Kroger, Fairfield, OH
Complaint 125408 Details

Not looking for monetary damages...Looking to see this particular Kroger be recognized for it really is. They do not stand behind their community children.

I wanted to share with you my experiences I have had in the last 4 days with my Kroger Store, I believe it is store 939. And why you have lost a loyal Kroger customer of over 25 years.
I walked into your store on Thursday evening to rent a rug cleaner. When walking in I noticed a sign that stated that the store would be closing at 10:00 pm. It was 9:30 pm. I immediately walked over to the cleaners and picked up the shampoo that I needed, and proceeded to the cashier, to have someone unlock the actual cleaners. She walked over to the service desk to have someone unlock them, and came back to report that all the non-food people were gone, and that no one had a key. I stated to her at that time, that I could not believe that no one had a key. She was very sweet, and walked back over to the service desk. There was a auburn red headed woman, with long hair working at the customer service desk. My cashier, who was again a very sweet, school aged young lady, came back and reported to me exactly what she had been told. The auburn headed woman had told her that she was trying to close the store, and she didn 't have time to get the key, and that I would have to come back tomorrow. I was not really happy, appreciated her honesty. Told her I would not be needing the shampoo without the cleaner. With that I left the store, went to Meijer, and rented the machine I needed. Even though Meijer is further away, I will now become a regular customer there.
Here is the second part of my experience... My daughter's cheerleading squad won the state competition in May for their division, and are going to Nationals in July. With Kroger having such a presence in our community, we immediately contacted them to set up dates to hold fundraisers. We set up our dates, and have been holding fundraisers on the weekends. We were also told on some dates we were requesting that someone already had those dates booked. Completely Understand...We all want our children's fundraisers to do well, and not be in competition with each other.
We have been working with Ali, one of the managers. Ali, has ALWAYS been very personable, very professional with us. She explained to us what we can and cannot have as our fundraisers...due to conflicts with the sales of liquor at that store, or anything that would "compete" with anything you sold in your store. She took her time, and even offered some suggestions things we could do that would work at the store. She is an asset to your store. 100% Customer Service! Even when telling us what we could not do, she was again giving us options on what we could do.
We have had no problems, and the older folks love our girls! Well today, I am not sure what happened...We got up there at our usual time, 10:00 and set up...they leave the table in front for us. ***The folks from your store are the ones who set up the location for the table, it is where they wanted it...*** The girls were standing at their usual spots. Today, there was an older gentleman cleaning up front. He kept asking the girls to move, which they were happy to do. He kept asking us very rudely, when we were leaving...He even came out he said to check out what they were doing...Now mind you we had 5 cheerleaders, 3 parents and a coach. We were keeping a very close eye on the girls. They know they are representing their squad, and are all very polite. And they also know, we are there able to see and hear anything. Folks that were asked to buy a candy bar on the way in, would come out looking for the cheerleader that they talked to so they could buy from them.


Well at 11:30 am, here comes in members a Boy Scout Troop. They are going to sell cannisters of Foldgers Coffee...(don't you sell that in your store?) The older gentleman I was speaking of earlier, was showing them around, very nice to them and even stopped in front of our table to say, "this is where they usually set up, I keep asking these girls when they are leaving"...So the Boy Scouts set up right outside of the door where some of our cheerleaders were selling candy bars. Now as I mentioned earlier, we were told we could not have dates that others have, which again I completely understand. I walked into the Customer Service Desk, to find the Boy Scout Leader at the desk complaining about us being there. I waited until she was finished...she stated they had a contract that 2 parents and 4 kids were to be there at any time. I came up to ask what was happening, that we were not allowed to over book... was advised by a very nice brunette girl at the front desk that they were trying to figure it out right now. But she added we were the first ones booked. And right next to her was the same auburn headed woman from my rug cleaner experience from a few days before. ***Please remember, I had been standing there for a few minutes, and could hear everything they were talking about. There was also a short haired blond woman who appeared to be the supervisor. She was asking them to pull the "contracts" from the girl and boy scouts to see what they said. She continued to say our girls were like vultures to the customers..(these are children...and we sold 150 candy bars in less then 1 1/2 hours people wanted to buy them, they were looking for our girls) Mind you we were never presented a contract, nor was one ever mentioned to us. And if that is in a contract with the Boy and Girl Scouts, how does that pertain to us? In previous weekends, we have had 6-8 girls, with strict parent supervision and never had a problem. With store management in and out, even buying from us.
The next thing we know there a woman with black hair/with white streaks in it coming out to ask to speak to the person in charge. (She did not have supervisor or manager on her badge) I was sitting next to our coach, and she got up stating that was her. The woman then stated VERY RUDELY and in a loud voice, looking at the Boy Scout parents smiling and said "you have to come with me" She had our coach walk into the store with her and told her that we either need to send girls home or we need to pack up and leave, because we are voiding our contract. Again the contract that does not exist, that we were never told of these restrictions. We had reserved the spot from 10-2, but we talked about it and did not think it was fair to send anyone home, again, not understanding why our girls were being treated this way. All of us live in Fairfield, we are Fairfield Cheer, and all of us shop at Kroger on a regular business. Everyone in town goes Krogering! It was the stores error that they overbooked the times, and the girls were paying for it.
We decided to go ahead and cancel our remaining weekends there as to avoid having our girls treated in this fashion. Please understand, our girls start at 8 years old. We are not talking teenagers. They are little girls.
So as the Cheer Mom, and I went in and asked them to cancel the rest of our dates, that we were very upset by the way the girls were treated, and did not feel it was fair to our children. The girls cannot understand what they did wrong. The very nice brunette behind the counter said she would be happy to, and again the black haired/white streaked hair woman was standing in front on the outside of the customer service counter. Muttered under her breath "we didn't want you here anyway"...I said EXCUSE ME... She turned to me, and stated that WE are the ones that violated the contract...I asked what contract she was speaking of. She said and again I quote..."I told you when you set up your dates I told you, and your contract stated ..." this is where I interjected...Ma'm, you did not set up my dates, and second of all we don't have a contract. We were never advised of this, we are not here to violate rules, we followed every rule that was put before us. We are here to fundraise, so that every girl has to chance in a lifetime to go to a National Competition. We made sure that we followed everything that was put before us, then we were treated in this fashion. I continued, with I have been a customer of Kroger for over 25 years and I have never been treated this way. AND that I would not be back to shop there anymore. And that the other parents on our squad felt the same way! She stated in a very condesending manner that was fine. And you have a really nice day, Okay? Not only have we shared our experience with our families that will no longer be choosing your Kroger, we are also sharing it with our neighbors and friends. This experience just seems to be with this particular Kroger, because other Krogers are being used for Fundraisers by other squads, and they were all welcomed with open arms. I hope that you reach out to this store on Wessel Avenue, and let them know what a disservice they have to done to these kids. They didn't do anything wrong, and being a parent, I try and teach my child right from wrong, and to follow the rules. Which we did. We followed every rule that we were presented with.
So, that has been my last four days at Kroger, Fairfield, Ohio. I hope you can understand why I cannot in good conscience come back. Not after the way our children were shortchanged.