It's finally time. I've lived in Ramona for 5-3/4 years and I've postponed writing about Albertson's poor--at times even rude--customer service for almost as long. Since moving here, I've shopped at their Ramona location for a minimum of once a week. It doesn't seem to matter whether they are busy or not. The last time I was there, they were not busy, but they were still slow, disinterested, and unfriendly, as usual. Today, they were semi-busy at the time I was there, although I was only the second person in line and no one ever entered the line behind me. It makes no difference whether the cashiers are male or female. Today, the cashier was female. She wasn't slow, but she was disinterested and unfriendly. I'm sure I've been in her line before because I recognized her technique for checking out customers--no greeting, no smile, no thank you--not a word was ever spoken to me. In fact, she never even looked at me, because she was too engrossed in a conversation with her bagger. She will even hand you the receipt without looking at you and without saying anything, as she doesn't miss a beat with her bagger.
To say the management is poor at this store is an understatement. In fact, they are now on their third manager in the past five years. The current manager is the one who stood up for an employee who body-slammed me out of the way about a year ago as he was running to his register. I've also almost been run over twice by two different female employees who were racing with large carts full of food without concern for shoppers, causing me to abruptly put on the brakes to avoid a collision. I hope Albertsons has a good insurance company because one of these days someone is going to be truly injured.
Obviously, Albertson's doesn't bother to train its employees. During Covid, the manager at the time told me they were finding it difficult to find people. Must still be the case. Still, that's no excuse for rudeness and repeatedly breaking the long-established rules of customer-service etiquette--over and over and over again. They seem to hire anyone with a pulse. Before moving to Ramona, I shopped at Ralph's on a regular basis. They never failed to greet me at the register and thank me for me for my business as they handed me my receipt. Sometimes at this Albertsons (although not today) they will greet you, but they will NEVER say thank you. Occasionally, a checker may manage to mumble, "have a nice day," which is better than nothing. But it's not the same as showing appreciation for your customers' business. "Thank you" is the appropriate expression for customers choosing Albertsons over its competition. Instead, Albertson's personnel make you feel like they're doing YOU a favor--often even acting like you're encroaching on their time. Because I have never felt like I am a valued customer at this store, I have finally decided I won't be back. They aren't the only grocer in town. Stater Brothers, here I come! read more