How come Tesco is so dirty and messy?

mick.fr

I am amazed at the level of dirtyness, perpetual lack of stocks, wrong prices etc at Tesco stores. And in fairness this is not the only chain that has this kind of problem in Ireland.
I have seen Tesco in the UK (Mainland) that were a lot more clean with profusion of products, never went out.

Here every now and then they run out of common products, many products are out of stock etc...

I have been shopping for years in different Dublin areas, this is always the same story.

Pretty shameful isn't? It is not difficult to achieve a minimal of stock control and cleaning, floors at Tesco are a disgrace. Any time of the day, looks like they never clean it.

Anyone agrees with me or is it myself only taking notice of this disgrace?

/rant

schween

I agree Tesco stores are filthy!

Davy

This came up before in a thread. A lot of the stores and often the main higher profile ones were the messiest. ClareHall and maynooth i remember came out bad.

Toots

I've always found the Dundrum one to be good. The Nutgrove one, and in particular the Stillorgan one are a disgrace. I'm actually surprised the department of health (or whatever the heck department oversees hygiene standards) haven't been out to these guys. Several times I've seen out of date products on the shelves and have notified the staff who basically couldn't give a toss. :rolleyes:

brendansmith

Tescos tried to get as much stock in the back door and out the front as possible and thus the low prices etc.

They are in business because they are cheap. The main concern is prices and not cleanliness.

mick.fr

brendansmith wrote: »

Tescos tried to get as much stock in the back door and out the front as possible and thus the low prices etc.

They are in business because they are cheap. The main concern is prices and not cleanliness.

Tesco is far to be cheap. Well any shop in Ireland is not cheap lol...
You cannot distribute food stuff to public in a such dirty environment in my opinion. Germs do accumulate very easily.

Plus I do not know where they get their meat from, even at Lidl it looks a lot better. Very often I see purple/brown meat on shelves.
This is just crazy. They don't give a rats.

Toots

I agree, particularly considering that some of them are lovely and clean. As I said, the Dundrum one is great! I'd happily do all my grocery shopping there except that, despite the recession, the carpark in Dundrum is always so jammed on weekends. I usually go to Dunnes, which are also great

mick.fr

I miss my Tesco Extra! in UK though...so much things in one place, very handy.
We are condamned to shop in small and expensive shops in Ireland. Such a pity.

L1011

mick.fr wrote: »

I miss my Tesco Extra! in UK though...so much things in one place, very handy.
We are condamned to shop in small and expensive shops in Ireland. Such a pity.

The Tesco Extra in Maynooth is, food wise, a normal Tesco with more of each product and no extra ranges. Sure, I can buy a firewire cable at 1am when I get the urge to do some video editing like I did last week but I can't get products which are stocked even in very small branches in the North (Irn Bru, for instance). But I can walk past nearly a solid wall of Coke bottles.

mikemac

davton wrote: »

ClareHall and maynooth i remember came out bad.

Clarehall is fine, it's the best branch I've been in

As for Tesco Ballyfermot! :eek:

Sammag

The Rathmines one was always a disgrace. Merrion wasn't too bad.
I just always assumed it was that no-one, not even the managers gave a f*ck because they resented having to work in a sh*thole.

Ste.phen

Sammag wrote: »

The Rathmines one was always a disgrace. Merrion wasn't too bad.
I just always assumed it was that no-one, not even the managers gave a f*ck because they resented having to work in a sh*thole.

That's not far off the truth. A dirty shop (and the one i worked in for years wasn't too bad, compared to what i've seen in other Tescos) starts to wear on you over time. There simply wasn't the time / staff / budget available to keep the place squeeky clean. It was either that, or put stock onto the shelves.
We had contract cleaners for mopping the floors a few times a week, but cleaning on / around / the shelves was Tesco staff themselves, and it wasn't often a priority.
I imagine now the staff hours have been cut even further, which increases everyone's workload and makes it even less likely that non-core things will be done.

kmick

Tesco is a cheap-ish, poor quality, poor service store. I stopped shopping there about 2 years ago due to the really bad quality of the fruit and veg. I use dunnes now and it is no more expensive and a lot better on fruit and veg.

Gauge

Stillorgan Tesco is total rubbish. They never seem to bother putting prices on any of the shelves in the electrical/homeware shop, and the supermarket is just filthy and cramped.

Sammag

*Shakes fist* Bring back H.Williams I say!

jelly&icecream

Tesco on Prussia St is fairly manky aswell. Also any of the times I've ever been in it there have been no baskets at the door and you have to go along the row of tills, often for quite some distance to find one. Staff are pretty rude aswell.
Tbh I avoid it if at all possible and only shop there if everything else if closed or inconvenient to get at.

John Mason

Clearwater is clean but the staff - OMG:eek: i have never met ruder staff in my life, who seem to think it is acceptable to swear at customers.

i will only shop in there now, if it is absolutely necessary. the same with the petrol station - absolutely disgraceful

eth0_

mick.fr wrote: »

I have seen Tesco in the UK (Mainland) that were a lot more clean with profusion of products, never went out.

Trust me, here in Scotland they are JUST as bad in terms of filthy staff, almost entirely foreign staff with bad English and even worse BO.

Waitrose and Sainsbury's are like a parallel universe to Tesco. Even Asda are miles better than Tesco and they're supposedly 'lower' than Tesco/aimed at people with less money!

holly1

This all stems from bad management and as for head office,dont bother they dont care either.
We have a Tesco Express in Clane and it has to be the most untidy shop in the country,unhelpful staff and I wouldent know the manager there if I fell over him/her.

Red Alert

Superquinn haven't been much better. After the refit in Ballinteer where they painted the store black it's hard to figure out where's dirty and where's not.

KTRIC

Maybe we should all go to the "mainland" to shop :rolleyes:

RangeR

KTRIC wrote: »

Maybe we should all go to the "mainland" to shop :rolleyes:

Of course you mean Ireland?

jor el

KTRIC wrote: »

Maybe we should all go to the "mainland" to shop :rolleyes:

A lot of people here on Inis Mór would probably agree with you, choice being somewhat limited.


I've noticed that all the Tesco stores that used to be Crazy Prices tend to be the filthy ones. The old Tesco in Wexford town is one, Lismore shopping centre in Waterford is another, both were Crazy Prices before, both are fairly dreadful.

nowimtalking

Even the ones in the country are terrible, Supervalu is far better, well the new ones anyway!
We always buy from the veg shop and the butchers and all we use the supermarkets for is frozen food(quorn for me) and then bread and stuff in the local shop.

mick.fr

Ste.phen wrote: »

That's not far off the truth. A dirty shop (and the one i worked in for years wasn't too bad, compared to what i've seen in other Tescos) starts to wear on you over time. There simply wasn't the time / staff / budget available to keep the place squeeky clean. It was either that, or put stock onto the shelves.
We had contract cleaners for mopping the floors a few times a week, but cleaning on / around / the shelves was Tesco staff themselves, and it wasn't often a priority.
I imagine now the staff hours have been cut even further, which increases everyone's workload and makes it even less likely that non-core things will be done.

I disagree with that. That is not because a shop is busy that it cannot be cleaned up during the course of the day.
In UK there is Tesco shops making 4 million pounds a week-end. And I can tell you it is cleaned up regularly during the day.
And Tesco shops in Ireland are making a very substential amount of money, so the "no budget", "no staff" excuse, sorry I dno't buy it.

My very first job when I was 20, was to work in a extremelly busy KFC/Pizza Hut in Paris. I can tell you we had the managers behind us every 30 minutes to clean the floor, the toilets etc. And it had to be cleaned up seriously, including getting your hand dirty in the toilet.
Every nights at closure, we had to move all the furnitures (Understand hooven, fridges etc) in the kitchen and clean beneath them.

Ste.phen

mick.fr wrote: »

I disagree with that. That is not because a shop is busy that it cannot be cleaned up during the course of the day.
In UK there is Tesco shops making 4 million pounds a week-end. And I can tell you it is cleaned up regularly during the day.
And Tesco shops in Ireland are making a very substential amount of money, so the "no budget", "no staff" excuse, sorry I dno't buy it.

