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Hi,
I really need some help with this. Apologies for the length but it needs proper explanation to make the issue clear.
I work at Tesco on the Customer Service Desk. One of our Company Policies is that if a customer has had an item scanned twice at the checkout (a "double scan") then we give double the difference back.
For example: A customer has bought one pillow, worth £14.00 and comes to CSD and says she has been charged twice for it. We have to log the pricing error on our computer system, F11 and give the customer double the difference back.
So:
Amount the customer expected to pay: £14.00
Amount we made the customer pay for the double scanned item: £28.00
Difference = £14.00
Double the difference = £28.00
We have been told that we have to keep things off F11 as our store has more than its' fair share of pricing errors. I argued this with the Acting CSD Manager and asked if we were ignoring our own Company Policy. I was told no, as long as the customer is happy with what they are being offered (in example above, just a refund of £14.00 - and no logging on F11) then that is ok.
I said that I felt this was "sharp practice" and not only going against our own company policy, but against one of our core values that "no one tries harder for customers".
I argued that it's not up to our Customers to know our Company Policies but it is up to us to abide by them. I was told that I didn't need to worry as it was at the Duty Manager's discretion and not my decision to make.
The next day I called our Customer Services line anonymously and was told by two different people that giving double the difference is Company Policy and is NOT discretionary.
I then rang my union rep and he wanted to phone our Personnel Manager straight away but I begged him not to as the last person who "whistle blew" was discovered by their IP number and their life was made so intolerable that they left.
The next day, I had a long meeting with the actual Manager of our CSD. She said that the Duty Mgr has to do an investigation and then make a decision so it's not discretionary, but conditional on the investigation.That sounded better and I had to sign a summary of our discussion.
I got her to add that if I saw a Duty Manager decide that it was a Double Scan and still only gave a refund rather than DTD, that I would stay quiet until the customer had left (by which time the damage is done!) and then report it to her. She would then report it to our Deputy Manager who would then speak to the Duty Manager concerned.
Long story short: On Saturday I had to deal with an obvious double scan. My Team Leader even searched through the customer's trolley looking for a "second" item in case they were (as I have been warned) "on the make".No second item was found and the Duty Manager (who also happens to be our Store's Compliance Manager) asked the customer if they were happy to have the money back that they had been overcharged and they said yes.
So she told me to just give a refund (no DTD and no logging on F11).I did so and when the customer had gone, the Duty Manager started to fill in the refund slip and she wrote "Double Scan". I'd agreed in writing to support the Duty Manager in the first instance so I told her she'd better not write that as if she really thought it was a double scan she should have given DTD and had it logged as a pricing error on F11.
It only occurred to me afterwards that by incorrectly processing a double scan on my own Till Number I was implicating myself in ignoring Company Policy. I should have realised this but I am so stressed that it's hard to think straight.
I then went to my Team Leader and told her what had happened. I said that I should now tell our Manager and my TL said "You can't do that. There have been meetings with the managers because a lot of them aren't sure what they're doing."
The upshot of this is that I feel as if I am at a crossroads. I can ignore it and, as I see it, keep conning our customers (which I feel I can't do as I believe it's wrong) or I can keep pushing the issue which may ultimately lead to constructive dismissal.
I have written a complete log of who said what, when just in case...
I feel physically ill over all of this and would be so grateful for any information you could give me.
I really need some help with this. Apologies for the length but it needs proper explanation to make the issue clear.
I work at Tesco on the Customer Service Desk. One of our Company Policies is that if a customer has had an item scanned twice at the checkout (a "double scan") then we give double the difference back.
For example: A customer has bought one pillow, worth £14.00 and comes to CSD and says she has been charged twice for it. We have to log the pricing error on our computer system, F11 and give the customer double the difference back.
So:
Amount the customer expected to pay: £14.00
Amount we made the customer pay for the double scanned item: £28.00
Difference = £14.00
Double the difference = £28.00
We have been told that we have to keep things off F11 as our store has more than its' fair share of pricing errors. I argued this with the Acting CSD Manager and asked if we were ignoring our own Company Policy. I was told no, as long as the customer is happy with what they are being offered (in example above, just a refund of £14.00 - and no logging on F11) then that is ok.
I said that I felt this was "sharp practice" and not only going against our own company policy, but against one of our core values that "no one tries harder for customers".
I argued that it's not up to our Customers to know our Company Policies but it is up to us to abide by them. I was told that I didn't need to worry as it was at the Duty Manager's discretion and not my decision to make.
The next day I called our Customer Services line anonymously and was told by two different people that giving double the difference is Company Policy and is NOT discretionary.
I then rang my union rep and he wanted to phone our Personnel Manager straight away but I begged him not to as the last person who "whistle blew" was discovered by their IP number and their life was made so intolerable that they left.
The next day, I had a long meeting with the actual Manager of our CSD. She said that the Duty Mgr has to do an investigation and then make a decision so it's not discretionary, but conditional on the investigation.That sounded better and I had to sign a summary of our discussion.
I got her to add that if I saw a Duty Manager decide that it was a Double Scan and still only gave a refund rather than DTD, that I would stay quiet until the customer had left (by which time the damage is done!) and then report it to her. She would then report it to our Deputy Manager who would then speak to the Duty Manager concerned.
Long story short: On Saturday I had to deal with an obvious double scan. My Team Leader even searched through the customer's trolley looking for a "second" item in case they were (as I have been warned) "on the make".No second item was found and the Duty Manager (who also happens to be our Store's Compliance Manager) asked the customer if they were happy to have the money back that they had been overcharged and they said yes.
So she told me to just give a refund (no DTD and no logging on F11).I did so and when the customer had gone, the Duty Manager started to fill in the refund slip and she wrote "Double Scan". I'd agreed in writing to support the Duty Manager in the first instance so I told her she'd better not write that as if she really thought it was a double scan she should have given DTD and had it logged as a pricing error on F11.
It only occurred to me afterwards that by incorrectly processing a double scan on my own Till Number I was implicating myself in ignoring Company Policy. I should have realised this but I am so stressed that it's hard to think straight.
I then went to my Team Leader and told her what had happened. I said that I should now tell our Manager and my TL said "You can't do that. There have been meetings with the managers because a lot of them aren't sure what they're doing."
The upshot of this is that I feel as if I am at a crossroads. I can ignore it and, as I see it, keep conning our customers (which I feel I can't do as I believe it's wrong) or I can keep pushing the issue which may ultimately lead to constructive dismissal.
I have written a complete log of who said what, when just in case...
I feel physically ill over all of this and would be so grateful for any information you could give me.
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