Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts all apologies as technical issues disrupt deliveries and store payments
Yesterday, RTIH reported that Sainsbury's had been hit by an IT meltdown following an 'error with an overnight software update' that prevented the grocery retailer from being able to fulfil online orders and accept contactless payments in stores.
Check out our story here.
Today, Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts has sent the following email to customers: “I’m writing to update you on the technical issue that has affected our Groceries Online deliveries and some services in our stores this weekend.”
“Firstly, I want to apologise to you and every customer that has been affected by the issue and to thank you for your patience and for bearing with us.”
“I really understand how important it is for everyone to be able to shop with us conveniently and easily, whenever and however you want to, and I am sorry if you have not received your usual service from Sainsbury’s this weekend.”
“I am pleased to confirm that all the affected systems are now back online. Our stores continue to be open as usual and in-store payment services, including contactless, are fully operational.”
“Our online ordering system is still working as normal and any customers whose Groceries Online order was not delivered can place a new order now for a delivery any time from tomorrow. We will automatically add a voucher to your online wallet in the next few days to apologise for the inconvenience.”
“Our contact centre teams are working very hard to do everything they can to help customers who have been affected by the issue and need further assistance. Thank you for bearing with us while we work to answer any specific questions you may have as soon as possible.”
“I would also like to thank all our colleagues who have worked so hard to resolve this issue and support our customers. I’m proud of the way all our team have stepped up to manage the unexpected challenges that we know so many of our customers have experienced this weekend..”
“On behalf of everyone here at Sainsbury’s, thank you for your patience and understanding and, as always, thank you for choosing to shop with us.”
McDonald’s and Tesco
It’s also been a rough weekend for McDonald’s and Tesco.
McDonald’s experienced technical problems that brought much of its business to a standstill on Friday.
This happened during a "configuration change" and stopped stores taking orders in the likes of the UK, Australia and Japan.
McDonald’s blamed a "global technology system outage, which was quickly identified and corrected”, and added “notably, this issue was not directly caused by a cybersecurity event - rather, it was caused by a third-party provider during a configuration change”.
It stressed that this was the "exception to the norm, and we are working with absolute urgency to resolve it".
Kudos, BTW, to rival Burger King for this response on Twitter (sorry, not sorry, we refuse to call it that other stupid name).
As for Tesco, technical issues on Saturday forced it to cancel a small number of online delivery orders.
A spokesperson said: "The vast majority of our online orders are being delivered as normal, but due to a technical issue earlier today we have had to cancel a small number of orders.”
"We are contacting affected customers directly, and we're really sorry for the inconvenience."
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