First truly bad coupon experience, rude manager UPDATE (last page)

[trendylittleangels]

Originally Posted by DavidKing I never understand why some employees care what deals others are getting. having said that, I would have made a separate trip for each transaction. There is nothing they could say.

I said that's what I would do lol, then that's when she made the "one per day" rule, since I was "misusing the coupons"

[pittsburgh24]

I had one cashier at the self checkout that loved when I came to her register with all my coupons (they moved her from uscan to a regular register after a while though). Every time she sees me, she tells me to come to her line - she loves seeing the deals I get. One time when I was at the uscan - she had to step away and someone else had to come over to use her key for my coupons. When my cashier came back, she said the other person told her "one of those coupon ladies was at the self-scan" - my cashier was upset and wanted me to complain. I said no because I took that as a compliment LOL.

GE and other stores need to educate their employees that we're not bad people. We're the ones who actually pay attention to their advertising and buy the products they're pushing that particular week. Without us, their advertising budget would be for naught LOL.

That said, I don't think the OP did anything wrong - she was being considerate to the cashier at the uscan and saving time taken away from other customers.

Even going in and out of the store which I now do a lot of still gets you the looks and whispering. I now drive back and forth between the 2 stores in Bethel to get my deals because the looks and stares are annoying. I usually know which cashiers will give me a hard time and which ones will do their job (they're the ones that actually enjoy you getting a good deal).

I'm the type of person that will give cats to people in front of me who are embarrassed because they can't afford what they've bought and have to keep having the cashier take something off their order. I'm also the type of person who will give coupons to someone in front of me or behind me if I have extras.

Bottom line, whether the cashier is a witch or a sweetie, I always say "I love GE" when they hand me my cats and my change and all my free or almost free groceries.

[shakashoe]

If what happened to the OP, happened to me, I would have cried from embarassment. I fully believe she did nothing wrong, but I could not do it. I try to always fly below the radar when it comes to deals. I will settle for doing the deal 2 or 3 times across the week instead of multiple orders and I will go at different times of day so as not to be "known" by the anti-coupon cashiers. I have found more nasty, crabby cashiers at GE then anywhere else and they are union so better paid than say Marc's where I never have a problem and get overage.

[trendylittleangels]

I didn't know you could get overage at Marc's! That's good to know, I may have to add them to my shopping trips.

[FrankRyan]

trendylittleangels -

From my experience, Giant Eagle Customer Service is less than helpful. Unfortunately, all they really do is forward the complaint to the store manager and ask them to call you up to discuss the issue to 'close' out their end.

Pittsburgh is right about the district manager thing. That is probably the only way you can get somewhere.

I am so proud of you for giving them hell! The reason customer service fails so often is because people DON'T complain. They just let it go and then it sort of snowballs out of control until the management team start to feel like messianic dicktators. Yes I spelled that correctly. :)

My God, I sometimes wish that sort of thing would happen to me. I would LOVE to be thrown out of a Giant Eagle store!!! I'd be on the phone with my lawyer with my video camera phone recording.

I hate to sound like a paranoid such and such, but bring a digital voice recorder with you next time you go to the store. When that woman gives you a hard time next time, call corporate right in front of her and make them wait! If she wants to harass you, then YOU call the police. Don't wait for them to threaten stupid crap like that, call the police and file a complaint for consumer discrimination and unfair business practices and harassment. Re-play the recorder as evidence if they want to change their tune, let THEM! Keep your recorder a secret as an ace in the hole later.

This advice is meant just for this particular incident. If another person reads this and thinks "I'll call the police when my coupon is not accepted." please don't. :) I would only suggest such a thing once I were told they were throwing me out of a store for using coupons. That is consumer discrimintation when they try to deny you the same right as another person to shop there.

Good luck and stay strong.

[ritaillinois]

OP-Which GE was this so we can be sure we have all our ducks in a row if we shop there?

[countryterri]

Unfortunately,I have been having similar experiences at a local Ge too. My problems are with two 'front end managers'. They ALWAYS treat me rudely - like I am a criminal. I finally decided on my last trip to speak to the manager...who, of course, was on vacation.

Well, I have not forgotten and will definitely be speaking to him when he gets back. My son has Tae kwon do 3 times a week close to another GE. They have just earned all of my business!

I know where the OP is coming from. It is ridiculous how some people treated us like criminals becasue we are good shoppers! ARRGH!

Hope the OP gets some resolution and satisfaction!

[trendylittleangels]

This is the Jamestown Plaza in Warren. I hadn't heard back, so called back and asked for the DM. She acted like they didn't have DM's, but regional managers. I asked for their phone # and she said they didn't have phone numbers because their on the road so much. She said that they carry blackberries to email them if need need be. So how, I think that all seems a little odd, but whatever. Anyhoo, she said she would email the regional manager and have her call asap. Although, that was earlier today and still no phone call. I'm still not going to drop it, but it's hard to get anywhere when no one will call you back.

[trendylittleangels]

So far I have called the cutomer care # twice and still no call back. But today I had an interesting time in the store (yes I shopped at the same one again ) It happened to be the only one on our way home and I wasn't about to go out of my way to avoid them. Anyways, as I was pushing my cart out of one isle to the next one, I almost hot grocery manager #1 (the guy) and he looked me right in the eye. I was going to wear a hat and shades, but forgot lol. So as I was walking up to check out manager #2 walked by and looked straight at me. Then as I got into line the lady in charge of the front end came right over and and told the bagger (he was in the middle of bagging) to go over and bag for so and so, and that she would take over bagging for that register. If that wasn't obvious enough, super nosy cashier (she seems to always be there and have her nose in any coupon issue) walked up near the register and tried to act busy while staring lol. The whole thing was so ridiculous, I had to keep from snickering lol. I'm sure they were all waiting for me to use OYNO q's, so they could all pounce on me like a swat team during a drug bust But sadly for them, I had already used them up at anther GE the day before . I'm not sure where to go from here though, seeing they refuse to call back .

[pittsburgh24]

Ok - you need to do the following (IMO)

Write/fax a letter to this person:

David S. Shapira
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Giant Eagle Inc.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
101 Kappa Drive
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15238

United States

Phone: 412-963-6200
Fax: 412-968-1615

You can either mail your letter or fax it. You could also call that # and tell them you want to speak to Mr. Shapira's office. You probably won't get to speak to him but, whoever answers the phone isn't going to be too happy that you are contacting them because no one has called you back about a bad experience at GE. Especially when you tell them about your most recent experience at GE (because, in my eyes, this 2nd experience is proof that nothing is going to be addressed by going through customer care).

I've worked in big companies/organizations and trust me, they don't like getting calls about one of their departments/stores not addressing a problem. Explain that you've called several times, asked for the DM and have not heard anything back. Explain what happened the other night in front of your son and the whole store. Then tell them about what their employees did when you went back to the store. What they did to you both times was harassment, plain and simple and there's no excuse for it.