As many of you know–I’ve been playing The Grocery Game over the last several months. I shop at both Kroger and Publix since both are about 2 minutes from our house and each seems to have better prices on particular items that we use on a regular basis. What I’ve found is that basically Kroger has slightly better everyday prices on most of the things we use but that Publix has much better sales when things are on sale. The biggest gap between the two (at least the two stores near my home) is that shopping at Publix is generally a pleasant experience and Kroger has almost non-existant customer service. Today’s example of this is exasperating because I have to go back out in the rain with my nine month old after his nap to correct someone else’s mistake. I checked out at Kroger and used several coupons, all of which were scanned by the cashier (who said nothing to me at the time to indicate that anything didn’t scan and kept all the coupons I handed him, which also generally means that they were successfully used), and then we ran out into the rain trying to get in the car as quickly as possible. I usually stick the receipt in my pocket so I can look at in the car (because of previous issues with it being charged too much), but today I stuffed it in a bag as I was loading everything. When I got home I realized that three of my coupons were not honored–totalling $4.10. Now this is not a lot of money, but when you consider it as a percentage of my total bill and the fact that I only bought the items I did because they were on sale and I had a coupon in addition, you’re talking about a fair amount of money. I guess it’s partly my fault for not checking the receipt when I got in the car (there’s just no way anymore to check things as they’re being run through because with Liam around I’m generally loading everything slower than the cashier is ringing it up)–but when I called I got a fair amount of attitude from the “customer service” person who answered the phone and my guess is that I’m going to get it again when I go back this afternoon. My gut reaction is to say that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back and that I’m done with Kroger–but that feels a bit like cutting off my nose to spite my face–on the other hand I don’t like to give my money to a store that has such a sorry excuse for customer service.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
ETA: I just got back from the Kroger (where I was given $4.10 in cash, thanks very much!) and I learned several things:
1: There is at least one nice person working at the customer service desk in the Kroger near our house.
2: You do, in fact (and contrary to the belief of some people I know…), catch more flies with honey…
3: Liam apparently thinks that pouring rain is hilarious. Now this could be due to the fact that in his 9 months of living he’s never seen it rain beyond a sprinkle, but still–it was pretty entertaining to watch.