What do retailers do that drive you crazy?
There’s one store I shop at that never seems to have enough checkout lanes open.
There’s another where I’ve been snubbed for using a coupon. And another that always seems to be out of stock of everyday items.
What drives you nuts when you’re shopping?
According to a survey done by Prosper Technologies for the National Retail Federation’s magazine, STORES, the complaint that tops consumers’ list is rude employees.
That survey also found that consumers are peeved by retail employees who don’t know the merchandise and can’t provide answers, as well as stores that are understaffed and have slow check out lines. Consumers also griped about store policies, especially those regarding coupons and returns.
What tops your list of gripes?
June 13, 2012 - 6:00 AM
Two things come to mind right off the bat. And they are both VERY noticeable at the world’s largest retailer 1. Can’t find anyone to help you out in the store. Even when you are obviously wanting to ask a question you are ignored. 2. Not enough check out lanes!!!!!!! It is obvious to me, at least at the Salem store, that they just don’t care how long you have to wait. I know, I’m a stupid head for going there and deserve it! I am an infrequent shopper there due to these issues. OK. There are three things. The third is likely to happen anywhere. Sale started this AM. It’s 11:00 AM and you are out of stock on the sale item I want. Really? Sold out in three hours? Come on dude.
What drives me crazy is how Walmart on 220 has extra displays of merchandise in the middle of the isles. On a busy Saturday try rolling your cart down the long isles, especially the very long back isle, which travels from the Grocery area all the way to auto department. You cannot get by the people, it is so overcrowded with people and with displays. It’s irritating.
I have a few:
1. Continually rotating stock so the same items are never there on a consistent basis…I notice this the most at Walmart. It has reduced the frequency for which we buy items there, especially groceries.
2. Changing out seasonal items way before the season actually ends…major peeve for Lowes/Home Depot…needed a replacement fireplace grate in February…they had already dumped their winter heating items and replaced them with summer grilling items. It was the worst winter we had ever had. Brilliant.
3. Know-nothing employees. Understandable because most stores hire low-wage workers who are mostly looking for the paycheck, and don’t have base knowledge of products they sell. Particularly troublesome at specialty type stores like Best Buy, Lowes, Home Depot…hard to get experts in appliances, electronics, plumbing, etc at $8.50 a hour. You get college kids at those rates.
4. Not having enough checkout lanes open during peak times. This has improved greatly, especially with self-checkouts added to many stores. But it is still frustrating from time to time.
5. 9-5 hours for mom & pop stores. Come on, really? Ok, I know people need time off and whatnot, but how do you expect people to shop at your stores when you’re only open when most people are also working and can’t get there? Shift hours maybe to 11-8 or something…give us a chance, and we’ll buy stuff if you’re open. This is why I shop big box stores and not in downtowns…I can’t usually do my shopping until at least 7-8, though the bulk is done after 9pm. I got too frustrated trying to buy local and finding almost every storefront dark by 5 or 6. Not good enough.
FICTITIOUS PRICING.
Artificially claiming a higher ‘regular’ price so the market value price appears to be ‘discounted’.
One major grocer in the valley has it’s checkout personnel boldly announce at the end of the transaction: “You just saved $$$xxx”. Untrue. If an appropriate price had been on the merchandise to begin with, then the consumer would be comfortable in knowing they’ve received the best VALUE.
The gist of this is: It has to be ‘on sale’ to purchase something and has created a bold air of SALE, SALE, SALE.
Put the BEST price out there to begin with & start being honest with consumers…
@Other John: Getting rid of seasonal items before the season is over is also one of my pet peeves. I’ll never forget trying to find beach chairs in July. By then, the seasonal aisles were filled with pencils and notebooks and Elmer’s glue. Apparently I should have bought my chairs the previous March.
@Amanda- just saw on facebook that Valley View officially announced ULTA is opening there!
Other John’s #5 is probably my biggest shopping pet peeve. Why any store owner would only be open until 5pm or 6pm while the majority of their potential customers are at work is beyond me.
