isn’t much the staff can do, and as already stated, some managers will stab you in the back to stop them from looking foolish in front of a customer. It can be very frustrating. =/
I think we’re overlooking one basic part of customer service that has been completed dumped by the grocery stores; helping you pack your bags. Im tired of spending €120 minimum a month in Dunnes and having to struggle to pack my bags alone while the waiting queue gets frustrated and I go bright red.
If the “Garda card” referred to is the Garda Age Card, it’s not ID. It says right on the card that it’s not proof of identity, only age. Whose age is unclear, because it doesn’t prove identity, but anyway, it is nothing like other country’s identity cards. It’s only use is to prove that the person pictured is over 18 and of legal age to buy alcohol. If they can make these cards that are supposedly unforgeable. why can’t they make the driver’s licenses unforgeable?
I would like to make the point that it a complete waste of time and energy to make any complaint no matter how serious to a Tesco customer service where standards are so woeful I am starting to hyperventilate even thinking about it. The only way to have some impact is to write very fully to Tesco HQ in the UK.
The example I’ll give is that some time ago I visted my local Tesco and went to purchase some musroom pasta sauce sold as fresh in a little plastic pot and discovered it was out of date. I queued at customer service in case some old person was poisened by said sauce and got a very lukewarm ok Ill let someone know. A few days later I went back to Tesco and the offending sauce was still on the shelf and was now really out of date ! I came home and wrote a complete snot of a letter to the UK head office and lo and behold an apology, thankyou and large Tesco voucher arrived by return of post. On top of that the problem of the sell by dates seem to be sorted ! I consider that to have to go to such lengths to sort something out is crazy.
The only joy I’ve ever gotten from Tesco is to write a full and detailed letter (email) of complaint to head office. The in-store customer service is so useless that it becomes more of an aggravation than the original problem (which I made a point of including, very politely, in my email).
Sorry – slight error in my rant. It wasn’t the check-out girl who eventually came to speak to me it was the manager. Peter won’t let me name her but the silly woman had a quirky spelling name which was unforgettable so I was at least able to name her in my angry letter to Tesco. Anyway, it was the MANAGER who was extremely rude to me and who clearly had no idea why Tesco had the policy she was repeating in true zombie fashion.
As it happens, I got a phonecall from Tesco in Scotland a few days after my angry email and spoke to a very polite young man in customer service. He was all apologies, but, still could not explain the ID policy. Nice and all as he was I still won’t be returning to Tesco.
Rosie, your letter writing skills are obviously of a higher calibre than mine as all I got was that phonecall!!
Catriona, I think it was the threat of the Food Safety Authority that did it ! Potential food poisoning got their attention rather than my letter writing skills.
It’s all down to ttitude, on both sides. Some customers can really be full of themselves and to be honest don’t deserve the staff to go beyond their call of duties. On the other end, some staff members can be pretty dismissive and handle your claim as if you were just some annoying bug. I always make sure to be polite because obviously it’s not the CS agents who implement rules and policies and when you complain about pricing errors they should not be blamed for it. But I hate when I get the comptented look that clearly says “though, you take it or you leave it”.
I’ve had very good experiences with Dunnes staff, one of them even called me home to let me know they had found my daughter’s shoe. Tesco are a bit more tedious to deal with, but generally speaking they are not bad. Except the smart ass who told me they couldn’t sell me a box of chocolates that didn’t scan. I left it at that, but the next day the box was back on the shelves so I took it again and it still wouldn’t scan. When I asked the fellow at the CS desk, he repeated blankly “cannot sell it” so I told him “why do you keep it on the shelves, then?”, to which he just shrugged and told me that he couldn’t sell it, point blank…. My experience is that most supermarkets would give you the item for free if it doesn’t scan, or just take it off the shelves.
I rarely shop in tesco as they have an appalling attitude to their customers. I also hate how we are (still) ripped of here in Ireland – if you want to raise your blood pressure compare the Tesco UK prices and clubcard points offers to the Irish ones. And how they rarely open the (wo)manned checkouts and force you to do the job yourself. However, on the odd occasion that it has suited me to shop there I indulge in a fun activity where I use the DIY checkout to weigh and compare the prices of packaged fruit and veg versus the loose stuff. It drives them nuts. Its a form of therapy for me….
Tammi, I have sent an email both to Conor Pope and this site suggesting that scales be reintroduced in stores. It galls me to pay a per unit price on things like sweet pototaoes and aubergines.