Hey, I didn't say they weren't making money, the problem is simply that the management (be they store-level or higher) don't place any emphasis on ensuring there's sufficient manpower directed at cleaning.

Toots

Gauge wrote: »

Stillorgan Tesco is total rubbish. They never seem to bother putting prices on any of the shelves in the electrical/homeware shop, and the supermarket is just filthy and cramped.

Me and the guys in work have a theory that the naughty staff from the other tescos get sent to the stillorgan one as punishment.

Max Power1

mick.fr wrote: »

Tesco is far to be cheap. Well any shop in Ireland is not cheap lol...
You cannot distribute food stuff to public in a such dirty environment in my opinion. Germs do accumulate very easily.

Plus I do not know where they get their meat from, even at Lidl it looks a lot better. Very often I see purple/brown meat on shelves.
This is just crazy. They don't give a rats.

seems that if they dont start to clean up they will have to do something about the aforementioned rats

IsThatSo?

I avoid Tesco and only go there to buy one or two things that I can't get elsewhere. The Naas and Gorey shops are maggoty, as is the Stillorgan branch. The one in The Square isn't too bad. Some of the older ones that were Quinnsworth haven't been updated since the Quinnsworth days (same as the Crazy Prices ones) and part of the dirty look, I think, is that they are just plain old.

Their pricing annoys me too, often there are no prices up or items are mispriced :mad:

I prefer Dunnes/Lidl myself.

Lollipops23

the tesco in ballyfermot is just as bad.the fridges that all the pre-packed sambos are in has mould down the back(i know the sambos are protected,but eww all the same!!!)the floor never looks properly cleaned,just enough so that the health authorities are happy. If it was a shop didn't specialise in foodstuff i wouldn't be quite so concerned, but there's just no excuse for it.and we all wonder why we get food poinsoning??!!

Also, the staff seem to vary greatly from shop to shop!the one in ballyfermot is pretty dire,they'd rather carry on their conversations with eachother than serve customers. but the one on talbot st is usually ok.

tbh

Ste.phen wrote: »

Hey, I didn't say they weren't making money, the problem is simply that the management (be they store-level or higher) don't place any emphasis on ensuring there's sufficient manpower directed at cleaning.

you're right - it's too widespread for me not to believe that it's actual policy for tescos. It's so strange, no matter which store I go into it's as described here, dirty, couldn't-care-less staff, and out of stock. And don't get me started on those frickin "Unexpected item in bagging area" tills. IT'S A BAG! that's why it's in the BAGGING area!

JDxtra

Cant stand Tesco, they seem to have lost the plot while implementing their plan for world domination. Poor quality fruit, veg & meat. Low stock levels of perishable items. Value only on specials - expensive on many other items. Staff who could not give a monkeys. No greater selection in larger stores, just more of the same items. Need I go on? Dunnes are far superior...

spadder

I worked in a few tescos as a contractor during refits, since then I never buy foodstuffs in Tesco. The Butchers Dept's in these shops was a disgrace!
I don't know how they get away with it. Why aren't food safety authorties closing these kips down?

lindtee

Totally dislike Tesco too. The aforementioned filthiness of their stores, and I include in this 5 stores either built or refurbished within the last 4 years, so new enough stores that all look completely manky and old. The dodgey special offers, the only thing special about them is that they are crap. The repeated overcharging. The staff who don't like you very much. The out of date food on the shelf(I mean months out of date in some cases). The reduced to clear sections give you a pittance off sometimes mouldy/bashed/green food. The many posted bargains in bargains alert that were only available in some tesco in the west. The price increases that kept on going....jaysus I could go on forever!!

Had been avoiding Dunnes for many years in favour of tesco, but its now the opposite as Dunnes have improved immensely(except for moustached managers). Likewise Supervalu is on the up. And lidl and aldi too(although it has to be said that they are increasing their prices).

The unfortunate thing is to get a "good value" shop, I would have to shop between the four each week. I'm lucky in that I have the 4 in a 5 mile radius.

