• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Tesco - poor response to a valid query

I agree with the original poster on a number of points:
The individual from customer services is not qualified to give medical advice.
The op did not want or need medical advice.
There is little point in providing the nutritional value per 100g if you don't know the weight of the product.
If other companies can provide the weight of the sandwich and nutritional values per 100g , why can't Tescos.

The response is patronising, rude and inappropriate. As @Dillinger says, what exactly are non dairy sources of protein and dairy? Somebody in Customer Services needs to take this advisor to one side and explain why his response was so inappropriate.
 
Given the choice of eating a sandwich from Tesco's or one freshly prepared in a sandwich shop or bakers then I'd take the latter two. Very few independent shops give nutritional information of their packaging but it's not hard to have a good guess at the carb value and inject accordingly, if your pretty confident at carb counting then you won't be too far away.
 
what exactly are non dairy sources of protein and dairy?
Click to expand...
To me that makes sense.
They are two of the parts of a conventional balanced diet as are the fruit and veg and starches mentioned in the same sentence.
Each is considered as an important element of a complete meal , they really stress this meal composition here in France. . So tonight I had chicken (non dairy protein), asparagus, spinach, (veg) new potatoes (starch), strawberries (fruit) and half fat crème fraiche.(dairy)
You may not agree with it but it's pretty standard advice in most parts of the world and probably came directly from a diabetes leaflet from the NHS or an old BDA one.
They probably append the same answer to all questions on diabetes.
 
phoenix said:
To me that makes sense.
They are two of the parts of a conventional balanced diet as are the fruit and veg and starches mentioned in the same sentence.
Each is considered as an important element of a complete meal , they really stress this meal composition here in France. . So tonight I had chicken (non dairy protein), asparagus, spinach, (veg) new potatoes (starch), strawberries (fruit) and half fat crème fraiche.(dairy)
You may not agree with it but it's pretty standard advice in most parts of the world and probably came directly from a diabetes leaflet from the NHS or an old BDA one.
They probably append the same answer to all questions on diabetes.
Click to expand...
So what is non dairy dairy - lol?
 
What if they had said, that is fruit and vegetables , dairy, non-dairy sources of protein and starchy foods ? I've changed the order but it's still the same grammatically with the food groups in the list separated by a comma and the last with an 'and' . The order they used probably makes more sense in terms of decreasing proportions for each group.

It just means you shouldn't use chees for your protein and have a diet of cheese soufflés or cheese salads followed by yoghurt for dessert.


* I'm an old fashioned Brit and would punctuate that sentence in the same way as Tesco did. (ie item, item, item and item). Apparently, the use of commas in lists is highly controversial and depends on whether you are a Brit , an American or a Brit that has adopted the 'Oxford comma' . It can raise passionate debate and twitter storms.
Anyway that's enough nit picking to start the day .(not sure of a suitable smiley so ;) :( :cool: :D
 
phoenix said:
What if they had said, that is fruit and vegetables , dairy, non-dairy sources of protein and starchy foods ? I've changed the order but it's still the same grammatically with the food groups in the list separated by a comma and the last with an 'and' . The order they used probably makes more sense in terms of decreasing proportions for each group.

It just means you shouldn't use chees for your protein and have a diet of cheese soufflés or cheese salads followed by yoghurt for dessert.


* I'm an old fashioned Brit and would punctuate that sentence in the same way as Tesco did. (ie item, item, item and item). Apparently, the use of commas in lists is highly controversial and depends on whether you are a Brit , an American or a Brit that has adopted the 'Oxford comma' . It can raise passionate debate and twitter storms.
Anyway that's enough nit picking to start the day .(not sure of a suitable smiley so ;) :( :cool: :D
Click to expand...
I was just being naughty and having a bit of fun.....
 
