Sainsburys in Brentwood

I have no issue with self service tills, I do have an issue with there not being nearly enough staff supporting the tills. A far from pleasant shopping experience today. Queues every where. Sainsbury main board need to note that current way of operating will result in fewer customers.

I have been there for groceries and unexpectedly found some more stuff and needed an extra, but no employee agreed to help me because they were so busy to chat with colleagues also the lady at information desk denied to scan my groceries because there were cues behind me , guess what it was only two people behind me, I was extremely disappointed.i had to leave without buying. .

I regularly shop in Sainsbury Brentwood and on 16/11 visited for the third time that week. I parked up, bought some products and was gone within approx an hour. A few days days later I was sent a £70 parking charge notice (with an option of a 'reduced' £40 charge if I paid up quickly) as I had mistakenly not picked up a free two hour customer parking ticket. On an aside, at that time in my life, I was visiting hospital on a regular basis as my two month old nephew was seriously ill, so I was not in my normal state of mind. I immediately lodged an appeal with Euro Car Parks as I had a receipt to prove I was there on that date at that time & that I had bought products. I explained and provided bank statement proof that I was a regular customer, and that at that time I was dealing with a lot of stress and worry in my private life due to my nephews illness. They turned this appeal down flat. I also contacted Sainsbury directly via email as I felt this was a miscarriage of justice & was sure they would help me, being a long term, regular customer who had bought in store own that date and at that time. On the first email I explained the situation & attached proof of receipt, bank statement, etc, and explained my personal situation. I asked if they could intercede on my behalf with Euro Car Parks. Their representative, Stephen, replied with no empathy re my personal situation. He advised me that Sainsbury worked closely with Euro Car Parks, but did not help me & just told me to wait for the appeal to be reviewed by Euro Car Parks. I sent further emails to their 'our.reply' email account, one of which they did not even reply to, my last one advised them that 'I am disgusted to advise you that Euro Car Parks turned down my appeal, even though I was able to prove I had attended the Sainsbury’s Brentwood store (with a shop receipt) at that time, and was a regular shopper (as per my bank statement). To be charged a ‘reduced’ £40 because of a minor mistake where I can prove I attended the store & bought products, is grossly unfair' I asked them 'Are Sainsbury’s aware of Euro Car Parks practices against Sainsbury’s customers? Please revert, as I am extremely angry, annoyed & dissatisfied by this practice, and will need to take this further, as an injustice has been carried out by Euro Car Parks, and by association Sainsbury’s'. I asked if my query could be passed to Daniel Ayling the Brentwood store manager. I had a generic reply from Tariq today, where he did not answer this question. I think he did not even read my email, as he replied 'As Stephen had written in his response the only appeal process is with Euro Car Park who will be in touch once they have reviewed the appeal. Unfortunately we are unable to assist any further with this matter'. I therefore had no choice but to contact Sainsbury again, I replied 'Please can you read my email? I have appealed and have been turned down by Euro Car Parks, even though I visited & bought products from Sainsbury Brentwood on that date and at that time (I have a proof of receipt which I have already added to previous emails I sent to you, the second email I sent was not even responded to).' I asked him to answer my question 'Are Sainsbury’s aware of Euro Car Parks practices against Sainsbury’s customers?'. I await an answer, but will not hold my breath. I am shocked by Sainsbury in particular and their need to back a £70 parking charge notice, plus their complete lack of empathy for a regular customer who made a minor mistake, but was able to prove with a shop receipt and bank statements that they bought products in store, on that date and at that time. I won't be shopping there ever again; I feel like I have been robbed. I would really like other customers to be aware of these (in my view) underhand practices. In the long run, Sainsbury have gained a PCN from me, I hope they enjoy it :( BUT, they have lost my loyalty, my trust and my long term spending power. I will also be telling all my friends and family about what has happened, as I would not want anyone else to have to receive a PCN for £70 for an hours parking where they can prove they did shop in store.

Helpful staff ( mostly ) but the store is a tip and forcing people to only really use self service is unreasonable. Not at all disabled or neurodivergent friendly. Very poorly managed now and so stressful I’d rather shop elsewhere.

Parked in disability bay displayed permit correctly have now received a fine of £70 from Euro car parks. We were there for an hour and half. We have no idea what we have done wrong. I have tried to contact store to establish reason but can not get anyone to answer my query on the phone. Customer care line unable to help and suggested I keep trying! I’ve given up now after about 20 phone calls to the store.

Extremely rude. No apology for waiting no apology for incorrect price and denied being rude , couldn’t cope and really should not be on customer service , tobacco, lottery if too much to deal with

The lady at the counter who I shall not name declined to serve me ( only 5 items in total) saying that she was closing .This was despite my having placed the items on the conveyor belt. There was no warning about the closure prior to my placing the items nor a display of the sign. Frustrated with her attitude I left the items and went over to the lottery counter requesting the return of my car park refund which was also declined. The assistant told me that I shall NOT be entitled for a refund if I don't buy anything. She had the audacity to instruct me to go and buy the items from another counter! I told her that it was not my intention to go back as I did not wish to purchase anything but she refused to attend to my need but was quite ready to engage in an argument. At this stage it will be inappropriate for me to speculate the reasons for her behaviour. Realising that she was as ignorant and rude( unless there are other covert reasons) as the first one I demanded to see the duty manager. As I kept insisting that I see her line manager she relented and phoned for help. Chris( presumably manager? Supervisor?) turned up and resolved the situation offering me to serve me collecting the items at the conveyer belt. He displayed a degree of professionalism and resolved the matter. The problem appears to be a lack of discipline and poor training as both ladies amply demonstrated a lack of common sense to appreciate the plight of the customer - a total lack of knowledge of customer relations. I have deliberately omitted their names because naming or shaming them can only exacerbate the issues for they are unlikely lean by reflection nor can they change their attitude. What they require is some training in customer relations for them to develop insight in to organisational values. For the same reasons I have decided not to send an official complaint. So I shall leave matters in the hands of the managers.Hopefully some other provider will pop up locally in due course to compete with them for right now Sainsbury's have a monopoly and this may be making the senior managers feel complacent about customer services with poor attention to the shop floor. Sam Ariya

The only game in town for supermarkets. So everything has been marked up about 20-40% more than anywhere else. I suggest Iceland for basics...