Yep, Amanda…it grinds my gears, and when I worked for Lowes it was not any easier to deal with…putting Christmas stuff up in September!
I usually try to buy clearance stuff at the end of season sales and hang onto it until the following year, but when the stores do seasonal clearances 2 months or more before the season actually ends, makes it tough.
Plus, I have now noticed many retailers don’t put seasonal items on clearance like they used to. They simply box it all back up and either put it in storage or ship it out. I used to buy holiday cards the day after Christmas…could not find a single box of them available at our Walmart this past year…not a one, they actually had very little on clearance.
I don’t know if it’s stupidity or greed, but neither of them are good. I hate when a retailer prices the larger size of something completely out of whack with the smaller sizes. Perhaps they think that most people automatically assume the larger size is a better deal. But it takes two seconds to look at the price tag and figure out that one six-pack of the store brand popcorn at $2.99 is a significantly worse bargain than three of the three-packs at $1 each. Are you not paying attention, or do you assume I’m not?
Amanda, I learn that lesson every year approximately 1 week from our beach trip.
And my pet peeve is clerks who take calls while checking customers out.
@Sarah T: Thanks! Can’t say I’m shocked, given the job postings and such. I’ll see what else I can learn.
@Sarah T: I just talked with the mall’s general manager, and it sounds like Ulta will open in November. I’ll post more details to the blog soon.
It seems the Kroger stores here in the New River Valley can’t be bothered to keep the shelves stocked. I’d say about half the time I need to go to a second store because they don’t have what I need. And I’m talking about things like vegetables and the department they claim is a bakery.
They also seem to randomly not stock the salad bar at lunch time. Also, one time I went and the prepared food section with the sandwiches was empty except for a few items leftover from the previous day.
It’s really rather infuriating.
I try to do as much of my shopping now at the Christiansburg Target.
The entire remodel of the Westlake Kroger store! Everything is bunched together, messy, layout doesn’t make sense and the wine display aisle got rid of their tasteful and decorative signs with these small and ugly ones! I haven’t met one person who actually likes the new way the store is set up-not even the employees I’ve talked to. I wished that they had just left well enough alone.
Jeff, that might just be good marketing! Not necessarily ethical, but if customers aren’t paying attention, then the blame for getting a worse value falls on the customer.
One time in middle school, I was selling candy for a fundraiser. It was tear-jerkers, and I was selling them for 25 cents each. A couple of kids kept hounding me for them and getting me in trouble by constantly asking for them in the middle of class. So I got the idea to see if they’d fall for a little of my “marketing” and told them I’d give them that they are 25 cents each, or three for a dollar. You wouldn’t believe how many times people would whip out a dollar for three. They were in total control since I gave them the choice… as many as you want for .25 each, or three for a dollar. It wasn’t my fault that they didn’t bother putting .25 and .25 together!
@Amanda: Thanks! I can’t wait for this store to open!
…So I got the idea to see if they’d fall for a little of my “marketing” and told them that they are 25 cents each, or three for a dollar…
sorry, was editing my post and forgot to delete some words.
@hokie24: No problem, I understood what you were saying. That’s pretty pathetic they fell for it, and a good example of why you have to be a smart consumer (not that it’s hard to multiply 25 by 4). I get frustrated when a retailer says something is on sale, but hides the regular price so you can’t really be sure or know how much you are saving. That said, I love when stores, such as Kroger, breaks down the price of an item by ounce or weight because it makes it easier to compare to make sure you’re getting the best price.
I’m a fan of the by ounce or weight breakdowns too.
I never thought they’d fall for that. When they did, I think I was too shocked to correct them!
We do the bulk of our grocery shopping at Kroger, but we also do comparison shop other stores to make sure we are actually getting a decent deal. Most items we buy from Kroger are only available there, so we have few options…but we buy them when they are on sale or when we have coupons…or better yet, both.
The unit pricing is definitely helpful, because I use that for everything possible. Be it price per ounce, pound, square inch…you name it. When we notice items on sale, we compare the unit pricing of various items of varying sizes to make sure we get the best deal. It’s amazing when items of a larger size are more expensive than smaller ones…on a unit basis.
One such example that always makes me laugh…the Kroger chip dips. There are 3 different sizes…8, 16, and 24 ounces. The 24 ounce ones are now on sale for less than the 8 ounce containers…
I hate it when stores are not open their stated hours. Nothing is worse than going out of you way to be greeted by the closed sign. It burns me up.
At one of the supermarkets I go to a lot, they start cleaning up the meat dept. at least an hour before their stated closing. Get there 15 minutes before they are closed and all the slicers are wrapped up and not a person in sight. Drives me crazy.
Not enough checkouts open is one my list.
Being out of stock of an item is tops one the list. Really ticks me off when that same item is still out of stock a week later. Sometimes longer.
Walmart is real good for this. Also the chances are good if there is a item that you made the trip for, the #1 item you needed. It will be out of stock.
I agree with changing out the seasonal items too soon. Several years ago I ran out of weed eater string. It was early September as the kids just had gone back to school. Went to a certain big box store only to find there was none. BUT I could buy a lighted Santa!!!!!
Krogers in the NRV annoy me to no end as well. They are ALWAYS out of what should be standard items. And they restock at the worst times…like 5:15 when people are coming in after work the produce section is empty and they have folks out slowly adding one thing here or there. Seriously? I mean you KNOW people start rolling in after work, is it impossible to restock a tad earlier?? And they INSIST on putting those stupid stand alone bonus products in the middle of the aisles which are barely wide enough for 2 carts as it is. Something else that annoys me…but maybe just me since I’m a vegetarian…is the standard availability of beef and chicken stock but the complete absence of vegetable stock. And if they do have it, its in a can and not in a carton so I have to buy 10 can’s to make a pot of soup. But they have 4 different brands of cartons on the chicken and beef stock.
I’m with you all on the rearrangement of the grocery store. It’s been almost 6 months and there are still things that I walk by and have to circle back to.
I dislike the crowded racks at department stores as well – the get so stuffed together that you can’t even see what’s hanging there, let alone get a hanger out to see if it suits you. I prefer the open layout and hanging walls at places like The Limited – although I can’t usually afford as much there.
Also, store personnel who inform you of the closing time if you arrive even 30 minutes beforehand. That makes me automatically feel unwelcome, and while I may leave that day and let the clerks get home to their families, I can probably guarantee that I won’t be back on another day either. Lost sale!
I hate coupons that have lines and lines of tiny print, listing all of the exclusions. One of the reasons I love Kohl’s is that their coupon is good on everything; no brands excluded.
As for putting out seasonal items early … I couldn’t believe I saw a display of 2013 calendars in Barnes and Noble yesterday. It’s not even July 1, 2012.
I get annoyed when stockers are restocking the shelves and act as if you are in their way. They bring out cart loads and cart loads of merchandise and you can’t get to what you need.
Hey Amanda, any updates on when the Riverside development across from the VTC campus is suppose to begin?
Two questions for you:
1) The Babies and Children store on Franklin has been going out of business for years, now. You posted about this back in February 2011. Any idea how much longer they plan to keep it up? Or are they just changing their name to Going Out Of Business? Inquiring minds want to know.
2) For the past few weeks, I’ve seen a truck parked outside the old Pitt Boss location on Brambleton. It has the logo “Hometown Cooking” and the tag “Comfort Cuisine” and claims to do catering. Any word on what their deal is? They had a Facebook logo but I haven’t seen anything online about them. (I’ll try and snag the phone # off the truck when I pass by it next.) Love to know if they’re planning to do something with that location.
Thanks!
Kroger’s has been putting holiday items on clearance the weekend BEFORE the holiday. I went in to get extra Easter candy for some surprise visitors and it was already picked over.
I went to buy mayonnaise the other day and a regular-sized jar of the brand was about $4.60 while the small jar, which was at least half the size of the other, was about $4.30.
While I’m on this topic, what is UP with the price of mayonnaise these days?
As for peeves, I also dislike rude service and aisles crammed with stuff.
@Michael: Timely questions. You’re the third person to ask in the past week about Babies and Children. I called today and an employee asked me to email the owner, which I did. As for the Hometown Cooking truck at Pit Boss, I had some time to drive out there this afternoon and got the number. I just left them a message.
@Roa10: I am checking with another reporter about Riverside. We had initially heard work would begin this spring, but obviously that hasn’t happened. The last thing I can find that we wrote was that city council voted to rezone the land, helping the project move forward.
1. Rude and/or clueless employees. Some act like I’m taking them away from something important, like texting or talking to friends.
2. Stores which trumpet their customer service & then provide virtually none. The more an organization talks about customer service, the less it provides.
3. Crowded aisles. Plus some customers seem to feel it’s ok to park carts in the middle of the aisle; or two people park the carts side-by-side just to yammer & talk.
Add me to the list of customers of wanting a seasonal item in that season.
My list:
Inconsistent unit pricing, I see it a lot with paper products, most brands are unit priced per 100 sheets but sometimes you see another brand priced per roll, even if the package sizes are similar.
Store remodels that seek to “improve the customer experience” but only result in fewer registers. (JC Penney I’m looking at you)
Dept. stores that will only process returns in the dept. which the product was bought, even if the registers in the next dept. are free. (the main reason I don’t shop at Belk anymore)
Putting on the “hard sell” if I don’t buy a ‘protection plan,’ register for the discount/rewards club.
Overly pushy employees in regards to answering the store survey on the receipt.
Babies and Children may be waiting until they sell everything. If so they will never close because they are crammed to the rafters with children’s clothes and those clothes are outrageously over priced.
Dave,which Krogers do you shop in? The Cave Spring Krogers waits until after the holiday and then they do not mark down to half price like every other business. Maybe they take off a third.
Interesting the topic of the Hometown Cooking truck popped up.
I spotted it on my way to work yesterday. Was wondering what was up with that truck. Really catches your attention. Well it’s more like a motorhome.
Nabbed a pic of the rear it while stopped at a traffic light. :>)
Here it is… my view as a former retail employee and why all of you are getting “poopy” service…
1.) While minimum wage has gone up, the cost of living is still greater than what any retail store can pay their employees. How many of you enjoy working at minimum wage for 20-30 hours a week to leave that store and go put in another 20-30 hours somewhere else because retail is no longer a career?
2.) Corporate and market downsizing. Corporations think they can do more with fewer people due to automation. Yet, electronics break down and other things happen that require a human touch. Local business owners are not hiring until they absolutely have to and cut back their hours that they are available because they are, generally, the only employee that they can afford!
3.) That rude service you are complaining about? Don’t expect it to get any better with this market. Or the fact, as mentioned above, most of us have/had to work two jobs to barely make it! And then there is the fact that retail is no longer a full-time job WITH benefits, because someone (the company) has to kick in for those benefits. Oh, another thing, if you approached me with an “attitude,” at that pay rate amount, I can only be patient for so long. When you get a string of customers that ONLY complain, it will put a damper on your day. Maybe if people had worked retail, they would be a bit more understanding of the complex influences in that market. You capture more flies with honey… treating associates with a smile might even brighten their day. I know it did for me when I worked in retail. If a customer was sincere and respectful, I went out of my way to help them. Think about that the next time you shop!
@Amanda: Thanks for sharing and adding perspective.
Expanding a bit on #39
EVERYONE needs to work retail at least once in their lifetime. It gives a person an entirely different perspective.
From what I’ve seen above, no one else cares about deceptive pricing tactics. Chalk one up for the naive public.
I get frustrated when employees at a store would rather talk to each other than help a customer. Often I have to interrupt with “umm, excuse me?” to get staff to stop talking about their personal lives and answer a question for me.
Another issue I have is employees who don’t speak to customers. I was at a store last weekend and asked if someone could get a hat down for me and they just went and did it, without saying “sure” or “OK!” or anything. It was kind of creepy.
Easy. Employees complaining about when their next break is or when the get off. Sometimes to each other, sometimes to you.
I can’t think of anyone who loves their job so much they don’t look forward to their next break or when they get to go home. But keep your mouth shut in front of customers.
I encounter it at nearly every trip to my Kroger and it’s made me so ticked sometimes that I want to complain to management. I may just someday.
RM,
Spartan Square (Salem) normally – occasionally Lakeside.
@Steve, JC Penny tried that and has failed miserably. Bottom line is people like sales and like thinking they are saving something.
It is amazing that most of the pet peeves is with Walmart and people still go back. If you want to change things stop going to Walmart!!!
Dean- only 3 or 4 of the 46 comments are specifically about WalMart. There are just as many if not more about krogers. I would much rather shop at WalMart then Kogers because of the savings, easily 20% on a $250 order. As for how they treat their employees (a common complaint); I have relatives working at both places and WalMart is by far the better employer. (For one thing they pay a bonus)As for there are Walmarts everywhere: there are far more Kroger stores in the valley. As for driving Mom and Pop out of business; when WalMart closed at Hunting Hills all of the small stores there said it hurt them, they LOST business.
1. Not enough registers open. I live in the NRV and I cannot go shopping during the first of the month! There are people with carts loaded down, lined up in the five lanes that are open.
2. That brings up another pet peeve. Why-oh-why (and this really doesn’t have anything to do with the retailers) do those who are using EBT cards buy the most expensive food items, wasting their dollars, then rush to the store at 12 a.m. on the first day of the month? Commonsense lacking?
3. I’m especially peeved at JCPenney. I no longer shop there. “We have no more coupons! You’re saving more money!” BS. I used to get my dress pants there. I’m currently in the process of losing weight (down 70 pounds! Yeah!), so this was a frequent shopping trip. I would buy a pair of pants ($17) and find a shirt or jewelry (around $10) and use my $10 off a $25 purchase coupon to get my items for a great price that kept me coming back! Oh well.
4. Rude associates! I know, I know. You’re at work and you don’t *really* want to be there. BUT, being rude isn’t going to make your experience (or mine) any more enjoyable. When I worked in retail in college, I encountered plenty of rude customers. Know what? Instead of being a rude, bitter store associate, I was extra nice. Dripping with happy. With some, it helped and I actually got a smile! With others, it seemed to piss them off – which made me smile more on the inside. Either way, being cordial was the way to go.
Shew. I’m sure there are more … but that’s it for now!
In most stores, the “music” and over-head announcements frequently range between disturbing to annoying. Quite often, the announcements are garbled or extremely loud. I have left CVS on more than one occasion because of the loud distractions. Shoppers in home improvement stores want assistance, not entertainment. What ever happened to quiet, personal interaction?
where do I start? um, Amanda #38, I have worked retail and management demanded that we be nice to customers, even if they took up an hour of our time and still didnt buy anything, or came running into the store FIVE mins before closing needing something that would take time to find.
that being said, rude employees who-dont acknowledge u..does it take much effort to even say, “hello?” apparently so…employee at Hamricks didnt speak to me but went of his way to greet a customer an aisle over. Employees who talk about their personal lives in front of customers or scream at each other and even CUSS!
employees who dont know jack about the merchandise. I give Lowes at Towne Square credit for this..very helpful and friendly.
I hate when stores have merchandise packed on racks also. Sizes not clearly marked. Hamricks again-shoes on clearance-couldnt u have put the wide sizes to themselves? boxes were marked but they werent closed up where u could clearly see the size.
and everybody’s favorite..not enough check-out lines
stocking shelves before say, seven pm.
still trying to sell hot chicken at full price at 9pm
more complaints…nasty bathrooms! I try not to use them but sometimes, u just have to and if u have little ones in tow, u have to take them. Paper towels flowing out of the trashcans, lack of paper towels, and smelly. Does housekeeping only come at night after store hours? And sometimes Walmart’s rooms are a joke-they have that “checked by such snd such at whatever time” on the back of the door..they must look in and check their initials off.
And what is up with these hot stores? When u complain, u are told, “corporate controls the temp from the home office.” meanwhile, shoppers are sweating and hurrying to leave because it’s hot.