Coles Supermarkets Australia
Reviews and Complaints

after two weeks of contemplating changing providers I thought I would try coles $20 prepaid, I had gone into 5 coles stores and got 5 different answers, not one was sure of the procedure was, one even said it was with Vodaphone, .
on the 3/10/2018 I had rang a number through a coles brochure, 4 times I had rung and 4 different answers from the call centre . Through frustration on the 10/10/2018 after already purchasing a$20prepaid to go on line since no other avenue was open .
After submitting all details and specifically requesting to keep my number, that iust would take 24 hours to process. After the time had lapsed the following day (11/10/2018), I received a message that the sim was not activated but also received a new number, out of anger and frustration, I have cancelled your prepaid and have gone to another provider, what a waste of $20, time and frustration .
My opinion is if you (Coles) cant provide the service THAN OFFER IT,
Totally disappointed, would not even think about your other services (insurances etc) one could only imagine .
Stick to groceries
regards
George Mastrovasili

[protected]@gmail.com

These sachets are extremely difficult to open. They do not tear across the top, usually down the middle. Every day I end up with cat food all over my hands and often spill it everywhere. The cats really like the food though but I am definitely looking for an alternative brand because it is driving me nuts. Perhaps you could look at altering the packaging? Thanks

I am a Coles employee and I take my elderly mother shopping. Today the lack of Customer Service is this was appalling. First my mother went to get a hot chicken cut into half. I was standing with my mother and three people down in the deli part and my mother in front of the hot chicken waiting. The store manager walk with another manger and got something out of the hot box. The store manager should of saw people waiting and call priority, No both manger walked away. We wait while the girl at the deli counter just kept serving other people walking up to the deli counter while we were waiting we walk down to get serve and get the girl attention so she kept serving more people walking up to the deli and ignored us while we were waiting to be serve. Another person walked up and I said we were before that lady. So the deli girl went and served the lady instead of serving us first. I said to the young girl she should of called priority and got help. She said the hot chicken was un maned and she didnt have time to serve us. Well as a Coles employee I think the hot chicken section is part of the deli. That she should keep her eyes open and make sure all customers are attended too. Not keeping serving other people that have come after us. That is just rude and very poor service. I am sure that is not in the Coles Training Manual. I think all staff at Wilsonton should go back and there customer training and how a customer should be serve. Not been so slap happy about servicing customers. To the fact Matt the store managers did not call priority either was very poor. So how do they train store manager these days. This store was never like this when Stuart ran the store and he would let poor customer service happen. M e and mother are going through the checkouts and the young man pushed strawberries off the counter and the strawberry fell on the floor and Justin the Service manager was there and I asked could she get another fresh strawberry and she told me to go and get own even tho she was just cleaning. So Justin should never of talked to a customers in that way. She should of said I get you a fresh strawberry, as she only cleaning and wasn't that busy. When I questioned her about her service she said I was being rude. So I had to go and get my own fresh strawberries. So this is the way customers are treated these days at Wilsonton store. This is not the first time Justine has yelled at me when I report bad service before when I was shopping. She told me to go away. I am Coles employee and trained by Stuart in a high standard of customers service. So it is alright in her eyes to speak to another Coles employee this way. I am a customer when I shop and I should be treated like a customer. This could be considered as bullying too as Justine knows I am a Coles employees and I was employee of Wilsonton for over 2 years. No service manager should talk to a customer or an employee in that way. Where is her training standards. Justine was just pure rude. I have been at the counters and heard Justine speaking rudely to other staff. This is not the manor service manager should be speaking to there staff. There are HR Rules to follow. As I have HR Certificate as well. Be happy to show them to you. So I don't even shop that often at your store anymore due to the bad customer service in the Wilsonton store. I do most of my shopping at Woolworths and aldi and all get small thing from Wilsonton. Since Justine has been Service Manager the standard of service has drop to a low standard. It is very poor if the Store manager Matt allows this happen. Justine knows better and should be supplying the customer service standards that are set by Coles. I know of other people tell me that they wont shop at Wilsonton any more. I will take my mother to Northpoint of Clifford gardens in the future. I cant complain about the poor service I received today at Wilsonton. For Justine to tell that I shouldn't come in to the angry. I was OK before being served in the Deli and then incident at the checkouts. Matt (Store Manager) should really see bad and poor the customer service in your store. I f I treated people like that I bet I would pulled and given a talk too. The whole service in very poor that why I do not all my shopping there. I have a right to tell the deli girl she should of call priority a lot sooner. Poor training Or the girl dose not have a brain. Justine in no way should of talked to me in that and treated my like acustomer who wanted fresh punnet of strawberries not telling me to go and get my own. That is just a prue laziness and rude. She should of said yes I go and get them for you. A service manager should show respect. So think Matt you should watch how your service and cashier are and improve the service as this reflect back on you as Store Manager. Maybe Justine should treat all customer service and her staff a lot better and have respect to staff and customers. The customer service has been very poor for as long Justine has been the service Manager. Bring back Molly and run the service manager. Molly was an excellent Service Manager instead of very rude Justine.
Complaint 9/10/2018 Wilsonton Store. - Customer Service
I have not visited the store since my last complaint to Matt the store Manger as it is my local shopping centre I drop in to get a few items for lunch. Yet again at the checkout the girl who looked new did not say hello or greet met. I like a cashier to engage with me as that the way I was trained in the Coles checkouts. She asked me if she could put my mini custard tarts on the side. I said No Justine the service manager was standing at the service desk and didn't say a word. I felt she should of told the girl how to pack breakable items. that not how to pack items from the bakery that will be broken once I leave the store. I ended up packing my own bag so my items would not get broken, very simple.The lack of training in showing new staff how to pack a bag is very poor at Wilsonton when Stuart and Vicki were running the store. Wilsonton had a high standard in the two years the packing of the bags at Wilsonton is very poor standards. Breakable items should be left to put on the of the bag. Not on the side where the tarts can get broken. My point again Justine was standing right near and did not tell the girl the way to pack a customers bag. Because I work for Coles that should not be accepted. I am asking Matt the store manage to make sure his front cashier are trained better in Coles standard of customer service. Justine the service manager should know better and training staff better to pack a bag at the checkout. It is all common sense too. So the girl at the service needs to use the brain a little more too. But it comes down to the training of staff and that appear to be very poor at Wilsonton store. I have still not heard a response from Matt the store manager on my last complaint. This is also very poor not to respond to a customer on being spoken rudely by the service manager.

