Complain about a product or service

Kroger

Era of Savannah GA (06/19/08)
This is an on-going situation. Most employees are indifferent about customer service, and management is also. People behave badly in all departments. Example. As I was unlocking my bicycle from the rail outside this store the other day I overheard an extremely audible offensive conversation of a sexual nature. One of the male senior citizens that acts as a greeter was regaling the security guard with that one. I have had one manager, Randy Burns, yell at me so much he was spitting in my face.

I use to complain about the fact that my groceries were bagged very badly. I would complain to one Manager about the fact that meat got bagged with other things, like produce. Eventually the district customer service told me I should consider bagging my own. Well, that is somewhat difficult to do while unloading the cart and watching what prices get entered. But I do try.

A couple of months ago, there was no person to bag the groceries and I began to bag my own. After a moment or so a kid came and started slinging in my groceries. I was just rescuing my bread from a bag of sweet potatos he had bagged it with, when he began to bag with hamburger with something besides meat. I stopped him, and tried to tell him why this was dangerous. He walked off. I called after him, young man, I was talking to you. He kept walking and commented to other baggers who all laughed. The lady at customer service came over and asked what was going on. I told her and told her that the kid--Anthony--walked off while I was speaking. She said she could hear me clear over in customer service. She did call the manager. Anthony was not made to apologize to me, or fired. No one called me. The old manager told me when I complained about the inappropriate bagging of meat that it wasn't a perfect world.

Finally, a little incident from this week. I was using U Scan. The change return failed to give me my four cents change and I applied to the cashier. There was a woman standing by the cashier laughing and talking. The cashier gave me only 3 cents change. I told her that, and she gave me the other cent. No hellos no apologies for the trouble, no apology for the her mistake. I stopped by customer service. I said the machine in U scan is malfunctioning. He said, well did you tell the customer service manager? I asked if he wasn't customer service. He said, The customer service manager is standing, talking to the U Scan cashier. That about sums up how our local Kroger is run.

There are many health problems caused by physical contamination of other foods by raw meat. Hamburger and Strawberries do not belong together. One day some one will get really sick.

Debbie of Wylie TX (05/13/08)
I was at the gas pump filling up my vehicle at the Kroger Store #461 in Sachse, Tx and the pump did not shut off and at least a gallon and half went all over my suv. Gas prices are high enough without the pump malfunctioning and losing gas on the ground. I had between a fourth of a tank and half of tank when I began to fill up. My tank only holds 19 gallons and the cost was 54.11 for 15.118 gallons which my car would not have held that much gas even at 3.60 a gallon or 3.57 with Kroger discount card.

I told the store manager and he stated that I was the second customer that had a complaint but he did not close the pump so someone else would not have the same thing happen to them. I think this was extremely wrong. Gas costs so much that you do not want to lose it on the ground. They should fix the pump.

Loss of gasoline and cost of the gasoline that ended up on the ground.

Sheena of Atlanta GA (05/06/08)
I went into the Kroger store and while checking out I was paying w/ a $100 bill, cashier used her conterfiet pen to mark bill and told me she would need to get me change from cust serv. When she retrnd it was w/ a mngr that stated the bill was fake. Advised her that I had just come from Wachovia withdrawing the funds as well as brought attention to the fact that the cashier marked the bill, mngr Ms. Jackson stated that didn't matter.

I proceeded to leave and go back to Wachovia to find out what was going on. The tellers in Wachovia off Northside Dr. couldn't understand why they would say the bill was fake when they marked it with the conterfiet pen and the mark showed the bill was not fake. I requested that they switch them anyway , which was done. When I returned to Kroger the same mngr Ms. Jackson said that is the same bill when clearly this one had no marks from the conterfiet, she states she would not be taking that bill either. I then asked for another, Ms. Jackson proceeds to call for the mngr over the intercom.

In turn the person (I later find out it is Mr. David B, which Ms. Jackson was as well calling for Mr. B) calls on the phone and Ms. Jackson states to him Can you come up here the lady with the fake $100 is back. First that is defamation and slander to my character, I in fact was using another $100 that was legit and directly from the bank! The male Mr. David B. then came & I explained to him what was going on in the process Ms. Jackson is saying I am not being honest, so I then advised the best thing for me to do would be to get the # to the coporate ofc. & names of the employees involved. Which it was given to me by Mr. David B.

After leaving the store I immediately proceeded to contact the coporate ofc. and was transfered to Angela which cust serv rep. stated she is the Regional Mngr. Advised Angela of the situation and was informed by her that she would put the complaint in the system but each store is allowed to refuse any bill that is suspected to be fake, I explained to Angela that the bill was marked and shown not to conterfiet, it is hard to believe that an employee working for Kroger has an eye trained to seek out conterfiet bills when the very product you are given to detect them says the bill is not fake!

