My wife loves a certain brand of gluten-free crackers. They're pretty expensive for crackers at grocery stores around us, but well priced at Trader Joe's. We were in the Towson area today and figured we'd stop in to stock up on said crackers.
We went inside and found the crackers... priced at $2.99. They're clearly marked $2.99 by a label as wide as the shelf space they took up. Good price! So we stocked up... grabbed a bunch of of them, and then a few other things before going to check out.
After the items were rung up, my wife noticed we were being charged nearly $5 for the crackers. So I kindly asked the cashier to double-check the price, because they were clearly marked $2.99. He said they're coming up at $4.50 (or whatever). I asked if it would be okay to run back and take a photo of the price that was advertised for him... no problem. I came back and showed him the photo (attached to my review here), and he still insisted they are $4.50, that the price marked was wrong or that price was for a different item. No "sorry about that" or... "let me get a manager". He just stood there looking at me I guess waiting for me to pay. I then said, "well that's not my problem" (about them marking a price wrong on the shelf).
Before I had a chance to even ask for a manager, maintaining a nice decorum, never raising my voice or getting angry, another employee that looked like she was still dressed in her halloween costume from this past weekend, neon colored hair and all, turned to us and began to treat the situation like I was about to kill somebody. Ringing a bell (getting the attention of the entire store) and asking me to hang tight, that she'll get a manager, which I was going to nicely ask for in the first place. Her acting like a hostage negotiator drew the attention of everyone around us, who were all then looking at my wife and I like we were terrorists or something.
Well, great that a manager is coming, I guess. But was it necessary to come in and try to "de-escalate" a situation that wasn't even a situation to begin with?
I felt like I was in some kind of bad movie where an evil prank was playing out... over crackers.
Anyway, said manager comes over... never makes eye contact with us... never says hello... never says "hey folks, sorry about our mistake"... no. He asks the cashier what the problem was. The cashier says "The customer says these crackers are $2.99, but they're really $4.50".
I stood there in disbelief. I said... "I didn't say the crackers are $2.99... the price on the shelf says $2.99, here's a photo of it... you can go look for yourselves. I'm just expecting to pay for what the advertisement says, and if that's not possible, we just won't take the crackers."
The manager never seemed to look at us or apologize... just corrected the price to $2.99 (to his credit) and briskly walked away. Still... wouldn't one expect a 'sorry about any confusion, folks!'.
Some might argue... these are just crackers... a couple bucks more. But that's not the point. If something is advertised at a certain price, that's what you should be charged. I don't care if it's a box of crackers, or a car.
Needless to say... that'll be the last time we step foot in that location. If you want to go in and pay more for something that's clearly marked a lesser price, then have the audacity to question why you should have to pay more, and worse, have what looks to be someone dressed like a clown speak down to you like you're the scum of the earth, go shop here.
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