Hi, I have visited your liquorland store in Glenroy at 9.45pm. My cousins and I have been asked if we would needed to be served. After selecting our purchase, the cashier refused to serve us due to our appearance of age. We are all 27 years old and above. If the cashier suspect that we are at the age of 18 or below, she should have asked us to leave and not continue serving us until the very end. Your manager (Lesley) was not in his uniform, says that he was the manager and decided to have a conversation with us in an extremely rude manner. As a customer, I do not accept this kind of ridiculous customer service attitude and behaviour given by your staff. Even if we were under age, your manager should speak to his customer with some respect and not look down against our ethnic background and our dress wear. Please train your manager and staff with appropriate training before allowing them to be in a customer service environment.

D/L Chicken Breast Fillet

We bought the chicken fillet on Friday afternoon, kept it in the fridge for one day. The next day we opened the package and realised that the chicken smell like a very potent odour. Some describe it as a "sour" smell, while others liken it to the scent of ammonia. If the chicken has begun to take on an unpleasant or strong odour of any sort, it is best to discard it.
It is unacceptable. Fresh chicken from the deli's supermarket should have lasted 3-4 days in the fridge.

Coles made my 2 year old daughter wet herself in fear and my 10 week pregnant wife burst into tears.

On the 7th October 2018, my wife, daughter and I had to get a few items from the Coles in Westfield Airport West after doing some shopping at Aldi. We were at the self service check out and I was taking items from the trolley and scanning them, while my wife was looking for her rewards card and bank card to pay. I handed her the full bag of items and she put it in the trolley on top of the Aldi bags, she paid and we left.

We got 5 meters out of the entrance and a rough looking man jumped out in front of our trolley, but before I could say anything to him a lady flashed a badge in my face telling me that she was a Loss prevention Officer and that we had to go with her immediately because we had been caught stealing items from Coles. I laughed thinking it was a joke but she snatched the trolley from me, reached in between two Aldi bags and pulled out a packet of dish washing tablets. My wife and I were a little shocked but we appologised and offered to pay for them straight away. But officer got aggressive, dismissed us and suggested in a loud voice that we had worked together to steal the dish washing tablets. She then said that the police would be involved if we did not go with her straight away. I asked again if she was kidding, saying that it was an honest mistake but they both started ushering us to the store. At that point I told my wife to go to the chemist because she started to get upset and I didn't want her to because she is only 10 weeks pregnant.

My 2 year old daughter was in the trolley and we went back into the store. I turned to the checkout but the lady put her arms in front of me telling me I had to go to the back office. I said to her that she is making it out like I need to get a lawyer, and she turned to me and said she was not afraid of lawyers. I told her I had over $200 in my wallet but she continued to accuse me as we walked in front of on lookers.

At this point my daughter started to get upset, so to keep her calm I followed them through to a back office without a word. The lady officer then started pulling out my Aldi bags and I again said that this was an honest mistake but she continued to say that we had stolen the dish washing tablets and that she had security footage. I asked to see it and she threatened to call the cops. I asked her to call the cops and she started reading me the party line about keeping it with Coles and going on a watch list. When I asked her about the list she screamed at me saying I was interrupting her. I stood up and told her not to yell at me but she was like a dog with a bone, and continued to accuse me. I asked if she was a cop and she said no, and I asked why she was treating me like a master criminal, but she just went on saying I worked with my wife to steal the dish washing tablets. She started to fill in a form and gave it to me, but before I could read it she snatched it back saying it was the wrong form. She then gave me another form and then told me not to write to much about what happened on it. At this point I was furious because she kept coming over the top of me while the man stood right next to me with crossed arms. I tried to keep calm because my daughter was crying and shaking, so I signed the paper and was escorted out.

I wanted to pay for the dish washing tablets and make a complaint so I went to the front counter and asked for the store manager. I was met by the assistant store manager who told me she had no idea who they were. I asked if I could make an official complaint but was told to go online. It was at this point that I noticed my daughter had wet herself and my wife burst into tears.

I understand people steal things, I also understand that people who steal things probably always say it was a mistake. I am not angry that I was accused of stealing, I know it was an accident. In fact only 7 days earlier at the same Coles I found 2x unused $50 Coles vouchers by the trolleys and handed them into the front counter for the rightful owner to reclaim. I am not a thief. I am however a very angry ex Coles shopper who is disgusted at how my pregnant wife and I were berated in front of onlookers at our local shops and how I was stood over by an incompetent, completely unprofessional and aggressive rent a cop, who at no point considered the small child who was crying and wetting herself in fear.

Shame on you Coles. You have clearly lost your dignity!

I went to return a Coles Madeira cake for which I did not obtain a receipt at the time of purchase and the rude elderly lady at the customer service refunded only $2.50 to me and when I told her I paid $4.50 for it she said it's cos I did not have a receipt which is wrong. This happened on 6/10/18 around 6.10 pm and since I was in a hurry I did not try to argue or speak to the manager but even my son said why do they hire rude people who can not be polite and do the right thing

It was around 9pm at Coles Carlingford Court, NSW. There were NO staff on registers! There was a thoroughly lovely gentleman at the self-serve, who saved me from losing my temper; and bursting into tears, as my back was killing me due to having to reach down into the register for basically every item in my fortnightly shopping trip. It took me FOUR TIMES the amount of time to go through the checkout due to self serve stuffing up 6 times, regardless of how slow I was due to my painful back! This is JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH! It wasn't that late. They need to make sure someone is on registers.

Deli - One assistant for whole counter, nine customers, when we asked for service told assistant on break. Attitude poor, slow work output then to punish us served later customer first.
At self service checkout we waited some time for help and when we said the service was poor we were told two people had called in sick.
That is NOT the customer's problem I might add.
Once home we telephoned Ben the manager, he was not in. It is Friday of Holiday week, what is going on? No wonder staff are taking sickies with no manager on the shop floor! Disgraceful. Adele Rowland

I attended east gardens store to return a product that was unopened and untampered with, with my receipt as proof of purchase.
I entered the store and headed directly to the customer service desk where I was treated shockingly, accused of theft and had my items confiscated from me and told to leave the store.
How rude your staff were with no reason to be and the disgusting attitude when I had done absolutely nothing wrong.

After everything with the strawberrys I was NOT expecting to go to the super market and find them covered in mold! It's sickening really thought you would be on top of this .
It is truly disgusting, and highly off putting not to mention dangerous, I just wish you know if there's an issue you guys would resolve it and check these things because mold doesn't just appear within an hour it grows so not noticing it.. I feel it had been neglected. Thanks alot Coles.

Dear Coles online delivery officer,

I'm Charitha Wasala and I have been ordering from Coles online delivery more than a year.Today I had to face an unpleasant experience which is not expected from a professional body as Coles.

There were eight items missing from my online order and I called the Westmead Coles to request them to make it ready so that I can come and collect it tomorrow morning.We are having a function in our home tomorrow and we wanted those items at least by tomorrow morning.

The store manager, Raj's response was really unprofessional.If I'm to quote his response, he said"You have to call online ordering as you ordered from there". We have had similar situations of missing items earlier and we were used to go and pick up the missing items from the store.

I told him that I need the items now and went to the store in person.Raj was really rude and mentioned that he is not going to give the items and if I stay there any longer he will complain to the police.

I do wonder how he became a store manager and where he had the customer service training.

When I call the online delivery, they confirmed that its in the hand of store manager and if he wanted he would have given the items to me.

I do expect you will take some serious action against Raj as he is not suitable to work in a professional entity as Coles.
Please call me if you need any further information for your investigation.

My mobile number is [protected]

Order Number [protected]

Thanks

Kind regards
Charitha

on the 19th September 2019, sent a followup email to Jordan, Coles Customer Care regarding unresolved complaint. As of this writing (1 Oct 2018), no reply has been received.

we still have not been offered of any assistance regarding the return of the products we purchased. nor have we been informed of the Coles policy.

would like to escalate this issue/concern with a senior manager.

On Saturday the 29th I went into Coles Centrepoint at about 8:50am to ask for a refund on a bulk box of Curash baby wipes ($18.40) that were causing a reaction to my skin and burning me. I proceeded to the service desk and asked the girl if I could refund them or exchange them. She is apparently not empowered to make that decision so called the person in charge for the day James who came down after about 2 or 3 minutes. He asked me what the problem was and I repeated that I'd like a refund or exchange on some expensive baby wipes as they were burning my skin. He started the conversation by asking if I had a receipt, which I replied no and if that was an issue then I'd be happy to exchange them for a different brand of baby wipes. He quite bluntly replied that the problem he had is that I'd opened them and therefore he couldn't re-sell them. To which I replied that I didn't think this was actually my problem. I had come up to the "service" desk because I had an issue with a product and instead of finding a way to solve this problem, I was being presented with more problems that weren't even mine to worry about. I said they really burn my skin (jokingly I added: I'm not sure what they'd be doing to a baby's skin) and I'm not 100% satisfied so I'd like a refund. James very bluntly and rudely informed me that it doesn't do anything to a baby because they are the ones he uses on his child (apparently everyone skin reacts exactly the same way to products) and that I will have to take it up with the supplier. I said that I wasn't happy with this "solution" (basically passing the responsibility from yourself to the supplier and not holding yourself accountable for selling the product) and that I would like to make a compliant. James arrogantly pointed to his name badge and said: No worries, my name is James and I'm in charge of the store today. Well, in disgust I picked up my product and walked away. I am a Store Manager and in my 4 years of managing I've never had a customer complaint regarding my service for me or my team members. So, this experience was incredibly upsetting. I then had to call your product team and spend 10 minutes on the phone to a very lovely lady (who found my purchase using my Flybuys card and sent me a copy of my receipt). I was then directed back to the store for a refund, who I was told would receive a phone call to say that I was coming. I went back and again the service team had to call for confirmation that they were allowed to do a refund. The lady at the desk then spent about 5 minutes trying to do a simple refund, which I had to point out to her twice that she was refunding me too much (first time she tried to refund $184 and then the second time $23). I was only interested in receiving what I had originally paid so made sure that I received a refund for the $18.40. During this whole process though, I was amused to find that not one person asked for a receipt from me once. This entire process has left me feeling so annoyed that I have actually taken the time to write down this experience. I am not someone who often complains but the fact that none of your staff felt like they had the power to make a decision without someone else authorising it, is wasting your customer's time. I also hope that James receives some customer service training as he escalated the problem instead of trying to find solutions. Your customers do not come back with problems so that your staff can add to them and your staff need to be trained that as you sell a product you are also responsible for issues and problems as well as your suppliers. Customers don't buy from your suppliers, we buy from you.