I had to que up 15 minutes for a parking ticket in heavy wind and rain because only one machine was working. I went to the cafe but they said they had stopped cooking with still a hour and a half till closing time. They wouldn’t give me a refund for my parking ticket.

Needed to shop for a couple of items, so anticipated a quick turnaround. Oh dear, I should have known better. Parking is always difficult due to the poor design of the car park, but they exceeded themselves this time around. Numerous cars stopped awaiting spaces on the ground floor level and thus preventing anyone reaching the first level. Access to the first level is, of course, all the way round the car park at the far end, so already awkward and slow to reach. No staff assisting as usual and any number of selfish and poor drivers doing what they want and not bothering about other drivers or visitors. Bad driving is not the fault of the store by any means, but if only the re-design of the car park a couple of years ago had been done with some degree of intelligence and forethought, half of this problem would have been prevented. Whilst I still use the store it is no longer my go-to for emergency items. Far less hassle to park elsewhere and run into a shop. Be warned if you are pushed for time.

Sainsbury's As a whole is falling apart,,? Maybe they should just sell up and move on poor poor service around,,, Tesco is the way to go

This place is complete joke, over the last few weeks I have gone in 3 times to get a coffee to take away. Each time I have left after waiting the best part of 10 mins with just 2 or 3 people in front of me. There has never been more than one person serving, normally a teenager who hasn't a clue. The farce this morning when making 2 cappuccinos for someone in front of me had to be seen to be believed there was milk everywhere, over flowing cups, an awful mess. The situation is made all the more annoying by kitchen staff popping in and out, who can see that there are 8 people in the queue, and just look straight through you. And this with the café all but empty, God knows how they deal with a rush. I reckon that if I could order a coffee on line through their in store Argos I would get it quicker. A tip to Sainsbury: Take a trip to M&S to see how they do it or shut the door and use the space for something more useful.

Had bacon sandwich today and cappuccino coffee. Friend had cooked breakfast and pot of tea. Tea and coffee not hot enough. Waited ages for coffee to be made. Tray picked up dirty so changed it, then found knife was too. When got to a table it hadn't been cleaned, nor had others nearby. By the time our food came we had finished our drinks. Not good enough.

Went here for a quick breakfast as I was on my way to buy some milk etc. So I thought I could have a quick breakfast, turns out it wasn't quick at all. Very understaffed, after 35 mins on waiting for a breakfast in a semi full restaurant area, I spoke to a young lad and he came back and said our breakfast would be another 10mins! So I spoke to the manager and suggested that he tell the staff taking orders that it is a 30 min plus wait. Whilst we waited for our breakfast we saw 3 other people collar the manager also, and about 2 more as we were eating....maybe they need to rethink the kitchen staff

Myself and my mum went in after shopping in Sainsbury’s and were totally disappointed with the service, the prices and the overall atmosphere. We ordered a flat white, a hot chocolate, muffin and a panini totalling £9.00 and we ordered at 2:08pm. Although the drinks were made in good time, the standard of them were just poor and seemed rushed. I didn’t even get the panini sent over after asking for it to be toasted. The time of writing this review is 2:35pm. Finally the general atmosphere of the place was like a school dining hall. A real let down. A lot of money for poor service and it was a real shame because there was not enough staff and they just seemed run down, exhausted and frustrated from taking so many orders all day long that their standards and care just slipped. Don’t bother coming here.

Okay for coffee and a cake. Felt sorry for the girl serving as coffee machines so slow and guess what everyone wants coffee. Still had nothing to rush for.

Took my granddaughters to the restaurant for afternoon tea, not much choice, no dairy free items, very plain restaurant no atmosphere, thought staff looked fed up

Whenever we make a visit to Brentwood, we go to do some shopping at the Sainsbury's Supermarket, and after shopping we go to the cafe to drink some tea. It is a great store and we are really happy that there is a cafe/restaurant here, and the prices are reasonable, too. The staff always seem friendly. We have eaten breakfast here a few times, but sometimes when we visit later in the day we really fancy some tea and a couple of slices of toast. The toast order is usually refused because they say that the toaster has been turned off!! It is a pity that they cannot have a small toaster there for the odd customer who might fancy a slice of toast after the breakfast hours are over! Just an idea. We love both the supermarket and the cafe and we will return the next time we visit my mother in Brentwood.

Pay a regular visit to the cafe Wednesday evenings whilst the kids are having football training

Ordered a brunch but told they have bread but no toast ??!! They said they turned the toaster off ! Ran out of nuggets too but said they were not allowed to go downstairs and get more .

There is easy parking and a large selection of foods both brand and luxury.The shop also has lots of useful home items.Staff always knowledgeable.

These are the one. Melt in your mouth. The shop is good aswell. Clean, well organised and friendly staff.

Great range of food and clothes for a tiny store. Parking can be difficult sometimes spaces can be hard to find. Not long queues at till.

Serves breakfast based meals til 11:30 then a choice of lunches at reasonable prices. The set up is a cafeteria rather than a restaurant. Clean and well priced for what it provides and what it provides is acceptable.

Good access as there's a lift- we were with a wheelchair and everything was fine.