Dunnes Stores have a knack or hiring the most socially retarded so called management and staff most of my dealings with the chain have fell short of the normal service you expect when buying from a so called bigger retail chain,today being the most recent experience, where as walking down past the checkouts at five mins to closing I got a manager gasp “Jesus Christ” at my nerve to walk into his outlet on a saturday evening…I had to laugh at it really. I rarely shop in the place due to the brutal staffing and bad Human resources dept. the place obviously has and actually feel sorry for anyone associated with the place to be honest.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 10:49 am
I used to work in an offie and we had the same ID policy. Apparently drivers liscences were too easily forged. To avoid this in future Id just get the garda age card. Other countries have to carry ID with them so I dont know why we get so offended when asked here.
I can understand your frustration though – there is a big difference between a young looking 28 year old and a 17 year old.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 11:17 am
Are Garda Age Cards not a bit of a joke? I used to have one as a young lass but some pub wouldn’t accept it and demanded a passport.
I’m 27 and occasionally get ID’d in the offie. I might look young but I know I don’t look 17!!! Laughing it off or saying “ooh thanks” usually works for me cos I don’t have a driver’s license and rarely have my passport on me.
Damn you, Oil of Olay…
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 11:50 am
Having worked on a customer service desk of a nasty big supermarket, I can tell you that the CSD staff have little more power to please a customer than the checkout staff.
It’s a horrible job, you receive nothing but abuse from customers all day and there’s not much you can do to make them happy. Most of them seem to want you to turn back time for them. Unfortunately, they can only implement policy, if they go against it they get a worse bollocking from the manager than they do from the customer, and to make things more pleasant for said staff member, managers are often happy to overturn policy and make you look like a right plum in front of the customer (who will often return looking for the same non policy treatment and treat you like s**t again because you can’t give it to them still).
Customers rarely have nice things to say to/about staff in retail, it’s far easier to complain and moan. Having spent more than ten years working in the service industry/retail, mostly at weekends, I can tell more stories about arsey customers than i can about pleasant ones. And yes, 98% of the time i will proffer your bag with a smile and be as apologetic as policy allows when needed, whether or not the customer as a person deserves it, but because the *insert unpleasant word here* is a /customer/ and should therefore be treated as they were the centre of the universe.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 11:51 am
In my personal opinion, the general standards of customer service in Ireland are very poor, particularly in chains like Tesco & Dunnes.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I find Penneys customer service is great to deal with for what it’s worth.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I don’t work in Customer Service, but I am checkout staff in Dunnes – we recently implemented a policy that we no longer accept Drivers Licences, only passports and Garda ID, same as Tesco. And it’s caused some amount of frustration, because there were no signs put up in our shop to advertise this change of policy.
Anyways, I was talking to another of the girls about it yesterday, and she mentioned that one of her brothers has a licence with his picture on it and another, older brother’s details.
While there is nothing we can do about accepting forms of ID other than what we’re allowed, most staff would be courteous about it at the least – a simple “I’m sorry, but my hands are tied, it’s store policy” isn’t that hard to crank out, and it usually serves to calm customers down somewhat.
On the Grocery/Drapery divide, in Dunnes it is almost like they’re two separate stores – I work in a Dunnes, and we have separate managers, separate computer systems, our rosters are written by different people, we even work different hours – drapery staff will only ever work ’til close, whereas grocery are in til ten every night regardless.
That said, we only have one customer service desk, so you can bring everything back there.
Again, though, there really isn’t much the staff can do, and as already stated, some managers will stab you in the back to stop them from looking foolish in front of a customer. It can be very frustrating. =/
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I think we’re overlooking one basic part of customer service that has been completed dumped by the grocery stores; helping you pack your bags. Im tired of spending €120 minimum a month in Dunnes and having to struggle to pack my bags alone while the waiting queue gets frustrated and I go bright red.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 1:46 pm
If the “Garda card” referred to is the Garda Age Card, it’s not ID. It says right on the card that it’s not proof of identity, only age. Whose age is unclear, because it doesn’t prove identity, but anyway, it is nothing like other country’s identity cards. It’s only use is to prove that the person pictured is over 18 and of legal age to buy alcohol. If they can make these cards that are supposedly unforgeable. why can’t they make the driver’s licenses unforgeable?
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I would like to make the point that it a complete waste of time and energy to make any complaint no matter how serious to a Tesco customer service where standards are so woeful I am starting to hyperventilate even thinking about it. The only way to have some impact is to write very fully to Tesco HQ in the UK.
