A grocery store makes a big mistake and does not apologize. What do I do next?

Question

I used a self checkout machine at a grocery store yesterday. I put $70.00 in cash in the machine and planned to put the rest on my ATM. I swiped it, ok'ed that I did not want cash back and collected my groceries. The total was $79.33. As I was leaving I noticed on my recipt the total amount was charged to my card and there was no record of the $70.00 I put in. I was told to go to customer service which told me there was nothing they could do until tomarrow morning. "The machine should not have accepted the cash." It sounded to me like they thought I was lying! She took my info and said she would call me. I then asked for a manager. Manager came reviewed the video and said she could not tell if I put money in the machine. She said she would call early. This afternoon I call and they said they had no record of this. In short I got the money back after driving all the way out there again today( twenty minute drive). I am still very upset about the way I was treated. What should I do next

I should say I do not plan to go back to this grocery store again. I worked at another location of this store 8 years ago and if I had treated someone like I was treated my boss would have canned me! My biggest gripe is they would have never called me if I had not contacted them. That and having to go back out there wasting my gas and time.

Answer 1

Call the coporate office or better yet write a letter about your treatment. You should get some results. Good Luck!

Answer 2

I understand that they were rude. However, keep in mind that a store manager has a million things to do and your situation may not have been the top item on the list. This IS December and the busiest retail month of the year. As a former retail manager, I can tell you that you can't just hand people cash if they claim that you gave them the wrong change or that the self serve checkout did it wrong.

I had a guy claim that he gave one of my cashiers a $20 but only received change like he had paid with a $10. I immediately handed him $10 out of the register because I knew my cashier was new and might have made a mistake. The customer called, embarrassed, an hour later to tell me that he had been mistaken.

I'm sorry you had to go through this but unfortunately, that's just the way it goes. A few bad apples have spoiled it for the honest people.

Answer 3

I've done that before at self check out. I put in cash, then charge my debit for the rest. It always worked with me. I think maybe the machine was faulty. And if they say that the machine can't take cash and then a card, then they should hve a sign that says so on the machine. If there is no sign and they want to give you the run around, my next move would to contact the police and ask them what to do. If they can't do anything, call the media.

Answer 4

Ok, you could just be happy you got your money back....but if it bothers you that much...Here' what you can do...
Most grocery stores belong to the BBB (Better Business Bureau)or the local chamber of commerce...both of which have "ethics standards" which they are supposed to use when dealing with customers. So you can make a complaint to those groups about how you were treated at the grocery store. With a complaint filed, in order to keep their membership they have to follow up with the customer to try and make things better...if they don't they can lose their membership...(membership drops the price of some local advertising, gives more advertising venues, and access to advertise at some local events, and some businesses only go to other chamber or BBB places to some of their needs.)
...or you can complain to the regional store manager for the store but usually all that will get you is a form letter.
Do what makes you happy

Answer 5

It's a sad story but unfortunately it happens pretty often, and the reason they don't believe honest people is because of what dishonest people do on a daily basis... they try to be smart and steal from the store and then we have to pay the price.

Try to get in contact with the headquarters or the regional manager if you are not happy with your experience, it doesn't guarantee they will apologize or help you out in some kind of way but you don't lose anything with trying.



Oh I forgot to share this... one time my sister and my nephew almost got run over by one of the security guards at wal-mart and his excuse was, he was running late for his brake... my sister complained to the store manager and all she got instead of an apology was a $15 dollars gift card, which she threw on the floor and told them that was not the reason why she was complaining...

Answer 6

If you have the money back then there is not much point in pursuing this any further. What you could do if you feel the need is, make a note of the names of the people who dealt with you and make a complaint to their head office quoting the names of the people involved beacuse you feel that you have been humiliated and treated in a substandard way. You could also mention that you will tell all your friends and neighbours who shop at the store the terrible way you have been treated and unless you get a written apology you will advise them to shop elsewhere. If they value their customers at all then they should apologise to you in writing.

Answer 7

grocery stores are evil.
i went to ralphs the other day and an entire shelf was advertised with wrong prices. it was horrendous shopping experience i asked the manager to fix the shelf with wrong prices and give me a refund HOWEVER he looked befuddled he looked dumbfounded he looked clueless as to what i was talking about and had little to none communication skills i was appalled about his "professionalism" or lack of
he then passed me to a checker. the checker was just a student (nothing wrong with that) but i expected more from a manger and at least an "apology for the inconvenience" it was horrendous experience. expect little to none from grocery stores and especially the self check out, those self check out "superivisors" are terrible at customer service and "slow"

i don't know what you should do next
i say move on. you got your money and i think that's all that matters, and you should always shop SLOWLY at self checkouts to see if you were rang up the right PRICE and you tendered the amount correctly b/c it is a machine after all.

Answer 8

there is a way for them to tell if cash was put in because the register would be $70 over the amount that is supposed to be in there. Just like if you'd gone through a regular register and the same thing happens then can count the drawer and see that it is over. This sucks when it happens, we were at Home Depot and the self checkout thing charged us twice, thankfully it was only 3.70. They acted like I was trying to steal the money from them. Hope it works out.

Answer 9

It sounds like a standard policy. If they cannot determine by a video review, then they have to wait until the machine is counted and checked. Obviously they could have employed some old fashioned tlc in handling the situation but you did get the money back.

Answer 10

Write a letter to the manager of the store explaining why you didn't like the way the situation was handled and politely suggest ways the store could improve in the future. You always have the choice to take your business somewhere else.

Answer 11

They should have a customer service number, perhaps Human Resourses Department. What you expeiranced is common place in a situation like this , though the first rule of good customer service is to apologized in an event such as this. Go to the stores web site and look for contact info. Start there, good luck.