Safeway - not the safe way! (Safeway)

Member Name: cherylanne

Product:	Safeway
Date:	04/10/03 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Offers

Disadvantages: General prices raised, Poor customer relations, Many offers not available

In the past year I have noticed that my local Safeway has gone from being a cheap but credible supermarket to one that appears to entice you in with their wonderful offers just to empty your purse at the checkout!

Beware! Those offers, if you are ever able to find any on their shelves, are just temptations to get you to enter the store and buy the rest of your shopping while you are there. To compensate for the low priced offers they appear to have upped their prices on just about everything else, so by the time you fill your basket and get to the checkout you may well find you are paying over the odds for your weekly shop!

That 'cheap' offer you went in for has now cost you over the odds. Do not be taken in by these tactics, refuse to pay the extra to fund their offers.

Also, steer clear of the fruit and veg section which wilted about a week ago! This section has recently been updated - it's just a shame the produce wasn't at the same time.

There is only one place where you will find plenty of stock of an item and that is on the top shelf. Why is that? I hear you ask. The answer is simple - unless you are at least 5ft 10ins you haven't got a hope of reaching it.

The shop itself is relatively clean in itself and brightly lit, which is just as well considering the manouveres you have to make after a delivery is made. Trollies left in the middle of aisles while the staff are on a break is a regular occurance, many with icecream or frozen food on board.

The customer service leaves a lot to be desired also. Checkouts are continually undermanned causing queues which block the shopping aisles. Many of the younger members of staff trying to talk of their previous evenings antics while trying to serve at the same time doesn't help.

Prices are often incorrect on the till (higher, of course) and you need to keep a watch on this. At least once or twice every week I have to get the price
corrected without any forthcoming apology.

Finally, the prepacked meat section. Check the date carefully and the colour - fresh red meat is much preferable to brown and green streaked meat. I have bought meat on about three occasions and have taken it back. Once they refunded it as I had kept the receipt but the two other times they would do nothing as I hadn't kept the receipt in question. Although the meat was kept correctly refrigerated at home and within the sell by date it had a stomache churning smell when opened. Now who, I ask, keeps a food receipt until it is eaten? I would have expected it to be enough to have the work 'Safeway' written on the meat packet and the word of the customer.

I would like to finish on a more positive note but unfortunately I cannot find one.

So shoppers, enter at your peril, and remember a bargain is only a bargain if you come out of the shop with extra cash in your purse. We are not mugs so don't let them treat us like one.

Summary: