Ralph's Grocery is defrauding the Public and firing Employee's who refuse to conceal money that belongs to Shoppers!
Shoppers at Ralph's that are Members of their "Pet Club" or "Wine Club" card programs are being RIPPED OFF for hundreds of earned cash rebates unclaimed under false cirumstances.
Ralph's assigns "FALSE EXPIRATION DATES" to rewards certificates issued when the Shopper reaches the purchase limit for qualification. They issue "quick expiring" dates on purposes to deter Customers from redeeming them in time. They further try and deter them from redemption by making the Customer purchase an ADDITIONAL AMOUNT of $10.00 in "like" products ON TOP OF THE ORIGINAL purchase amount that already qualified for the reward. Their advertisements on the certificates issued claim that all the shopper has to do to redeem their reward is "USE YOUR CLUB CARD" during your next shopping trip.
Shoppers following their instructions have a rude awakening ahead of them when Ralph's refuses to allow them to collect their cash rewards ALREADY EARNED!
Each reward earned is tracked on the Shoppers Club Card that is swiped during purchase. Customers can also use their home phone number associated with their account to track purchases and rewards earned.
We have taken a Ralphs Pet Club rewards certificate to the store after the expiration date listed & had the Clerk enter the number assigned to find that IT WAS NOT EXPIRED AND HAD NO REAL EXPIRATION DATE AT ALL. The reward was accepted as "valid" in the register system. We further researched and found that ALL REBATES EARNED FOR THE RALPH'S PET CLUB AND WIN CLUB CARDS DO NOT EXPIRE IN THEIR CASH REGISTER SYSTEM.
Shoppers who have purchased pet products or wine at any Ralph's store over the past six years have earned DOZENS OF REWARDS that remain unclaimed.
Manager's at the Ralph's store location in Whittier, California were fired for refunding these earned cash rewards to elderly Shoppers who complained they were unaware of the program or failed to receive their reward certificates on qualifying purchases.
Ralph's tells their Retail Managers that they are authorized to handle Customer complaints to their best ability to provide good service. All Retail Managers are given the "key" and authority to "over ride" and allow Customers rewards that were earned and never redeemed. Ralph's pushed their Employee's to "go the extra round" and make these Customers "happy". When they did what they were told, many found themselves FIRED without any paperwork or explanation.
One Retail Manager fired by Ralph's states that he had been doing the same thing for over five years, handling each request the same way. If it was "ok" for the past five years, then why are we being fired for it now?
It's not the same policy for all Employee's involved, one Manager told us. We tested his claim to find that he was telling the truth too!
Many of my friends have Ralph's Club cards with phone numbers associated with their accounts and have made hundreds of dollars in pet item purchases over the last six years. A few have never heard of the Pet Club program, but all Ralph's Card Shoppers are automatically enrolled without notification or permission from Ralph's Grocery Stores. Being we never knew about the rewards we were earning, we obviously never redeemed any so we went shopping at a local store this weekend to see how the existing Employee's handled our complaint.
We purchased approx. $20.00 in pet items, and gave a phone number linked to a Ralph's Club card account that should have earned MANY rewards over the last six years. When we were finished with the purchase, we asked the cashier to call the Retail Manager and we told him that we were unaware of the Pet Club Program and knew we had rewards that remained unredeemed and requested to use them on this purchase. He asked for our phone number, checked our account on the cash register and gave us several of the $9.00 rewards we had earned! Not only did he discount the purchase already made, but he even refunded the additonal amount above our purchase.
AND WE DIDNT USE ALL THE REWARDS THAT WE HAVE EARNED BECAUSE THERE ARE 36 MORE @ $9.00/EACH THAT REMAIN IN OUR CLUB CARD ACCOUNT!
If this Employee handled the situation the same way as others who were fired for the same conduct, then why is it "ok" for some and "not" for others?
We interviewed one Retail Manager who filed a grievance that is going to arbitration in July, 2008 and he said that he was fired for refunding upon request after 23 years of employment with Ralph's.
While the Customers who requested the refunds of rewards earned sent letters to Ralph's corporate office and also the store location where he was employed - THANKING THE STORE FOR HAVING SUCH A GREAT MANAGER ASSISTING THEM - Ralph's retaliates by firing him and then circulating a flier to all other Employee's that we managed to get a copy of that warns them "not to allow Shoppers to redeem rewards unless they have a paper certficate that is unexpired presented".
HOW CAN THIS BE? California Consumer electronic transaction laws state that an electronic transaction is just as good as a paper contract. It also states that a paper coupon is not necessary to retrieve benefits earned on a contract when an electronic record of the transaction exsists.
So why is Ralph's FIRING EMPLOYEE's who followed the law? Someone needs to do something about this?
We saw one Lady receive over 40 rewards earned @ $9.00/each. She has been a loyal shopper purchasing $100 in pet products in order to qualify for each one earned. Why shoulden't she be allowed to have her rewards? She earned them! If the rewards don't really have an expiration date in the system then why should Ralph's be able to assign one at the store level?
Ralph's contract with the Union states that they must write up Employee's who don't follow company policies many times before suspending or terminating. They are not following this contract and straight out firing Employee's involved in these refunds.
It isn't like they are profiting from helping Customers collect their rewards earned.
In some circumstances the Shoppers who were allowed the rebates earned used the money to have real food to eat for a week and spent it at Ralph's stores anyway. Where is the harm here?
If Ralph's is going to defraud Customers by assigning false expiration dates to reward certificates earned and then warn their employee's to defraud them when refunds are requested without a paper coupon, then why not tell the whole world about it? I think Shoppers need to know what type of management runs the stores that they choose to spend their money in.
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