Yes. In most cases the customer is ALWAYS right. EVEN when they are wrong.
Best thing to do is let management make the call if the customer is wrong. Customers pay our salary so if they say the sky is purple and the sun green and we live on Mars, and they are adamant about it, then the sky is purple, the sun green, and we do indeed live on Mars.
Kroger has a lot of policies. What policies are actually enforced is... well, honestly going to depend a lot on the type of store manager and co-managers that you have. Some will practically give customers the store... others will tell customers to get out and never come back IF the customer is being especially rude/thieving.
Basically though, yeah, you shouldn't argue with a customer. If the situation is one you feel you can't handle or you KNOW the customer is trying to pull something really dishonest, then maintain your composure and politeness while saying something along the lines of, "please wait a moment while I get a manager who can better assist you," and let the co-manager make the call because he/she is in a better position to handle customers that want something you know is against company policy/seems crooked.
Minor stuff though can easily be fixed with Make It Right and I did it frequently when I was a part of the front end. Even when I knew the customer wasn't right, but all it took was a minor fix like knocking a couple dollars off of this or giving them a relatively inexpensive item for free to make them happy, I went ahead and did it because I knew my store manager would approve (he was a BIG supporter of Make It Right). Very seldom did I have to resort to calling a co-manager, but I did when it I felt like it required a decision above my status as an hourly employee.
The one that comes to my mind, specifically, is regarding 2-liter bottles of soda. Our store has had this sale for months now where they can get a $1.79 bottle for $0.88 only if they buy like 5 or more. But they never read that, all they see is the $0.88. So this comes up daily. Sometimes 10 customers in my shift would complain to me that the soda didn't ring up the right price. Most of them accept and understand when I tell them they had to buy 5 or more. Others look at me like I'm an idiot and are adamant that the sign did not say that they had to buy 5.
If I was to price override every instance of this, I'd have a lot of price overrides on my operator record.
Managers are not often around for me to grab them and have them explain the price to the customer. So it's basically just me.
I asked a co-manager once about this and he told me to try and be as firm as possible about the price of the soda before having to resort to a price override and only do that if the customer is ready to cause a stir.
I asked a co-manager once about this and he told me to try and be as firm as possible about the price of the soda before having to resort to a price override and only do that if the customer is ready to cause a stir.
Follow what the co-manager said to do. If the customer is understanding, then no price override is required. If the customer is not and you feel that if you don't resolve the issue, he/she is going to demand to speak to a manager/call corporate, then go ahead and Make It Right.
Also, every time you have to price override the soda, make a point of bringing it up to your CSM and File Maintenance lead. Keep bringing it up until something is actually done about it. Maybe they can try experimenting with more signs/larger print on the signs and see if that makes a difference.
Until then, go by what the co-manager said. This way, if you ever get asked about the overrides, you can just repeat what the co-manager said.
Kroger, as a company, would likely rather you do the price overrides and make the customer happy rather than decline to do so and risk losing a customer.
The one that comes to my mind, specifically, is regarding 2-liter bottles of soda. Our store has had this sale for months now where they can get a $1.79 bottle for $0.88 only if they buy like 5 or more. But they never read that, all they see is the $0.88. So this comes up daily. Sometimes 10 customers in my shift would complain to me that the soda didn't ring up the right price. Most of them accept and understand when I tell them they had to buy 5 or more. Others look at me like I'm an idiot and are adamant that the sign did not say that they had to buy 5.
If I was to price override every instance of this, I'd have a lot of price overrides on my operator record.
Managers are not often around for me to grab them and have them explain the price to the customer. So it's basically just me.
I asked a co-manager once about this and he told me to try and be as firm as possible about the price of the soda before having to resort to a price override and only do that if the customer is ready to cause a stir.
For the past year or so, those sales on sodas have been when you buy 4 or whatever period. If you go over the amount, you get charged full price, even if you have another multiple of the required amount. So if the requirement to get the sale price is to buy 4 and you have 8, they have to rung up as separate transations.
My store managers rarely respond when we have customer problems.
People yell and cuss at us frequently and one tried to hit me across the service desk and two others have threatened to kick my f-ing ass and I called managers repeatedly and they never answered another employee went and found them and got them to come up. My manager actually told me to apologize and give her a gift card. She wanted me to do something illegal and was completely wrong and threatening and my manager manager tried to make me apologize and give her a gift card basically rewarding her behavior . He told me to twice and both times i refused I will NEVER apologize to anyone threatening me. Shortly after I was demoted because I have had too many customer complaints. All I was doing was upholding Kroger policy and I couldn't get any managers to come handle the problems.
I filed a grievance with the union but Kroger said I should have called the police. Basically said I was wrong. I just kept telling the customers to stop talking to me and my manager should be coming. What am I supposed to do? Call the police every day ? Someone called the police once and got yelled at. Another time someone called an ambulance for some who said he thought he was having a heart attack and got yelled at for that.
Someone lays a hand on me unprovoked, I'll loose my job, yes, but I WILL PROMISE YOU this... my attacker WILL BE HOSPITALIZED possibly IN A WEHEELCHAIR for life depending how far they want to go.
Yes. It's true. Like it or not. We can't even uphold the company rules. If a customer says it is it is. I had a couple of ass hole customers and walked away from them. Abandoned my line for their verbal harassment. Customer didn't like it. Went above and over me for standing up to them. They began to treat me like crap each time they came in. Eventually it got to the point of safety and I told them I have the right not to serve your for my mental well being and safety.