When going through the self serve checkout at Carrum Downs Coles 335 Ballarto Rd Carrum Downs, a pack of frozen vegetables that had a yellow specials price of $2.80 scanned at the full price of $3.50, magically when the "manager" went to check the price the yellow label had been removed, who else but the manager Steve would have removed it? It is their policy to give the item that scanned incorrectly for free, I believe he has taken the label off so they didn't have to give it to me, he then accused me of lying.

Hi, I placed an order with Coles on the 25th September order number [protected]. The delivery time was in between 6-9pm. I waited patiently for my order and it was past 9pm until I checked my order status. I was shocked
to see that the ETA for delivery was pushed back to 1:00am to 2:00pm in the morning, it is such a ridiculous hour that I rang up Coles straight away to Cancel it with no problem but now I have to wait 5 days for my money to come back to me. Money should only be debited until the delivery has been received. I'm very hesitant to online deliver with you as this is not the first time I've had issues. I have no problem what so ever going to Woolworths for business as I'm now out of pocket $150 for a whole week and have no food.

I was at Coles Pialba QLD on Monday 24/09/2018, around 5pm. I wwnt to the deli section, I was the only customer at the deli counter at the time. The stafff member was at a sink washing something. She saw me, but didn't stop what she was doing. I waited for a while and I was ready to walk off, when she came over. She did not greet me or say a word to me. I asked for what I wanted, she weighed it & handed it to me. The staff member, named Tracey, did not speak one word to me. I work in retail and I've always shopped at Coles Pialba and I was shocked at the lack of service at the deli department on this occasion.

My checkout staff member was lovely. And I've never experienced this at any other time at any Coles supermarket.

My mum went shopping last night the date of 25th of September 2018 at the coles at Smithfield shopping city South Australia. In our ham that we get freshly sliced we have found chicken pieces through it as well as a chicken bone which seems to be from your roast chickens. This is not the first time either. Ive sent in to you guys before and as well as the health department. You guys need to get your [censored] together. What if someone in my house ate that bone and chocked and died on it. This is so wrong and absloutely appalling. From now on i will no longer be buying my deli meats from you. I will be attending woolworths where i never ever have this problem. Strict rules of cleaning your equipment should be priority and its not. I am disgusted in Smithfield Coles and i hope yous take this seriously unlike the many other times and put action in place. This will be sent into the health department.

I went to my local close store at Ropescrossing NSW and went to aile to buy Nobby Nut. I seen it was on special so I picked 3 packs all when I checked BBD on the packs most of them were already passed BBD in the month of June and July.
I escalated this issue with store manager and he grabbed the packs from my hand arvin check out and walked off without apologies for this big mistake.
I am very disappointed to see this bad customer service.

Sunday afternoon 23rd September. I was shopping with my mum. We went through self service, paid for our items and as we were walking out we got to the entry/exit door and I dropped a bottle of liquid that spilt on the floor. Two staff members came over they were so rude. One came over and asked me if I had paid for it. The other who was cleaning the spill was yelling out and carrying on about not be sure how to clean up the spill. I saw her being nice to other customers just not me because I inconvenienced her. She didnt even offer or let me have any paper towel which I needed some because it splashed up on my clothes. I work in retail accidents happen, doesnt give someone the right to make you feel so [censored]ty. I dont normally shop at coles I only went with my mum. I wont be going back if thats the service I'm going to get.