The following is a complaint email about chronic overpricing bias, misleading labeling and lack of customer service at the local Ralphs. Their form reply notes the customer service complaint and ignores the complaints on apparent overpricing and irregular labeling practices.
Begin forwarded message:
From:
Date: June 18, 2008 10:51:42 AM PDT
To:
Subject: Ralphs Comments #5403204
Dear Mr. Faridian:
Thank you for contacting Ralphs Grocery Co regarding your concerns over the lack of customer service you
received from our staff. Please accept my sincerest apologies for your recent experience. It is our goal to exceed
customer expectations and when we don't live up to them, we do want to know about it. I have made the store
manager and his team of associates aware of your comments so they can receive the feedback they need in order to
improve in this area.
Additionally, I have made arrangements for a courtesy coupon to be mailed to your address for your inconvenience.
Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery
Again, I am very sorry that your experience did not meet your expectations, or ours. Thank you for shopping at
Ralphs. There is nothing more important to us than making sure your shopping experience meets your every need.
Sincerely,
Emily Boomershine
Consumer Affairs
Reference: 5403204
CUSTOMER COMMENTS:
My wife and I strolled to our local Ralphs this Father's day afternoon and were truly disappointed. Counters were
busy with the usual under-trained staff working under pressure with little supervision and no senior presence. We
were (hopefully) accidentally overcharged and had to go back to our teller, by now serving others. There was no
manager at the desk at that moment. It was a rather trivial item but it happens so often that we are sensitized to it.
The teller had charged $2.99 for a Lb of Nectarines marked $.99. My wife checks her receipts because we are told
in the neighborhood to watch out for systematic overcharging bias at our local Ralphs. The teller was not clear
between Nectarines and Peaches and had decided to hazard on the side of the higher price choice against our
interest. Without apologizing and clearly clearly in a rush, she attempted punching numbers again and again without
success until one of the methods worked and she eventually managed to offer $1 back. My wife pointed out that she
needed to return $2. Again, punch punch punch, set, reset and eventually another $1 shows, no smile, no offer of a
full refund, no apologies, zero grace or civility. just as if an automaton working in a sweat shop. A moment later,
we noticed the blackberries, clearly behind a $3.99 sign, had been charged at $6. This is perhaps correct and more a
case of misleading or careless signage than one of overcharging. Not encouraged by the teller situation, we waited
this time for a manager. A woman showed up at the customer service counter. Her matter of fact indifference
about nectarines being charged at peach prices and her off-putting non-professional attitude and unsophisticated,
curt, almost rough approach, brought us to the conclusion that she was not competent to handle the situation for us.
We humored her with a half-hearted polite complaint and left without mentioning the blackberries. We have lived
here for ten years and would like our local store to be run with integrity, continuity, a minimum measure of
competence, courtesy and professionalism. We don't see much of this at this particular Ralphs. This is despite the
efforts of a few occasional example of people who try harder than most of the others. I believe the problem is
system level and little to do with the people lower on the wage scales, including the so-called managers. Outside of
the store, we have made comments before on your customer service phone line. Even there, we have not had the
courtesy of a reply, an acknowledgement, follow-up, follow-through or any inkling of results. An example is a
customer service call in January this year about misleading labeling (e.g. dozen size egg boxes being marked with
prices corresponding to 6 eggs, or misleading labeling above and below each shelf, or lack of quality or healthy
choices in some departments e.g. an overwhelming percentage of bread made with "enriched" flour instead of real
flour as it comes. We have seen other irregular pricing, placement or labeling practices that put to question the
honesty, fairness and quality of retailing at this store. It could be that there is some interference from a regional
bonus system that encourages this "stick it to them attitude" or some other systemic issue that should concern the
senior-most executives at your corporation. The result is an unhealthy statistical bias of overcharging, misleading
labeling or avoidance of quality. Today at the bread counter, every chocolate donut had smudged chocolate on it,
probably having melted once during the morning delivery. The delicatessen was more akin Boar's head plastic land
and there wasn't a single choice of a tomato tasting of tomato in the entire shop. The meat and fish counter smelling
as usual, we were put off buying toothpaste further up the isle. This should all paint a picture in your mind. The
place looks perfectly clean and respectable on the surface but there is no standard of care and discernment. This
could be a far more pleasant up-market store given its location. How do companies like Gelsons or Trader Joe's do
it? Sorry for the long message but I hope these comments are taken in a spirit of helpfulness, reflecting our desire
for the local shop to become a more pleasant and inviting place to shop at. Wishing you every success.
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