Dear Walthamstow Asda,
I’m not an angry woman. I like to think of myself as patient and tolerant – I used to teach eight year olds for God’s sake, and they’re bloody irritating. So little things tend not to aggravate me too much, least of all a shopping expedition to the local supermarket. What could be less stressful? Skipping along to the Asda around the corner, shopping list in hand, eager to have a pleasant walk around the aisles and finish with a basket full of necessary items. What larks!
No, Asda. Allow me to put this assumption right out of your head, just as it was quickly ripped from mine.
Nothing in my 25 years of existence has ever enraged me as much as your supermarket. Nothing has ever filled me with such anger, such desperation to physically hurt somebody, such concern that my blood pressure is going to raise to a dangerous level at which point my heart will literally explode, sending a thirteen year old with an IQ of a small cucumber in an Asda uniform to tend to a ‘clean up on aisle three’.
Now let me reiterate that this complaint refers to Walthamstow Asda, not the chain as a whole.
A shopping trip which I would generally anticipate to take around ten minutes (go in, grab stuff for dinner, pay, home) usually ends up taking at least half an hour on a good day, and I am left so devoid of energy and will to live that I might as well have stayed home and starved for the evening.
Firstly, most of your customers are idiots, but I suppose this isn’t completely your fault. I do wonder why your store attracts less intelligent people than the Sainsbury’s down the road, considering your supermarket is the most poorly laid out store I’ve ever had the misfortune to shop in.
Trying get from one aisle to another is like an obstacle course constructed entirely of morons. People stand still in the middle of the store as though their battery has run out. They stop and have a chat with fellow morons, blocking the entire aisle so that an angry queue builds up behind them. They strategically place their trollies in front of the most commonly used shelves while they walk off looking for things that you probably don’t sell.
This brings me to my real problem with you, Walthamstow Asda. I have never (and I am not exaggerating in order to give my letter added punch) shopped in your store and managed to find everything on my list. Most recently I came in to buy ingredients for baking cupcakes. Butter, got that. Flour, yep that was there. Brown sugar.. hmm where’s the brown sugar? THERE WAS NONE. Why a supermarket would not stock such a basic food stuff I will never know. And it was not sold out, it simply was not available. This meant that once I had finished shopping and paid for my items, I had to walk ten minutes down the road to buy brown sugar from Sainsbury’s.
I also recently came to Asda to buy ingredients for a Mexican meal I was cooking. Unfortunately, due to the store clearly being designed by a blind rabbit, I searched for refried beans for ten minutes before asking a member of staff. Oh, what a mistake. The first man I spoke to had never heard of refried beans. I had to actually spell the word to him but there was still not a glimmer of recognition in his face. “What are they? Some kind of bean?” Yes. And they are refried. They come in a tin. “Have you look on the shelf with the tins?” Yes. That was my first port of call. “Right, sorry I’ve never heard of them, let me ask somebody else.. Lucy, refried beans?” Lucy, or whatever her name was, looked at me with an equally blank, clueless stare, by which point stupid salesperson number one had vanished, to give completely useless advice to another customer. Lucy had never heard of refried beans either, but on hearing they were Mexican, suggested I try looking by the ‘fa-jee-ters’. I eventually bid her good day and found them myself.
Thirdly, your self checkout machines are rubbish. I don’t think I need to expand.
So in closing, please make your supermarket better.
Thank you.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Sadly I know this store well and it couldn’t be truer. I now venture down the road to Sainsbury’s otherwise I’ll be spending a good 5 years at Her Majesty’s pleasure for clocking some idiots in Asda.
Have actually been to Asda in Walthamstow once, and went out, never to return…..not even a single baked bean can undented…
I too have experienced the frustration of this store. Not only do not sell basic ingredients, what they do sell is a bloody ripoff.
