Waitrose - Don't Believe Them!!

Is that the one that confuses me by giving me bits of green plastic with my change ?

 

One of my local Waitrose stores doesn't stock alcohol, another doesn't stock magazines.

 

Good to sound off shiney....and you have.

 

At Easter Waitrose were advertising on tv particular Easter Eggs with something special in them. There was quite a fuss when it turned out none of the local shops stocked the goods. So this is nothing new they do it all the time. Methings trading standards might be interested.

 

We only shop there to get the bread flour that Mr Kandy likes to use for the bread machineas they don't stock it anywhere else but for us it is quiet a trek to both of the stores so only pop in when we are out that way.

I find the goods quiet expensive as opposed to places like Tesco's or Sainsburys but try telling that to a lot of people in our village as supermarket snobbery is rife and they wouldn't be seen dead with anything other than Waitrose carrier bags

 

As a 'Telegraph' reader (subscriber to get the cost down) I've always tried to plan my shopping trips around the vouchers for free products at Waitrose that are occasionally printed in that newspaper (but get every single Bodyshop free £5 product), and have found their staff incredibly helpful in locating items they are giving away, and even providing alternatives when they either don't stock the product or have sold out.

Not so good perhaps when you actually want to pay for the stuff?

 

Well - one would have thought better of Waitrose but .... when (a while back) Tesco paid gawd-knows-what for TV ads., saying 'Fresh Scottish beef joints half price', I thought, ah ha!

Off I went and, sure enough outside the store there were innumerable advertising boards saying 'Fresh Scottish beef joints .....' I did my shopping, keeping an eye out for these beef joints but couldn't actually find any. I asked at the meat counter and was told they were pre-packed joints so would be 'on the shelves'. Another customer heard me ask the question because she too was searching for them, so we set off together. Up and down the chiller cabinets we went, but even working together we couldn't find them - what we did find was a Tesco type person and my new chum asked where the half-price beef joints were, to which she got the reply 'What half price beef joints?'

'The one's your company has been advertising on TV and for which there are loads of adverts outside'

'I haven't seen any adverts'

'But there's one literally right outside, it's in the foyer bit'

At this point the Tesco type person did what they all do on occasions like this .... just shrugged and looked very bored. Not to be put off, my 'friend' made the point that if there is an advertising board in the foyer of a store, one naturally assumes it was put there for a purpose other than to give the work experience kid something to do so would she please find the beef joints?

Rather than apologising (or, heaven forbid, offering to go and ask someone) the Tesco female said 'Are you threatening me?'

Since things were clearly beginning to turn ugly, I slunk away, grabbed a chicken and left.

Later, (like shiney), I rang the Customer Service people and they simply couldn't explain why there were adverts about in the car park but no beef joints actually in the shop. In fact, I got pretty much the same brush-off - 'It's rare for all of our stores to carry all of the offers'. Considering it was beef I was after, I wondered if this was a clever play on words 'beef - rare'? I pointed out to this woman that yes, I like my beef rare, yank the horns off and chase it through a warm kitchen and it's cooked, but even I prefer it dead when it hits my plate - this appeared to be so fresh, it was still alive and had clearly made a run for it before it got covered in cling film.

Sadly, this story does not have a happy ending because at this point .... she hung up on me!

 

I wouldn't push my blood pressure up about it Shiney.
The answer is don't read their magazine - it's just all advertising.
Just shop for what you know you need and not for what they are trying to persuade you that you need - even if they don't have it.

 

I'm afraid its all just a normal part of sales/marketing.

Advertise something really tempting that you haven't actually got, then people will come in to buy it and when they don't find it, they'll just buy something else while they're there.

I find travel agents are notorious for it. 'A week in Spain from £99', so you build your hopes up and have a look, only to find that what they meant to say was 'A week in Spain from £399 if you fly from Gatwick in the middle of Wednesday night in April'. Ok, maybe I exaggerate, but you get my point

 

Aah, I don't use them, they confuse me.