Parent & Baby parking at Sainsburys

[Fuschia]

and asda issue fines

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23431850-asda-to-fine-customers-60-for-parking-in-disabled-or-family-bays.do

[ClareC]

I'm liking that policy!!

[bumpy]

Hi all, I've had 2 responses from Sainsburys, publishing the first one here with their blessing....

On 27 Oct 2010, at 18:02, [email protected] wrote:

Dear Cathy

Thanks for your email and for your patience in awaiting our response. I?m sorry there don?t appear to be enough parent and child spaces and double trolleys at our Dulwich store. I can understand your disappointment as you think there are a high proportion of parent with children who use this store and need more spaces.

We always want you to have a great experience when you shop with us, as anything less than this is unacceptable. I have spoken with the Store manager Andy Dalitis about your concerns and he has reassured me that he will do all he can to help.

Unfortunately no issues with parent and child car parking spaces, have been brought to Andy?s attention. However Andy himself has assigned an Eurocarparks attendant to man the car park from today. This will ensure that inappropriate use of disabled and parent and child spaces is stopped, as this has been an issue. In this way more spaces should be freed up for valid users.

Your feedback will be passed to the new colleague from Eurocarparks, so the parent and child parking spaces can be monitored to best effect.

There are 20 disabled and 18 parent and child spaces available, which should be more than plenty for a store of this size. However Andy is always happy to help and is available to speak with you in person should this be acceptable to you. In this way he can directly address your concerns to your satisfaction.

If this is not suitable you can also email Andy at [email protected]

In addition to this Andy is reviewing how many double trolleys are available and if there are not enough he will order more to meet demand.

As Andy and his team have only been at the store for 6 months they welcome your comments and will always be on hand and happy to assist when you are shopping there.

I trust this is of help and that you are reassured to our commitment to providing you with the best service

We appreciate you taking the time to get in touch with us and look forward to seeing you in store soon.

Kind regards

Denise McIntosh

Customer Manage

[bumpy]

And the second one, Forum Administrator would you be able to contact the manager & address the issue he has with accessing the forum? ...

Dear Cathy

Thanks for getting back to us so swiftly. I'm glad Andy, the Store Manager is able to address your concerns with parent and child car parking spaces and double trolley provision at our Dulwich store.

Andy wasn't able to open your forum link as our store system wouldn't allow access, so he could not get any more information about this. He is regularly in touch with your local council and is keen to know about such forums in the community. Unfortunately this one has not been brought to his attention until now, so it may be helpful if you can also provide Andy with some more information about this when you get in touch with him.

I'm happy for you to post my response on your forum and trust Andy will be able to bring the issues you've raised to a conclusion and is looking forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

We appreciate you taking the time to get in touch with us and look forward to seeing you next time you visit us in store.

Kind regards

Denise McIntosh

Customer Manager

[Indiana]

I went to sainsburys today and did notice someone who seemed to be patrolling the car park...

I have never been able to park in the child/baby spaces in the past year since my baby has been born so also share your frustration. However now I just go and double park somewhere - normally on the side where the nursery is. That way I have plenty of room either side for loading her in and out and my shopping.

It is fine as I only have one child (imagine more annoying when you have 2 and need to then walk across the car park) ...and I don;t give a toss if anyone complains...

[Moos]

bumpy, you should probably email admin - the moderating team do their best but aren't able to read every thread.

[peckhamboy]

Sounds like the problem is that the Sainsburys IT system prevents access to "social" websites, which in this case obviously includes the forum. Whilst admin's powers are legendary I doubt even he can change that!

Maybe see if you could copy and paste the thread (or relevant extracts) into an email to the manager?

[bumpy]

Believe admin are looking in to it and contacting the manager, I've also screen grabbed all comments and sent them to him

[????]

as is the way of mankind, with 3 aged 5 and under, I actually have to confess I sometimes get a bit annoyed withe people with 1 kid parked in them, especially if they are a couple :))

[twinmummy]

I get furious when people park in the parent bays with no kids (and indeed Mums with no kids in the car at the time who seem to think its ok because the car has car seats in... grrr). I have 2 year old twins and frankly even with the designated bays and the double trollies its a *beep* nightmare!

I had one particular confrontation with a lady in a convertible (top down - no kids) who sped into the space as I chugged along behind her in my "family wagon" - I said to her politely "hi, sorry, but would you mind letting me have this space as I have toddler twins in the car". If looks could've killed, I'd have dropped down dead... but she did begrudgingly move.

Only a happier note, they've stocked up on double trollies I notice and they've got coin slots so not getting nicked my tight-fisted selfish idiots who want a free trolley!

Am going to jump on band wagon and email Saino's to encourage policing as above. Well done everyone for being pro-active.

[citizenED]

What really gets me in this whole children parking spaces issue is the way that in that email the Customer Manager at JS keeps refering to the Store Manager as Andy. Mr Dalitis, surely?

[Administrator]

From Sainsbury's Customer Services:

"The reason the systems are not equip to access forums and blogs is because we want to limit the availability of distractions that we expose our colleagues to, having an open internet connection to the computers in store."

