Last night I went to the nearby Kroger to pick up a few groceries, and since I was tired from working in the yard all day, I thought I'd check out their "hot bar" for potential dinner items. It still looks like a bad day in your junior high cafeteria, but I went ahead and grabbed a couple egg rolls, some lo mein and some fried rice. When I got to the end of the counter and placed my stuff on the scale, I got ... nothing. The scale was either turned off or unplugged or otherwise dead. No sign saying "please use the other scale next to the salad bar" or anything. Of course not. Nonetheless I walked over to that other scale, put my plate with the ill-fitting lid on top, entered the secret PLU and hit Print. Chunka chunka chunk. OUT OF LABELS. CALL ATTENDANT.
Um, OK, what attendant? Surely not the two Japanese sushi dudes. I stood there for a bit. Waved my arms around a few times. Watched a few store employees venture nearby but not actually make eye contact.
Left the food sitting there. I hope Kroger enjoyed eating the $6 they would have gotten from me. I found my dinner elsewhere.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
All Your Coupons Are Belong To Us
I have a love/hate relationship with coupons. I save the coupon sections from the Sunday newspaper, and clip and use various coupons from there. On the other hand, I think that individual stores that have customer loyalty cards ought to just give me the damn sale price. Yes Walgreens, I'm talking to you. Is it really worth the time it takes for a cashier to reconcile a register with all those slips of paper, and for the store to process them at the end of the day or week?
Now, as a member of Costco, I get coupon books in the mail every month or so, and it does kind of suck to have to tear out the coupons. They made it slightly less annoying though, by programming their cash registers in an interesting way. This morning, I had five coupon items, along with the rest of my order. When the cashier took my coupons, he hit some magic button and the register immediately gave me credit for every coupon-eligible item in my order. OK, it's not perfect, and I still had to tear out a few pieces of paper. And the cashier probably still had to reconcile the register to allow for the coupons. But as a customer, it got me out of the store a bit faster, so good for that.
Now, as a member of Costco, I get coupon books in the mail every month or so, and it does kind of suck to have to tear out the coupons. They made it slightly less annoying though, by programming their cash registers in an interesting way. This morning, I had five coupon items, along with the rest of my order. When the cashier took my coupons, he hit some magic button and the register immediately gave me credit for every coupon-eligible item in my order. OK, it's not perfect, and I still had to tear out a few pieces of paper. And the cashier probably still had to reconcile the register to allow for the coupons. But as a customer, it got me out of the store a bit faster, so good for that.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Guilty until proven innocent? Nah, just guilty all around
SC Johnson is showing a TV ad for their "Off Clip-on" mosquito repellent, in which they tell viewers to go to a website to get a buy one get one free coupon. I was peeved to have to install some mystery coupon printing program to get my coupon, but uninstall and rollback took care of most of that. Still don't know what personal information they encoded into the barcodes though.
Today, I was going to use my coupon at the local K-Mart. But lo and behold, there's a big sign on the door saying they won't honor any "free up to a certain price" coupons, nor any internet or home-printed coupons of any kind.
I stepped up to the "courtesy" desk to ask, just on the off-chance (ha ha, "off" chance) that they'd take my coupon. My greeting was "Didjoo need sumfin?" I asked, got denied, said "guess I won't ever shop here again" and left.
I really resent the concept that all customers are fraudsters, trying to cheat the pathetic Sears Holding Company.
When I got home, I went to the K-Mart website to try to find a contact email or phone number. Not as easy as it should be. But you know what's funny? At the K-Mart website, they offer . . . . coupons. To print at home. From the internet.
Yeah.
So anyway, I spoke to somebody who said that since there was a sign posted, there really was nothing she could do. She refused to say whether this was corporate policy, but the manager will call me within two days, and it's up to him whether they'd honor my coupon. Ooooh, a sign. Anybody can print up a sign. Especially a sign that says that all customers are lying liars and cheating cheaters.
I told her that was unacceptable and as previously mentioned won't be darkening their doors again.
Today, I was going to use my coupon at the local K-Mart. But lo and behold, there's a big sign on the door saying they won't honor any "free up to a certain price" coupons, nor any internet or home-printed coupons of any kind.
I stepped up to the "courtesy" desk to ask, just on the off-chance (ha ha, "off" chance) that they'd take my coupon. My greeting was "Didjoo need sumfin?" I asked, got denied, said "guess I won't ever shop here again" and left.
I really resent the concept that all customers are fraudsters, trying to cheat the pathetic Sears Holding Company.
When I got home, I went to the K-Mart website to try to find a contact email or phone number. Not as easy as it should be. But you know what's funny? At the K-Mart website, they offer . . . . coupons. To print at home. From the internet.
Yeah.
So anyway, I spoke to somebody who said that since there was a sign posted, there really was nothing she could do. She refused to say whether this was corporate policy, but the manager will call me within two days, and it's up to him whether they'd honor my coupon. Ooooh, a sign. Anybody can print up a sign. Especially a sign that says that all customers are lying liars and cheating cheaters.
I told her that was unacceptable and as previously mentioned won't be darkening their doors again.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Market Share drop in 5, 4, 3, ....
This post is regional - it's about the Richmond VA area's loss of a grocery store that prided itself on customer service.
If you live (or have lived) in the Richmond VA area, you of course know about Ukrop's Supermarkets. A chain that nearly defined "customer service" for years. Sure, there were things that people didn't like about Ukrop's - closed on Sunday, no beer or wine, that nagging "let's all go to church this weekend" sign in every store. But they knew how to treat customers right.
Most of us were sad when it was announced late last year that the family had decided to sell the chain to Dutch conglomerate Royal Ahold, operators of Giant supermarkets. The sadness was tempered by knowing that at least Ukrop's Kitchen's would continue to produce that tasty chicken salad, those white house rolls, and other yummy items that were worth the price.
The remodelled and restacked stores were to be called Martin's, and I visited one of the first ones to open nearby, nearly a month ago. I had a few problems, and of course went to the website to send a message.
A week went by, then most of another. I'd gotten the dreaded automated email reply, but nothing substantive. I stopped in at another newly opened store the next week and found some of the same issues. I replied to the auto-reply and again, nothing. This past Monday, I went to yet another store and still was not impressed.
I fired off one more email, saying "hey, you know how to lose a customer? Ignore him completely!"
Let's take one single complaint that I had. On each of my three Martin's visits, I took my own re-usable bags. I never got a bag credit like Ukrop's offered, as does Kroger and Target and many other local stores. At least on my third visit earlier this week the cashier tried to give me a credit. Unfortunately, the cash register programming was stupid, I never got a discount and I'll leave it at that.
Today I finally got a response to my three emails to Giant/Martin's/Ahold ... among the other primarily useless information in the reply, I was told that they "never offer a bag credit."
Umm, then what was that poor woman trying to do on Monday? Alternately, I'm led to believe that this big new chain came to town without any plans to offer bag credits, even though it's fairly standard in this market. No matter what, I'm left with an impression of Martin's that is a whole lot less than favorable.
I admit I am holding them to a high standard - they bought that standard when they bought the Ukrop's chain.
Sadly, it looks like they have no interest in even coming close.
When a store makes me look at Food Lion as a viable option, then I think there's a real problem.
If you live (or have lived) in the Richmond VA area, you of course know about Ukrop's Supermarkets. A chain that nearly defined "customer service" for years. Sure, there were things that people didn't like about Ukrop's - closed on Sunday, no beer or wine, that nagging "let's all go to church this weekend" sign in every store. But they knew how to treat customers right.
Most of us were sad when it was announced late last year that the family had decided to sell the chain to Dutch conglomerate Royal Ahold, operators of Giant supermarkets. The sadness was tempered by knowing that at least Ukrop's Kitchen's would continue to produce that tasty chicken salad, those white house rolls, and other yummy items that were worth the price.
The remodelled and restacked stores were to be called Martin's, and I visited one of the first ones to open nearby, nearly a month ago. I had a few problems, and of course went to the website to send a message.
A week went by, then most of another. I'd gotten the dreaded automated email reply, but nothing substantive. I stopped in at another newly opened store the next week and found some of the same issues. I replied to the auto-reply and again, nothing. This past Monday, I went to yet another store and still was not impressed.
I fired off one more email, saying "hey, you know how to lose a customer? Ignore him completely!"
Let's take one single complaint that I had. On each of my three Martin's visits, I took my own re-usable bags. I never got a bag credit like Ukrop's offered, as does Kroger and Target and many other local stores. At least on my third visit earlier this week the cashier tried to give me a credit. Unfortunately, the cash register programming was stupid, I never got a discount and I'll leave it at that.
Today I finally got a response to my three emails to Giant/Martin's/Ahold ... among the other primarily useless information in the reply, I was told that they "never offer a bag credit."
Umm, then what was that poor woman trying to do on Monday? Alternately, I'm led to believe that this big new chain came to town without any plans to offer bag credits, even though it's fairly standard in this market. No matter what, I'm left with an impression of Martin's that is a whole lot less than favorable.
I admit I am holding them to a high standard - they bought that standard when they bought the Ukrop's chain.
Sadly, it looks like they have no interest in even coming close.
When a store makes me look at Food Lion as a viable option, then I think there's a real problem.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Challenged by dates
Dear Lowes,
I want to thank you for the offer of "No Interest if Paid in Full within 12 Months" which I received in today's mail. Today is April 26th, 2010.
Your offer states that it is valid "April 21 through April 26, 2010".
Yes, thank you so very much. Perhaps next time you could arrange for it to arrive the day after it expires just to make it completely useless, rather than almost completely useless.
This is almost as good as the coupon I got that expired on "September 31" last year.
I want to thank you for the offer of "No Interest if Paid in Full within 12 Months" which I received in today's mail. Today is April 26th, 2010.
Your offer states that it is valid "April 21 through April 26, 2010".
Yes, thank you so very much. Perhaps next time you could arrange for it to arrive the day after it expires just to make it completely useless, rather than almost completely useless.
This is almost as good as the coupon I got that expired on "September 31" last year.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Upgrade?
I've been banking with People's United Bank in CT for years. I even kept them as my primary bank when I moved to VA 15 years ago, and I've never had any major problems. Sure there's been a couple hiccups along the way, but nothing that wasn't quickly and easily resolved.
Even though they don't have any local presence, their phone and online systems (which they've had forever) have made it simple to do almost anything I need to do.
When they recently announce that they'd be updating the online banking system, I was interested, but not at all worried. After all, the existing system was a little long in the tooth and a refresh couldn't hurt.
So what did they deliver? Visually, the new site looks worse than the old one, but if that was the only problem, I wouldn't be writing this post. The whole online banking system has been outsourced, and that's not good. I like my browser to stay at the site that I logged in to, especially when it's my bank!
But even those things are minor. My first hint of something rotten was an email I got on Wednesday. It showed the details of the online payments I'd made via the new site on Monday. I'd never received such an email before, and I certainly didn't request any such email. I logged on to the new system and struggled to find out what setting I had to change. Finally I found it. Or should I say "them". The option to receive email about payments made is set on every payee that I have. The only way to turn off those emails is to go into each and every payee and flip the setting. So without my permission or any prior notification, People's is now sending details of my payment activity out over unencrypted email. No Thanks.
I used their in-system message function to complain about this and got no response until I looked at my email this morning (three days later). Of course it wasn't actually a response, it was just a notification that "A secure message is available for viewing. Please sign on to online banking to view the message." Fair enough. I logged in and went to read the message, only to see "Thank you for contacting People's United Bank. We will reply to your inquiry as quickly as possible. In the interim many of our customers have found the information available in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the people.com Upgrade site very helpful. " [note that it really does say people.com not peoples.] So they have no problem with sending my payment information out over email, but to send me an automated reply, they use their secure messaging system?
Since I was logged in anyway, I looked at my accounts. One of the things lost in the transition to the new system was the display of a running balance column. People's sent an email on February 18 saying "this feature will be available by February 24". Well my calendar tells me that today is the the 27th, and there's no running balance. They also seem to have lost the ability to show me any holds that might exist on my checking account, so even though there's a current balance and an available balance, if they're different I have no way to tell why. (I happen to know why in this case, but that's not the point).
So I used their wonderful secure messaging system again and complained about 1) the fact that an automated response took three days, 2) the missing running balance and 3) the missing hold information. Then I logged off.
This time they managed to get me an automated response in just a couple minutes. I got the same email about a "secure message" being available, so logged back in just to see what it said. Interestingly, they'd used some sort of message parsing magic to determine that I'd asked about the running balance. Their response to this? "Your running balance will be available online as of February 29th."
Great, only two years from now!
People's United Bank online banking upgrade?
FAIL!
Even though they don't have any local presence, their phone and online systems (which they've had forever) have made it simple to do almost anything I need to do.
When they recently announce that they'd be updating the online banking system, I was interested, but not at all worried. After all, the existing system was a little long in the tooth and a refresh couldn't hurt.
So what did they deliver? Visually, the new site looks worse than the old one, but if that was the only problem, I wouldn't be writing this post. The whole online banking system has been outsourced, and that's not good. I like my browser to stay at the site that I logged in to, especially when it's my bank!
But even those things are minor. My first hint of something rotten was an email I got on Wednesday. It showed the details of the online payments I'd made via the new site on Monday. I'd never received such an email before, and I certainly didn't request any such email. I logged on to the new system and struggled to find out what setting I had to change. Finally I found it. Or should I say "them". The option to receive email about payments made is set on every payee that I have. The only way to turn off those emails is to go into each and every payee and flip the setting. So without my permission or any prior notification, People's is now sending details of my payment activity out over unencrypted email. No Thanks.
