Weekly Grocery Trip...overcharged drama

**Marie78** · 06-15-2008, 12:53 AM

My fiance and I completed our weekly grocery shopping trip this evening. On our way out to the car I checked our receipt like I do each and every week. We haven't had a mistake on a receipt from the grocery store (in at least a year). Well, today we did. They charged us for 2 melons instead of the one we bought. It was a $3 mistake and my fiance went back into the store to get our money back. The customer service desk was closed and they wouldn't refund our money, he was told to come back tomorrow. He didn't think we would be back for at least a week, as we only shop once a week to save on the cost of gasoline and the hassle of multiple trips to the grocery store.

He asked if he could just get a second melon instead. We had wanted to buy 2 melons anyways but the cheapest ones for sale were $3 and we bought the last decent looking melon the other three that were left had rotten spots on them. There were other melons for sale, but they cost $4 each. So my fiance grabbed the $4melon and let the store manager know that he found a melon, she asked him if it was the same cost or less than the one we were charged for. He said it was more, but not to worry he would be back tomorrow when customer service opened, with the extra $1 he owed them. He was being a smart @$$, since they told him to come back tomorrow for a refund on what they overcharged us. The manager laughed it off and said don't worry about it. So we got another melon for a $1 less than they were selling them for. I've got to love my fiance's sense of humor, and how brave he is. I don't think I would have had the nerve to take the more expensive one and tell them I would come back tomorrow with the money I owed them

.

How awkward though, next week we will make sure we are at the grocery store before the customer service desk closes. That way if we have a mistake on the receipt we can take care of the matter immediately and not have to worry about coming back and dealing with the situation at a later date.

**Jskell911** · 06-15-2008, 12:56 AM

Glad you were ultimately able to work it out w/o wasting any gas. I hate when they mess it up, and I never seem to notice until I get home.

**Marie78** · 06-15-2008, 01:01 AM

Originally Posted by Jskell911

Glad you were ultimately able to work it out w/o wasting any gas. I hate when they mess it up, and I never seem to notice until I get home.

I'm glad it worked out too and in a way it worked out in our favor. Better second melon and didn't have to waste the gas to go back. I'm so glad I wasn't in the store when my fiance handled the situation, I probably would have talked him out of choosing the expensive fruit.

**Palooka** · 06-15-2008, 02:02 AM

Heh, that is cool how it all worked out though.

**Royal** · 06-15-2008, 02:05 AM

That is such a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when they mess up the receipt! I do always got to customer service and get my refund. That's MY hard earned money!!

**Wendy99** · 06-15-2008, 08:41 AM

Good for him!! That's awesome.

I can't believe the customer service desk is closed before the store is closed .. not very good customer service!

**The Muse** · 06-15-2008, 08:52 AM

I'm glad you found an acceptable solution. I think customer service is a lost art. I don't think it's ever OK to put the burden of correcting a store's mistake on the customer. But in my experience it's happening more and more.

The other week at JC Penney, my coupon wouldn't go through and the cashier didn't offer me any alternatives other than to pay the before coupon price. When I asked her to call a manager, she told me I was being unreasonable. I think being expected to pay $10 more than I should because of a computer glitch is unreasonable. But what to I know? I'm just a customer.

**Frugal Nurse** · 06-15-2008, 09:48 AM

Marie! your fiance is hysterical! and what big gonads he has! loL!

Absolutely the store should have accomodated him.

I see you're in central NY - but here, stores are offering a deal... if the price is rung in wrong (is rung even a word?) you get the item for free.

There is one particular store that always rang in errors. ALWAYS. Sometimes I would go to this store JUST to see it happen. I like to amuse myself in weird ways.
It helped me to practice my 'debating' techniques

, learning how not to cry when I'm mad, and working on building my own set of gonads.

Anyway.. good thing you stood your ground. (come back tomorrow...?! Ooooooooo ! Judge Judy would never stand for that!)

**coup** · 06-15-2008, 09:58 AM

I'm proud of your fiance! What a great way to handle the situation!

Here in Michigan we have a pricing law: If your item rings up more than MARKED, complete your transaction at the register. Then go to customer service and you'll get your money back, plus 10x the difference, up to $5. I "made" a dollar yesterday due to this law - it was a 10 cent pricing error. The hard part is keeping your mouth shut in the checkout lane!

**Marie78** · 06-15-2008, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by Royal

That is such a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when they mess up the receipt! I do always got to customer service and get my refund. That's MY hard earned money!!

That's how we feel too, we work hard for the money we spend at the grocery store. With grocery prices climbing ever higher we definitely want our money back when a receipt has a mistake.

**Marie78** · 06-15-2008, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by The Muse

I'm glad you found an acceptable solution. I think customer service is a lost art. I don't think it's ever OK to put the burden of correcting a store's mistake on the customer. But in my experience it's happening more and more.

The other week at JC Penney, my coupon wouldn't go through and the cashier didn't offer me any alternatives other than to pay the before coupon price. When I asked her to call a manager, she told me I was being unreasonable. I think being expected to pay $10 more than I should because of a computer glitch is unreasonable. But what to I know? I'm just a customer.

Customer Service seems to be getting worse, I was really surprised that we were asked to come back and correct the $3 issue at a later time. The same with your coupon situation: Pay our error now and then the store can decide later if they should honor your coupon and give you your money back. It seems like a huge scam, where the store wins and the "customer" loses. Not very customer oriented anymore!

**Marie78** · 06-15-2008, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by Frugal Nurse

Marie! your fiance is hysterical! and what big gonads he has! loL!

Absolutely the store should have accomodated him.

I see you're in central NY - but here, stores are offering a deal... if the price is rung in wrong (is rung even a word?) you get the item for free.

There is one particular store that always rang in errors. ALWAYS. Sometimes I would go to this store JUST to see it happen. I like to amuse myself in weird ways.
It helped me to practice my 'debating' techniques

, learning how not to cry when I'm mad, and working on building my own set of gonads.

Anyway.. good thing you stood your ground. (come back tomorrow...?! Ooooooooo ! Judge Judy would never stand for that!)

I was shocked at how bold my fiance was with the store, LOL. I'm gald he was, we didn't want a second melon with rotten spots.

I would love if this store gave us our $3 back and a free melon for ringing in the wrong quantity. Maybe we should have been thankful the cashier only rang in one extra melon and not 10 or 20

**Marie78** · 06-15-2008, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by coup

I'm proud of your fiance! What a great way to handle the situation!

Here in Michigan we have a pricing law: If your item rings up more than MARKED, complete your transaction at the register. Then go to customer service and you'll get your money back, plus 10x the difference, up to $5. I "made" a dollar yesterday due to this law - it was a 10 cent pricing error. The hard part is keeping your mouth shut in the checkout lane!

I would love that law in NY

. We could have gotten our $3 back and an additional $2 for the mistake made at the register. It's so hard to watch the small screen as the items are rung in and I try so hard to make sure I'm not getting overcharged. I usually catch the mistakes as the items are rung up, that's why I don't notice any on my receipt. I didn't catch this one though, because she keyed the melon in by hand instead of ringing it. I like that law and I hope it makes it's way to NY sometime soon

.

**McD** · 06-15-2008, 10:23 AM

We recently had a problem with some milk we purchased. We got home and there were chunks in the top! I took it back to the store and they said well you can go get some more and just exchange it. So I got my milk came back up to the front of the store. I asked to open it before I left--sure enough there were chunks. So at this point, they decided to give me a more expensive brand of milk, plus give me a refund for the 1st gallon of milk.

I was pleasantly suprised, but I know that's not the norm, unfortunately.