UNBELIEVABLE experience at Krogers just now
Hi all. I just had the most humiliating experience at my Krogers today! I went in as usual to do my couponing and the manager treated me like a criminal!
What started it was that I did the GM cereal deal for the catalina and did not get the catalina, so I went over to the customer service desk to speak with the manager and see if perhaps the catalina deal was not valid in my region. I told her that if that was the case, I would like to return the milk and one box of cereal I had bought.
First of all, she refused to look me in the face and instead kept looking at the receipt. She looked at the receipt for a full 2 minutes and then said, "Well, the problem is that you used coupons, so that is why you didn't get the catalina." I said, Gee, I don't think so. As I understand it, the Catalina program is not tied to the use of coupons. She walks away from me, without another word and goes to the Catalina machine. Then, she comes back and says the machine is working fine, so it must be the coupons. I decided then that I didn't want to argue the point with her and said, ok, just refund me for the milk and cereal please, I'd like to return them.
This started her on another long look at my receipt (which was not that long anyway). I asked her if there was a problem and she said, well, I need to see if you used coupons for those. I said, Oh, I can tell you that and save us both some time and told her which coupons I had used and for how much. Again, she wouldn't look at me or speak to me and instead called the cashier over and told her to close down the machine and pull all the coupons I had used!! The cashier did so and brought the box over with my coupons and the manager starts going through them one by one.
I again asked her if there was a problem and now she says - Well, there is a limit of how many coupons you can use. I go -- What? I have never heard of that before and I shop here all the time. When did that change? And she says, "We've had problems with coupon fraud, so CORPORATE changed this." I said, When? and she ignored me. I asked her "So, what is the new rule?" and she says, "5 Coupons, 5 items" I said ok, so does that mean you will only accept 5 coupons per the entire transaction or only 5 like items in a transaction? and she repeats "5 coupons, 5 items" I said, ok, but I don't understand and repeated my question and again she only says "5 coupons, 5 items". What the heck????
So, finally, after verifying all my coupons were valid (which I knew they were) she refunds me the money for the milk and cereal and then says again. We've had problem with coupon fraud. There is a lady who came in here and bought $300 worth of groceries and only paid $50. I said, that is possible, if you have the correct coupons. And she says, well she didn't--she cheated. So, I say, I would never do that, that is stealing. But, I do coupon and I save a lot of money. And she rolls her eyes at me and huffs!! She says, well that is why we now have a limit. I say so I can only buy 5 things at a time? and she again says "5 coupons 5 items".
Then, I figure, forget it, I thank her and go to leave the store, but I was with a coupon buddy and she comes over with the cashier and the cashier shoves a coupon under the managers nose and says "Is this an internet coupon? We can't take it, right?" Well, it happened to be a coupon I had given her that I received in the mail from Tyson chicken for filling out a survey. (The Tyson chicken was on a manager's special sale for $3 and the coupon was for $1.50, so good deal, right?) Well, the manager and the cashier start to argue with us saying that we printed it out!!! I even showed the manager the peelie that had the website and survey deal right on the chicken!! She then says, sorry, if it won't scan, we won't take it. Well, the cashier hadn't even tried to scan it and when she did, it scanned fine of course.
Just when we thought the hassle was over, it wasn't. Now, we go to leave and notice that they still had some Sunday papers left over. So, great, we need more coupons, so we decide to buy them. So, I tell my friend, let's check and be sure they have the coupons before we buy them because often, the coupons are missing. So, we go through them and sure enough one out of the 6 that were left did not have coupons in them. We put the other five in our basket and head over to pay for them, when this same manager comes running up to us and screaming "What are you doing with those newspapers?!" We were both startled and said, "Buying them." She gave us dirty looks and without another word stormed off to the office! We tried to tell her as she was running away from us that we were simply checking to be sure the coupons were there before we bought them. But, she ignored us and kept going.
What the?
So, we buy the papers and the kid at the register says "what was that about?" and I then decide to speak to the head manager about this lady's attitude. So, the kid pages the manager and I kid you not, the crazy lady manager runs out of the office and heads to the manager that we just paged and they put their heads together and start whispering. The kid pages the manager again and he finally comes over, but he already has a smirk on his face. We tell him what happened and all he does is smile and says he will talk to her. No apology. No remorse. No nada.
Then, the crazy lady manager comes back over and starts talking to the manager, refusing to look at us or speak to us and says that we were taking the coupons and putting the newspapers back! I told her , no, you are mistaken, we did not do that. We bought the newspapers and were simply checking to be sure the coupons were there. She says, I can prove it, we have it on video. I say, go ahead and check your video--because we are telling the truth. Again, she storms off without responding and we tell the manager, that is exactly what we are complaining about. Again, no apology from him, just a smile and "I'll talk to her."
ARRGGGHH!! Why do these uninformed "customer service" managers have no customer service skills? Why do they treat people like thieves when we have done no wrong and are simply using coupons (as they are intended) to save money?
I just feel like crying and giving up on couponing altogether -- it's not worth feeling like a lowlife and a thief for using coupons. But, I NEED to coupon, I can't afford the high cost of groceries.
I called corporate about this when I got home and the lady on the phone was so nice about it. At least - SHE apologized. She also checked and said that she could find no information about a new corporate policy putting a limit of 5 coupons on 5 items!! She said she would forward my complaint on to the district manager and he would be calling me back. I sure hope so because at this point, I am thinking of never stepping foot in a Kroger again and taking my business to Publix. At least there, they encourage my coupon use and cheer me on when I save money.
Sorry for the long post - I just had to vent!!
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