Dinkie

I find Tesco's Wexford pretty good. Its clean, and well stocked when ever I'm in there. Most of the staff are o.k.... one or two unhelpful ones... but nothing to complain about.

IMO its the best and cheapest supermarket in WExford

chasm

Must depend on the part of the country you're in! Carrick on shannon branch is a clean, relatively tidy store imo, and they seem to be fairly on the ball in relation to cleaning spillages etc. Looks abit messy if you go in in the early hours when they are stocking the shelves, but sure you'll have that!

AmcD

I enjoy shopping in the Clearwater Tesco. Every week I get something for free due to their sloppy overpricing. To save time I now bring the pricetags up to customer service desk. Sometimes I think I might get banned at some stage.
I do my fruit and veg shopping in Lidl now because it is cheaper and better quality.

dh0661

My Mom used to work in Quinnsworth when Tony Keohane, now CEO Tesco, was a regional manager for Quinnsworth.

That time every thing had to be spic & span, she said that he even went down on his hands and knees to check if the floor under shelves were swept and cleaned

She is very saddened with the way Tesco are operating and refuses to shop there now.

sunnysoutheast

JDxtra wrote: »

Cant stand Tesco, they seem to have lost the plot while implementing their plan for world domination. Poor quality fruit, veg & meat. Low stock levels of perishable items. Value only on specials - expensive on many other items. Staff who could not give a monkeys. No greater selection in larger stores, just more of the same items. Need I go on? Dunnes are far superior...

Couldn't agree more with this. Nail>>head. Whenever I get an out of date item it always seems to be at Tesco, on the 14th I bought some doughnuts dated the 12th. I've sent Tesco two letters to their head office pointing out that they are not implementing their offers properly, no reply, nothing. We've actually ended up buying only petrol from Tesco, and to be honest I'd rather give the money to somebody else.

We now get all our food from our fishmongers, butcher, Aldi/Lidl and our local Artisan supermarket. We leave shopping at Tesco to others, although I doubt they'll miss our custom.

SSE

Davy

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

We leave shopping at Tesco to others, although I doubt they'll miss our custom.

If everyone else starts thinking and doing the same it would be decimating for their business.

Just thinking that their isnt many thread regathering the other supermarkets for consumer issues. Tesco is the post popular it seems....

delllat

the tescos branch in the basement in the jervis centre is absolutely filthy

so is the other one in drumcondra rd


shelves are always empty ,products rarely in stock

disgraceful

thebman

I don't think the Maynooth staff are that bad. TBH the younger staff are better than the older ones who seem to not want to serve you at all and treat you like your a piece of crap. I used to assume it was because I was a student, I'm not anymore for a few years but still get this treatment from them :rolleyes:

The auld ones seem to insist on garda id from people for buying alcohol too. My housemate was refused when he used his passport as id! Garda age card only. Ridiculous and glad to give more business to local off-license TBH.

The Maynooth store isn't that dirty that I've noticed but the stock is terrible. Really right what people say here, they are just using extra space to stock even more of the same stock! Whats the point in that. Just using the floor as a store room and making me walk around it.

mikemac

delllat wrote: »

so is the other one in drumcondra rd

disgraceful

I don't think that store is that bad actually.
And Artaine Castle is pretty good imo, maybe it's down to store management.
Managers of Tesco Ballyfermot should be sacked in the morning, place is filthy!

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Also, the staff seem to vary greatly from shop to shop!the one in ballyfermot is pretty dire,they'd rather carry on their conversations with eachother than serve customers.

+1, especially Ballyfermot.
The checkout staff chat away to each other and shout over you while scanning your stuff. Ok, I'm not going to pull them up on this but don't just stop scanning just to discuss the best fake tan or what lad you scored last weekend, I don't want to know!
Don't forget having them to ask them to stop texting while you're trying to get them to use your credit card :mad:

Offtopic, staff in M&S, IFSC are fantastic, best retail staff I've met in Dublin.
Tesco could learn from them

luckat

Sammag wrote: »

The Rathmines one was always a disgrace. Merrion wasn't too bad.
I just always assumed it was that no-one, not even the managers gave a f*ck because they resented having to work in a sh*thole.

