Terrible Experience With Vons

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BillyGr
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: August 5th, 2022, 12:14 am
BillyGr wrote: August 4th, 2022, 1:54 pm

Would depend on how those deals are advertised - if says must buy x quantity, then if you don't get that many you shouldn't expect that sale price. Some stores advertise things at prices like that (say 3 for $5) but really just charge each one for $1.66 (or $1.67), so with that you'd get it no matter how many you buy.

Of course, if they only have part of the order, you are certainly welcome to say you don't want it at the higher price and they can cancel all of it - if that happens often enough, perhaps they'll catch on and stop making the deals that way.
If it is the store's fault that they could not fulfill your desired quantity, you should not be penalized with a higher price. That is not customer friendly. It is not the customer's fault that these grocery store websites do not tie inventory results in with the website very well and keep allowing customers to order items that are out of stock. It is not unusual for Safeway to run promotions in a way where the purchase of 3 units of product (if you buy 3) is less than the cost for the purchase of 2 units of product.

Stores that want to take a hard line on this and up the cost of people's orders due to their failure to be in stock on the minimum quantity required for a sale price are just going to send customers to do their pick ups at places like Wal Mart where there are no games like this on pricing, and far lower regular pricing to begin with.
You don't have to be penalized with a higher price - that is where the part about saying you do not want any of the item at the higher price comes in. If those sales are totally lost due to not having enough items and wanting to charge more for what they do have, they will (hopefully) eventually realize and fix the issue by having more items available.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: August 5th, 2022, 1:00 am I'm guessing that the stores just don't have a way of fixing this. If a customer buys 2 of something when 3 are needed to get a discount, the system has no way of knowing whether that is because the third was out of stock or the customer simply didn't order it. Programming this might be complicated because there are so many different items that can be combined.

Frankly, I'm not a big fan of offers that require the purchase of multiple items. When the pandemic started, Albertsons waived the requirement to buy 5 products to get the "Fab 5" prices, presumably because so many things were out of stock on the shelves. If they cannot consistently stock things online, they should resume that policy.
Walgreens and Rite Aid can make this work on online orders. You have to add 3 (or 2, or whatever) to your cart to get the discount. But once the order goes to the store, the price is divided by the quantity of items and allocated equally among the items (it is handled this way for returns too). Same story with online orders at Macy's, Kohls, etc. with a buy 1 get 1 50% off offer. It translates down to a 25% off discount on each line item; if the store only fulfills one unit you get the one unit at 25% off; if you return one unit you receive the refund at a 25% off of the full price (and the one you keep, you get the 25% off on).

What I am describing is standard in retail for these promotions when customers order online and it is out of the customer's hands if the retailer fulfills the order or not. This is the industry standard in these cases. Grocers who do not follow this practice with online orders, are going to lose customers online.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by J-Man »

Just to clarify: My original order included EIGHT "Fab 5" items, all of which I was charged for on the invoice. However, three of them were among the missing items that I did not actually receive, and for which I received a full refund. But that still left me with five eligible items that I both paid for (at the "member price," not the Fab 5 price) and received.

So, here's how things are going. I received a response from Albertson's via the BBB in Boise:
We are responding to a message sent regarding a recent Drive Up & Go order placed with us.

We are very sorry that you have not yet received a refund for the additional items on your order, but we are more than happy to take care of this with you. Unfortunately, there is not record of the specific items you requested be refunded in your contact with our Customer Support agents previously. We are also not seeing any attached documents to your message here via the BBB. Can you please respond with a list of items you requested to be refunded? Please feel free to contact our Customer Support team at (877) 505-4040 if you have any other questions or concerns in the meantime.

Thank you for shopping with us.
This, despite the fact that I included both my order number and the case number that was given to me after I sent the original online inquiry. And despite the fact that I uploaded all of the relevant documents (my invoice, the email communications with the Customer Support Center, the Fab 5 ad, and my snail mail letter) with the BBB complaint. Of course I have no way of knowing if the BBB actually included those documents when they contacted Albertsons.

I responded with another upload of the documents last week. So far, no response from the BBB or Albertsons. I refuse to call their toll-free number and get bogged down in some endless menus and being forwarded around to people who do not understand the problem. I've spent more than enough time on this problem already.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by storewanderer »

I can't believe they didn't at least try to call you. That phone number you were given was specific for their online shopping group, it is not their "main" customer service that handles store-related complaints.

I am curious- on the website, do they have a way to dispute any parts of your order/initiate a return/report a quality issue and get a refund automatically (like almost every other major national store chain- including Kroger- has)?

I am really surprised how poorly this is going. I'd never do an order through their pick up service after hearing this story. I had already read of the many folks who got burned previously with partially fulfilled orders with the $40 off $75 promotions run previously but this story where they won't even fix a legitimate overcharge seals it for me.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by SamSpade »

storewanderer wrote: August 8th, 2022, 9:58 pmI am curious- on the website, do they have a way to dispute any parts of your order/initiate a return/report a quality issue and get a refund automatically (like almost every other major national store chain- including Kroger- has)?
Yes. I had ordered some flowers for my parent in a 'Drive up and go' order. After speaking with my parent, the flowers weren't included. I was able to ask for a refund and it was immediately taken care of, without any interactions.

It does sound like maybe their system needs some improvements when it comes to couponing/"buy (multiples)" promotion setups.

Overall, I have done reasonably well with their online services in Idaho. I even had a clerk call me as she realized the basket I was assembling for a Hallmark holiday was for a meal and their store was out of the particular pasta sauce I'd ordered. She sent me a photo of the flowers their floral clerk made as well as made an excellent substitution sauce after we chatted on the phone. It was easy for the store to transfer me to 'her' line as well.

Edited to clarify "them" above - my parent, not the store/employee.
Last edited by SamSpade on August 10th, 2022, 7:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: August 9th, 2022, 9:14 am
storewanderer wrote: August 8th, 2022, 9:58 pmI am curious- on the website, do they have a way to dispute any parts of your order/initiate a return/report a quality issue and get a refund automatically (like almost every other major national store chain- including Kroger- has)?
Yes. I had ordered some flowers for my parent in a 'Drive up and go' order. After speaking with them, the flowers weren't included. I was able to ask for a refund and it was immediately taken care of, without any interactions.

It does sound like maybe their system needs some improvements when it comes to couponing/"buy (multiples)" promotion setups.

Overall, I have done reasonably well with their online services in Idaho. I even had a clerk call me as she realized the basket I was assembling for a Hallmark holiday was for a meal and their store was out of the particular pasta sauce I'd ordered. She sent me a photo of the flowers their floral clerk made as well as made an excellent substitution sauce after we chatted on the phone. It was easy for the store to transfer me to 'her' line as well.
If the people in the store picking the order actually care, it makes all the difference. It seems like when it comes to Albertsons, things are always better in Idaho than they are elsewhere. To be fair the Safeway operation in my area has done a complete 180 in the past year in terms of its attitude and execution, if it wasn't for that pricing (not the fault of the local management who has done a fantastic job turning things around here)...
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

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I am curious- on the website, do they have a way to dispute any parts of your order/initiate a return/report a quality issue and get a refund automatically (like almost every other major national store chain- including Kroger- has)?
Yes -- that is how I got the refund for the missing items from the original order. As I mentioned, it was done almost immediately with no questions asked. I don't even know if they had time to contact the store to verify that half of my order was left behind.

Still no response from Albertson's or the BBB after I re-forwarded all of the relevant documentation. I'm still having a hard time accepting that a major retailer can behave this way.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by storewanderer »

J-Man wrote: August 10th, 2022, 12:19 pm

Still no response from Albertson's or the BBB after I re-forwarded all of the relevant documentation. I'm still having a hard time accepting that a major retailer can behave this way.
This is a clear example of a program so mismanaged that nobody can take responsibility for this problem. I am actually very surprised by the continued lack of response to what is a very simple problem. This is not at all how complaints are typically handled by Albertsons.

I'm sure in the end you'll receive many apologies and a large gift card. I'd refuse it all and say I just want the refund for the items (full refund since you were charged above ad price, scan guarantee is now in play) and some explanation for why this happened and how it will be fixed in the future.

I am suspicious nobody has the ability or power to refund your card.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by veteran+ »

J-Man wrote: August 10th, 2022, 12:19 pm
I am curious- on the website, do they have a way to dispute any parts of your order/initiate a return/report a quality issue and get a refund automatically (like almost every other major national store chain- including Kroger- has)?
Yes -- that is how I got the refund for the missing items from the original order. As I mentioned, it was done almost immediately with no questions asked. I don't even know if they had time to contact the store to verify that half of my order was left behind.

Still no response from Albertson's or the BBB after I re-forwarded all of the relevant documentation. I'm still having a hard time accepting that a major retailer can behave this way.
Kroger is even worse!

I'm about ready to write the CEO.
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Re: Terrible Experience With Vons

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: August 11th, 2022, 8:28 am

Kroger is even worse!

I'm about ready to write the CEO.
That will get routed to the division president, if you proceed on that. You may get a direct follow up a couple weeks later asking if you were taken care of though.
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