Coles Supermarkets Australia
Reviews and Complaints

I was doing a quick shop at the Yeppoon Central Queensland store for some extra school supplies required for a meeting. The exact time was 11.36 on Wednesday the 10/2/16. I proceeded to the self service terminal (card only), finished the transaction and realised I only had cash with me.
I relayed the situation, with an apology, to the woman assisting the self service area.

Well ! She huffed and literally pushed me aside, rang off the transaction without saying a word, snatched the bag of items moved to another machine and threw the items through at the speed of light .

I was so flustered and embarrassed I left the store, returned to the school to deliver the stationary only to find I was over charged for two items.

This woman does not belong near customers, Coles was my preferred store, however after this incident I will not be taking any future business to Coles

Kym
Reg: 111
Served by: Assisted Checkout
Store: 8731
Store Manager: Dale
Receipt: 6067
Time:11.36
Store : Yeppoon

On all media and news releases it says products named with useby date before and including 14th february
I went into coles on monday and saw the products in question on refrigerated display, I questioned a guy who was in the section and was told no its ok I said no it isn't and he went to talk to the manager who I then saw with an ipad checking I presume the recall website. When I came back products were removed. However when I went in today they are back again all with dates befoe 14th february and there is a printed notice at the service desk, printed by the store, saying the recall is only up to february 11th.
Woolworths, have no products with these dates'
Surely this is wrong of coles and I hope this is an isolated incident in only this store!

I bought this Coles cleaner and when its picked up the pressure from my hand holding the bottle results in the trigger leaking cleaning fluid from the nozzle, down the side of the bottle and spreads to make a ring of fluid around the bottles base. This was initially un noticed and was left for several hours in the one spot. When I moved the bottle the fluid had eating into my work desk and cant be removed by any means. The bottle has a faulty trigger that seeps fluid when handled. I will need a new laminate top fitted at Coles expense due to this product fault.
Thanks Shaun McCrae
Date of incident 2/9/2016
Resolution for damage to desktop. I will return the faulty product and would be happy with a $250 Coles shopping voucher to compensate the damage

I purchased 4 items of clothing on a Sunday. As Coles does not have any fitting rooms, I enquired as to what I could do if the items did not fit. Simple, just bring them back with all tags attached. Also ensure you bring items back in the clear bag that is provided when you purchased the items. When I was able to try on the items, 2 were a perfect fit. The other 2 items were far too small. All the items I purchased were the same size. I took the 2 items back to Coles with the tags and the clear plastic bag. I was given a Coles card by the assistant. I asked what I have to do with the card and was told, your $18 is on the back of the card and when you take something to the value you then take the card to the till. At this point I was still a happy customer. As I could not see anything that I needed I approached a sales assistant and was about to ask a question when she said, sorry I am just about to leave. Now this happy customer is getting a little put out. However another sales assistant came along and I explained all of the above. I went on to say that Coles does not have any sign's telling customers that Coles does not have fitting rooms. Also if you have reason to bring items back then you will be given a card to spend your money. The assistant said it is company policy to issue a card. I asked if it was a policy not to let the customer know. She then said she can't just put up a sign. I told her that I did not ask her to do that. I told her that she has to take my complaint back to her Supervisor who will then in turn tell his or her Manager so on and so forth until it has come to the attention of Head Office. I then thanked her and looked for something else to purchase. I arrived at the till and gave the card to the assistant. She said I have to put my pin number through the machine. I said what pin number. She then said you have to rub it with a coin. I did not have a coin so I asked if she had one. She said no she did not.( even though she was stood at a till) By now I have some other customers waiting to pay for their items. I went through my handbag and found my car keys and used them to rub off the card to see the pin number. I gave the card back to the girl because the pin number was so small I could not read it. She could not read it and she got another assistant to see if she could read it, no she could not. I suggested to the assistant that I had a load of customers behind me and she should move me to the information desk as the man behind me was getting a little irate to say the least. At the desk the assistant made a few attempts to put different numbers through until it was accepted...All that fuss for $18. Now if you can see all the mistakes that were made then perhaps the training of the staff should highlight the mistakes, then you may, just may keep your customers happy. When I was working, we were told the customer is always right. ( That is not always the case but you would not tell them that.) So how about a little more training and less of it's company policy to keep us happy. I don't suppose I will get a reply because this complaint is soo long. Please surprise with a reply. PS next time if there is one, I will say the items are faulty because they were sized wrong. Then I will save myself a lot of time which I will never get back.

I am very upset about what is happening to our coles supermarket here in Narrogin ... for one the meat is discusting ... you had lamb on special but it was not lamb it was hogget being sold as lamb ... and then you take of the shelves english sausauges ... because they where selling more then your horrible coles sausages and the range we used to have when coles actually did own it was so much more better ... and again taking brand names of the shelf and bringing your own in .. I know once you do away with these brands you will hike up your prices on your own items .. we are not so stupid ... bring back what coles used to be ... even tin foods no variety any more ... you took away reduced cream in the tin why when ppl are still buying it ... and the vege department what a joke on your produce ... what you advertise on tv is not what where getting ... over east get's all the good stuff but on the west coast we get rubbish .. no variety again ... very upset ...

I have tried to purchase $9 per kilo chicken breast from the Green Point store on 4 occasions since start of this year and they have not been available. When I asked why I am told they are waiting on a delivery and if I want chicken I will have to purchase the more expensive brand. I do not have this problem in any other Central Coast Coles. I think if there's a country wide campaign advertising $9 per kilo chicken then it should be made available in ALL stores ALL the time not staff trying to push the more expensive brand. I also find this particular store badly stocked and their meat in general is of bad quality and close to its use by date. I would still like to shop there as it's local and convenient but would like these complaints addressed. Thank you.

How difficult is it to purchase baby formula?
Well it doesn't help that the staff at Coles Asquith don't t even follow procedure and provide mis-information.
Initially I came into the store and nothing was in stock and was told they only bring out stock at 11pm. Next day I come into the store at 11pm and I'm told they pushed it out early at 8pm and a group of Chinese people came in and bought everything (2 per customer, yeah right).
So I followed there guidance and placed an order with them and was told they would keep 2 aside. However to be expected I come in next day and the same s##t happens. I spoke to the manager and wanted to know why wasn't I contacted. The only excuse I was provided is, Sorry I didn't check the order form.

I recently went to do some shopping at coles supermarket Narrandera. I found the oroduct range, " or lack there of ", to be quite inadiquate the the drinks aisle. Now i understand that staff have other products to put out on the shelves. However, the aisle in question, has been basically " empty " for days now. Being a loyal coles shopper, and former employee of coles, i find this situation very " UNSATISFACTORY " When i was working for your company, being only casual, if i had have left an aisle empty, i whould not get another shift. I also understand that product availability, especially for regional areas like ours, can be difficult at times. That said, it still should'nt take almost a week for new stock to arrive. If i did that when i was working for coles, being like i said casual, i whould have been SACKED. And to add, a certain product which has been advitised since before xmas, still is being advitised, and again, no stock available for quite some time now. At this point in time, im thinking very seriously anout diong my shopping at IGA Narrandera. At they have ample amounts of stock readly available for customers to purchase. I hope this gets through to head office, and something gets done about it.

Where do I start about service? For one the new roll out of oneteam that is a joke. I understand that employees to be multi skilled to work another department but to be coached about oneteam and rosters changed to accomodate oneteam rosterg in fixing rosters to service the public. How is it that at store level we have constant prioty one calls and not enough staff at the service area so that other employees can be constructive and at full capacity in their department of work to complete the tasks at hand, im hearing so many people lacking the moral to keep the standards up and be under constant pressure by peers or the department itself.
Even if the store in question is a million dollar trading store and still have to keep cutting back wages. Is this because of new stores opening? Within the surrounding areas?
Alot of team members are feeling frustrated and jipped by the one team roll out thinking it would be a better place of employment.
The only good thing for oneteam is the shift bidding to be able to work hours in other stores.
I have come to the conclusion to many cheifs and not enough indians in the store especially in the service area and management. The store in particular could do with a reality check and weed out dead wood that have time to do absolutely nothing and get away with it, and as the old saying goes the ones that perform seem to be the ones that get walked on constantly instead of treating with respect and praise for a job well done.
Management cannot keep things confidential all the time and team members are finding it difficult to trust when they have the rights to union advise without management or issues personal or work related.
Sometimes there are bully tactics involved and we have team members in emotional states and cannot trust what the management say or do. There are a few team members to closely associated with management and cannot differentuate the difference of work and communication and doing absolutely nothing and getting away with it, with the highest of management at time of roster!.
Commmunication lacks in the store at so many levels and not enough consideration given to replacing staff for departments that may perform different tasks, some things that are important to team members dont always come across that important to management, so they are feeling a lack of support and no respect for these people within the management. At times there are things left for next day of trade in tasks to be done of normally team members to pick up the slack fron management. My understanding is salary based team members are required to do that little bit more and management be a role model of being a worker and to help and support departments where needed, as opposed of a wage team member which does this anyway.