I used their in-system message function to complain about this and got no response until I looked at my email this morning (three days later). Of course it wasn't actually a response, it was just a notification that "A secure message is available for viewing. Please sign on to online banking to view the message." Fair enough. I logged in and went to read the message, only to see "Thank you for contacting People's United Bank. We will reply to your inquiry as quickly as possible. In the interim many of our customers have found the information available in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the people.com Upgrade site very helpful. " [note that it really does say people.com not peoples.] So they have no problem with sending my payment information out over email, but to send me an automated reply, they use their secure messaging system?
Since I was logged in anyway, I looked at my accounts. One of the things lost in the transition to the new system was the display of a running balance column. People's sent an email on February 18 saying "this feature will be available by February 24". Well my calendar tells me that today is the the 27th, and there's no running balance. They also seem to have lost the ability to show me any holds that might exist on my checking account, so even though there's a current balance and an available balance, if they're different I have no way to tell why. (I happen to know why in this case, but that's not the point).
So I used their wonderful secure messaging system again and complained about 1) the fact that an automated response took three days, 2) the missing running balance and 3) the missing hold information. Then I logged off.
This time they managed to get me an automated response in just a couple minutes. I got the same email about a "secure message" being available, so logged back in just to see what it said. Interestingly, they'd used some sort of message parsing magic to determine that I'd asked about the running balance. Their response to this? "Your running balance will be available online as of February 29th."
Great, only two years from now!
People's United Bank online banking upgrade?
FAIL!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Making The Geek Squad Look Good?
In hindsight, I should have turned and walked out before I even dropped off the computer. But I'd been strung along my another local service outfit and I really just wanted things taken care of. Still, partially my fault.
Let's back up. Although I'm pretty good with software issues, my business partner's notebook computer needed a to have the DC input jack replaced, something I thought was a bit beyond my skill set. The first guy I'd contacted was tremendously bad at returning emails and phone calls, co-mingled his business and personal posts on Twitter (which is how I knew that he wasn't even in town when we first wanted to get this computer fixed); it just didn't seem like it was going to work out.
So I took the notebook to a nearby place that is literally around the corner from my house. I asked when I walked in "can you replace the DC input jack on this?"
And that's when I should have walked out. Yes sure, they could do that, but I had to pay at least $99 for a diagnostic procedure, of which $20 would be applied to the actual repair cost. Again, my rush to get the thing fixed clouded my judgment. I declined the additional charges to backup the data and to "jump to the front of the line" ($70 and $60, respectively, IIRC), but went ahead and paid the $99. This was on a Wednesday, and I was told I'd probably get a call by Friday, so I figured we'd have the computer back by the next Wednesday.
The first call I got was the day after dropping the computer off. The technician had received the computer, but really all he wanted to do was try to upsell me the backup service once again. I said no, and I didn't think the data should be in any danger when all I needed was a DC jack replaced. I did get an email with information about logging in to their web-based tracking system, so that seemed like it would be useful. The next call didn't come until almost 6PM on Friday - it was just a guy telling me that the technician was looking at the computer and would call me the next day. Truthfully, I hadn't even thought about it too much, I figured since I didn't pay the line-skipping fee I was just in queue still. I didn't get a call on Saturday.
Monday morning, I got a call telling me about the same thing -- the technician was looking at the computer and would call me by the end of the day. Guess what didn't happen?
Finally, Tuesday morning the technician called me and confirmed that yes, the DC jack needed fixing (for an exorbitant cost!), and then went on to tell me about some extremely minor software - tracking cookies and such - and a "clean up" would cost $249. TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE DOLLARS!!!!??!! Just fix the hardware issue, I said. The online tracking entry said "Larry seemed annoyed and said all he wanted was the DC jack fixed." Annoyed? Really? You think?
I spent the next few days checking the tracking system every once in awhile. Nothing new. Finally, at 10 to 5 on Friday evening, I got a call saying the computer was ready to be picked up at the 'round the corner location. "Great," I said, "what time do you open tomorrow?" Oh, they're not open on Saturday. OK, if I'd been home, I could easily have run out to get the damn thing, but when I got the call I was about to board an airplane in Kentucky. Still, if they'd told me earlier, or maybe updated their stupid tracking system, I could have arranged for somebody to get there on Friday afternoon. Especially since the invoice I received indicates a date range that ended on Thursday.
