Coles and Woolies Response to Being Unable to Deliver for Christmas - Discuss

try2bhelpful on 25/12/2015 - 08:51
Last edited 25/12/2015 - 09:31 by 1 other user

Let me declare my interest up front - I am a share holder in both companies and I did not order anything through their online stores.

Personally I was appalled by what happened, and particularly the pathetic response to it. "Coles will provide a full refund" - to do anything less woud be illegal and it in no way compensates people who may now be unable to provide their family with the central part of their Christmas lunch/dinner and who are spending this morning stressed out and upset. Apart from anything else the sad part was people trying to justify why they ordered online instead of going to the store - it was, in no way, their fault that the company did not provide them with the service they paid for. The damage to both stores reputation is going to be huge.

Why were they continuing to take orders when they couldn't fulfil the ones they had? Someone at the head offices need their backsides soundly kicked.

Given the rise of ALDI and Costco this is the last thing these stores needed to do at this time of year. Even for people who had their orders fulfilled there is going to be the lingering doubt about whether to do the same next year.

The least that can be done is sizable gift certificates to try to cover the inconvenience but this is not going to help these people today.

Badly executed and poor crisis management. The company heads will push the blame down and the culture won't change. I'm just disgusted.

I just hope the affected people had a chance to find alternatives in the small window of time that Coes/Woolies gave them.

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  chumlee on 25/12/2015 - 08:59

  +6

  Maybe it will lead to more people buying from butchers, fish mongers and fruit shops in future years

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  Diji1 on 25/12/2015 - 09:08

  -4

  Hey everyone that's a victim of this: Coles and Woolworths are two of Australia's largest and most profitable entities. Their stores on average feature prices that are 80% higher than Aldi but their online prices are higher even than the stores. A lot of this money goes into highly successful campaigns that change their customers perceptions of their prices to thinking they're getting a great deal of value.

  Feeling stupid yet?

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    try2bhelpful on 25/12/2015 - 09:23

    Really helpful comment - did Santa put coal in your stocking? Your price comparisons are between different brands of products so it is hard to do a quality comparison.

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    indium on 25/12/2015 - 10:33

    Woolworths online price is the same I thought

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    [Deactivated] on 26/12/2015 - 20:46

    20%… maybe. Many items are the same. e.g. Tissues. Sardines - same price. I've noticed several are actually dearer. e.g. The brand name stuff like kitkats in a bag. The stuff that is cheaper is only just so. e.g. Soda & mineral water is 69 cents at Aldi & 75 at WW & Coles. Baked beans or spaghetti with tiny hot dogs in them are often dearer at Aldi because WW & Coles have sales on them every few weeks. Round cheese crackers in a red box - slightly cheaper at Aldi. Chips in a cannister slightly cheaper. Pre cut chips - the very same price. Green beans, peas, corn - all the same. Bread is slightly cheaper. Meat used to be cheaper at Aldi, but not really now. Any Coles sale on meat usually beats Aldi. So either I need to shop at your Aldi, or you need to stop shopping at your WW & Coles, LOL.

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  t_c on 25/12/2015 - 14:00

  first world problems. I'm sure no one starved to death.

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    try2bhelpful on 25/12/2015 - 14:02

    +3

    This entire site is devoted to first world problems and solutions.

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  grasstown on 25/12/2015 - 23:01

  +3

  You really should sell your woollies shares, you have a voice in this

  https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-play-you/woolies-x…

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  gevidian on 26/12/2015 - 12:30

  Is there a link or story somewhere that this was actually a major issue?

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  [Deactivated] on 26/12/2015 - 20:58

  Seriously, what kind of goose plays poker machines anyway. They're PROGRAMMED to only pay out every so often, and calculate what to display before you ever see it on the screen - including the multi-line combinations. Even the mechanical ones… Once knew a guy that owned an old 5 cent machine. There was some counter inside it, and he'd open the front and knew when it was about to 'pay out' by looking at it - 100% accuracy rate to amuse his kids.

  It's like those claw machines… I worked in a place that had one. You had to keep a written record of the number of stuffed toys being paid out, compared to the coins coming in - then weaken the adjustment inside the machine so the claw didn't grip hard enough for a couple of weeks. If I saw someone got really disappointed and had wasted coin after coin, I'd feel ask what toy they were after, open the cabinet, tell them to toss the first one in, and take the one they were after instead.