“Gremlins” spark chaos at the Co-op

Wednesday 06 February 2019

Co-op staff have been praised for their efforts after shoppers were yesterday forced to queue up to two hours to pay for their groceries due to “gremlins” in the till system.

The IT issue, which hit all branches of the supermarket, meant that staff had to manually write down any promotions on products, rushing around the store.

Islanders described scenes of “chaos” in posts on social media, with winding queues lengthening and incurring waits of 20 minutes to as long as two hours or more.

Some shoppers reportedly ditched their baskets and trollies in the aisles as they became increasingly frustrated by the delay.

Pictured: Co-op COO Mark Cox apologised for the problems caused by "gremlins" in the system. 

While perturbed by the problem, many have since praised the staff for their “fantastic” efforts in dealing with the situation.

Chad Wood, who had only popped into the store for a snack, told Express: “The till staff were doing their absolute best to accommodate for the situation that was completely out of their control, having to manually take off and write down any promotions that were on products and ensure that their customer service was still great in spite of what must have been an incredibly frustrating and tiring day.”

In a post that received over 300 ‘likes’, islander Emma Keane wrote: “Hats off to every single member of staff. They’ve done everything that could possibly be done under the circumstances. A member of staff stood at the bottom of the escalator alerting shoppers the fact that there were massive queues and delays… These things happen!”

Filipe Campos was among the many to show their support for staff in a reply to Ms Keane’s post, praising them for “working together as a team… to overcome this problem.”

Pictured: One shopper reported waiting in a queue for over two hours at the Grand Marché store.

Julie Knowles, who said she waited over two hours in the Grand Marché, added: “[I] just felt so sorry for the staff who were run ragged trying to do their best. Hats off to them all, for remaining calm and carrying on....They def all need recognition in such unforeseen and difficult circumstances... Well done guys n gals, you all deserve a large drink of your choice later.”

Speaking about the chaotic day, one Co-op employee said: “It was a long day for all staff members, but I know everyone gave their best. Unfortunately these situations are unpredictable. Thanks to all the customers who understood what was going on. I’m glad I did lots of miles today.”

Chief Operating Officer of the Co-op, Mark Cox, apologised to those affected by the problems.

“Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused. We have experienced a couple of gremlins in the system this morning. The team have applied a fix but now which is being processed across all stores.

“I’m very grateful to our store colleagues who have been simply amazing as always and really do appreciate the patience members are showing in store,” he said.