To those saying you should know how to carb count- (not trying to be argumentative but just to offer the perspective of someone who finds it difficult), first of all, many people have never been taught how to do it at all never mind well (I only got on a DAFNE course when I specifically requested it after 13 years, I'd never heard of it until reading it on here). Secondly, as somebody already said, carb counting something you make at home is one thing, but estimating the carbs in a product when you have no idea what they put in it is completely different. I'm not talking about the filling, but the bread itself- how do I know what exactly they put in their bread (eg Subway known for putting something in their bread which makes it quite addictive, is that sugars? I don't know but just an example). I'm a coeliac so have to eat gluten-free, and some gluten-free bread is 40% carbs, some is around 65% carbs. If you're on very large quantities of insulin this might not make much difference, but for someone like me where I only need a few units for a meal, that could be the difference between 2 or 3 units, which makes a significant difference to my blood sugars. Furthermore, I've tried testing before and after the same foods and often get different results. There are SO many possible reasons for the difference (accidentally taking too much/little insulin, air bubbles, change in site of injection, illness, incorrect bolus ratios, menstruation, stress, activity etc etc etc) that it's hard enough working out what I've done wrong when I DO know the carbs were accurate, never mind when I have to add possible incorrect carb estimation to the mix!

I don't see why Tescos can't provide that information when all other supermarkets I know of do...


Type One Diabetes since 2001, Coeliac Disease since 2003 ish, IBS, and on and off depression and diabulimia.

Current HbA1c 11.7% :(
 
lilyfleur said:
To those saying you should know how to carb count- (not trying to be argumentative but just to offer the perspective of someone who finds it difficult), first of all, many people have never been taught how to do it at all never mind well (I only got on a DAFNE course when I specifically requested it after 13 years, I'd never heard of it until reading it on here). Secondly, as somebody already said, carb counting something you make at home is one thing, but estimating the carbs in a product when you have no idea what they put in it is completely different. I'm not talking about the filling, but the bread itself- how do I know what exactly they put in their bread (eg Subway known for putting something in their bread which makes it quite addictive, is that sugars? I don't know but just an example). I'm a coeliac so have to eat gluten-free, and some gluten-free bread is 40% carbs, some is around 65% carbs. If you're on very large quantities of insulin this might not make much difference, but for someone like me where I only need a few units for a meal, that could be the difference between 2 or 3 units, which makes a significant difference to my blood sugars. Furthermore, I've tried testing before and after the same foods and often get different results. There are SO many possible reasons for the difference (accidentally taking too much/little insulin, air bubbles, change in site of injection, illness, incorrect bolus ratios, menstruation, stress, activity etc etc etc) that it's hard enough working out what I've done wrong when I DO know the carbs were accurate, never mind when I have to add possible incorrect carb estimation to the mix!

I don't see why Tescos can't provide that information when all other supermarkets I know of do...


Type One Diabetes since 2001, Coeliac Disease since 2003 ish, IBS, and on and off depression and diabulimia.

Current HbA1c 11.7% :(
Click to expand...
Exactly! That's what the patronising muppet in Tescos failed to understand!
 
To say Tesco are linked to diabetes uk is a joke they are jumping on the band wagon to make themselves look good I enquired with their customer services about them withdrawing their light juices range ideal for diabetics with low sugar and their response was not very helpful at all they just bluffed there way out of the question
 
noblehead said:
Criticism aside about their response to the OP, Tesco's have done some marvellous work over the last year raising awareness of diabetes in their stores and contributing a whacking 10 million towards diabetes research:

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us...d-customers-raise-10-million-for-Diabetes-UK/
Click to expand...
Not sure I agree with that point of view. What is the point of pouring money into research whilst at the same time surrounding the in-store population with harmful carbs and working with an organisation that encourages diabetics to have starchy carbs with every meal?
 
May I suggest ditching packaged sandwiches altogether. They're an appalling nutritional choice for anyone, diabetic or not..
 
Daibell said:
Not sure I agree with that point of view. What is the point of pouring money into research whilst at the same time surrounding the in-store population with harmful carbs and working with an organisation that encourages diabetics to have starchy carbs with every meal?
Click to expand...

Don't you think work towards a vaccine for T1 is worthwhile ? How about increasing peoples awareness of their risk of T2, encouraging them to get tested before they develop complications.?
How about the money used to extend their careline,. People ring them with all sorts of problems from the DVLA to coping with problems in schools. They will even find speakers of other languages (I could have done with that in France when I was first diagnosed but there is nothing like that here)

Of course the supermarket gets good publicity out of it and can probably put some of their donation against tax but it's 10 million pounds for what I consider a worthwhile cause. It seems to me from reading on another UK forum, that one of the reasons that this collaboration has done so well is because many of the firm's employees either know someone with diabetes or have it themselves. This has certainly motivated some to get involved in the fundraising.