OK, so Monday at lunchtime I got to finally pick up the computer. The guy grabs it and hands it to me and says "you're all set." How could I be all set, I wonder, when I haven't yet paid for the repair. Oh, they just went ahead and charged the card I'd used for the diagnostic. WITHOUT prior notice or permission! OK scratch that, there's a bit at the bottom of the sixteen inch long receipt I got at drop off that lets them do this. Something that should have been pointed out more clearly? Hell yes. That same receipt says of the diagnostic service "Upon completion, RCG will provide a detailed report fo the analysis and suggested upgrades to increase performance." Still looking for that report.
The "power cleaning" included in the price I paid apparently doesn't extend to the outside case of the computer. For the three Benjamins (plus) that I spent, they couldn't spare a paper towel and a squirt of 409? I did turn on the computer to make sure it was operational before returning it to my partner; it was, but the battery was partially depleted. Again, they couldn't have charged it up fully, especially since it was taken in for a power problem?
Seriously, if I wanted to pay too much and jerked around, I could have gone to the Geek Squad. (No, not really; I would never do that).
But Richmond Computer Guy? Not recommended at all.
Let's back up. Although I'm pretty good with software issues, my business partner's notebook computer needed a to have the DC input jack replaced, something I thought was a bit beyond my skill set. The first guy I'd contacted was tremendously bad at returning emails and phone calls, co-mingled his business and personal posts on Twitter (which is how I knew that he wasn't even in town when we first wanted to get this computer fixed); it just didn't seem like it was going to work out.
So I took the notebook to a nearby place that is literally around the corner from my house. I asked when I walked in "can you replace the DC input jack on this?"
And that's when I should have walked out. Yes sure, they could do that, but I had to pay at least $99 for a diagnostic procedure, of which $20 would be applied to the actual repair cost. Again, my rush to get the thing fixed clouded my judgment. I declined the additional charges to backup the data and to "jump to the front of the line" ($70 and $60, respectively, IIRC), but went ahead and paid the $99. This was on a Wednesday, and I was told I'd probably get a call by Friday, so I figured we'd have the computer back by the next Wednesday.
The first call I got was the day after dropping the computer off. The technician had received the computer, but really all he wanted to do was try to upsell me the backup service once again. I said no, and I didn't think the data should be in any danger when all I needed was a DC jack replaced. I did get an email with information about logging in to their web-based tracking system, so that seemed like it would be useful. The next call didn't come until almost 6PM on Friday - it was just a guy telling me that the technician was looking at the computer and would call me the next day. Truthfully, I hadn't even thought about it too much, I figured since I didn't pay the line-skipping fee I was just in queue still. I didn't get a call on Saturday.
Monday morning, I got a call telling me about the same thing -- the technician was looking at the computer and would call me by the end of the day. Guess what didn't happen?
Finally, Tuesday morning the technician called me and confirmed that yes, the DC jack needed fixing (for an exorbitant cost!), and then went on to tell me about some extremely minor software - tracking cookies and such - and a "clean up" would cost $249. TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE DOLLARS!!!!??!! Just fix the hardware issue, I said. The online tracking entry said "Larry seemed annoyed and said all he wanted was the DC jack fixed." Annoyed? Really? You think?
I spent the next few days checking the tracking system every once in awhile. Nothing new. Finally, at 10 to 5 on Friday evening, I got a call saying the computer was ready to be picked up at the 'round the corner location. "Great," I said, "what time do you open tomorrow?" Oh, they're not open on Saturday. OK, if I'd been home, I could easily have run out to get the damn thing, but when I got the call I was about to board an airplane in Kentucky. Still, if they'd told me earlier, or maybe updated their stupid tracking system, I could have arranged for somebody to get there on Friday afternoon. Especially since the invoice I received indicates a date range that ended on Thursday.
OK, so Monday at lunchtime I got to finally pick up the computer. The guy grabs it and hands it to me and says "you're all set." How could I be all set, I wonder, when I haven't yet paid for the repair. Oh, they just went ahead and charged the card I'd used for the diagnostic. WITHOUT prior notice or permission! OK scratch that, there's a bit at the bottom of the sixteen inch long receipt I got at drop off that lets them do this. Something that should have been pointed out more clearly? Hell yes. That same receipt says of the diagnostic service "Upon completion, RCG will provide a detailed report fo the analysis and suggested upgrades to increase performance." Still looking for that report.
The "power cleaning" included in the price I paid apparently doesn't extend to the outside case of the computer. For the three Benjamins (plus) that I spent, they couldn't spare a paper towel and a squirt of 409? I did turn on the computer to make sure it was operational before returning it to my partner; it was, but the battery was partially depleted. Again, they couldn't have charged it up fully, especially since it was taken in for a power problem?
Seriously, if I wanted to pay too much and jerked around, I could have gone to the Geek Squad. (No, not really; I would never do that).
But Richmond Computer Guy? Not recommended at all.
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