[ClareC]

So much for Sainsbury's getting someone to patrol the car park and issue tickets!

I went down there today at 4pm, no parent spaces (surprise surprise), as I drove up the next aisle I saw a lady with her childen coming back to the car. Went round the block to go to the space and a car immediately ahead of me indicated to get the parent space. Woman in her 40's on her own!!! The car park was about 1/3 full there was no excuse at all!

I parked up, took the number plate and make etc and in the absence of there being anyone patrolling the carpark, as has been suggested, reported her to the security guard, who sent me to Customer Service who did a big fat NOTHING!!!

Eventually they put out a call out asking her to come to CS so they could tell her she shouldnt park there ?!??!?! That will deter her next time.......... NOT

I asked to speak with the duty manager who after 3 calls did not materialise, a supervisor(?)then came over to say he didn't know where the DM was but could he help. He was a nice chap and agreed CS should have done more but doesn't solve the problem and would seem that despite what Sainsbury's have written in their correspondence there is clearly no action backing it!

I parked like an idiot across two spaces further away from the store! Embarrasing to park like that but at least you manage to get a baby in and out a baby seat without bashing the car next door! That said there were no baby trolleys grrrrr

[new mother]

It is infuriating. That first semi-literate response from Kathryn someone was appalling. The tone and number of basic mistakes in it are a disgrace. The later letters were coherent at least.

I am trying to summon up the courage to beam at the next offender in the car park and then look terribly worried and say "Oh my God, where IS your child? Are you ok? CAn I help"

[bumpy]

Response I received yesterday from the manager....

Dear Cathy,

Hope you are well.

Its been a few weeks since your correspondence, and I wanted to update you ref the parent and baby parking at Sainsburys Dulwich.

The same week you raised the issue, I up weighted our contract with Euro car parks, who manage the car park. We changed the attendant, and I asked him to focus the majority of his time around the disabled and parent and baby spaces. During the 6 weeks, Paul issued over 80 parking tickets to drivers who abused these spaces, the majority of which were within the first 4 weeks. The abuse has certainly lessened, which demonstrates that drivers are getting the message.

With regards to the lack of double child trolleys, we had another 15 delivered 2 weeks ago. As you are probably aware, we purposely do not have baby trolleys fitted with the ?1 locking system, to enable parents to use them without the hassle of trying to release them at the same time as dealing with the children. This in itself means that we do lose these specialist trolleys more frequently than normal shopping trolleys.

I am keen to hear whether you have found the availability of both the parking and the trolleys has improved over the past couple of weeks.

I also read the east dulwich forum on a regular basis now, which I find very informative, and in fact have acted on some of the comments I read.

Best regards

Andy

[pebbles]

Good letter I feel. I have certainly noticed a difference and have actually been able to park in parent spaces whereas previously never.

I also can always get a double toddler trolley now which makes life so much easier.

Keep up the improvements Sainsburys

[gwod]

Thanks Andy, it's so nice to hear a human voice from with the Sainsburys machine, thanks for taking action and keeping us updated.

[Fuschia]

Oh, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when some of those lazy @#*&^%ers got tickets for parking in the baby spaces...

[Fuschia]

And if Andy the manager is reading this forum, I have always meant to write and say thank you to their staff member Rosemary who helped rescue me when I stupidly let my car battery go flat in the car park while pregnant and with 3 young children....

[cate]

I don't think those tickets are legally enforceable.

[Fuschia]

I think is just a blot on one's credit file rather than an actual offence but is a step forward at least, cate, and guess clamping coukd also be used

[pommie]

sorry its good to know about tesco's policy as i have been there on several occasions to see people park in the parent and baby spaces without having a child with them. I have also seen people parked in the disabled spaces and they obviously do not have a disabled badge. I know in future to go into the store and complain

[ClareC]

Great response :-)

I did actually see a chap patrolling the parent spaces on a recent visit. I actually got one of the spaces and saw him looking to see if I had a child, as I was faffing about with the car seat a small hatchback car with 4 able bodied adults pulled up behind in another parent space. As they were getting out the attendant went over to them and pointed out they couldn't park there - there was much huffing and puffing but they did move.

When I returned to the car, another car pulled up with adults in, the same happened. Hilariously the woman passenger, upon being told it was a parent and child space and to move, got all irrate and exclaimed "I ave got kids they jist int with me!" hmmm

Anyway, it's great to see that the management at Sainsbury's have listened and are doing something positive :-)

[peckhamboy]

cate Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I don't think those tickets are legally

> enforceable.

Good contribution cate, thanks for that. Oh, and you're wrong incidentally. See those massive signs up saying that if you park there when you're not entitled to you get a fine? That forms a contract that you accept when you use the car park. Whether sainsburys would ever try to enforce is another question though.

[sillywoman]

Andy,

please, please, please can we have a clock put back in the main checkout area. It went when Sainsbo's was remodeled and we've never got it back. We don't all wear watches or carry mobiles.