Coles Supermarkets Australia
Reviews and Complaints

Today is Friday of 24/02/17 at 267 main Rd east, St. Albans @2.30pm @ shell express petrol station. Been using the servo for almost 13years & never come across like this rude, arrogant & very poor service.
I drove pass & return to pump petrol within half an hr. I was at lane 16 & insert the pump, waited for 2mins.
A white lady in her 40's walking towards me so I said to her "you wasted my time for not putting up the sign (pump not working). She quickly turn her back & said "go somewhere else?"
So about half an hr I rang up & she answer so I said I want to complain. Then she asked what? So I told her why, then she reply & told me to #### off.

She was already wrong doing for not responding to her job properly quickly by putting up the sign when pump's not working, then turn her back on me instead of saying sorry to me, then told me to #### off when I tried to complain.
She give bad image & reputation to the company was not performing her job properly, very poor service, arrogant, rude, foul mouth, very poor at problem solving, no manners, bad attitude & reluctantly to help just because she's by herself.
Well think, before you react & speak.

I recently purchased coles comfy bots nappies infant size as previously using these in newborn size and infant size. Only to find that the nappies have changed and are meant to be "new and improved" the nappies in fact are NOT new and improved at all. The old nappies are way better and preferred over the now new ones. The new ones don't have the elastic waist band, tabs are shorter, the length is shorter. Very unhappy with the so called "new and improved" nappies. The are definitely unimproved.

No six pack with fruit Easter buns on display at 9.55 am so I walked to the bakery section. The staff attendant was speaking with a customer and throwing her arm up directing the lady some where in the store. She didn't seemed pleased that she then had to serve me, sighed and looked impatient. I asked for a six pack of Easter buns. The reply was oh aren't there any over there to which I replied I would like a fresh pack. She replied with they were too hot. They were in full view on shelves. She said to come back in 10 minutes and I asked for her to have them ready. When I arrived back she was talking with another staff member and had put food in her mouth. She ignored me for a few seconds and then said "I told you they wouldn't be ready for ten minutes ". She was rude and had no customer service plus eating while packing food. If You are going to sell Easter buns then at least have them available. Not happy I went to another Coles outlet at 10.30. Coles in McGregor road Packenham. Same again no fruit Easter buns so I asked the attendant Jessica for a pack. Same again. 10 minute wait and it was a big issue to bag them up for me. Sighing and shaking her head I was such a bother to her. I walked off very disappointed kin the service of both stores. If you are going to have a product have it available at all hours

I was shopping late at the complex stocking up on milk for store when I exist the coles side exit there where two employees doing inappropriate behaviour for not outdoors in work place or community area the man had quick to walk away though I caught the girls name on badge was Tina this appalling behaviour to see in shopping complex from employees of coles I have taking as far as to complain to the shopping complex as well i hope never to see again

I am utterly appalled at the way that I was treated by one staff member in particular. Very frequent customer at this Coles Express and have some staff that I get along with exceptionally well, but to be so mistreated by one staff member in particular, to me, brings down the whole establishment and honestly makes me reconsider continuing my shopping and fuel purchases here.
My money was torn away from me, slammed on the counter, as well as my change being essentially shoved/thrown back at me. I had about 7 litres worth of drinks and other items and was not offered a bag and was so insulted that I felt afraid to even ask for one, nor was my receipt offered to me.
I am extremely disappointed in this staff member and the way she treated me, I hope it is not the way that other customers aren't treated also, I'll be ensuring that if I ever do go back, it will not be whilst this particular staff member is in-store.

I have shopped at our local coles since they opened. I have encounted the odd staff member who is just rude and would rather stand around and talk instead of serving customers. When we do our weekly shopping there seems to be less and less registers open. As I have two young children waiting for long periods of time is not a good option, and when you manage to get though a register 90% of the time staff members don't know to pack bags properly. I cant count on both hands how may times I have had squashed bread or broken pastry or eggs etc. I try to help the staff out by placing similar items together on the checkout like cold foods with cold, fruit with fruit etc but they still seem to place a hot chicken in a bag with cold meat etc. so I said to my partner its just easier and quicker if I do the shopping through the self serve myself. I do this regularly then I don't have to re pack my bags when I get to the car. but since doing this I have noticed one particular staff member who treats me like a criminal and is constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure I have scanned everything. one evening he even accused my 5year old of trying to steel a car because he was holding it next to me in the shop while I was scanning other items and it hadn't been scanned yet. I have let things like this slide several times but now I have just had enough. the last staw was when the same staff member kept coming over to the register asking if I know how to scan the fruit and veg properly and the bottles of water we purchase weekly. after informimg him that I did in fact know what I was doing he continued to stand directly behind me to make sure I put in the correct vegetables and fruit etc. I get that people steel from the shops and they loose money all the time, but I am a regular customer and I have never stolen before and to get made feel like a criminal every time that staff member is on is not right. to make things worse that particular occasion the security guard of that shop was using the check out right beside me and he had no worries with me at all. but if it continues to happen I will be making a formal complaint to a lawyer and the local news paper. I'm seriously considering going to the other side of town and doing my shopping at woolworths at least the staff are always friendly and they have been taught how to pack bags and I don't get treated like a criminal.

Feb 21, 2017, around midday... As putting my groceries through the check out, the woman (Linda) at the check out is regularly coughing straight over my food items and in my face! No attempt to cover her mouth and/or turn her face. The cough came at regular intervals and gave the impression that this person is a heavy smoker, like many employees at Coles in Tasmania.
This is not the first time I experienced this disgusting behaviour: In the same store, a few weeks earlier, a woman was handling the BBQ chickens and coughing straight over them!
In the same store, on Feb 21, 2017, a Coles employee (female) was working in the pre-packed poultry section and verbally abusing a colleague who was placing dairy products on the refrigerated shelves. I happened to be standing bang smack in the middle of them, but the abuser didn't appear to care, calling her twice a ####...
In my experience (having owned and run retail businesses for over 30 years), these poor practices come down to lack of leadership, poor management... Dicipline, good manners and respect all filter down from the top. If Coles accepts these poor workplace practices, it won't take long before competitors like Aldi and Woolworths will take top spots in the competitive groceries retail market.
Coles at Newstead, Tasmania, are in desperate need of a good manager and may have to shed some old and sub-standard employees in favour of some fresh, motivated and well-mannered new ones!

Iv always used Coles nappies for my son but since the product had changes in it, my son had started getting red marks and rashes all over his nappy area which I didn't understand was because of comfy bots but last week a friend told me that it is because of the so called improved nappy of urs, so I started using babylove from last week and his rashes are finally getting better now,
I request u to please bring the old nappies back or don't sell this new one bcz I would never like any baby to suffer from the rashes which my son did

frustrating shopping experience yesterday around lunch time at Coles Albany Creek Queensland.

Needed:
iceberg lettuce
Chang's deep fried noodles (2 other people looking same time as me!)
to make 2 basic salads to take to afternoon bbq...neither in stock...and nor were Rennies reflux tablets

Also while I'm online here:

dis-satisfied that refills for
- Pear's handwash
-Coles pre-wash spray no longer available - for the sake of environment.

Just went to Coles in Cardinia Lakes Pakenham to get a receipt scanned to claim flybuys points from our shop yesterday. The store was busy so was happy to wait for the lady to finish serving other customers before serving us. When she did eventually serve us, she stated that it wasn't possible to scan after payment has been made. We told her that we know it is possible as we have done it before and also yesterday when purchasing the items the manager told us to come back with the card within 5 days of the purchase. I asked to speak to the manager or if she could get someone who knows how to do it to come and do it for us. We waited 20 minutes and still no one came, I asked her if she had contacted someone and she said yes (we didn't see her get on the microphone once).
In the end someone working on another register called for a manager and low and behold the manager came off another register to help.

After 30 minutes waiting we had had enough and decided to line up in the managers register, it was busy so here we waited while 3 other customers unloaded their full trollies. Once served I told the manager that I understand they are busy but that it's not good enough that the staff aren't trained to do something so simple that takes literally 20 seconds! She turned around and said that her staff are trained and that she can't do much about it.

This service is not good enough and for customers who shop at Coles stores very frequently it's disappointing to say the least. We will now be going to shop elsewhere, where we can get good customer service and managers who actually fix the issues instead of shrugging them off.

Opened the bag when getting home, needing to change my 2 year old, opened the nappy up and there was a dead cockroach inside the nappy.
I have taken photos of the product and of the dead cockroach.
This incident happened on Wednesday 15th February.
I'm not very impressed, I'm lodging this complaint and also lodging a complaint via the contact us part of the coles website. I think I should be reimbursed for the packet of nappies, duty of care to the customer should be undertaken and this is dirty, especially when being used for children and babies. Shae Limbom, 43 Tralee Circuit, Narre Warren Vic 3805.

2 months ago I entered coles southport qld. And walked down the soft drinks aisle looking for soda water. Couldn't find any so went to aldi instead and bought them there.
Today again I walked the soft drinks aisle at coles southport looking to buy 3 bottles of soda water. Couldn't find any so in frustration called the manager before I walked out again. She showed me the soda water but wait for this it's under mixers in a different aisle! Now i'm a very intelligent woman but gee whiz, one needs a phd to find it.
The person who designed this is a smart alec and I certainly would fire him/her for such idiotic arrangement. Is it too much to ask to place all the bottles of drinks in one aisle?
I realise this comment won't make one iota of difference to your product arrangements but I remain an optimist. Another small matter is that I usually buy soda water at aldi because the price is 69c instead of coles' 75c. Another point that won't make one iota of difference I guess.

Hi, I have a concern regarding a incident occurred in coles at Werribee Plaza in VIC. On Wednesday 15th Feb 2017 approx between [protected], myself and my wife were shopping at the local coles buying our groceries, i was wearing, blue shorts, dark reed shirt, wife was wearing yellow t-shirt with red baggy pants, we both come from indian background. . As we were leaving completing self-checkout we were followed and stopped by two indian chaps one with beard and turban and the other one was tall with short beard, yellow t-shirt approximately 50 m from the store. The men approached us from side and stopped us and identified himself as a undercover agent working for coles regarding shoplifting. He said " if you placed an item in your shopping bag and forgot to pay for please go back in and pay for it t" to my wife (please note he sounded positive my wife placed an unpaid item in one of our shopping bags). And my wife said " what nah I don't thing so". When I got involved and asked "what is this about and why your stopping us". The man simply mentioned " you weren't there, she took a product off a aisle went around to clothing section and came dropping the empty package on the floor". He insisted my wife to confess and come in the store to pay for it. While this conversation was in progress the other guy was silent and watching the whole time (for witness purpose i suppose). I asked my wife if it was true to be sure and she denied furiously. The man then demanded us to open our bags for inspection and threatened to detain and call the police if we don't comply. Hence my wife said u can check all you want and I allowed it as I was sure nothing was stolen. The man requested to open our shopping bags for inspection which we complied to, nothing was found and furthermore he asked my wife to open and go through every parts of her handbag she was carrying which she did as well. Now once the bag checks were complete, my wife asked "now do you want to check anything else?" Which the other guy with a turban responded with "no no". Furthermore he insisted that he saw my wife dropping an empty package on the floor again and demanded to go in and pay for it. That's when my wife and myself got agitated and she said in a firm tone "ok you already checked our bags thoroughly, again you are saying I dropped the package on the floor show me where is it now". Meanwhile i said "u can't just accuse us like this" and he responded "you weren't there". So from there we went back to the store (near women's clothing section) and he couldn't point out where he assumed my wife dropped the package and nothing was evident on the floor nor found anything on our shopping bags/handbags. He then still asked her for her ID card. Then i said " why do you need the ID now"? Then he said "if your honest show me your ID its for record purpose we need to see and take a pic of it". I then requested for his ID first. First he showed his drivers licence which then I said " I want to see the security licence" which he showed me as well. Unfortunately I can't exactly remember his name on it as i was too distressed. He did take a pic of my wife's ID on his mobile phone and said " if you change your mind you can always come back and speak to the store manager" (still accusing for stealing with no evidence). I said "there is no need can I go" and left the scene as we were very ashamed to stay there any longer.

Now I work as a control room officer therefore I am aware of the local laws when it comes to supermarket security. First of all shouldn't he have local id identifying himself to be working in the store other then security license. He could make an arrest if my wife really did steal something then and there and detain only if he saw the crime been committed or found evidence of stolen goods inside our belongings while conducting bag search as per law. He did not call the police either, hence we were not proven guilty since obviously he did not see my wife picking and physically putting anything in her bag specifically nor found anything in our bags.

We were too ashamed when put to that situations in front of the local community where people around were watching. We are respected individuals in the community as its our local area to shop around in weekly basis. Coles is the store where we come and go regularly and this majorly spoils our reputation in the community. We couldn't think anymore to argue the point at that situation and we were too emberessed and insulted where we just wanted to leave without further arguing.

