Community IT and shopping support for elderly and vulnerable

  • jules871's Avatar
    My first post so here goes... I have registered today for the new scheme and have been reading some of the comments. It appears to me that there are many elderly and vulnerable people out there falling through the cracks in terms of support generally. I luckily have both parents but my Mum is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and my Dad has a longstanding back problem and they are both in their late 70's so I have been doing their shopping for them. I also offered to get shopping for three of my elderly and vulnerable neighbours by pushing cards through their doors two of whom, due to work and life getting in the way, I do not usually see or speak to. I am not after a medal or points for this, the lovely phone calls I had from them, thanking me were more than enough. However, it made me realise that they were in a far more vulnerable position than me, so please if you have elderly neighbours particularly those on their own or those with a partner who is ill- reach out to them even if you have never spoken to them before. They may not need your help at that moment, as they may have people helping them already but like one of my neighbours said "thank you so much because you can be my back up because you never know!" but don't just assume they are getting help. If you are elderly and need help try asking a neighbour you think you can trust. I also have a delivery saver but was having difficulty getting slots unless I stayed up to till the early hours and then they would disappear into the ether as soon as I opened them. As I am still working from home and sticking to office hours I could not keep doing this and function so I contacted Customer Services and explained the situation and Tesco to their credit have allocated Priority slots to my account which has helped me and my parents enormously so a big thanks to Vikki.My other suggestion is regarding IT support. I know from helping my parents and my father in law how frustrating tablets, laptops, phones and the internet are for the elderly and luckily I can help them out when things go wrong but so many out there do not have that support. I was really interested in the Barclays scheme but unfortunately in today's world banks are quickly disappearing from the High Street. However, there are many Tesco stores throughout the land and I thought it would be a great idea if customers could get a time slot to see someone instore about a problem they are a having with one of their pesky items whilst they are doing their weekly shop. Would Tesco Community Managers consider offering such support on a trial basis?
  • 3 Replies

  • RossM's Avatar
    Former Community Manager
    Hi , welcome to the community. We're happy to have you! Thank you so much for taking the time to write your suggestion, I know my own Granny could do with some IT help at times!!

    I have recorded your comments below as feedback and hope hear some more ideas from users like yourself soon.
  • jules871's Avatar
    Thanks Ross can you delete my forum account please?