The Tesco self-service check-out machine I used this morning was an absolute disaster. I wish I had gone to a human check-out instead.
The first problem it had was accepting my own carrier-bags, which it initially rejected. This difficulty persisted.
Then it would not accept a coupon for bananas; it advised me that the coupon was invalid because I hadn't bought a Pound's-worth (which I had).
The machine kept telling me to call for an assistant from then on, every time I tried to weigh grapes and limes.
The human assistant must have come over with her swipe-card about ten times; and the transaction wasted about fifteen minutes of my time. In fairness to these self-service machines, they do often work well, with straightforward transactions at least.
I reckon some of them require more modification or tweaking for the benefit of customers. Why, for instance, won't they readily accept customers' own bags without all that rigmarole?
Would have to agree with you about the frustrations of Tesco's self scan system, my favourite is "unexpected item in the bagging area". Sainsbury's fast track is far superior except when you are asked at checkout for a rescan lol.
ReplyDeleteSimon,
ReplyDeleteIt's hit and miss!
Most of my woes with the Tesco self-service are with the bags. Worse when you've got several large items and really need to remove something from the bagging area in order to scan the rest of your items. I'm gradually working out when is best to use self-service, though last week I opted for the manned check out and missed my bus home :(
ReplyDeletei have just been to a tesco metro hinckley road, leicester and i put 7 pound coins in too fast and it only registered 6. i originally counted the coins twice to make sure that i had enough and i know i had £7 as that was my change from an earlier purchase. The staff refused to believe that the machine could be wrong and basically kept telling me i was wrong. I am furious!
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteI only hope and pray that you shall get your revenge in due course!
Tim
I noticed that the shutters on the recently closed Belmont Road Tesco had laminated notices for sales of alcohol dated April 2010. Maybe it'll re-pen soon.
ReplyDeleteFor own bags, there is a defined allowable weight for it. If it is beyond the allowable weight it will file an intervention.
ReplyDelete@Simon: The scale used in the system is very sensitive. A weight of a piece of paper can cause the system to fire "unexpected item in the bagging area"
@Robert Simpson: For large items which can crowd the bagging area, you can use the "Skip Bagging" option