I thought of leaving this issue as it is but, now that men who claimed to be one of your undercover officer took my wife's ID picture and I do not know to what extent it can be used or passed on elsewhere like other stores or will be used. We are to shamed to go back there to speak to anyone there and we do not want to be looked like thieves if we do go and shop in our local community in future. I was considering to take this matter legally which I am even prepared to if I have to, the least I aspect is an a apology to us mainly for my wife and know for sure that her ID has/will not been shared anywhere and to be deleted permanently plus our faces are not to be made public or watched on across supermarkets and security teams. This is disgraceful act from your staff if he was part of coles to mistreat us in public for suspicion. I respect the need to carry on their duty due to suspicion but taking picture of ID went too far when the crime wasn't proven when i came to think about it later. He should have known better before accusing or called the police if he was that certain that the theft took place, can you look in this matter as my wife is very upset and emotionally distressed to even go anywhere. We want our name cleared and apologized to so we won't be looked as thief's in our community and be able to shop peacefully in future without anyone eyeing on us! I do not aspect her ID to be seen anywhere else both physically, in social network or even refereed to by anyone anywhere as a potential suspect, for records her name on ID is (Maria a/p Antoney)! Just want to make myself clear i am not writing this to threaten or to ask for compensation or such from you guys however if her identification does get out I will have take legal actions, we want our names to be cleared as I can't tolerate it and the feeling of being ashamed any further. I seriously hope you will look into this matter

Online Order Number [protected]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I received my Order On the 15/ 1 / 2017
On receiving my Order, I noticed that none of the bags were not tied up at all and the groceries were disheveled.

After going through my groceries I found that products 2 Garnier Nutrisse
Copper Passion was not in any of the bags. I rang customer care and explained what had happened, I was told not to worry and told things were very busy that night and that the money would be put back into my Account.
I waited and still no money in my Account. I rang Customer care again and explained what had happened and was told the money would be put back into my Account, I waited again and still no money in my Account. I have been waiting up until now and still nothing. I rang for the third time, And explained again and was told do not worry, The money will be back in your Account. By this time I am really upset, It is like customer care think this is
amount of money is nothing, And that they could not care less about my plight. I rang again for the fourth time, And still the same answer, It will be in your Account soon. And so I ring for the fifth time, And customer care said they were sorry and the money will be back in your Account. Well after all this time i am still waiting, I was going to ring for the sixth time, But then i thought No, Make a complaint instead, So here i am, I think maybe customer care cant understand what a person is saying to them, Due to their poor English skills, I am not happy in the way this has been handled. 29.99 is a lot of money to me, And not often that i am able to afford hair dye, And so for customer care to treat this in so much disregard does put a very big taint on this Company. And i believe what customer care saying about on the night of delivery it was very busy, This i believe as NONE of plastic bags were tied up and all the groceries were disheveled . So i am asking to please receive my monies back, I am saddened that not one of the customer care people thought that this is a serious problem. And because after the first time i rang customer care and was told the money will be back into my Account, My next Online order I ordered the products again thinking the money was back into my Account and now I am out of pocket because of this, I cant afford this to be happening. So hopefully I have explained every thing, And i do believe because Coles were very busy, More busier than usual is why this happened. Thank you so much for your time, Yours sincerely, Deborah Lynette Irish

12.02.2017

I am sorry to say this is the third time I have brought this product from this store in Caulfield on dandenong road and the product has been off.
This time there was a distinct smell from the chicken thigh fillets which was not good. I buy this product as I have found it to be good from other stores when I have purchased this.
The use by date is the 15.02.2017 so it is close but this does not mean it should be beginning to rot!( the last time I bought from this store I had to give it a good wash and then only gave it to the dog)
This product is also advertised as on special this week and is apparently good, just not from this store.On closer inspection of the label it has another sticker on top of the original, which may mean it is a mark down for some reason but it is hard to tell as it blends in to the packaging and this is not why I bought this product.
At the moment I am on a very tight budget and to waste $15.32 on off or turning chicken thigh fillets is not really acceptable.
I am a long time shopper at Coles and for this reason I am writing and the fact that I am sick of wasting my money buying food that is off or products that cost a fortune and don't work(Natural draino that cost $25.00 and blocked my drain instead of clearing it!)
I would also like to add that I no longer (only if desperate)go to the Malvern store as it rarely has the products I am after either they don't stock or they are out of the product and they rarely put the special tags on the products on special.Either way this kind of practice that I have mentioned above is not really for the customers benefit and I don't like being treated like a fool.
I am going to think twice about where I shop from now on instead of trusting you will supply me with what I need.
I hope you take my complaint seriously as I am very upset and feel that this is unfair to take advantage of the customers in this way.