It is bad enough that Coles are trying to force us to by their inferior (god knows where it comes from) Home Brand products by removing other brands from the shelves, but now they are trying to force us into buying the bigger sizes of products by removing the Middle size. You could, of course buy a couple of the smaller size at a more exorbitant price if you wish.
Check out the Boxed stocks (beef, chicken etc) if you don't believe me. Just the latest in a long list of manipulations.
I have noticed that it is becoming a trend for people to shop in three or more stores instead of just one in order to get what they want. When are these dills in Coles and Woolies going to figure out that they driving customers to seek alternative sources for the brands and quality that they want. Price is not everything!

When there are 4 customers waiting to be served at the customer service desk and the only staff member around is serving on the 12 items or less register and putting more than 12 items through I would just like to know are these staff members told not to even turn around to see if there is anyone waiting on the counter which is suppose to be for customer service as it appears that they just don't care, but when 3 out of the 4 customers walk away disgusted for the lack of service I think there is a large problem with management, I only wanted to know what time the West Australian newspaper was going to be in as it is getting later this was approx. 1300 today. I don't shop anymore at that Coles store after buying some fish from the Deli department that was rotten the next day about 6 weeks ago and the cooked chicken was so full of oil it was floating in the bag.

Hi, I was at coles port melbourne this morning (25th January 2016, Monday around 8.30am), paying for the coconut water I bought. There is only one checkout open a lady is serving the customers. Another lady is in the smokes section behind her. I find the lady who served me is very rude and not properly trained.

I asked her $20 cash out. She activated the paypass machine and I was about to insert my card in the eftpos machine and notice on screen that $20 cash out is not added to the transaction.

I said to her "is it with $20 cash out? She replied "If you tap you don't get money" by the time she said that eftpos machine read my card and payment gone through.

I asked then what do i do now? She said do you have chip? tap it now. I tapped and she gave me money. No thanks or sorry?

I find it very rude. This is not the way to begin my morning or in fact anybody's day. I have been shopping with coles for the past 20 years and I even worked as service cashier.

I want to ask you
1. Why is she so rude?
2. Why did not explained me things properly?
3. She told me if I tap I don't get money (what kind of a way to talk to customer like that?)
4. How come she asked me tap to get the money second time?

This incident really puts me off from coles.

I have lived in Karratha W.A. for the past 8 years which I am a regular customer of Coles. I have never seen the Deli Department so badly managed. The staff are rude especially one named Donna who is the rudest and most sour person I have ever had the misfortune of being served by, Donna has worked in that department for several years now but her attitude now is unacceptable. I don't know who the manager of that department is but they are not doing a very good job. There is always a very bad odour coming from the display cabinet near the fish which I must apologise for telling other customers that it was from the meat cabinet but now my house has the same rotten smell in it after purchasing some fish and seafood from Coles which was rotten the next day. The polony usually has a very pale tinge and is slimy indicating that it is not freshly sliced daily along with the ham and other cold cuts.

I always shop in Coles, though in Healesville there is not that much choice... So I have always bought either Coles brand or SPC canned peach slices or fruit salad. Around 3 months ago there were no peaches, no drama I just got the fruit salad... so 3 months later, still no peaches on the self, and now, no fruit salad... in either brand... oh no, hang on there is a massive selection of "Rhodes" brand South African canned fruit, and look it is $1.50 cheaper anyway... No I am standing my ground, and trying to always stick with Australian fruit... If we believe the labels! So I bought some 4 packs of the Coles brand fruit and had a chat one of the employees when I was at the check out. She rambled on about product checks and fruit quality, and availability bla bla bla... She assured me that all the fresh peaches were Australia, well thank goodness for that! And then told me that if the ticket for the product was no longer there then the product had been discontinued! I want to know how that is possible. We can still get Coles brand peach slices in the small plastic 4 packs, and they are still in the large plastic bottles, but no longer in the cans! Why are our shelves being invaded by products from overseas when we live in a country that can produce wonderful fruit and vegies. I just do not understand... Might have to look in Woolworths to see if they have more Australian products

