Grocery store vent

rccola1981

I worked customer service in a grocery store for 8 years, and got in trouble numerous times for "poor customer service"-mostly for people that came in after I was supposed to have left from my second job at 10:00 at night and expected me to kiss their @ss...so I get really annoyed when I get poor service.

I went to the store on my way home to get stuff for BLT's.  DH was only home for an hour and had to be at a practice so I wanted something fast.  I start to cut my tomatoes and realize 2 out of my 4 pack are moldy...however since he had to be somewhere I used the good ones and then went to the store with my receipt and bad tomatoes.  First the kid offers me a new pack of tomatoes and I politely said I already made what I needed them for and just used less can't I get a refund.  He didn't know if he could do that-excuse me?!  He goes and talks to someone and said he could only give me half the purchase price because I had used half of them.  I again politely asked why I wasn't getting at least the full price back as anywhere else I had ever returned produce they did double your money back for bad perishable goods...the kid has the nerve to tell me "This isn't anywhere else this is Weis," and still doesn't want to give me cash...I took my $2 came home and submitted a customer service complaint on the website...and told the corporate office that if this could not be resolved to my satisfaction we would be buying produce elsewhere.  My husband drives past a store that does do 200% guarantees every day so this is really not going to be an inconvenience for us either...and since I worked in that store I know I will get decent service. 

I know it is only $2 but by the time I drove there it is worth being upset over! 

Patineuse1124

Oh how I don't miss working customer service at a grocery store (worked there from 15-19 yrs old starting as a cashier).  But the stories I could tell... we had some very interesting customers, including many regulars that we nicknamed (e.g., Martian man, the spiderlady, the scratchers, the pervert).

 FWIW, teenage me would have either given you 2 new tomatoes or refunded you 1/2 the money.  Though if you made a fuss I would have called a manager for you (as the way I looked at it, I wasn't paid enough to deal with upset customers) and most of them would have given you want ever you wanted, which I was usually not authorized to do with out manager approval which is why I just called a manager in the first place.  Plus many customers treated us like we were idiots (usually the PITA ones), which is also why I usually just called a manager.  Though when customers questioned my ability to make change in my head (the lotto tickets weren't run into a register), I was happy to inform them that I was a math major at a local college and that I have already mastered doing arithmetic in my head. Wow that makes me sound really snarky, but to most of my customers I was very polite, but if they were rude to me they stood a good chance of getting a snarky reply.

Xan921

I worked customer service for many years and honestly, I would have done the same thing as the cashier, offer you half your money back or offer your two new tomatoes.  I understand that it is frustrating and they should check their products better but things like that happen, but at the same time, you did use half of the product before returning it.  It'd be like eating at a restaurant, eating half the meal, then saying "Actually I don't like this so I want a full refund."  I know it's a bit different since the tomatoes were actually bad, but you know what I'm saying.

At least you got half of your money back though; I am sure there are places out there that wont do any kind of a refund to used/opened products.

rccola1981

If he would have actually had the manager come out I would have been more understanding...I worked for the competitor and know that if I had a customer ask why they weren't getting a particular refund we had to give it.  I probably would have initially offered the same thing but like I said if the customer asked we gave it...

hz80408

I would have done the same thing as well, 2 tomatoes/half back.

I wanted to add to your went though b/c last night I made ceasar salad for dinner.  The bag of romaine I had bought said it was good through 4/29 (tomrw), but yesterday (4/27), it smelled weird when I opened it and half of the stuff was already spoiled! Ugh!

MC22

hz80408:

I would have done the same thing as well, 2 tomatoes/half back.

I wanted to add to your went though b/c last night I made ceasar salad for dinner.  The bag of romaine I had bought said it was good through 4/29 (tomrw), but yesterday (4/27), it smelled weird when I opened it and half of the stuff was already spoiled! Ugh!

This happened with the fruit I had for breakfast!  It's a small cup of pre-cut fruit, and has a sell by date of today (which should mean it's good at least through tomorrow, in my opinion) and the strawberries are all brown.  Ew.

Dyork

Xan921:

I worked customer service for many years and honestly, I would have done the same thing as the cashier, offer you half your money back or offer your two new tomatoes.  I understand that it is frustrating and they should check their products better but things like that happen, but at the same time, you did use half of the product before returning it.  It'd be like eating at a restaurant, eating half the meal, then saying "Actually I don't like this so I want a full refund."  I know it's a bit different since the tomatoes were actually bad, but you know what I'm saying.

At least you got half of your money back though; I am sure there are places out there that wont do any kind of a refund to used/opened products.

100% Agree. It always drove me nuts when people knew a product was bad  but then proceeded to use it anyway. Frankly that kid was nicer to you then I ever was to customers who did that.

chantico23

I completely understand the frustration of not feeling that you received good customer service.  And you are right that his attitude should have been way better.  However, I wouldn't have taken the time to return 2 tomatoes.  It's not worth it, and besides, I'm an "all or nothing" returns kind of girl.  But since you did return half of them I think that refunding 1/2 of the tomatoes (since you used half) is more than fair.