Regards

Nicola Lee

I shop at coles every week!
I went to the store at waterford at 3.30pm on tuesday the 7th feb to get a few things one which included was to buy 2 hot chickens for dinner. There were none on display. I asked the lady behind the counter and she had informed sorry just put them on. Not happy.
I went on wednesday to coles at mount warren park again wanting 2 hot chickens for dinner this was at 4pm and the lady behind counter says "no we are just putting them on now". (With an attitude)
I went again to mount warren park store the followinh day and what do you know same deal no hot chickens! This was at 4.30pm.
I have worked in the retail supermarket/deli business for over 15 years and in my experience if we had no hot chickens especially these hours of the day we would be delt with by manager not providing the product of which was a main item customers would be getting.
My trust in coles is getting thin.!
I hope to go back this week most likely twice to get hot chickens and hope to god they have them. Otherwise I will pay extra and shop at wollies!

On tuesday 7th feb I went in to coles port augusta to order 100 bread rolls for sunday morning I got a bad response to acting bakery manager (Billy-jo mundy) rolled her eyes at me and said that she will have to go in at 2.30 am to do the order, and made it sound like it was to much trouble, I did say that I can go else where, but the other lady (Steph) was a great help and thanks for that. I placed the order but was not happy with that staff member

At 7 feb 2017, I had placed an order ([protected]) about the special price item on a2 step 3 baby milk powder which was $20.99, and I had selected a delivery date on 10am to 2 pm, on 9 feb 2017. This evening I had received the confirm email and it told me that the goods will be delivered between 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. I am so happy and ready to receive my ordered items. But there was another email told me that the order [protected] was canceled. The reason is the product was out of stock! Excuse me? I had seen many cans of a2 step 3 on the coles shelf this afternoon and your staff jeremy told me it was out of stock? Next time I will take phone as evidence, the item was $20.99 and now it is $26.20, so that your staff tell me it was out of stock so that we can not deliver to you? When I shopped online on 7 feb 2017 the website said that I can only buy 8 cans and it had stock, however, tomorrow will deliver to me and tonight it had been canceled!
So that I am thinking why you guys attempt to cancel my order and you guys already canceled my order when I am writing this email? Coles put the "special price" on the shelf and I order 8 cans, even the delivery time was confirmed by the email, it says that items will deliver to my apartment between 12:30 pm to 1:30pm. I am thinking about that are you guys just do want to sell this product to me with the special price? The a2 step 3 milk powder was $20.99 and now it is $26.20, wow, the website told me that I had saved $ 41.60! And now you guys told me it was out of stock? (there were many cans on the shelf!) I am unhappy but I can not accept the reason you given.

To whom this may concern
My name is Anna Pampanella I have been shopping at the campbellfield store for many years now and I have now become to relies that Coles is really taking advantage of its loyal Customer I have given Coles a pass for too long
WHY are the lettuce & tomatoes not in the refrigerator I went to buy a cos lettuce today to find them rotting limp and not fit for humen consumption I am very disappointed to have to put up with buying food from this supermarket to have them last only a few days when I take them home and having to throw them out in fear of making my family I'll well no more I will no longer shop at your Coles store I will take my business else where
Truly annoyed and frustrated Anna P

In August these biscuits were avilable at Coles Rockingham in Western Australia.
Since then they have been missing from the shelf.
I buy them 2 pkts at a time.

I have complained to Coles numerous times but only got the bar code recently and registered a request to restock them on 31/1/2017. Case# C099543050.
To add insult to injury even one of the staff agreed with me that they were their favourite biscuit as well.
WHY WAS THIS BISCUIT NO LONGER STOCKED? We are not interested about sales figures!

Yesterday when I visited the Rockingham store there were 4 boxes of Ginger Crunchy Creams (see photo) on the shelf next to each other! The day before there were 5! What the hell is going on with Coles?
On top of those 4 boxes of Ginger Crunchy Creams are 5 boxes of Golden Crunchy Creams next to each other and on the shelf above those are 3 boxes of Custard Creams next to each other! Please don't tell me that you haven't got enough shelf space for Ginger Stem biscuits!
Not happy with Coles although there is still my case# C099543050 to be acted on.
Phil Piggott.