I remember a visit there to buy ingredients for the simple recipe of bangers and mash. Now I don’t know about anyone else but you would usually expect a range of potatoes considering it is a staple food. But oh no all they had were baking and new potatoes. Idiots!!!
Haha, ‘fa-jee-ters’. My only request of supermarket staff if a basic awareness of stock and from the sounds of it they’ve never even eaten fajitas, which makes me sad. I’ve noticed Asdas do attract a higher percentage of morons compared to other supermarkets. Saturday mornings are peak moron time. Can you tell me why a pensioner would shop at the busiest time of the week when they’ve been sitting on their arses all week long?
While I have never had the misfortune of visiting this particular Asda, I have visited others, and can assure you that this level of idiciocy is not confined to the Walthamstow branch. I feel your pain.
I have never been to this particular Asda, but never fear, all of the ones i have been into are exactly the same. Last week I went to my local store to get a small ironing board cover. It appeard that even though i bought my ironing board from there, they dont sell small covers now! How clever is that. I then had to get in my car & drive to my local Tesco to get what i wanted!
Wonderfully expressed. I sense your pain with the aforementioned troublesome store.
Fantastic. Just as it is! Well written
Thank you everyone! I had no idea that other people felt this way – Asda should probably be worried.
You should try the one in Harlow!:o(
I find that all supermarkets are like this. I went into Tesco once and asked for a can of coconut milk – I was led to the fresh, bovine variety in the chilled section. Hhhmmm…
I use to love ASDA it was my main place of shopping now I only go there when I absolutely have to I find most of the staff rude and ignorant thats not to say that they all the same. ASDA Has gone way down hill I find Morrisons, Sainsburys far superior to ASDA I received dvds as unwanted birthday presents clearly you could see they were purchased from the store ASDA logo on the packages being the clue!!! They wouldn’t give me an exchange. Simular circumstances with my son had an unwanted console game wanted to exchange as not wanted was done immediately only difference it was Morrisons
I am extremly angry, how should i type this……………..
Firstly, every suppermarket has an advert on TV these days and i don’t have any problem with them at all, untill now!
Asda seems to think that only mums go shopping and i think that is absoloutly outragous!!!!!!!!!!
Everybody goes shopping, including cildren and MEN!
I hope that in your next advert you will show men shopping as well as women.
Lastly, my advice to asda is, STOP AFFENDING WOMAN!
Redards Delphine, age 11
I started to do my shopping at Asda last year due to my disability and the difficulty getting around, and to take advantage of their delivery service. Everything seemed to be going well, and I had a delivery prior to my admission to hospital a few days after, but would be out within the week. Before I went in the debit was made from my account for the order they delivered, except for a couple of items they could not supply. When I was discharged from hospital I went to the cashpoint to get some cash and found that I could not make a withdrawal as the funds in my account had been allocated to pay a transaction going through. This transaction was the original payment to Asda “IF” they had all the order, but it had been paid for the order they had delivered. I could not withdraw any funds to pay my carer for the weekend, the stress and anxiety had me back in care again. I tried to call Asda helpline but the staff were the same all over, “Totally Incompetent”. I called the Executive Office at my bank to discuss the matter, and this apparently is not just a one off with Asda, but they did get the funds reallocated to my bank account for me. There is no way I would deal with an incompetent organisation of staff, and risk to be robbed again. Tesco might be slightly more expensive, but the service is alot better!
I always shop at asda its the only place i can find open after along shift at work finishing sometimes 3 or 4 in the morning. Today i went at 15.25pm on the 29/10/10 spent a £150.51 to find that what they advertise isn,t true. They say if you spend £40 on shopping they will give you £40 in vouchers well i didn,t receive any vouchers. I did see other people recieving them tho. Must off been my face that they didn,t like or they way my partner was dressed
i went into asda at monks cross huntington york on 8th march 2011 and spent most of my time asking w
hat price things were. they had the wrong prices on for 4 items i wanted to purchse so had to ask.these four items were priced up wrong i cannot understand why. i feel like going to sainsburys after today. i have gone to asda for the last 40 years.
A couple of weeks ago I purchased 2 pots of their own make paint from the Poole, Dorset branch.
I asked the staff member if they had any more out the back, she assured me that they did.
I painted a room with it but needed more, as the paint was not covering the area as it promised on the side of the paint pot, so I returned to the store that evening.
A shelf filling staff member initailly refused to check the store room for more paint as there was none on the shelves, but I insisted as there were few other staff.
No paint was found and so I spoke to a manager that took 20 minutes to see me, he ordered some and told me that it would be in store the next day, it was not, and I was told that this manager had misread the computer, and had not ordered it.
He also claimed to have ordered paint for their other 2 stores in Bournemouth, which do not sell paint.
Another manager ordered some paint for me, but several days later when I turned up the staff could not find the paint a staff member at the customer service till, was rude and arguementive and was serving other customers before me even though I was first.
I had to go to B&Q to colour match this poor quality paint, which cost me more money than I was willing to spend.
Both managers told me that this was a poor selling paint, well suprise suprise.
Avoid ASDA at all costs.
I would like to draw your attention of some melon slices i brought recently at full price. I brought them on 26/09/11, 23:06:47. like i do most weeks only to find out that they are out of date on 27/09/11.
I put them in my partners lunch box on the 27/09/11 for them to find them moady.
I shop in your store in eastleigh all the time and I have never found a problem, but this really annoyed me and so I hope you can assure this doesnt happen again.
I do not wish to check the dates on items around your store but I do believe these melon slices should of been on the reduced shelf.
I hope i hear back from you soon
Sarah Harding
I had very bad experience with ASDA staff ,,,I know just because of on racist person the whole staff and supermarket is blamed.One staff working on till asked me to show my reciept just because I was on till again just for bananan …(..suddenly after seing banna my babay started crying for banana so I though of buying is it harm to buy things again after we have done one transaction????///…….) ….I was thinking of lodging complaint against her but I dont want her to lose job……but if this continues I dont feel like doing shopping In ASDA (BOURNEMOUTH )
my experience of ASDA is diabolical.their pricing policy is such so as to baffle everyone each time i visit there is numerous prices underneath each product so you have to guess the price and when you ask some clown will tell you they are on special offer and quote you the lowest price on the labels showing only for you to find when you get home they were just telling you anything you want to hear this is a regular occurence at my local store so dont know if it the same at other ASDAs its about time they did something about it because one of these times i will take items back surely this has got to be an illegal practice and these sort of COWBOY practices should be stamped on and fines given where approriate
Just a WARNING for anybody wanting to place an order online at ASDA in time for Christmas – DON’T
I placed an order for an ebook last week. As usual my money was taken from my account at the speed of light.I was given a date to collect from Swanley which came and went.No notification.
I then found out my order had NOT been processed despite all the bull about confirmation, collection etc etc
Phoned, held on for 35 minutes and enquired what happened to the phone call I was promised.
They had no record of it
Then I phoned again and was told that the matter was sent to Head Office
Ahh, we all know about the wonderful Head Office dont we?? You know, that place where half the people think that they are up there with the Almighty and anything having been sent that far, can be dealt with as and when they feel like it.
So I phoned Head Office.
Waited 16 mins exactly before being cut off not having been answered.
Tried again.
21 mins this time.
Nothing.
Back to the online team who informed me that the matter would reach Head Office in 3 days!!!
So ASDA now have nearly a hundred quid of mine for a Christmas present, I will not get before Christmas.
My refund probably wont clear before Christmas which means my kid goes without his present.
Thanks ASDA.
You are a disgrace.There is no excuse from a multi billion pound WALMART company.
Anybody thinking of ordering online at ASDA, THINK AGAIN
You will have to chase up your order because, as in my case, you cannot believe the “order being processed ” rubbish email they send you.