I've had some bad customer service experiences before, but short time period at Manteca Liquors…read moretakes the cake! Now let me give you some background information, my friends and I stopped by this horrible little store on our way to Yosemite, for a bachelor party. I entered the store with one other friend, while the rest of the boys waited in the car. Upon entering the store, I greeted the gentleman behind the counter with a friendly, "Hello," and a big smile. His response was silence. In my mind, I assumed that the gentleman did not hear me (I mean, there's no way he could be that rude, right?) and continued on my shopping excursion. Even if he had meant to ignore me, I wasn't going to let it bother me because I was just a couple of hours away from the California's greatest national park.
As I walked up and down the aisles, I could feel the clerks eyes on me. One look at the front counter, and my thoughts were confirmed, he was completely, flat-out, shamelessly, staring at me. Now, I am a rather large African American. So having clerks watch me as I shop at convenience stores is nothing new, so again, I brushed this off. However I did notice that my friend, who happens to be Dutch, spent the entire time flipping through magazines, and was free from the watchful eye of the store clerk. As I walked the aisles, trying to determine what would taste best in the back country of Yosemite, I happened to notice that most of the wine that was displayed had a thick layer of dust on the bottles. Granted, this is not the Napa valley, and I didn't expect to see a tasting room in the store, but one would hope that when there was down time, the employees of this store would take care of small sidework such as dusting. I guess I was expecting too much from Manteca Liquors.
As I approached the counter with my items, I decided to give me greeting a second chance. This time, with a much louder, more audible tone, I said, "Hi, how's it going?" Again, dead silence was the only response from the clerk. Having confirmed that clerk's rudeness, I decided the best thing to do was to ensure that I was not being overcharged for my items, because 90% of the items in this store did not have a price tag on them. After the clerk rang out the first three items, it because apparent that he simply guessing at the price of items. So once he got through half of my items, I politely asked him for a receipt. This request was met with a icy stare, a grunt, and small nod. I noticed that he took much longer to ring up my items after I made this request. When he finished, he had to open the top part of the register to tear off the section of the receipt that included my items (apparently not many people ask for receipts at Manteca liquors). I was sure that I had been overcharged, and I confirmed this by checking my goods with the receipt that he provided me. I was completely LIVID, and I wanted to go back inside the store and demand the money that was owed to me, or return all of the goods I had purchased. Unfortunately, the rest of the guys I was with told me to forget it and move on. They didn't want me to spoil the "vibe" of the bachelor party.
So instead, I decided to take my fight online, and publicly blast this store for their unacceptable customer services practices. I work hard for my money. I have two jobs, and one of them is bartending with a catering company, so I take customer service very seriously. If I had treated the clerk rudely, was dressed inappropriately, or done something in the store to make the clerk mad, I could have understood (not forgiven) this behavior, but was simply not the case.
Luckily, my assumptions were correct, and this pathetic store isn't savvy enough to have a web page, so when potential customers decide to search for this store online, my scatching review will be the only online presence this store has. Now I've included a lot of information in this review, so I think it would be a good idea to recap. YOU SHOULD NOT GIVE THIS STORE ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
1) There is a good chance you will be overcharged for your purchases. That is why there are no price tags on any of the items.
2) The clerks there are incredibly rude and do not treat customers with respect.
3) There is thick dust on several of the items, and I saw more than one outdated product.
4) The Jack Links beef jerky that I bought from here was extremely hold and almost chipped my tooth (more outdated goods).
5) There is a much better, friendly liquor store across the street. (Jimmy's Liquors- 2147 West Yosemite Avenue, Manteca, CA 95337-9605 - (209) 823-1248).
6) They have a parking lot that consists of just gravel, and several pot holes that will tear up your car's alignment.