The example I’ll give is that some time ago I visted my local Tesco and went to purchase some musroom pasta sauce sold as fresh in a little plastic pot and discovered it was out of date. I queued at customer service in case some old person was poisened by said sauce and got a very lukewarm ok Ill let someone know. A few days later I went back to Tesco and the offending sauce was still on the shelf and was now really out of date ! I came home and wrote a complete snot of a letter to the UK head office and lo and behold an apology, thankyou and large Tesco voucher arrived by return of post. On top of that the problem of the sell by dates seem to be sorted ! I consider that to have to go to such lengths to sort something out is crazy.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 2:59 pm
The only joy I’ve ever gotten from Tesco is to write a full and detailed letter (email) of complaint to head office. The in-store customer service is so useless that it becomes more of an aggravation than the original problem (which I made a point of including, very politely, in my email).
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Sorry – slight error in my rant. It wasn’t the check-out girl who eventually came to speak to me it was the manager. Peter won’t let me name her but the silly woman had a quirky spelling name which was unforgettable so I was at least able to name her in my angry letter to Tesco. Anyway, it was the MANAGER who was extremely rude to me and who clearly had no idea why Tesco had the policy she was repeating in true zombie fashion.
As it happens, I got a phonecall from Tesco in Scotland a few days after my angry email and spoke to a very polite young man in customer service. He was all apologies, but, still could not explain the ID policy. Nice and all as he was I still won’t be returning to Tesco.
Rosie, your letter writing skills are obviously of a higher calibre than mine as all I got was that phonecall!!
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Catriona, I think it was the threat of the Food Safety Authority that did it ! Potential food poisoning got their attention rather than my letter writing skills.
Tuesday 9 February, 2010 at 9:15 pm
It’s all down to ttitude, on both sides. Some customers can really be full of themselves and to be honest don’t deserve the staff to go beyond their call of duties. On the other end, some staff members can be pretty dismissive and handle your claim as if you were just some annoying bug. I always make sure to be polite because obviously it’s not the CS agents who implement rules and policies and when you complain about pricing errors they should not be blamed for it. But I hate when I get the comptented look that clearly says “though, you take it or you leave it”.
I’ve had very good experiences with Dunnes staff, one of them even called me home to let me know they had found my daughter’s shoe. Tesco are a bit more tedious to deal with, but generally speaking they are not bad. Except the smart ass who told me they couldn’t sell me a box of chocolates that didn’t scan. I left it at that, but the next day the box was back on the shelves so I took it again and it still wouldn’t scan. When I asked the fellow at the CS desk, he repeated blankly “cannot sell it” so I told him “why do you keep it on the shelves, then?”, to which he just shrugged and told me that he couldn’t sell it, point blank…. My experience is that most supermarkets would give you the item for free if it doesn’t scan, or just take it off the shelves.
Wednesday 10 February, 2010 at 9:07 am
I rarely shop in tesco as they have an appalling attitude to their customers. I also hate how we are (still) ripped of here in Ireland – if you want to raise your blood pressure compare the Tesco UK prices and clubcard points offers to the Irish ones. And how they rarely open the (wo)manned checkouts and force you to do the job yourself. However, on the odd occasion that it has suited me to shop there I indulge in a fun activity where I use the DIY checkout to weigh and compare the prices of packaged fruit and veg versus the loose stuff. It drives them nuts. Its a form of therapy for me….
Wednesday 10 February, 2010 at 10:50 am
Tammi, I have sent an email both to Conor Pope and this site suggesting that scales be reintroduced in stores. It galls me to pay a per unit price on things like sweet pototaoes and aubergines.
Wednesday 10 February, 2010 at 8:56 pm
When bad customer service and angry customers collide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT5t678S1f4
Monday 15 February, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Good job your weren’t buying teaspoons as well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217504/Are-old-spoon-Woman-asked-ID-buying-teaspoons-Tesco.html
Think it’s something to do with drugs
Saturday 24 April, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Dunnes Stores have a knack or hiring the most socially retarded so called management and staff most of my dealings with the chain have fell short of the normal service you expect when buying from a so called bigger retail chain,today being the most recent experience, where as walking down past the checkouts at five mins to closing I got a manager gasp “Jesus Christ” at my nerve to walk into his outlet on a saturday evening…I had to laugh at it really. I rarely shop in the place due to the brutal staffing and bad Human resources dept. the place obviously has and actually feel sorry for anyone associated with the place to be honest.