I make our bread at home and have some special recipes I have developed over the years. One of the mixes involves using Grated Parmesan Cheese. During a recent make, I started to add the parmesan cheese and was bewildered by the lack of smell from the cheese. I asked my Wife who informed me it was Coles own brand as the brand I normally use (Kraft) was not available when she shopped. The Coles brand could have been grated chalk as that was what the difference was like "chalk and cheese" It was rubbish. We seem to be experiencing this more and more with Coles, i.e. replacing well known brands with their own. I don't really know what they are playing at but boy oh boy Coles, I hope you don't take us - the most important people - shoppers, as fools. Roll on the opening of Aldi here in SA.

This morning I was shopping at my local Coles supermarket (Surry Hills Village, NSW) when I watched an Asian women putting her hands into a number of nibbles containers and eating the contents. She didn't even use the scoop provided. I told the lady at the deli to inform the manager (Steve?). The manager never appeared and I told the woman she was a nothing but a common thief and she was being completely unhygienic too. She abused me and told me that as long as she didn't take the items out of the store she could eat what she wanted as she walked around! Perhaps she planned on vomiting up the contents of her stomach before leaving! Anyhow I will NEVER buy anything from that section of Coles again. And I suggest nobody else does either, even though we are all paying for consumption by this thief. And think of the germs...

You or your agent emailed me stating I was today's winner of a $70 shopping voucher and only had to fill out survey to collect the prize. I did this honestly as shop at Coles runaway bay. Then I was offered to purchased items at a reduced rate. Where is my voucher ? This is fraud and I want my voucher and this activity stopped.

This morning I went to carlingford court's coles and arranged a raincheck for the white king power clean toilet gel 700ml (Half price). I requested for 6 but the staff told me I could only have 4. Then I went to epping station's coles and asked the staff how many could I have, he told me I could have maximum 6. Feeling surprise that why there are difference policy within the same supermarket?

I have been a regular customer at this supermarket for the past 23 years. Over the last 5 years the stock that is maintained on the shelves is getting less and less. an example of this is (1) The weight watchers range of fruits are no longer in existence. (2) The Cascade Raspberry cordial has disappeared of the shelf. (3) The Peters Chocolate Low fat ice cream has disappeared off the shelf. (4) The deli options are now very limited, especially in the ham range. (5) The Purity washing detergent has disappeared off the shelf. (6) The Earths Choice washing detergent has disappeared off the shelf. (7) The Yates "Bug Gun" is still shown as available and yet I have not been able to get the product now for over eight weeks. I have a "rain check" dated the 18th of December for this product which is now 3 weeks old. This product was put on SPECIAL over the last week and there is zero stock on the shelf. I have vigilantly checked twice a week over the past two weeks. I have had to resort to going to Woolworths to get a similar product. I have recently been to Coles in Noosa and the comparison is like chalk and cheese. My question on this point is, "Why is The Gap so understocked in comparison to Noosa"? Is The Gap store considered a low priority? If Coles are going to continue to allow choice of product to diminish and totally ignore complaints from consumers then I will no longer shop at this store as I have Woolworths close by. My subsequent complaints in relation to the Peters Ice cream and Yates were basically ignored and the answer I received was, "Woolworths charge more for the product and that is why they stocked it". Upon my second complaint on January 7th my phone number was taken and I was told that someone would contact me in relation to the stock. I am still waiting. Is this how Coles train managers to respond to customers? I look forward to a response

I went to Coles in Coorparoo Qld 4151 3 TIMES to purchase the dumplings at $2.50 and no stocks were found. Tonight I went again and no stocks were there. Asked a staff by the name of Robert and was helpful. He asked the Manageress by the name of Linda and the respond I got was dissapointing. How can a large company like COLES have no stocks for the past 3 DAYS! I think Woolworth produce better service and have stocks most of the time. You are going to lose customers soon.