Supermarkets all sell foods that you may not wish to eat . Some of the foods that you think are bad I would want to buy including oatmeal, potatoes, legumes and some breads . when in the UK, I stock up on pulses , spices and horror of horror multigrain wraps in Tescos . (because in France the only wraps I've been able to find are from El Paso and contain hydrogenated fat; the ones I get there don't)
You are perfectly free to ignore these products, wherever you shop , choosing just to buy vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs etc
And yes, like every supermarket, garage, and what seems like every second shop in any town, they sell processed junk foods that none of us , diabetic or not should eat. No-one is forcing you to buy them but demand is obviously there (in spite of health education messages about high fat/sugar/salt combinations .
 
Daibell said:
Not sure I agree with that point of view. What is the point of pouring money into research whilst at the same time surrounding the in-store population with harmful carbs and working with an organisation that encourages diabetics to have starchy carbs with every meal?
Click to expand...

I think Phoenix answered this perfectly, how can £10M be pointless regardless of where it came from?? I'm sure Tesco sell their "harmful carbs" to non diabetics as well.
 
Just received a very positive response from tesco ;


Dear Mr Bonerp

Thank you for your patience whilst your complaint has been looked into further.

I can understand your frustrations at not being able to work out the carbohydrates in our sandwiches, especially as this is something you need to do as part of your dietary requirements for Diabetes.

As a company, we are extremely proud of our work with Diabetes UK and have extended our partnership with them, for a further 6 months. One of our ambitions is to help our colleagues and customers lead healthier lives and our partnership with Diabetes UK to raise awareness of the condition and promote healthy living is an important part of that effort. Diabetes UK have helped Tesco tremendously over the time of our partnership and we hope that once they leave us, we can continue to carry on their vital work on awareness.

I am pleased to be able to tell you, after talking your concerns through with our Convenience Foods Team, it is being arranged that the packs with the missing weights, will be reviewed and updated. My colleague, Hinal, has recognised the importance of this information and although at the time of designing the packs, it was decided that there was not a suitable space for the weight to be included, this will not be looked at again and the packs will be redesigned to allow for this extra piece of information.

I do hope that I have been able to offer my reassurance that customer feedback is very important to us and where we can, will make any necessary changes. On this occasion, I am glad to have been able to arrange the required changes and am sure that as a result of your time on this matter, other customers will also benefit greatly.

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.


Kind regards

Eleanor Hay
Customer Service Executive

a1-f1-mC824CAA1-E73F-11E3-A7B0-001E0BCC44FE-80fc152e-a07b-4d0d-80ff-18a2719328db.jpeg
 
Daibell said:
Not sure I agree with that point of view. What is the point of pouring money into research whilst at the same time surrounding the in-store population with harmful carbs and working with an organisation that encourages diabetics to have starchy carbs with every meal?
Click to expand...

Well I think raising over 10 million for diabetes research is a marvellous achievement, the staff of Tesco's and all those who donated money in the collection boxes should be congratulated and applauded for their magnificent effort.

If Tesco's didn't stock their shelves with ''harmful carbs'' then then they would lose out to their competitors, there's no way that supermarket is going to stop stocking carbohydrates in their food aisles because a small bunch of diabetics take offence to it, it would be madness to do so :)

Walk down any high street and pop into your local greengrocers, butchers, convenience store, post office, petrol station and there any amount of goods that contain carbs, if you don't want to buy them then the choice is yours, I walk past the tobacco kiosk every-time I walk into my local Tesco's or Asda but I don't stop to buy a pack of cigarettes, it's much the same as walking past or avoiding the alcoholic aisle if you don't drink or drink in moderation like myself, no one forces your hand......
 
Great result bonerp, pleased Tesco's have responded to your request :)
 
Scardoc said:
I think Phoenix answered this perfectly, how can £10M be pointless regardless of where it came from?? I'm sure Tesco sell their "harmful carbs" to non diabetics as well.
Click to expand...

I would love a cure for my 5 year old granddaughter, she's Type 1 as well. So any amount of money that is put into diabetes research is surely a positive one:joyful:
 
Back
Top