If that is their attitude to my country, it reflects badly on them.

I get one thing in Tesco: Lá Breá bread, which is really good. Don't know where else stocks it.

parsi

tbh wrote: »

you're right - it's too widespread for me not to believe that it's actual policy for tescos. It's so strange, no matter which store I go into it's as described here, dirty, couldn't-care-less staff, and out of stock. And don't get me started on those frickin "Unexpected item in bagging area" tills. IT'S A BAG! that's why it's in the BAGGING area!

The error is because it's expecting a BAGGING and all you're supplying is a BAG. A bagging is an archaic english device much popular with Tesco.

Now I must get my coat....

Jip

tbh wrote: »

you're right - it's too widespread for me not to believe that it's actual policy for tescos.

Managers in any supermarket chain, not just Tesco are mainly concerned with the bottom line. Unfortunate as it is the truth is that their stores make money on selling and reducing waste and that's what they have most of their staff trying to do. It's not policy as I expect they're audited regularly alongside regular EHO inspections.

It all depends on the individual store, for example my local Superquinn is a dump whereas the one in Blanchardstown is great. Maybe because Tesco is so prolific people just think it's worse than others, it's not in my experience.

compsys

AmcD wrote: »

I enjoy shopping in the Clearwater Tesco. Every week I get something for free due to their sloppy overpricing. To save time I now bring the pricetags up to customer service desk. Sometimes I think I might get banned at some stage.
I do my fruit and veg shopping in Lidl now because it is cheaper and better quality.

Lol. I'm the same. Remember guys, Tesco have a 'no quibbles' pricing guarantee. If they over charge you at the check-out then the agree to refund you the TOTAL value of the product. I've received Actimels, chicken fillets, premium orange juice and much more for free over the past few weeks because of their bad pricing. It's great. It's one of the few reason I still shop there! Most Irish people just don't take the time to check what they're paying for things.

Have to agree though, Tesco storess are often filthy and badly stocked. The Nutgrove one is a total joke. And whoever says it's only because they're a 'low-cost' store and is therefore to be expected is seriously deluded. Tesco is now more expensive than Dunnes for most products and often more expensive than Superquinn as well. Just read the thread 'Tesco Price Increases'.

richiepoorman

Yeah i think it depends on the store, Mullingar one can be grotty, yet Tullamore looks spotless, now i know the Tullamore one is a lot newer but even so, as for the cleanliness of the stores, you should see the warehouses that the stuff comes from, especially there chiller and frozen area,s, I'll leave that to your imagination ??:rolleyes:

Cicero

All retail /consumer behaviour research studies state that a dirty supermarket is an empty supermarket..the worst mistake a supermarket can make is have its checkout counter worn and dirty- it's the last memory the shopper has of the store..even staffing and service ranks behind this one small point..people just don't buy food that they will eventually eat, in a dirty supermarket..a clean supermarket in itself, doesn't necessarily attract people in, but a dirty one keeps many away. ..their loss!

macfran

[ (Irn Bru, for instance). But I can walk past nearly a solid wall of Coke bottles.[/QUOTE]

That is what I hate about that store so if there are a few people there we are all corralded into narrow aisles around fruit and veg and meat and ready meals and the congestion on a Saturday can be crazy while the rest of the store is almost empty.

Was there onle to spend coupons.

calex71

compsys wrote: »

Lol. I'm the same. Remember guys, Tesco have a 'no quibbles' pricing guarantee. If they over charge you at the check-out then the agree to refund you the TOTAL value of the product. I've received Actimels, chicken fillets, premium orange juice and much more for free over the past few weeks because of their bad pricing. It's great. It's one of the few reason I still shop there! Most Irish people just don't take the time to check what they're paying for things.

Have to agree though, Tesco storess are often filthy and badly stocked. The Nutgrove one is a total joke. And whoever says it's only because they're a 'low-cost' store and is therefore to be expected is seriously deluded. Tesco is now more expensive than Dunnes for most products and often more expensive than Superquinn as well. Just read the thread 'Tesco Price Increases'.

I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for 'bargains' when im shopping in nuttygrove from now on :pac: