Giant Food Stores

We apologize for the customer's experience with organic apple juice purchased from one of our stores. The customer has been contacted by an adjuster and is providing more information.

Hello, I am now making a complaint against this store for not just once they have been denying purchases in the past. This second trip I had to argue with the Store Clerk and Manager. They told me we're not selling any baby milk tonight. Then said there was a store policy. After arguing the...

Manager did get what I needed. I was told by the head person in charge at the Giant after the first complaint I shouldn't have any problems. I shouldn't have to fight with the store clerk or Manager to purchase some items. This past year not just myself but my Mother had a problem purchasing from Giant at that location. They would not sell her any milk on occassions and also limit us on it. There is no limit on this product but they're limiting us on our purchases. This is the only store that is giving such a problem. We have shopped there for a very long time and these couple years have been a problem. It gotten to the point where we weren't allowed purchase.

We have already provided information to the customer regarding the item that was not scanned that prompted the first audit. We are not able to share company documents.

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I am rejecting this response because:-------[redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]First, I'd like to thank the Revdex.com for their assistance, but I am not satisfied with Giant Food Stores response, so I've decided to pursue a more legal route to solve the issue. ** 
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We apologize that the customer was not able to process an even exchange at our store. The store manager has reached out to the customer with an apology and an offer for a full refund of the item.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: I walk into 2 giant stores and as soon as you enter there is a big sign " WE DOUBLE ALL COUPONS UP TO 99 CENTS"As you can see from their response that is not true. I asked the question why they donot double all coupons and to this day I have not received an answer. I beleive that the customer is being ripped off due to false advertising by Giant. I think that if the coupons sent to the manufactuer and are doubled the customer takes the loss and Giant gains. If Giant keeps keeps the same policy then they should post at every checkout location, the explaintion they sent back to you about my complaint. People don't like being ripped off if they don't see the rules. I'll be waiting for your reply. . Regards,[redacted]

We are so sorry to hear about the difficulty our customer had with his card.  We involved our web team and they have been in touch with the customer to resolve everything.  Consumer Affairs also called the customer and apologized that this took so long to be resolved.  We have...

offered him a replacement coupon for the one that expired.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. 
I
am sorry that you disagree with our gas preauthorization and apologize if I
didn't explain it adequately.

When using your credit or debit card at our gasoline station for
“pay at the pump” transactions, the amount that is placed on your card is the
pre-authorized amount. This amount is set by us, the merchant, and it is set to
limit fraud and loss. The alternative would be to shut the pump off at a set
dollar value, which is also not ideal.

As I mentioned before, once a customer has completed their sale
for a "pay at the pump" transaction, that exact dollar amount of that
transaction, in your case $55.00, is sent to the issuing bank. Once the bank
receives the exact purchase price of the sale, the pre-authorized amount should
be released by the bank. While some banks release the funds immediately, others
may take longer. Again, we encourage you to reach out to your bank about the
time it takes to release the funds. To advise customers of this, we do have
signs posted on our pumps.

Thanks, again, for contacting us.
We appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concern again.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
I want to assure you that we are
committed to ensuring that our sales signs are accurate and that our sales
represent a value over the regular...

price. I talked with our meat buyer who
informed that our regular every day low price for the organic ground beef is
$9.99 and we had featured this item as an in store special for $8.99. We have
contacted the store and confirmed that the signing is posted and accurate.
Thanks, again, for contacting us. We
appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concern and encourage you to
contact us if you have further questions at ###-###-####, option *, option *.

We are sorry to hear about our customer's experience at our Mechanicsburg GIANT.  We immediately followed up with the store supervision and the district director has been in touch with the customer to apologize and personally address the situation.  We are confident that her future experiences will be more satisfactory. .

We are sending the following response to our customer.  

In response to your follow up email, while we double
manufacturers coupons, we do limit the doubling to one for a like item. While
the retailer is reimbursed for the face value of the coupon, they are not for
the portion that is doubled. This has always been our coupon policy as stated
on our website and on a sign at the Customer Service Desk. We have forwarded
your feedback regarding the sign you referenced to our marketing department.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Giant first answered my complaint about pre-authorizing my [redacted] account by telling me "The amount is set by us to accommodate the rising cost for gasoline."  Competitive  gasoline merchants don't abuse customers like that.    Its not a good  reason to penalize us, the customer.Giants next response:"This amount is set by us the merchant and it is set to limit fraud & loss."  Adding yet another reason, how many reasons can Giant come up with to explain away something they shouldn't be doing in the first place?I find the pre-authorization cost posted to my account fraudulent. The reason I say this is because gone unchecked and or in the case of human error  that preauthorization could stay on my account and I could end up paying three times the amount for my purchase.  Hey Giant who wins at that time?  Is that why you named yourself   G I A N T ?Giant also claims to have a disclosure notice at the pumps, well                                I could not see it.  I visited the Giant gasoline pumps.                                     ...⇄ I still didn't see it.So trying to give Giant the benefit of the doubt, I really looked hard, and several moments passed. I saw signs for Giant everywhere, big bold signs about how they save you money.I finally saw something. On the outside housing of the pump, where it is difficult to see or even read, was a post it note.  On this post it note size sticker were the many logos of credit cards that Giant accepts as payment.  People my age( lets say middle age)  are accustomed to seeing this format to express the type of card you are permitted to use at any merchant.  For many, many, many, many years that was the sole reason for having this identifier.  In fact merchants that appreciate their customer still use the old school identifier in a prominent spot, entrance and exit doors, cash registers, etc. where it can be easily seen.  It is in fact much larger  than the post it note sticker Giant presently uses to deceive their customers.  This is why I say deceive:  On this post it note sticker identifier, in much smaller font size is the very warning  Giant wants you to overlook.  Yeah, the whole reason for my complaint is hidden and placed in an unnoticeable spot overlooked by many because of the format.  Thats Giants dirty little secret. Giant has every right to be ashamed of themselves.I think it is unconscenable to use this particular trick to legitimize what should be the unlawful act of pre-authorizing anyone's card.  Shame on Giant
[redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Giant Food Stores response did not provide a sufficient response nor did it address the original issue:  For a number of month's the price of 1lb organic ground meat was $8.99.  Then the store increased the price from $8.99 to $9.99 and had it on what it is called a store special at $8.99.  I am not complaining that the price is more or less than what it was before but you cannot say that the price is an in-store special of $8.99 when it was always $8.99.  This is deceptive advertising.  To the "not observant" customer this makes it look like the product is on sale when it is not on sale.  You are simply stating its on sale when the price was always $8.99.  
In addition, Upon receiving the email back from the business I called and left a message for the person who responded to my email and never received a call back from them.
Regards,
[redacted]

Hello, 
I am now making a complaint against this store for not just once they have been denying purchases in the past. This second trip I had to argue with the Store Clerk and Manager. They told me we're not selling any baby milk tonight. Then said there was a store policy....

After arguing the Manager did get what I needed. I was told by the head person in charge at the Giant after the first complaint I shouldn't have any problems. I shouldn't have to fight with the store clerk or Manager to purchase some items. This past year not just myself but my Mother had a problem purchasing from Giant at that location. They would not sell her any milk on occassions and also limit us on it. There is no limit on this product but they're limiting us on our purchases. This is the only store that is giving such a problem. We have shopped there for a very long time and these couple years have been a problem. It gotten to the point where we weren't allowed purchase.

I accept the business's response, thank you

Review: On Dec. 28, 2013, I redeemed a winning ticket. The sales person ([redacted])at the lottery counter filled out the claim form to pay me. However, another manager told her she could not pay me and the ticket needed to be sent to the PA lottery. I told the sales person to give me the incorrect claim form because it contained my social security number. She then completed another form and made me a copy for my records. On Feb. 7, 2014, I called the PA lottery and they advised that Giant should have paid me directly on Dec. 28, 2013. The PA lottery also had no record of my winning ticket which Giant was supposed to mail in.I went into the store on Feb. 7, 2014 and spoke with the cash manager ([redacted]) who was difficult even though the store was at fault. She called [redacted] on the phone and [redacted] confirmed that she did not pay me on Dec. 28th and that she completed the first claim form incorrectly. I called the PA lottery while at the Giant and they informed the store they were required to pay me. [redacted] advised she did not have enough cash and had to pay me with 2 money orders. Yet this was a Friday (pay day) at lunch time and supposedly there was not enough funds in the entire store to pay me.The store personnel needs to be trained in customer service and processing lottery claims. It is severely lacking.Desired Settlement: I would like to hear from the store manager, [redacted], in regards to the poor customer service that I received on Dec. 28, 2013 and on Feb. 7, 2014. I shopped there often and am extremely disappointed with how everything was handled.

Business

Response:

We are very sorry for our customers experience. We immediately involved the store management team and [redacted] has spoken with the customer to resolve this to the customer's satisfaction.

Review: I purchased a $500 [redacted] gift card from Giant on 5-11-14. The money was paid for by me and received by Giant. The activation slip said "cards will be activated within 24 hours". However, after 24 hours the gift card has not been activated. I took the gift card with the receipt and activation slip back to Giant and a Giant associate called the gift card company who confirmed the card was not activated. However, the Giant associate refused to give me a refund or to resend the activation code for the gift card even tho they confirmed with the gift card company that the card had not been activated and they had no record of the card being activated. The Giant associate told me that I had to get the money back from the gift card company even tho the gift card company confirmed the card was not activated by Giant and I paid Giant directly and not the gift card company for the $500 [redacted] giftcard. So I paid Giant for a $500 gift card but instead got a card with zero value because it was not activated by Giant. Giant was directly paid $500 for the gift card but I received a gift card with zero value. Thank you.

[redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like to either have the $500 refunded to me or to have Giant resend the activation code to my gift card for $500. Thank you.

Business

Response:

There was an isolated issue with the company that activates the gift cards. They were having some intermittent issues where a few gift cards weren't activated as they should. We have reached out to the customer to apologize and to work on a resolution for replacing the gift card.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: Last week I asked for a new rewards card as my current card has no black strip and can't be used at many service stations. The representative said the new card would be linked with the old card, wait 24 hrs. I received the weekly email from [redacted] with coupons and tried to access the website but had to update my registration. At the end I received a message that said my request couldn't be processed at this time, try again later. I've tried every day since Sunday (this is Thrsday) and keep getting the same message. I called Giant toll free customer support 4 times yesterday. First time I was transferred and the call disconnected during the transfer. Second time I was transferred and was on hold so long call disconnected. Third time I asked to speak to a supervisor and the representative said there are no supervisors and tranferred me, call disconnected. Fourth time the repsentative transferred me and the call went right back to her, and she hung up. Right now as I am typing this I had already called the Giant toll free number again. I spoke to Ruth Ann and she was kind enough to take the time to help me out and transfer me to web support. The transfer completed and I was able to leave my number for them to call back. Ruth Ann was able to do in a couple minutes what the others combined weren't able to do in 4 phone calls. Horrible customer service except for Ruth Ann. She should be commeneded, the others should be fired.Desired Settlement: make sure web support calls back and solves my website problem before the coupons expire in two days.

Business

Response:

We are so sorry to hear about the difficulty our customer had with his card. We involved our web team and they have been in touch with the customer to resolve everything. Consumer Affairs also called the customer and apologized that this took so long to be resolved. We have offered him a replacement coupon for the one that expired.

Review: I purchased gas at the Giant gas pump with my [redacted] card. The receipt I immediately received was for $55.00. When I went home to check my [redacted] card pending amount I was horrified to learn that Giant charged $150.00 to my [redacted] Credit card. I called [redacted] and they informed me that Giant charges over the amount for gasoline purchases at the pump.Desired Settlement: I want the amount on the receipt at the pump to match the amount I am charged on my [redacted] card.

Business

Response:

Below is the response that was sent to the customer.

Review: Deceptive practice of advertising through misleading information. For example, organic ground meat (beef) in 1 pd size Giant stated was on sale for $8.99 when it was previously priced for $8.99. This is one example of many that we have seen on a number of products at Giant.Desired Settlement: Advertising Issues - A bait & switch advertisement. Would like some sort of acknowledgement from company stating that this practice is deceptive and misleading to consumers and this unethical practice should stop immediately. Giant stated was on sale for $8.99 when it was previously priced for $8.99.

Business

Response:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

I want to assure you that we are

committed to ensuring that our sales signs are accurate and that our sales

represent a value over the regular price. I talked with our meat buyer who

informed that our regular every day low price for the organic ground beef is

$9.99 and we had featured this item as an in store special for $8.99. We have

contacted the store and confirmed that the signing is posted and accurate.

Thanks, again, for contacting us. We

appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concern and encourage you to

contact us if you have further questions at ###-###-####, option *, option *.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: