Complainers are going crazy over self-checkout counters (and the checks)
Suddenly, there are loads of complaints about self-checkout counters. Unfriendly, inconvenient and above all: those checks don’t seem so random. Hey, what’s going on?
Sometimes the service in a supermarket is downright appalling, or products aren’t what you expected. It’s only logical that you say something about it then. On a website, on Facebook or simply face to face—anything goes. This complaints website features many complaints about the self-checkout counters at Albert Heijn. Not suitable for everyone, as we pointed out earlier. When do you get checked? Is that fair? Who decides?
Fast, efficient
It does become rather unfriendly if everyone starts scanning and paying for everything themselves, doesn’t it? That’s what Mr or Ms Wrts thinks, at least: ‘The handheld scanners are not at all pleasant for customers who want to maintain contact with checkout staff. AH tries to persuade customers to use the scanners, because then you’re out of the store faster. (…) Everything has to be faster and more efficient again. Much to the annoyance of older people.’
Receipt for beer
And if you do have contact with a checkout employee, it isn’t always all sunshine and roses either. Just ask the complainant named Praelyk: ‘When paying at the self-checkout (…) I had scanned a crate of beer. When I walked away, a checkout employee came shouting at me that she “HAD TO” see the receipt. I didn’t feel like making a fuss in this temperature about the way she asked. Nevertheless, I don’t think this is a normal way to treat customers. It may sound like something minor, but nevertheless I don’t think you should treat customers like that.’
How random is it?
Doedel wonders how these checks are actually determined. Or rather, he or she is pretty sure: they aren’t entirely random. ‘I was checked again after paying at the self-checkout. (…) After paying, I saw Lynn already striding towards me, tapping away furiously on her device. The girl excitedly told me that my cart had to be checked again. I found that strange because the system picks you out before you pay. Then it turned out that it wasn’t required, but that she herself had decided it was.’
I’ve had enough!
Why are some people checked and others not? Anoniem 90 has a theory about that too. ‘I’m often the only person, coincidentally with a dark skin tone, who gets singled out. Whether I scan four products or a whole shopping bag full. And I’ve had enough of it.’ Omar recognises this: ‘(…) all I see is dark-skinned people being checked. If that’s your policy, then everyone must be treated equally; it shouldn’t happen based on my skin colour.’
A complainant named Ikwordernietgoed writes: ‘I’ve also noticed that some staff members deliberately single out certain customers with a certain appearance to check their shopping at a self-checkout (with the hypocritical excuse that they check customers at random—it’s strange that it’s always the same group of customers), even when it’s a loyal customer who has never been caught doing anything wrong.’
And the stamps?
For Joke, the suspicion of discrimination isn’t the sticking point—it’s the Efteling stamps. ‘When I scan my own groceries, I can get a stamp on a stamp card, with a reward for a full card. But where do I get the stamp? Efteling stamps—the same story.’
Read also:
- 5 things supermarket employees really find incredibly annoying about customers, part 3
- Supermarket staff on customers’ most rude behaviour
- Supermarkets, you really can’t do this
Source: Klacht.nl
