I am absolutely furious about what happened here, and I will never stop at this gas station again…read more
I regularly travel through this area for work and have been a frequent customer at Caverns Market for gas, food, coffee, and to fill my water bottle. After this experience, I have completely lost my trust and respect for this business.
Yesterday, I stopped here for gas, filled my Owala water bottle, and grabbed a coffee before leaving for an hour-long drive to work. After arriving at work, I realized I must have left my bottle at the store when I got my coffee.
About four hours later, I got back on the road and drove another hour back to Caverns Market. That's roughly FIVE HOURS total since I had left the bottle there, not the next day, not a week later, but literally just a few hours.
When I arrived, an employee told me that she remembered seeing my Owala at the front counter next to the register. So the store had, in fact, found my property and had it in their possession.
Then I was told it had simply disappeared.
That is what absolutely infuriates me.
I understand that I am responsible for my own belongings, and if I had simply left my bottle somewhere and another customer picked it up, that's one thing. But once an employee found my property and it was sitting behind the register, the situation was completely different. I reasonably expected the store to keep it somewhere safe until I could return, especially considering I came back within hours.
Instead, I was essentially told, "Yeah, we saw it, but now it's gone."
The employees I spoke with were rude, dismissive, and showed virtually no concern about the situation. There was no meaningful attempt to figure out what happened or take responsibility for what had occurred. The customers standing behind me looked genuinely confused and upset on my behalf. Their reactions honestly said everything about how ridiculous the situation was.
And yes, I know an Owala is "just a water bottle." But these bottles can cost $30-$40, and that's not even the point. It's the principle.
If a business finds a customer's property and keeps it at the register, I expect that business to exercise a basic level of responsibility and care for it. I came back approximately five hours later after making a long commute specifically to retrieve it. The fact that it was apparently there and then somehow "just disappeared" is completely unacceptable to me.
I have no idea what happened to my bottle, and I am not going to accuse anyone of taking it without proof. But I can tell you this: the way this situation was handled destroyed my trust in this business.
This isn't about $30-$40, It's about accountability, ethics, and how you treat your customers when something goes wrong.
I used to regularly stop here. I will never spend another dollar at Caverns Market, and I will absolutely be telling people I know about this experience so they can make their own decision about whether they want to support this business.
I have lost all respect and trust for Caverns Market.