Gotta vent....horrible Albertson's experience.

[maggiejm]

Let me start by saying I have been coupon shopping for quite a few years now, I even teach classes on it. I always try to be courteous, let shopper with a few items jump ahead of me, etc. At Albertsons they make couponing easy in the "u-scan" aisles so at times if there's only a register or two open I will use that so not to hold anyone up.

A couple of weeks ago I was getting ready to drive cross country to see my Dad who has cancer and is getting sicker. It was a last-minute idea so I was scrambling to get ready. I stopped in at Albertsons to get some cooler items for the trip, took my coupon book and got maybe $20 worth of stuff.

I had two seperate orders, I had a bunch of the Nestle Quick coupons for .50 off that doubled so I did four of those ahead of the other order. Usually this Albies is very coupon friendly so it wasn't an issue. The register beeped when I had a $0 balance, the lady running the self-help kiosk was too busy talking personal with a friend to come over for a while, which I didn't give attitude or anything about, I waited patiently.

She comes over, fixes it so I can cash out, and goes back to her routine. Well, I ran all the rest through, and the only coupon that beeped was a .25 pepsi coupon from the monopoly game. I had 2 two-liters and two coupons but I figured maybe there was a limit of one per transaction or something and shrugged it off. I needed it and didn't have time to sweat the small stuff. Then, as I'm getting ready to cash out (and the computer in front of me wasn't asking for a cashier's approval or anything, it all went just fine) another cashier comes up and says that the computer "flagged" one of my coupons. ??? So I said, "I'll bet it was the pepsi coupon!" and I proceeded to explain what had happened and asked if there was indeed a limit on the monopoly coupons per transaction. She ignored me, opened the coupon thingy and started going through them.

I then, nicely asked again about the Pepsi thing and apologized for any inconvieniance but it would be good to know so I don't cause this in the future. She snapped at me and told me to "Wait a minute." Now I'm a little irritated, but whatever.

Then, as she's rifling through my coupons she found a recently expired one. Good Lord, she went through the roof like she'd caught a convicted felon with an arsenal. She makes a big stink, of course I apologize profusely as I am usually meticulous about that but again my mind was elsewhere with getting ready for a spur of the moment trip to Vermont from Texas with my three kids. So, I am now apologizing profusely for the mistake, I told her I'd still take the item, just void the coupon.

She is being very loud at this point, as I am standing there, debit card in hand, she starts rifling through my groceries and asking how many of each item I got, did I buy X amount of this and that, etc. She made me look like a fraudulent criminal and EVERYONE cashing out was watching because she was so obnoxious. I just wanted the floor to swallow me up.

So, when she finally left I swiped my credit card (I think) and put my bags in the cart and left. I just wanted out of there because I was so embarrassed. Well, I apparently either forgot to swipe the debit card or didn't finish the transaction (I was in the midst of doing this when she came over with her "flagged coupon" story.)

As you can imagine, it only gets worse. I leave and I'm pretty upset already, but as I am going across the parking lot the woman comes after me screaming that I didn't pay for my order! Now I'm mortified. It was like one of those nightmares where you are walking through the mall naked or something.

I'm ready to cry, I turn the cart around to head back in and I said, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry I swear I did! I'll go fix it!" She meets me half-way in the lot and snatches the cart out of my hands like I had intended to steal, and she's all loud and hollering at me. So, we get in the store, and now I'm getting angry. I turned to her and said, "With all due respect, you got me a little frazzled with the way you were treating me earlier and you thoroughly embarrassed me all over an expired coupon. I didn't mean to not finish the transaction, I'm not sure what happened but you can stop treating me like crap at anytime!"

Then, the other lady working there turns to me and hollers, "WHAT, IT DIDN"T CLUE YOU IN THAT YOU DIDN'T GET A RECEIPT?" I honestly was so upset it had not even crossed my mind and I told her that.

So, I swipe my card, finish off the transaction and said, "You know what? I asked a simple question earlier, you shot me attitude and never DID answer it. I apologized for the expired coupon, but you in NO WAY had any right to treat me as you did."

Anyway, I left shaking and almost in tears. I got home and immediately called the corporate office and explained what happened. The lady was really nice about it, said that there was no excuse for the way I was treated, blah blah blah. I told her I didn't want anything except for this situation to be handled so that it never happened to anyone else. I told her I could just see this happening to some poor elderly lady or something and that I was pretty sure I was treated this way because I was a coupon shopper. I didn't think the machine "flagged" anything because either they accept the coupon or they don't. They are incapable of doing their own overrides for goodness sake and that I was being hassled on purpose.

I also proceeded to tell her (and I was nice, not accusing or rude) that I teach coupon classes and if anything I drive business away from the Walmarts and Targets to places like Albertsons and Kroger where they double/triple and that I could not in good faith steer anyone to that location again. I told her I've had impeccable service at the other area stores and would only use them again. She was very nice, took my name, number, address etc.

Long story short, it's now been two weeks and I never even got an apology. She said she was emailing the store director to have the situation resolved. I must say I'm a little upset that I didn't at least get a phone call. I've had my share of brain-damaging cashiers and managers when couponing like everyone else, but I've never had this kind of experience before. :sad:

[sarakate01]

Oh my goodness! That is terrible! I know of much lesser poor responses that steer me away from particular stores and sometimes it is just one cashier, but you can't bring yourself to shop there again. Yuck! Which Albie's was it, so it can be avoided in the future?

[txmomof2boys]

Oh MY!
You got my blood boiling just reading your post! I hope they tossed that woman out on her nasty behind!
That sounds more like something that would happen at my local HEB, LOL
They HATE couponers there!

[debbiepete]

Oh my that was horrible. Just what you didnt need. I am so sorry you were treated that way.

[maggiejm]

It was the location in Denton on University. I'll never go back there again. I've ever had any issues with any of the other area Albertsons, in fact the other Denton location has been very accommodating. We were donating food for a charity drive and the lady overlooked our limits for the cause because they had so much in stock. She was awesome, but as far as the one on University goes, I will steer all couponers away from that location. It shouldn't bother them, they obviously have issues with us anyway!

[jhwkgrl]

That infuriates me that they treated you like that! I wish I lived closer to Denton, so that I could actively boycott that store. What jerks!

[wasanurse]

so sorry that happened to you! it sounds like you were extremely nice and patient but didn't get that in return! I would write a letter to the local store--better yet, pop in and visit with the store manager and send a letter to the division manager. ...and tell them why you will now shop elsewhere.
I live in Frisco and the store near me has been pleasant so far; i'm new so not much experience.
keep strong!

[pinkproverbs]

wow . . . I'm speachless. I have had my run-ins with grumpy cashiers, but that's rediculous. I'm impressed that you managed to get out of there without crying, I probably would have teared up with the first issue.

[Clipper]

I'm soooooooooo glad you stood up for yourself. Sorry you had to go through that.