This, my friends, is why I prefer to stay home! This morning we had to go out. Vince needed bananas and, as you might guess, that took five stops. Seriously, this is all true!
Stop #1: A burger chain (not McDonald’s or Burger King). I ordered Meal #1 which included a burger, fries and a drink. They brought the order to us . . no burger. I showed the lady my receipt. She went to get the burger, which took forever. The fries were cold-ish when they brought them out so I took those back and asked for them to bring hot fries with the burger. They brought the burger out – no mayo. Should be simple enough — take it back, add mayo. No, they had to re-make the burger. Before the burger ever came out, Vince was done eating. I cancelled the order, got a refund, asked to speak to the manager. In the meantime, another guy came up complaining that they had remade his burger and it was more wrong than before. The manager honestly said to us “We’re doing the best we can!” Really?? I have written a note to their home office. It’s at a place where, every time we go we say we’re not going back because of the poor service. I think this time was for real — I am not going back.
Stop #2: Tractor Supply – They had an outdoor cook stove kinda like the one I use for canning. They had one outside and one inside, assembled, on a shelf. I asked if they had a box. I needed to know how many BTUs so I could know if I could do canning on it. They didn’t have a box. The lady couldn’t find it on the stove anywhere and she looked at me and kinda huffy said “Why do you need to know that anyway?” Nevermind . . I don’t! I’m not getting it!
Stop #3: United – The yogurt I wanted had all expired on 8/12. We were there last Sunday and the same expired yogurt was in the cooler. Two items we bought on sale rang up full price. The lady bagging our groceries was about 2/3 done, had a bag of pears in her hand, was about to put them in the bag but noticed something more pressing I suppose, put the bag of pears back down on the checkout counter and walked away. Vince and I looked at each other like .. is she coming back? Nope, we finished bagging our stuff and left. Not a big deal but kinda weird.
Stop #4: Kroger – several things that were on sale rang up wrong. I can understand (maybe) this happening on Wednesday, the first day things are on sale . . but this is Sunday! They had no brie.
Stop #5: Aldi – Vince wanted brie and Kroger was out, we forgot to look at United so we ran by Aldi. Their brie was expired. Vince had been in the week I was gone to get brie and it was expired. Same expiration date . . still sitting in the cooler.
It’s hard to believe that we only made 5 stops and all 5 stops, we left saying . . Really??
I don’t expect to never find something outdated; I don’t expect to always get great service but we seemed to be on a roll today.
pattilynn9 says
Hope Vince enjoyed his bananas! haha.
So many ppl just won’t complain about poor service. I do tho. Hubby used to not pay attention to clerks/waiters. After living with me, he still says ‘they’ should know what they’re doing. I agree, but I’m quick to tell him ‘ppl are incompetent’. You gotta do Half their job for them. It’s aggravating…grrr. So proud he’s getting better at watching them. He picked up my prescription this week and remembered to check to see if they put an easy open lid on it. Nope, altho it’s on my acct that I want that kind of lid. He told them about it. They swapped it out, but shrugged…oh, well, no big deal. Even tho we’ve had to make a trip back before cause they can’t put the right lid on the bottle. Makes me wonder if they pay attention to what they’re putting INSIDE the bottle. @@
Dottie N. says
WOW – I totally understand (wish I didn’t!!).
Cindy Kuipers says
We have noticed the same problems here. At our local “farm” store that we go to on a regular basis early in the morning they are usually having what appears to be an employee meeting by the registers, but no one wants to wait on us. Also, the popcorn machine frequently needs attending to – usually by the cashier in the middle of checking us out, which I don’t understand because there is always another employee standing around doing nothing. We never can find anyone to help us in the store if we have questions or can’t find something.
We have to really watch at several different stores to make sure things are rung up at sale price,too.
Sherrill says
There is NO customer service anymore unless it’s BAD!! Guess this generation won’t expect much except maybe….oops, not gonna say it!!
danielle says
Maybe it is residual full moon…….
wanda j says
Nope it is no body gets trained anymore. That cost money so they just put them to work. If there is someone there, they can show them how they do it right or wrong. Like some of the others I complain and then write the main office /go online and let them know about it. Unless more people complain to the right people it will never change,. Might not anyway. They just want your money and don’t really care if you shop there are not. No one does their job anymore because there are no job description written.They just fling you out there and you do what you want to who you want to. Work or not just get a check at the end of the week. Sad…..
Susan Shaw says
I was just reading your post about poor customer service. About once a week or every two weeks my son goes and picks up barbeque for us. His second job for 7 years (and longer considering other places) has been delivering pizza; so he well aware of customer service. He had called in the order and had the lady repeat the order to him. The barbeque place had recently reopened after building a new building and destroying their old building for a new parking lot. I don’t know if they had laid off employees who transferred to other stores or not. Anyhow, when he got there, they were NOT busy. Everyone seemed to be trying to find ranch dressing for a lady for her salad. Our order was fixed and waiting with the wrong name on it. Then his part of the order was incorrect. They had to fix his part. They sent home the incorrect part which went in the trash. I ordered a sandwich which I usually don’t. It was cold by the time he got it home. The meat was burned so I couldn’t eat much of it and the bread was so tough, I had to eat what I could. The okra and fries were soggy. It was closing time or I would have called and complained. It certainly was subpar for that place in quality and service. It’ll be quite some time before we go back. One of my friends from widow’s group heard the story and said she was going to suggest it because it was one of our favorite places when we eat out. We used to eat out lots before I became the designated sitter when my granddaughter who is 3 came to live with us unexpectedly. It’s not easy to take her to eat often. Glad you posted and sorry you had some horrible service. You are not alone. Customer service is not what it used to be most places.
wanda j says
Always call no matter if it is the next day. Complain so the owners know what is going on. I always ask for the owners name and talk to them. they are wasting good food when it is bad. Then they have to raise prices to cover for that. We have to stand up and be heard.
Dar in MO says
I hear you about poor customer service. Once in a while there is a very responsible and caring person who goes beyond their scope of duties to help out a customer. This recently happened to me at a CPR shop (cellular phone repair). Don’t know if this nationwide or regional, but this tech tried 3 times (over a week) to fix my older cell phone with a new glass screen that was ordered in from a warehouse out of state, and the part was defective each time. It worked worse than the original shattered glass screen my phone. After all was said and done and 3 visits later with 3-4 hour waiting on one visit, they offered to refund my money and let me keep the last screen they put in. It was not perfect, still had bugs, but worked 90% better than broken screen. They were willing to order in several more screens to see if they could get a good one, but I declined. Instead I gave the technician a BIG tip $$ for all the time and effort spent trying to fix it.
Valerie Zagami says
Sadly we are all aware of more poor customer service lately. I have once or twice asked an employee if they liked their job (their service already told me the answer) upon the no I said why don’t you leave so someone that needs and wants a job can take your place and then walked away. One good think here in Massachusetts is that we have a big out of date inspection and fines. That helps there and makes it safer to shop. I wish there were an answer to the lazy and uninterested employees, I guess the employer does not care either. Many of the large stores have managers who do not have an interest in how customer care is. Very sad. I wonder if so much online shops have had an effect but there are no fresh food stores online that I can afford.