THEY ARE LIARS, PULLING THE OLD "BAIT AND SWITCH"
My Thursday, November 12, 2015 edition of the Worcester Telegram included a special 4-Day Sale page for Stop & Shop stores, indicating that king crab legs were on sale for the price of $10.88 per pound. Now I had been craving Alaskan king crab legs all summer, but the prices had been sky high, some markets charging as much as $30 per pound, so when I saw this, I was elated.
As I had been "burnt" before by other markets, that same night I called the Seafood/Meat Department at the Sturbridge S & S store and inquired if they had, specifically, the Alaskan KING crab legs in stock, and the man I spoke with (and he indicated that he was a manager) told me that they did indeed have them. I informed him that I would be in to pick up a couple of pounds the next day (Friday) and asked him if he thought their stock would last until then. He told me that it would---they had quite a lot and the crab legs were not pre-packaged, being available in any amount, frozen or thawed. Great, I thought. So early afternoon on Friday, my sister and I made the 30-minute drive from our home in Leicester with the intent of getting the legs for dinner that evening. When we arrived at the seafood counter of the store, guess what? No king crab legs, only snow crab legs, which were also on sale, their price being $6.88 per pound. Sis and I spoke with both the seafood clerk on duty at the time and a confused and disheveled-looking seafood manager, and the supposed "seafood manager" informed me that they had not yet received their shipment (WHAT?!) of the king crab legs and asked if was I interested in purchasing the SNOW crab legs instead. No way! I made the drive to Sturbridge because I was told during my phone conversation the previous evening that the KING legs were in stock. Besides, I don't much care for snow crab, its meat being nowhere near as sweet and succulent as the king crab. While we were in the Seafood Department we noticed that they had quite a lot of the snow crab, both loose in the seafood counter bin, and bagged in freezer bins amid the back aisle of the store. They were trying to get rid of their over-stocked product! I was quite put out and high-tailed it to Customer Service, voicing my complaint to the clerk on duty and insisting that she call the Lincoln St., Worcester, store for me to check on the availability of the king legs at that store---we were willing to make the long drive there if they had them. She informed us that she was just getting off duty and would call the seafood manager to have him call the Worcester store (some customer service, huh?). She got on the inter-store phone with the seafood manager and gave him our request. After we waited about 10 minutes for a call back to customer service from the manager, the phone rang and I overheard the customer service clerk repeat the Lincoln St. store telephone number to him. We waited another 10 or 15 minutes and still no call back. We had had enough and left the store intending to call the Worcester store ourselves from home to inquire as to the availability of this item (yeah, I wanted this crustacean badly). We did call, but we never did get to have Alaskan king crab legs for dinner! (See Lincoln St. S & S review on this site).
I don't normally shop at Stop & Shop, but rather at stores in Leicester, Spencer or Oxford (S & S prices are very high and locations are too far away). All I can say is that I am shocked and completely disappointed by Stop and Stop's practices. Although their prices are high, I had always thought that they were at least reputable. I can see now that the folks at S & S are liars, pulling the old "bait and switch" scam on unsuspecting customers. I will not do business with Stop & Shop again. read more