I have shopped at the Kroger store #270 Cobb Pkwy for 3 yrs and I am severly disappointed in the conduct of the mngr Ms. Jackson. I can say Mr. B really couldn't do much at that point because I was done with being defamed! I ended the call with Angela being told the complaint would be put into the system. I contacted Angela at 1800-Kroger and was transfered to Angela. I then went to Publix right @ the corner and used the bill reused and it too was marked w/ a conterfiet pen and taken.

The only consequence I feel will result from the events that took place would be, I will no long er shop there.

Sherrie of Clinton Township MI (03/17/08)
I called into the pharmacy for a refill on my medicine (Enalapril Mal Tab 5mg) and after taking 2 of the tabs, one on Friday, the other on Saturday, I suffered adverse reactions. It wasn't until Sunday morning after contacting the pharmacy, that I found out the script wasn't filled properly. It was filled with a higher dosage than what what prescribed by my doctor. I was told to go to emergency due to my complications. I went to an urgent care office, and after taking my stats, I was sent to Beaumont Hospital emergency room.

I'm on Medicare with no other insurance. I can't afford the out-of-pocket cost going to urgent care or to the ER and the follow up visit to my doctor.

Donald of Lexington KY (03/16/08)
On Saturday March 15, 2008, I made a routine trip to Kroger Store #L768 on Leestown Rd, Lexington, KY. My issue is with the checkout lane I used. I chose the cashier assisted checkout. Aryone was working the only lane open; her line was extremely long. (I must add that the self-checkout was manned by FOUR cashiers..that is an all together different complaint though.) I start to load my groceries on the moving conveyor belt. I had a large purchase to make, and before I could get them all on, the gentleman behind me starts to unload his as well. I didn't have enough room so I politely asked that the cashier stop the conveyor. Aryone either didn't hear me, ignored me or refused my repeated request. This caused the order behind me to take too much space and leave me frantically trying to load all of mine. I was holding a large item, a 15-pack of Budweiser bottles, (the pins). The still moving conveyor, combined with the on-coming items from the gentleman behind me, caused a crunch of sorts that forcibly knocked my cellular phone from my hand. It hit the concrete and shattered.

To give an example of exactly how disinterested the cashier was in my struggle: she failed to charge me for part of my order. (I didn't realize this until I reviewed the receipt for your contact information.) My phone is now a total loss. It does not work in any way, and a replacement will be $120.00 for the same model. I feel that it is the store's responsibility to replace this due to negligence on behalf of their employee, Aryone. Any response would be appreciated.

I now will be at a loss of $120.00 and time away from my phone that I use to make money. Kroger L768 will be at a loss as well due to her inattentiveness; I walked out with $12.00 of product for free.

Sarah of Carrollton GA (03/02/08)
I recently received a mailing from Kroger Atlanta with a message from Bruce Lucia describing me as one of their very best customers and including a number of coupons chosen especially for me. One of these was a coupon that gave $20 off groceries for each new prescription brought to the Kroger phramacy. What a contrast with the service I received at the Carrollton, GA Kroger store on 3/1/08 from Allyson Tant (Manager on Duty around 6:30 pm). On Feb 29th I brought two prescriptions to the pharmacy along with the coupon which should have entitled me to two $20 off coupons for my next shopping trips. The woman who rang it up scanned it all correctly, noted on my coupon that I had used 2 of the 3 available offers for $20 each, and informed me it would take about 20 minutes to load onto my Kroger card instead of giving me a gift card or paper coupon. I returned the next day under the assumption that I would have $20 available on my Kroger card to apply to my purchase. I spent about an hour shopping, totaled my purchase and was told by the cashier that nothing was coming up on my card. She called over the manager, Ms. Tant, who tried to call some office that was closed and then said I was basically out of luck, there was nothing she could do. I explained that I would not have done a big shopping trip at Kroger that day had I not been told yesterday that I would have $20 available within 20 minutes and that this was clearly Kroger's error. The only solution she offered was to void my transaction (after I had spent an hour shopping!).

I said again that I thought it was very poor customer service to basically imply I was lying. (I had my Kroger card and pharmacy coupon that had been noted on by the cashier yesterday, and she could have just checked with the pharmacy!) She still refused to honor the $20. Her response was that she wouldn't know what to say to Risk Management. How about saying that you give good customer service? At this point she just walked off. I was not given any information about how to redeem the $20, a customer service number to call, or anything. I noticed as I was leaving that she was just leaning against the customer service desk with another employee pointing me out and glaring at me--like I had done something wrong by asking for the discount they offered me!

It seems obvious to me that good customer service would simply have been to check with the pharmacy, confirm the prescriptions and err in the customer's favor. I am now out $20 that I should have been able to save on these groceries; that counts for a lot for a family on a budget. I am usually happy with Kroger and feel they give me a good value, but I am now reluctant to return except that their store owes me $40 in groceries for the two prescriptions. I have no idea how to ever recover it because I no longer trust Kroger to give decent customer service. If Ms. Tant was giving the type of customer service they endorse, than I will just shop elsewhere from now on.

Angel of Franklin OH (02/27/08)
My purse was stolen, including my checkbook, license, and credit cards. The thief, among other things, wrote several checks at a Kroger store in Dayton. When I was contacted by Kroger, by mail, I immediately called them and explained the circumstances and they sent me an Affidavit of Fraud to fill out, which I did as soon as I received it because Kroger was calling my mother's cell phone constantly and mailing threatening letters every other day. The Affidavit had to be notarized, which is extremely hard to get done with no ID and also with the hours that I work. After getting this done, however, I sent it to Kroger along with a copy of the police report. The calls and letters stopped and I heard nothing from Kroger and I assumed all was well.

Six weeks later, the phone calls start to my mother's cell phone again, threatening to turn me over to collections. They said they had not received any of the paperwork, even though the harassment had stopped for six weeks. The girl on the phone stated that I had to go to my bank and contact Kroger, who would fax another Affidavit to the bank, while I waited. Then I had to sign it and get it notarized and fax it back immediately, and that she would not mail me another, even though I work days and couldn't get to a bank to wait on a fax.

My mother wrote an online complaint to Kroger and received several calls offering to resolve the issue. A really nice man named Tim sent her another Affidavit, which we filled out and got notarized and she mailed it back along with another copy of the police report and copies of all notices sent by Kroger Collections. NOW, my mom is being harassed by some collection lawyer named Meade who calls her cell phone every hour even though neither one of us wrote the checks! We have cooperated with Kroger on every level, even though they conveniently 'lost' my original Affidavit and they are harassing my mom who has nothing to do with this! She is just a co-signer on my checking account but her name wasn't on the checks so the thief didn't sign her name, they signed mine. Curiously enough, Kroger employees cashed these checks without proper ID, and my mother and I are the ones being treated like criminals. Also, a friend of ours had his wallet stolen and guess what? Charges were made at the SAME Kroger store on his credit card. I think Kroger needs to check into their hiring and stop harassing innocent people.

Harassing phone calls. Messing with my credit score.

John of Indianapolis IN (02/18/08)
I was shopping at Kroger's on 07-07-2007 and as I approached a pop display about three cases of pop fell off the display and landed on my right foot which had already been broken and was in a open cast. Just as it was falling a store employee named Chris saw it and hollered, "oh my God, look out." Chris sent for the manager whose name was Charles while attempting to help me. When Charles came he sent for a camera to take pictures, but when the camera got there it did not have any film in it so he just made a report of the incident and he asked if I was injured. I told him yes as he could see I was in a open cast. Before he started the report he told Chris to clean up the mess.

I went back to the store the next day and saw they had put up a barrier around the display to prevent this from happening again. As Charles was making out the report he told me if I went to the doctor to bring him all the bills and he would forward them on to the appropriate people. I did as he told me and he said he would take care of it. I talked to Charles several times after this to see how things where coming along and the last time he told me that it was out of his hands now and to quit bothering him with it because these thing take time and they would be contacting me. After all this time I haven't received a response yet and I am at my wits end. I would appreciate a response to this matter.

This has caused my a great deal of pain and suffering and my cast had to be changed due to the swelling cause by this injury.

Marisa of Flint MI (02/07/08)
Kroger advertises a discount on gasoline purchases based on the amount of money you spend the month prior. Several times I have spent over $750 in one month to qualify for the 50 cents off per gallon of gas. As had happened in the past, I experienced a fill-up where my receipt showed a 3-cent discount instead of the 50- cent discount. I asked the customer service desk at my local Kroger's what I should do about not receiving the discount and was told that the machine must've been down. (It does that a lot lately.) Also, that all I had to do was call the 800 number for the credit. Cool. I call the 800 number, and my information is taken and a promise is given that I'll get a phone call back. I gave both a daytime and evening phone number. I receive a message on Friday EVENING (February 1st) on my work phone from Chad at Kroger's, who says that I'd only used 3 of the 4 fuel fill-ups, that I should be all set as I had until the 3rd to use another fill-up. Huh?

First, if I didn't regularly check my voicemail, I would not have received his message until AFTER my time allotment, and second, I didn't need another fill-up. This irritated me, so I tried to call Chad back at the number he left (614) 898-3572.... and got ringy-ringy-ringy off the hook. NO answer, NO voice mail. So I just get blown off? Not my style. So I called the 800 number, left a message containing all of the pertinent information and followed up with an email on their website. I get another message on my office phone AT NIGHT, mind you, from Stephanie, who says she needs more information. I call her back, and another girl says Stephanie doesn't get into work until noon. I can have her call you back. Cool. Please do. Get home, and guess what? Yup. Stephanie called me back - AT MY HOME NUMBER. And, better yet, she leaves me a message that she's looked at the 3 fuel fill-ups, and she sees I received the discount on all three, so issue's resolved. Now I'm feeling righteously agitated. Call me a liar after blowing me off initially? NOT acceptable. So I just left a rambling message at (614) 895-2694 (at least SHE has voicemail) asking for a fax number so I can fax the receipt that clearly shows the 3 cent (instead of 50 cent) discount.

I've probably spent more than I would have received in the credit I was looking for, but Kroger's has just lost my $500-900/month grocery money. PLUS, I will go out of my way to tell everybody how I got ripped off at Kroger. Anybody else miss the day when the customer was appreciated? I work with several hundred fellow employees, and if any of us treated our customers the way I was treated, we'd be looking for a job elsewhere.

Mental anguish (repeated attempts to resolve the issue), defamation of character (called a liar), blood pressure escalation.

Janet of Bellevue KY (01/17/08)
I purchased a sponge mop at the Kroger store close to me. It is the Kroger Everyday Living brand. I found that when I started to squeeze out the water, the handle would not stay in place once I finished squeezing the dirty water out. Instead, it just hung and dragged along the floor behind the mop. I expected more from Kroger than an inferior brand. This is my second experience with a Kroger brand that does not do what it was created for; so there's no way that I will ever buy anything labeled Everyday Living.

The cost to me was only $7.00; however, I needed it to strip a floor. I won't bother taking it back to the store; I simply will not purchase that brand name again.

Gerald of Escondido CA (01/11/08)
These stores advertise weekly many products on sale for the week and do not even have ANY the first day of sale. Many customers (elderly) drive numerous miles to save and are blatantly denied. A rain check may require 2 or more return trips.

Jim of Cincinnati OH (01/09/08)
This extention of KROGER FOODS, sends invoices two days before the due date, so you are ALWAYS late and get assessed Late Fees on credit card. They operate through RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) in Bridgeport. Then they start calling 8 to 10 times a day (Documented) to harass you for the late payment.

Credit report is scarred, my home phone is tied up with automatic calls every two hours - (Have received 86 Documented calls since 12/24/07, Even Christmas DAY !!

Dennis of Pearcy AR (11/10/07)
GLASS-TOP TABLE Self-Exploded!

I purchased a 10-piece set of outdoor furniture from Kroger. It consisted of a large round glass-top table, a small glass-top table, six chairs, and two footstools. We really liked it. Unfortunately, the large round glass top table self-destructed into thousands of little pieces of broken glass. I do not know the name of the manufacturer, only that it was sold by Kroger two summers ago.

Don Fedrick of Louiville KY (11/07/07)
Mr. Dave Dillard, CEO The Kroger Company 1014 Vine Street Cincinnati, OH 45202

Dear Mr. Dillard:

On Saturday morning, September 22, 2007, I went to your Kroger store located at xxxx Westport Road, Louisville, Kentucky, 40241 to have some balloons blown up for my Grandson's 1st birthday. I was charged $20.00 - $1.00 for each $.10 balloon which is far too expensive.

When I went to pay for the service in your flower shop, there were several buckets of water with flowers in them. Due to the location of the buckets, and my juggling the 20 balloons, I couldn't get close enough to the checkout register. In all of the maneuvering that I had to do in order to pay, I dropped my cell phone into a bucket that had water in it.

I know that I have some culpability, but I believe that Kroger shares some too. There shouldn't have been flower buckets full of water placed around the checkout register. If I had dropped my cell phone in your phannacy or deli, the worst that would have happened is some dents and scratches on the phone, but it would still work. I feel strongly that Kroger has some liability - you should not have buckets full of water at the checkout register where your customers pay.

I am a former corporate Vice President of Sales and Operations until retiring following a stroke, so I know about customer service. One caveat is you don't clutter up your checkout area under any circumstances. Also, it is a safety issue and concern.

I have been a Kroger customer for over 30 years, spending thousands of dollars during this vast period of time. It would not make a lot of sense to lose me as a customer over approximately $200.00. One unhappy customer can cause irreparable damage in the Louisville market through word of mouth, telling people at church, writing a letter to the Better Business Bureau, the consumer trouble shooter at a local television station or newspaper, etc.

I returned to the store and was told that it was entirely my fault and that they wouldn't pay for my cell phone. I then called your Corporate office in Cincinnati on Monday and was told that there was no way that I could be reimbursed for the cell phone. I wonder what W AL-MART and MEIJER would do?

Rhoda of Dublin OH (08/13/07)
I talked with the manager and emailed Krogers the following: I just discovered that your YELLOW STICKER PRICE CUTS....are LIES. I was looking at the Clariol hair color...it had a Price Cut (scissors and YELLOW tag). For some reason I decided to look at the regular price. The REGULAR price was 38 cents LESS than the PRICE cut price. ALL of them were that way.

I took one of them to the manager who said she would be contacting corporate. I shop at Krogers several times a week. I will be randomly checking them from now on...and will REMOVE those that are lies... It really makes me very angry when business people think people are STUPID and do these kinds of things. Your customers deserve better than this!!!!!!

Jessica of Auburn AL (05/19/07)
I went into Auburn Kroger in the beginning of April and purchased thirty dollars worth of items. While I was self-checking out, the female cashier then told me you have a 15% discount that you can use before the end of April, do you want to use it now?. I told her no, that I would come back and make a bigger purchase than usual because of the discount later next week. I asked her why I had received this discount and she said because of the amount of money I had spent there over time.

So I returned to the Auburn Kroger and ended up spending a substantial amount, so much so I would have received a 45 dollar discount. When I was checking this next time, I put in my Kroger number then mentioned what the previous cashier had told me. The new cashier said that it would come up at the end when all items had been scanned. Needless to say that the discount was not there and for some reason there was no trace of the discount.

So I paid for all those groceries, I even bought things I would not have normally if it wasnt for that discount. I felt embarrassed having to stand there with a long line of other agitated customers mad that I was taking so long.

This situation alone really bothered and upset me. I could not understand how one employee informs me of a discount and the next cashier and manager on duty could not find the discount that had been there before.

I called the store after I left, embarrassed, and spoke to a woman named Nancy. She told be to call 1800KROGERS and speak to the loyalties dept about what happened- she was helpful. However, the customer service reps were not.. I called 3 times over the next month without ever hearing back.

The second time I called the woman said she would even make a note that I wanted to be contacted. The last time I called on May 18, the woman informed that something with my number did not match my account- which makes no sense. They apparently could not find any information on my account regarding the discount.

I am a college student. I have to work and go to school. I would never spend that much money on groceries if it was not for the discount.

Christopher of Huntsville AL (4/29/03):
I wrote a check for $20.57 to Kroger. The check bounced and was returned. Less than two weeks later, the check was run through again and was paid. Approximately 10 days later, I have a mysterious charge to my account for $29.00. I inquired at my bank, Compass Bank, and they said the $29.00 was a pre-approved debit from Kroger. I never approved or was informed of this debit. This violates state and local laws.

I bounced two more checks because of the "illegal" debit to my account. One check written for $25.00 and another for $2.48. Compass bank covered the second bounced check and charged me a fee of $32.00 for each check. I am also being charged $25.00 for the first returned check from the payee. The consequintal damages total $89.00. The punitive damages total $50.00. A grand total of $139.00.

Leland of Farmington Hills MI (8/4/01):
On Saturday August 4th about 12:30pm I went grocery shopping at the Krogers near my house. A bottle of wine was marked $10.99 but the sign below it said $5.99 ($5 off) in bright red letters with Kroger Plus card. At the counter I was charged the full $10.99. I did not notice it until I was leaving.

When I reviewed my slip I went back to their customer help desk and showed the person behind the desk the mistake. After waiting for 2-3 minutes for someone named Dan, who she called on the intercom, she went back to check the price herself. About 3 to 5 minutes later she returned and informed me I had misread the sign. I went back found the sign and brought it to her. Then she refunded the $5 difference. I said doesn't the law require 10 times the difference plus the amount. She said not for wine. I said are you sure and she gave me another $5.

I said this is not right the amount is 10 times. She then said that Kroger wasn't the one responsible for the sign but the wine distributors had put up the sign. It was clearly on a yellow card with Kroger printed on it. At this time I left because by now an additional 20 minutes of my time had been taken up at this store. What is particularly disturbing is that many items in this store are not clearly marked. Many items are not marked at all!!

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